The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1913-02-07
THE POLAR DASH
APLEAsuRE TRIP
But Amundsen's Story Does Not
Bear Out Statement.
SCOTS RELIEF SHIP OFF.
EnsIishmen, Beaten to Antarctic Prize
by Sturdy Norseman, Will Be
Brought Back Soon, and Amundsen
Tells of His Work South.

Brought Back Soon, and Amunosen
Tells of His Work South.
When Captain SCOTS antarc ship
the Terra Nova, left ChristciMrch.
New Zealand, ON Dee. IL last it was
with the calculation of reaching SCOTS
base, at Cape Evans. in the second
week in January She will relieve the
expedition which has been engaged i'll
an attempt to reach the south pole.
Captain Scott will doubtless bring
back some absorbing stories of peril
and hardship, though Captain Amund.
sen, the discoverer of the pole, de-
clares his historical dash to the goal
to have been a pleasure trip. I'VE
all enjoyed it," he said, "but the world
knows it was no picnic"
Captain Amundsen will at the ter.
mination Of his lecture tour. which
will include six months in the United
States, turn again to the strenuous
work he calls business life" The
Franz" he said will then be at SaE
Francisco. Perhaps it will be able to
add to its varied experiences by going
through the Panama canal.
1--WE start from San Francisco in
June, 1914, and hope to get into the
ice at the Boring strait in Septem-
Der. Then we shall drift perhaps for
four, perhaps for five. years 1t de-
ponds very much on how far we get
q into the ice the first year. And
shall emerge when the time comes re-
tween Spitzbergen and Greenland.
No AeropIane, No Wireless.
"There is an immense lot of work to
be done in these latitudes-purely sci
entific wOrk--in sounding and dredging
and meteorological observations. No:
I do not propose to take an aeroplane
with me-" said the captain decidedly.
land, though | have been offered the
gift Of wireless installation for the
Fran, that also have declined. |
don't care for it. 1t is very much bet
ter to be without news when you can
not be where the news comes from.
We are always more contented if We
get no news"
The difficulty is to get Captain
2 Amundsen- to talk about his own at
tainments. He will not admit that the
wonderful feat of reaching the south
pOle calls for eXtravagant praise or Ell
ti1usiasm II never had any doubt but
20 that we should reach the pole" he said
recently "even when we encountered
the great blizzard which we had to
fight for three days.
II attribute my success to the men
and the equipment They were both
perfect, and as part of the equipment
would put first the dogs. The dogs
were splendid. We could never have
attained the pole but for our brave
dogs. We started on the journey to
the pole with fifty-two. We brought
back to the Fran only eleven.
Regrets Slaughter Of Dogs.
what touched us most keenly on
the whole journey" said Captain
Amundsen. was the unavoidable
daughter of the animals, which had
shared our dangers aud had done such
splendid work. The killing OF them
went to the heart of every one, but In
polar explorations such things must he.
II was a regrettable necessity. and the
only thing that sOothed our feelings
was that the survivors enjoyed eating
their comrades quite as much as we
did.
Crossing the crevasses skis were OF
the greatest assistance to us. We
should never have got forward so we'll
IL we had not all been good ski run
ners. had never driven a dog team
before, but of course JOhannssen and
Hansen were EXPERTS at it. and we all
very soon got into the knack Of it,"
"You are equally familiar with arctic
and antarctic exploration. What are
the main differences between them and
the problems they presents" he was
asked. .'..' .--
"They are entirely different" said
Captain Amundsen, Tn the arctic
there Is only drifting ice. no solid land;
at the south 1t Is ascending to the high
plateau that Is the chief difficulty.
should say without hesitation that trav-
cling in the far north is much more
difYicult than in the far south for that
reason alone.
Always Enough to Eat
II had no doubt that the plateau was
an ideal place for sledging when first
saw 1t, and so 1t proved to he. Apart
from the blizzard the weather was quite
good. Only during those three days
did we suffer any hardship. Al other
times 1t was not particularly cold.
"And W. always had enough-if one
could ever have enough in that climate
to eat. In fact. we actually increased
our rations after we left the pole. be-
cause we knew we should make more
rapid progress on the way back and
we had many depots on which to de-
pend.
"There is very little doubt, | think,
that King Edwards Land is connected
with the mainland. We saw land in
places which were then blank on the
map, and the geological specimens from
tha nIataou ara identical with those