Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-31

inside and eat a warm dinner in comfort.
put the load first on the Barrier sur
face near the camp, and Jim n
afternoon heated the engine with a
blow torch, cranked up and started OIL.
The treadS threw snow like a pillow
on a mountain division, but h snow
mobile ran merrily till it reached soft
snow. 1t hesitated, stuck, its treads
went down and it dug itself a nice
comfortable hole.
Sverre storm, the big Norwegian,
handsome and stalwart, the strongest
man in camp, had been put in charge
of the party on the trail n he went
over to see what was wrong.
There was no getting the machine
out under it's own power. The anti
mechanists seemed in the ascendancy
as F'eury walked back to camp for a
plank. The sleds were unhitched and
the plank placed over a box and one
end put under the rear axle housing.
A heave and shift to one side, n the
machine rested on solid surface again.
Then the sleds were dragged up and
hitched so that they ran between, the
tracks. 1t was a job moving them,
until Storm grunted, put the rope over
his shoulder and walked off with them,
about 1900 pounds.
Feury Is Confident.
"That was only a soft spot" said
Feury. She'll do it, I know she'll do it."
He climed up in the drivers seat
again. the plank also being put aboard
this time, and started up the slope
north of the camp. The machine
climbed it easily and, after ctrcllng
around. came down. The commander
and Mckinley said they were satisfied
that the experiment was worth trying
and that afternoon the machine was
taken down the bay.
There it faced seven pressure ridges,
some of 20 or 80 feet high. A path was
shoveled through a low place In the
first one, and Feury unlocked the
sledges, started on a run for the opening
and went through the snow-flled gap
quite easily. There the machine was
left until the next morning.
There was none too much optimism
as to the ability of the snow mobile
to get through the pressure ridges,
which extend for five Of six miles to
where the first hill up the barrier be-
gins.
The snowmobile is nothing but a
small automobile, which in place OF
the front wheels has a pair of wide
metal skis. There is an extra set OF
wheels in front of the rear driving
wheels and around these two sets run
metal treads linked together so that
they grin the snow. They work eX-
cellently on a hard surface, but are
like scoops when the surface is soft.
The next morning, Feny took his
blow torch and went across the first
ridge to where the car sat. Mac fol-
lowed and then Blackie with a few
others who were to help shovel a path
for it when necessary through ridges.
cykno~@ ,x,ntfnl {o roFan tn oct hiS Inn
instructions from the commander to
take every precaution.
Buzzes Along at 10-Mile Gait.
The sleds were hooked up and off
they went. buzzing along at about 10
miles an hour.
They got around most OF the ridges,
but finally one doomed up which had
to be crossed. A low place was found
where, with ~shoveling. a steep slope of
soft snow could be made. Feury grinned
and started at it, the engine wide open
and snow flying, until the machine was
almost hidden. 1t was over with a
thump.
It was smooth running again until the
final pressure ridge, where the first
slope up the barrier begins. It didn't
look very good, the snow was not hard
and there might be concealed holes,
Feury knew that the only wa: to make
it was by keeping the machine going
fast. He kept the car in first, and, turn
ing and twisting. plowed his way
through. The sleds we're hauled to the
other side by hand.
A steep slope rises from the last pres
sure ridge to a terrace about five miles
wide, lying just below the barrier prop
er. Half way up this slope the sleds
were again hooked on and the snow
mobile hauled them the rest of the way.
When a crevaSse was reached, Mac
Strom and Blackie ran across with a
rope tied to Feury. The snow bridge
over the crevasse dips down and says
a little. 1t was about 10 feet wide
where it was crossed.
Feury drove at the ~revaSse leaning
a little to one side so he could Jump
clear If anything happened, and the
little car shot over to the other side in
a moment. The bridge didn't even
creak. That was their first bad hurdle.
for are probably the greatest
hazard they will encounter. They were
all glad it was past. Blackie and Strom
jumped on the trailing sleds, waved
their hands and were off.
That was the last heard of the
snowmobile until the men on the trail
met it about rs miles out. They have
a radio set, but it is only for emer-
gencies. 1t had been on the trail ther
a day and a half. Several radiograms
had been taken out for the geological
party and Norman Vaughan got ONT
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