The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1924-01-11

IudTClleu lTOlu lue CodSl u SdIHp n,
unloaded his stores and returned.
Using the stores at Camp A, Mr.. Borup
was able to march to Camp B, where
he unloaded and turned back With
the stores of Camp B, Professor Mar
vim marched to Camp G and turned
back. With the stores at Camp G, Cap.
tain Bartlett marched to Camp d and
turned back. With the stores at Camp
d, Peary had his sleds fully loaded,
with selection, besides, of the fittest
men and dogs for the last lap of the
journey, and above all not too many
| mouths to feed.
With his negro servant and four Es-
kimos, the leader set forth on the last
one hundred thirty-three miles across
the fee. 1t was not plain level Ice
like that of a pond, but heaved into
sharp hills caused by the pressure,
with broken cliffs and labyrinthine
reefs The whole pack was drifting
southwark before the wind, here break
1 ing into mile-wide lanes of black and
foggy sea, there newly frozen and
utterly unsafe. Although the sun did
not set, the frost vas sharp, at times
twenty and thirty degrees below zero,
while for the most part cloudy sky
made it impossible to take observa-
tions. Here great good fortune await
] ed Peary, for as he neared the Pole,
the sky cleared, giving him brilliant
sunlight. BY observing the sun at fire.
quent intervals he was able to reck-
on with his instruments until at last
he found himself within five miles of
ninety degrees north-the Pole. A
ten-mile tramp proved he had passed
the apex of the earth, and five miles
back he made the final tests Some
where within mile of where he stood
was the exact point, the north end
of the axis on which the earth re-
wolves. As nearly as he could reckon,
the very point was marked for that
moment upon the drifting ice-ields by
a berg-like hill of ice, and on this sum-
NIT he hoisted the flag, a gift from his
wife which he had carried for fifteen
| years, tattered silken remnant of Old
Glory.
Perhaps" he writes, sit ought not
to have been so, but when / knew
| for a certainty that had reached the
| goal, there was not thing in the
world wanted but sleep. But after
had few hours. of it, there sue
/ ceeded a condition of mental exalta-
ton which made further rest impos-
sible. For more than score of years
that point on the earth's surface had
been the object of my every effort.
To obtain it my whole being, physical,
mental and moral, had been dedicated.
The determination to reach the Pole
had become so much a part of my be-
ing that, strange as it may seem, /
long ago ceased to think of myself
save as an instrument for the attain
ment of that end. :. But now
| had at last succeeded in planting the
flag of my country at the goal of the
worlds desire.
Pole:
40 n. Lat, North Pole,
april 9Th, 1909
81 have today hoisted the national
ensign of the United States of Ameri-
ca at this place, which my observa-
lions indicate to be the North Polar
axis of the earth, and have formally
taken possession of the entire region,
and adjacent, for and in the name of
the President of the United States Of
America.
/ Il leave this record and United
States flag in possession.
/ Robert E. Peary,
i United States Navy"
Before the hero of this very grand
adventure returned to the world, there
also arrived from the Arctic certain
Doctor Cook, an American traveller,
who claimed to have reached the Pole.
The Danish colony In Greenland re
ceived him with joy, the Danish Geo
| graphical society welcomed him with
banquet of honor; and the world rang
with his triumph Then came Com
mander Peary out of the North, pro-
claiming that this rival was a liar.
So Doctor Cook was able to strike
an attitude of injured innocence, hint
ing that poor old Peary was fraud !;
and the world rocked with laughter.
1t is perhaps ungenerous to mention
such trifiing points of conduct. end
yet we worship heroes only when we
are quite sure that our homage is not
a folly. And so we measure Peary
with the standard set by his one rival,
Roald Amundsen, who conquered the
Northwest passage, then added to that
immortal triumph. the conquest of the
i South Pole. In that Antarctic adyen-
ture Amundsen challenged a fine Brit
ish explorer. Captain Scott. The Brit
ish expedition was equipped with ev-
cry costly appliance wealth could fur
nish, and local knowledge of the actu-
al route. The Norseman ventured in
to an unknown route, scantily
equipped, facing the handicap of pow
erty. He won by sheer merit, by his
greatness as man, and by the loyal
devotion he earned at the hands of
his comrades. Then he returned to
Norway, they say, disguised under an
assumed name to escape a public tri-
umph, and his one message to the
world was generous tribute to his
: defeated rival.