Evening star., 1929-10-06
BYRD PREPARES
FOR TRIP SOUTH
Depots for Food and Supplies
Being Placed at Reg
uIar Distances.
BY RUSSELL OWEN.
oI nCSohAL O"hN'
BY Radio to The Star and the New York
Times

BY Radio to The Star and the New York
LITTLE AMERICA.-A line of sledges,
lost in the immensity of the snow plain
which lies about them, moves on slowly
to the south over the Ross Ice Barrier
The sky is overcast, the light diffused
so that drivers cannot see the inequali-
ties of the surface over which they
stumble. 1t Is hard to tell whether the
travelling is up hill or down-the senses
are confused. The men are wrapped IN
an impenetrable mantle, an opaque at
mosphere, where sky and snow blend
and are one.
On either side may lie a crevasse
concealed under a thin bridge of snow
opening from steep precipice of blue
ice down which men and dogs might
slide and be forever lost. The men and
even the sledges are roped together to
meath the thin surface. Runners creak
and crunch, the cries of drivers and
the snap of whips break the silence.
Wind Stings and burns the faces of the
men, wrapped in their windproof clothes
and hoods; thin drift scurries over
the surface.
Behind them lie warmth and tn.
companionship of their fellows. They
have waved good-by to 1t for many
of constant and dangerous movement,
of crouching together in tent eating
something called hoosh out of tin cups,
denying their appetiteS, drawing their
belts q little tighter. The weeks are
long procession of cold and WEAKNESS,
but every man smiles and every man
looks forward. The mysterious and the
unknown are ahead of them; this Is
what they came to this forsaken land
which leads them to mountains which
they know exist but have never been
explored.
One Group Prepares for the Next.
In this way will the dog-team parties
Of the Byrd Antarctic Expedition work
their way south from Little America to
these mountains through which Amund-
sen made his way to the Pole but about
which he brought back little detailed
information. The supporting party will
leave the base first about the middle
of October and go half way to the
mountains, where it will cache a large
supply of food to be picked up by the
following geological party. The second
group will start few days after the
first and follow the trail to the half
way mark at 81 degrees As minutes
south latitude, whence it will lay out a
new tTdu 10 IIlc IlOuIlIdHlS dLu SHcllO
some time in surveying and In collect
ing geological specimens. For this
southern dog-team journey is primarily
scientific. 1t is to bring back geological
data from one of the least known and
most important geological formations on
the continent.
The functions of both parties are i'm
portant. Both face the dangers of crew
asses and of straying from the trail in
storms which quickly hide the Barrier
in a smother of drifting snow. With
out the supporting party the depots to
the halfway mark could not be put
down. This party relieves the geologi-
cal party Of the necessity of carrying
loads that would weaken the dogs and
probably result in cutting short. their
scientific work. Depot laying Is abso-
lutely necessary in Antarctica. A sledge
party must work from depot to depot,
depositipg food on the way. picking 1t
up on the return, and making trail
that can be foli6Wed with some safety
through the dangerous region OF crew
asses and through weather conditions in
which a compass made eccentric by its
proximity to the magnetic pole may
play all sorts of tricks.
Airplane May Lay Further DepOts.
There are three depot-laying jobs to
be done on the Barrier this Spring.
The first will be that of the supporting
party, which will leave depots about SO
miles apart and mark the trail as far as
they 60. The geological party will con-
tinue the trail and lay depots from
there and establish a base at the foot