The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1912-04-13

| A Close Call.
| There at ? a. m, on March i, the
tired condition Of the ponies obliged
/ the party TO camp at 4:30. Bowers.
/ awakened by a noise, found the ice
| broken all around the camp, and NOV
! ing with the heavy swell One pony
had disappeared from the picketing
| line and was not seen again. Hastily
packing their sledges, the party decid-
/ ed to try and work southwest over
/ the packed ice. With Infinite diff
! Guilty the sledges were dragged, the
ponies jumping from foe to foe to-
ward the barrier. About noon the
| party neared the barrier but found
/ its ice wall unclimbahle and the swell
churning and breakinng heavy foes
against it. In this delemma Cream
was allowed to attempt to obtain
help. He travelled east over the NOV
ing pack to find break in the ice
wall and eventually hoisted himself
to the barrier surface by wedging his
ski stick in a crack.
More Ponies Lost
On March 4 We ascended hins east
OF Castle Rock, and on the fifth The
party with the two remaining ponies
and the dog teams was safely housed
at Hut Point. BY this incident We
lost three OF our strongest ponies
This was a severe blow to the expe-
dition, but not enough to wreck its
plans II the remaining animals could
be preserved The heavy swell
which caused this disaster broke
more than ten miles of sea ice, large
fragments from the barrier, and TWO
miles OF glacier tongue-a feature
| which had remained otherwise un-
changed since discovery. in 1902. The
/ Hut was found almost completely fill
ed with hard snow, the windows
broken and the door unhinged. With
much labor we cleared and repaired
1t. 1t then afforded good shelter.
Preparing For the Winter
On March Il Lieutenant Evans led
a party to Corner Camp, completing
the depot arrangements for the com
ing season. The temperature at the
barrier had already fallen to minus
40 degrees. Throughout the month
ice continually formed over the sea
but the strong winds quickly drove i:
out. After March 25 the ice remain
ed fast in the sheltered bays but
continued to drive out OF the sound
Huge land ice falls on the southwest
slopes of Mount Erebus prevented any
possibility of returning to Cape Evans
by land, but with the freezing of the
bays | decided to make an attempt
to reach the station, partly by land
and partly by sea ice With eight
although caught by a storm on sea
ice. We reached Cape Evans early on
the 18th We found the station,
which had been left in Simpsons
charge, in excellent order, and ar
rangements for comfort remarkably
perfect.
On April II l returned to Hut Point
with fresh sledge party carrying
supplies and stores. AS it was i'm
possible for animals to travel on the
route taken, | left Meares and five
others in charge of those at Hut Point
and again returned to Cape Evans on
April 30. Sea ice continued to drive
out of sounds until the first week in
May. 1t was not until May 10. three
weeks after the sun had gone that
and safely returned to the main sta
ton. The sound froze solid in May
and later in winter packed ice ex-
tended to an unprecedented distance
northward, despite numerous gales.
After the return from the absentees
we settled down very comfortably
in our winter hut, its arrangements
for lighting, heating, cooking and
ventilation proved eminently satisfac-
tor,
Behind a land ridge on the slopes of
Mount Terror. the party spent three
days building stone hut on which
they rooted with canvas from this
camp. The men had great difficulty
in crossing the huge barrier pressure
ridges in the dim noon twilight TO
reach the rookery. They were sue
cessful at a second attempt. They
found comparatively few birds at the
rookery, but these had begun to lay
even at this early date Fortunately
some eggs at different stages of de-
velopment were secured which should
give considerable information con,
corning the embryology of this inter
esting bird. The same night a violent |
gale commenced and the ridge proved |
inadequate shelter from the hurri |
cane gusts which whrled down on
the hut. A tent and other carefully |
secured articles were blown away, and |
after straining for IA hours the roof |
OF the hut flew to ribbons. For 80 |
hours more the travellers We're CON
fined In their frozen sleeping beds |
half buried beneath snow and rock |
debris.
The state OF their equipment now |
forced them to turn homeward, on |
the return journey they were held for !
two DAYS BY another storm after