The Washington herald., 1921-01-09
zoo Miles From Railroad.

until December 27, as / explained |
in my frst letter. (Also mentions |
enclosure Of first letter written).
700 Miles From Railroad.
This place is about 200 miles (
from a railroad The manager of |
the Hudson Bay Company at this
place is subsisting US and Is going |
to send US out Of here by special |
dog sled He is going to make
all preparations for our clothing !
and Indian guides, dog teams, etc,
to make the trip. This will take !
time and patience.
The trip is quite an undertaking. |
We may have weather of twenty |
below zero before we start so that |
every little means of comfort will |
help. I guess you understand that |
we will have to walk the whole |
distance of 200 miles.
Farrell Reported Weak.
Lieut.. Farrell is weak. and will
have to ride most of the way. This
will retard US to a small extent.
This is beautiful country though.
and the air puts life into you and
l have quite an appetite of late.
These Indians are a queer lot, and
l have many tales to tell you of
my experiences with them. The
only white people here are the Hud-
son Bay employees There are, three
Of them, young Scots. They live
with US.
There are no white women here.
except the wife Of Mr.. Thorp who
lives on the other side of the is
land, about two and a half miles
away. We were over there this af- |,
tsrnoon and had some tea and a
very good walk back.
sees New Navy Record.
In calculating the distance travel
ed by air on this hop. which so un-
expectedly nearly cost our lives,
figure l have made a new navy
record. By the time these letters
reach you the newspapers will have
flashed the news of our safety, be-
cause l am sending an official wire
to my commanding Oficer by the
packet, which takes out the mall
on Thursday. He will probably
give out the information at once.
1t makes me feel miserable that
this should happen when everyone
should be happy and gay. I will
be here on Christmas. travelling
over a bleak, frozen river on New
Years Day, but I am happy to be
alive. You will not know this un-
til after the holidays.
Out at this station they have
probably given US up for lost by |
now.
Left on December "a.
leave here on December 81 and
will reach Mattice, Ont, on jan
uary 5-not sooner From Mattice
to Montreal. January 7, and New
York by January g. provided all
goes well.
MOOSE FACTORY, Dec. 21.
After leaving the station at 1 p.
m. we rose to an altitude of 1000
feet and in time passed over all
the good familiar scenes - first
Brooklyn, then New York. Those
wonderful sights are still fresh in
my memory, but what a comparison
with the present surroundings at
Moose Factory. 1t is certainly a
pleasant recollection-the wonder
full view from the air as we left the
officers and crew at the air station.
Little did think at the time that
the trip which l had taken so often
would bring me up to this frozen
country. Hinton has remarked a
number Of times OF the contrast of
our surroundings to his home in
New York.
At about 1880 we ware passing
over Brooklyn and released one of
our carrier pigeons. The magnificent
view of New York City as we passed
over 1t was the real enjoyment of Il
the trip. We passed over the Hud-
son River through the corner of
New Jersey and over the Catskill
Mountains.
Evans Asked Leave.
We had figured on having Al
~ l.,
away Station) with US on the trip,
and at the last minute he decided
not to come, as he had put in for
leave and wanted to go home to his
family. Little did he know at the
time that the sand ballast that was
taken in his place enabled US to
continue over the Adirondacks.
We estimated we had plenty of
altitude when We were struck by
violent storm. We struck trees
alongside Of a mountain and had to
throw quite bit OF ballast to clear
the mountains. Finally we got free
and rose to an altitude of 5000 feet.
The rain came down in torrents
and completely soaked our clothing.
We could hear the wind below US
bowling through the trees Every
thing about US was dark. The
weather became colder The rain
turned to sleet and finally. to snow.
Compelled to stay Aleft.
The following morning we check
ed our course and were travelling
north by west All we could see
below US were fields of ice. There ,
was not a sign of life for miles. ,
We could not land. II we had, air
would have been lost, the gale was
sf such fury.
We had to continue with the /
violent gale which swept US over
the ice-covered fields. Hinton esti-
mated our speed at this time to be
faster than the speed of the NC-4 ]
when he made the transatlantic i
night. We continued until D. m.
Then We sighted a hut below us.
J brought the. balloon down. The ,
wind was ne-ee when we landed. I