Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1913-02-13

and Amundsen fixed the blue. white
and red of Norway at the south pole"
CHEERS FOR AMUNDsEN.
Captain Amundsen was greeted
with warm applause as DR.. Andreen
concluded his introduction. The lights
were properly dimmed, a map Of the
south polar region was thrown upon
the screen, with the route taken by
the expedition marked upon it, and
after the scenario had been sketched
by the lecturer, there followed a sue
cession of pictures that illustrated the
trip from Norway across that 10000
miles of ocean to the Bay of Whales,
and thence across the barriers and
pla,eaus to the pole.
THE EXPLORERS STORY.
I'VE started from Norway on Aug.
9, 1910, with a crew of is men, provi-
sions for two years and 81 Eskimo
dogs brought from Greenland" Captain
Amundsen said. People prophesied
that the dogs would never live in the
heat around the equator, but when we
reached the Bay of Wales we had
126," ne declared, amid the laughter
Of the audience.
THE Fran reached the ice barrier
200 feet high and 700 miles from the
pole Jan. 10. 1911 The barrier was
200 feet high at the point where the
boat anchored in a cosy corner be-
! hind an icy promontory. We had Sc
lected the spot, which was on what is
known as Ross Barrier, because Lieu
tenant Scott had pre-empted Ross is
land in South Victoria land and a
Japanese expedition was anchored at
King Edward VII. Land, the only two
other available spots. You see, We
did not want to get in their road"
HOW CREW WAS SPLIT.
Captain Amundsen then described
how the crew was split in two, a ship
party OF nine. which unloaded provi-
sions, and a shore party of a similar
number, which carried the provisions
to the camp, erected two miles in on
sequently Journey a number OF miles
southwark. establishing three depots
for provisions when the march to the
pole would begin in the fall
Captain Nelson and the nine men
left on the Fran made observations
and established facts concerning cur
rents which will be of great benefit to
geographers in the future, Captain
Amundsen said. Then proudly he
stated that the Fran bore the distinc-
ton of being the vessel which had
been farthest north and farthest
south.
TUNNEL wORKROOMS.
After filling the depots with provi-
sions for the trip, 1000 pounds in all,
the shore party erected a house and
went into winter quarters. April 22
the sun disappeared. and within few
weeks the hut was buried under tons
Of snow, which enabled the men ito
tunnel workrooms and passages
through the solid drifts.
The mean temperature was Is de-
grees, although Captain Amundsen
mentioned casually days when it was
20 and 60 degrees below zero.
"The sun returned Aug. "a" said
the explorer, but the Gather remain
ed so cold that we did not set forth
in earnest until Oct 20. One day when
we made a false start we were COM
PEELED TO return with the thermometer
at 70 degrees. The men, heavily clad,
could stand it, but the dogs could not.
Our party divided. Four men
started eastward for explorations
around King Edwards land, while the
remaining five struck southwark. We
had with us four sleds. 50 dogs and
provisions for 12O days. Nov. 8 We
I left the last of our three depots in 81
4 degrees south latitude.
"Our first trace of land was in Sc
4 degrees south latitude, when We found
spur OF rock hills, snow-Clad, but
which we recognized from Sir Ernest
Shackleton's description of them. We
established a depot at the foot of the
ridge and started to climb. In FIVE
Z days we had reached an altitude of