Seward daily gateway., 1926-01-16
TRACTORS USELESS GOING BARROW
 SAYSCAPTAN
ARCTIC VETERAN SKIPPER DIS. AGREES WITH HEAD OF
 POLE EXPEDITION
HAS BEEN TRIED ONCE BEFORE
Will Have To Resort To Dogs; Trip Will Take Much Longer Than
 They Anticipate.

Without any forethougnt of throw ing a monkey wrench into the wheels of the North Pole Expedition, in the opinion of Captain Whitlam, master of the U. s. S.S. Boxer, in port yes- terday, the tractors which are plan ned to haul to Point Barrow numer- ous sledge loads of supplies and the airplanes for the Detroit Aviation Society expedition, North Pole eX- plorers, will never reach Barrow, due principally to the huge snow barriers within the Arctic Circle. To blow thru soft snow to a depth ranging from i to 10 feet in the snow belts outside, and where gasoline and other supplies are always nearby in in- exhaustible quantities, is vastly diff ferent from conditions found on the ''top of the world" for not only will snow and general weather conditions be found vastly different, but keep ing up with supplies for the trac- tors, as well as food for the party, is a problem confronting the expedi- tion which assumes a far more se- rious aspect than the vague tele- graphic reports, which have been pub- lished. Many scenes have been pie tured of tractors doing heavy duty in deep snoWs but will be found that these same tractors are within easy reach of repair in case of accident As yet, no records have been estab- lished whereby tractors have con- batted elements equal to those en- countered beyond the Arctic Circle.
 Captain Whitlam is a veteran skip per of the Arctic, and through his many years of seafaring in the Arc tic Ocean, during which time he has featured in many adventures, the most recent being the rescue of a Hudson's Bay company motorship crew when caught in the merciless grip of the Arctic ice, at the risk of his own ship and crew For this exploit he was decorated, in Seattle, with a bronze medal, and later pres ented with substantial purse. His opinion of condition of that region of the world is not to be taken light ly.
 The idea is impractical, it was stat ed, for, the same thing has been tried on many occasions. Around Nome there are thousands of dollars worth of motor and other kinds of equipment, relics of former expedi- tions, the end of all being that they were forced to resort to abandoning the contrivances and harness up the little "steeds of the North, ,"-Mala- mutes, Huskies and Siberian Wolf hounds.
 With respect to the planes reaching the Pole, the Captain stated he anti clpated little difficulty, providing the fuel carrying capacity of the planes was sufficient. There is nothing to stop them unless some unforeseen accident occurs. For landing and taking off there is fifty mile Ia goon, stretching along Point Barrow as smooth as mill pond in Anril and this is the month Captain Whit lam expects the party to reach Bar row from Nenana, notwiths landing the premature report from the party that they will make the trip in about forty days, and there is almost con- tinuous light, with the exception of two hours of a sort of twilight.
 Of course," Captain Whitlam con- cluded, this is just my opinion, and naturally I wish them the best of luck and sincerely hope they will carry out their plans as they have outlined"