Evening journal., 1921-08-02
BY THEODORE A. LINK.

Gcologist, Imperial Oil Company.
Fl. Norman. Alta just reached
Fort Norman in the first airplane
ever TO make the 1200-mile journey
across the desolate. trackless wilder
ness that separates the new Arctic
oil fields from civilization.
II was a trip full OF thrills I never
will forget. But it proved that air
plane travel over the uneXplored
wilderness is practical.
With me in the plane we're Pilot
Elmer Fullerton and Mechanic Bill
Hill Both had won their spurs in
northland flying. on a previous at
tempt to make TT. Norman, We had
been forced down in the wilderness
by a broken propeller. Undaunted.
the two set TO work and fashioned
new propeller, with which we
"hobbled" home for our second
start.
To appreciate the difficulties OF
flying IN such a country. one must
realize that wilderness stretches on
ali sides for hundreds Of miles. un-
broken save for an occasional trad
ing post or a Mounted Police Fort on
one OF the rivers.
Sloughs and Swamps.
! A plane equipped with pontoons in
summer and runners in fall or spring
is the only one feasible, for most OF
/ the north country is sloughs and
/ swamps.
one must have endured the hard
ships Of "natboating il" TO the oil
| fields. as 1 did last year. spending
weeks on the perilous trip, to realize
the difficulties that airplanes will
| eliminate. But northland flying, too,
is a hazardous game.
Our run as far as Fort Vermillion
was uneventfuL Just a short after
noon jump, which We made in 2
hours and 35 minutes. Yet the same
trip. by fatboat the year before, had
taken me 33 hours.
Beyond Vermillion our thrills be-
gan. Below the fort are the Chutes,
the worst rapids in the Peace river.
AS we passed over them, I was snap
ping pictures. The plane began to
bank and turn. I thought Fullerton
was doing il TO help me get better
views until he yelled:
"Our exhaust pipe has cracked"
Sure enough! And other cracks
we're forming.
Facing Death.
Landing in the river there would
have meant being swirled TO instant
death Fullerton headed upstream
seeking the first smooth stretch
more than two miles away. That
was an anxious minute. Fortunately
however the pipe held. and we re-
gained Fort Vermillion.
The next morning we again took
off and headed north through a fog
like smoke from forest fires. We
tried flying high to escape tho
smoke but the curtain was so thick
that we had to come down to gel
our bearings
That was a real thrill Though
flying low. we could barely see the
river we were following. Often Full
lerton would have to mount quickly
when we reached a spot where the
red flames were leaping higher than
usual. so they would not envelop US
One hundred and fifty miles OF
this, and suddenly we broke out OF
the smoke and into the clear again.
We were just approaching the Great
Slave river.
We slipped past Fort Fitzgerald
at an altitude Of 1000 feet, and looked
down. as on mere ripples, at the
tortuous rapids below the fort that
have played havoc with so many
boating expeditions. A short time
later we TAXED to landing at Fort
Smith in a back eddy at the base OF
the rapids.
Our flying time from Vermillion tc
the Chutes was two hours and 40
minutes. BY boat. the same triI
took me one month.
Dcfying Storm.
Next morning a stin head wint
was blowing and the rain was driv
ing down. But we hoped off, never
theless.
As far as the eye could reacl
there was a monotonous succession
OF swamps. sloughs and muskeg. w
turned west at Great Slave lake AM
after three attempts we finally hi
the narrow Hay river channel q
safety and spent the night at a Hud
son Bay post.
We had barely started on the FOL
lowing morning, heading acros
q Great Slave lake toward the Mac
a kenzie river. when we ran head-o
,. into a snowstorm.
n Flakes swirled thickly about III
Il shutting off everything Had tn
h storm continued. We must have bee
:. hopelessly lost. Fortunately we 500
A hurst through IL and found that Flu