Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-18
SUPPORTING PARTY STARTS :.
TREK SOUTH FROM BYRD CAMP
Dog Sledges Set Forth on Rolling Plain
of Snow to Chart Way and Leave
Food for Explorers.

ridge the ice was at least three feet
higher than where the waiting dog
teams lay in their harness, steam rising
from their heated bodies.
Old ice it must be, older than the
other ice of the bay, for as one looked
through the pressure ridge, it was like
gazing at an immense plain which had
been lifted upward.
The hole was finally chopped through
and the sledges hauled up with some
difficulty. On the other side a great
shaft of ice was thrust up Is feet high,
and the top of 1t was like the head of a
sphinx, as If placed there to guard this
strange land.
on to the left was Cape Mans Head,
beyond which lay the site of Amund-
sens base camp.
Personnel of Party.
Following is the personnel of the sup
porting sledge' party:
Arthur Walden, leader of the party
and dog driver all his life, was bern
in indianapolis May 10, 1871. His ia
ther was the Rev. Treadwell Walden,
who for time was rector of old st.
Pauls Church in Boston just before
Phillips Brooks was there. Although
his family moved to Boston, Walden was
sent to the Shattuck Military School. at
he went to farming in New Hampshire.
II got restless" he said, land tossed
a coin to see whether ] should go to
South Africa or Alaska. 1t came Gown
Alaska and that is how happened to
come down here"
Walden got to Alaska in 1896, two
years before the famous gold rush start
ed, and for seven years he drove dogs.
freighting loads into the mines and
over the dangerous trails along the Yu-
kon and over the mountains Then he
returned to the East and married Kath-
crime Sleeper, granddaughter of a Capt.
sleeper, who was mayor Of Roxbury,
Mass.
Walden went to farming again and
settled at Wonalancet, N. H., where he
has lived ever since, driving and breed
ing Sledge dogs for hobby.
walden introduced dog racing in the
East and, with his famous leader. Chi
nook, who died down here, won several
important races. He is the author of
"A Dog Puncher on the Yukon"
De Ganahl Born in Mexico.
Joe de Ganahl is navigator of the
supporting party. He was with Comdr.
Byrd on his North Pole expedition. He
was born at Tampico, Mexico, December
80, 1902, the son of Charles F. and Flor
ence de Ganahl. He lived on a sugar
near Tampico and at Mexico
City until 1913, when the revolution
forced his family to leave.
He went to the Hackley School at
Tarrytown, N. Y, from 1915 to 1921
then entered Harvard and was graduat-
60 IN 1925. He was on the Harvard
crimson board four years and assistant
managing editor his last two years.
ETor aS.r1 -
val Reserve aviation unit at Poston and
n the Summer Of 1924 was at the Naval
AIR Station at Squantum as a student
aviator. He had advance training at
the Naval Air Station at Hamilton
Roads, Va, In the Summer of 1925 and
was commissioned as ensign In the Fleet
reserve Aviation as a naval aviator in
December, 1925.
He entered Yale University in the
FAN OF 1925 to take Prof. Bakers
course in playwriting, and at the same
s1ne became reporter on the New
raven Register. He left there in April
1925, to join the Byrd North Pole eS3
On his return be married Josephine
Coombs OF ScarSdale, N. Y, and re-
Joined the staff of the New Haven
register. Later he was a reporter on
the White Plains Reporter and the New
York Herald. ' -"
During his training In the Naval
reserve he studied navigation and later
LOOK up the subject under Comdr.
Ineodore Nelson Of the Naval Reserve.
neao OF the Nautical Academy in New
YORK. This Winter he has further ex-
Cended MS knowledge Of navigation bv
studying under Comdr. Byrd. He was
In active training at the Rockaway
Naval Air Station in 1927 and 1928 and
joined the expedition in the Summer cSf
Charles.
Braathen q Ski Expert.
Christopher Braathen is the ski ex-
pert OF the expedition. He was born at
Eker, Norway, on June 29. 1895 He
went to high school and the technical
school at Horton and, between periods
OF school, went to sea, making voyages
to German West Africa, serving at a
whaling station and sailing out of Cape
IoWn several times. When the war
started ne joined the English transport
service and served in this in the Chan
mel and on two voyages to the Konpo.
After leaving the British service he
served in the Norwegian navy's aviation
Sectlon and then completed his school
ing In Norway and went to sea again.
After voyage which landed him i'm
Hamburg, Germany, he worked as an
went to the technical school at Thur
mgen, from which he was graduated as
a civil engineer. The lure of the see
was too strong for Chris to settle down
long, however, and for the next few
years he sailed the seven seas in the
ships OF seven nations. He has won
several ski races in Norway.
Jacob Bursey, who is known as Jack
or Hob" is 26 years old, was born at
ST. Iunatre, in the st. Bards district
OF Newfoundland, the most northern
part of that country, on the Belle Isle
Strait.
st. Lunaire is a fishing village, and
Jacks people are fishermen. They hunt
seals In the Spring, fish In the Summer
and FAN, and, with his father, William
Bursey, Jack used to 60 on trips to st.
Johns to dispose of the fish caught
during the season. He learned to drive
dogs at his home, for they are used
there for transport during the long
Winter season.
After attending the local schools Bur-
sey decided to go to school in the States
and in 1924 went to Boston, where he
spent year in mechanical school.
The following Summer he was in charge
OF a yacht at Naushon Island, near
Woods Hole, on the Southern Massa-
chusetts coast, and then went to New
York to study in the Missionary Train
ing Institute, as he wanted to go back
home as a missionary, inspired by the
example of Sir Wilfred Grenfell, who
often stopped at his fathers home.
But he left the school and went to
work in New York on river boats until
he saw that the Byrd expedition was
being organized and applied for job.
On the trail Walden Breathen and
Bursey will drive the dog teams. with
Walden IN charge of the party, and
De Ganahl will, in addition to his duties
as navigator, be radio operator and
cook.
Copyright, 1920
BY the New York Times Co. and The st
Louis Post-Dispatch. All rights for pub