The Mena weekly star. (Mena, Ark.) 1904-1977, 1912-03-21

ltains to the east. They saw Helmar
Hansen's summit, the most remark
liable Of all the mountain peaks they
had encountered. II rose 10000 feet
and was brilliant with facts Of
broken glacier ice.
Devils glacier proved very
hardy obstacle. Amundsen and his
men were three days surrounding
it and on December left it. AT a
height Of 9i00 feet they found a
level plateau which looked in the
mist and the drift of snow like a
frozen sea. As nearly as they could
observe it was an inland sea and
progress over it was far from pleas
ant. The footing beneath the
marchers sounded quite hollow and
some of them compared it to walk
ing on empty boxes or casks.
Devils Dancing Room.
One man fell through and then a
couple of dogs broke through. It
was not practical for the men to
use their skis. This curious area
was named 1.-The DEVILS dancing
room" and it was here that Amund-
sen and his followers encountered
the most unpleasant part of their
march.
The greatest height attained on
the entire march was on December
Is, when the hypsometer and anefoid
showed them to be i0,750 feet above
sea level. This was at 81 degrees 40
minutes south latitude.
On December s bad weather was
left behind The sun shone and the
marchers were able to get an OBJ
|servaton and dead reckoning. TO
their great satisfaction they found
that they were exactly alike at SO
degrees 16 minutes.
Before them now stretched an
absolutely fiat plateau, marked only
here and there by tiny mounds of
wind swept snow. On the afternoon
of December Amundsen and his
party passed SO degrees % minutes,
which was Shackleton's farthest
south. They continued on to SO de-
grees % minutes. Here the plateau
commenced to slope down slowly
and very smoothly toward the other
side Of the world. They reached 50
degrees 80 minutes on December 9.
The next day they gaind SO degrees
So minutes, and on December II
they reached 80 degrees 30 minutes,
only thirty-tlve miles from the
south pole.
Plant the Flag.
1t was ION to the pole" now and
on December 10 a mark of 80 de-
grees l5 minutes was obtained. Up
to this time the observations and
dead reckoning had agreed remark
ably we'll and they figured they
should be at the pole on December
IA.
To the great delight of Amundsen
and his hardy little band the day
mas clear and beautiful and with
only slight breeze from the south
east. The temperature was go de-
'grees.
Sledging was perfect and they
pushed forward until 3 o'clock p.
M, when they came to a halt. Ac-
cording to their recokning they had
reached their destination.
The colors, beautiful silken
flag, was broken out and all hands
gathered around and took hold of
the standard and planted it on the
spot. The last plateau was named
for King Haakon VII.
During the night the explorers
cireled their camp mile after mile
to a radius of twelve miles. The
object of this, no doubt, was to find
if any record existed Of a previous
visit by man.
The following day the fine wealth
er continued and observations were
taken from o'clock in the morn
ing until at night. The result gave
them 80 degrees, 50 minutes. This
was really at the pole, but in order
to observe the position as closely as
possible, they Travelled south for the
remaining six miles and camped on
the true pole. This was December
i6.
Under the brilliant sun members
of the party took observations every
hour of the day for twenty-four
hours. The exact result of these
observations will be a matter for
expert examination, but there is no
doubt in the mind of Amundsen
that they observed the position of
the pole as closely as it is within
human power to do so.
On December II the observations
were at an end. Amundsen and his
men fastened to the ground little
tent and broke from its top the
Norwegian flag and the pennant
from the Fran. II was a Norwegian
home raised on the south pole, and
was given the name of polheim.
The return trip began that day
and the weather proved unusually
favorable. Winter quarters were
reached again on January 25, 1912.
They averaged twenty four miles
day on the return trip. The Fran
left the bay of Whales on January
30, and, owing to contrary winds.
did not reach Tasmania for more
than a month 1t arrived safe. how
ever. with an well on board