Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-17

depots will consist largely Of dog food
for the geological party. It viii also
mark the trail for the geological party
over the most dangerous part of the
Barrier. attempting to avoid crevaSses
and, when they must be crossed, find
ing the best way through them.
The teams win leave Little America
with a heavy load and after they pick
up the supplies on the Barrier, which
are to be distributed from the first to
the fourth depot, their load will be
about LOO pounds. This will de-
crease rapidly, of course. as the first
depots are laid, and when they come
to the worst crevasses just before reach
ing the fourth depot, the load will, for
tunately, consist only of the supplies
for the last depot to be put down by
them and the food they need for the
return Journey
Another fortunate thing is that be-
fore picking up the maximum load, A
miles south of Little America. the dogs
will have become accustomed to the
trail and will be In better condition
for the heaviest pulling.
Depot Laying Found Essential.
Depot laying has been found abso-
lutely essential in all polar travel. Peary
established depots on his journey to
the North Pole, men turning back after
leaving their sledge loads at regular
intervals. and the English explorers OF
the interior Antarctic also established
depots in this way. Amundsen put
down one depot during his first season
and extended 1t early in his second
season when he was forced to abandon
an early start because of the cold
The importance of the depot Is that
1t enables the advance party either to
travel light part Of the way, or, as In
this case, to avoid the necessity of lay
ing their own depots by relays, or some
other methods, before making their
final start on their journey.
The geological party will be able to
follow the route marked by the sup
porting party half way to their objec-
tive, the Queen Maud range, and to use
dog food in the depot so that. when they
finally begin the last half OF their
Journey, they will do so with practically
the same loads with which they left the
base, Little America. So 1t can be
seen that the work of the supporting
party Is an integral part of the trip
south and necessary to the success OF
the geological work.
Supporting Party's Equipment.
The equipment of the supporting
party is somewhat different from that
OF the geOlOglcat party. 1neTe Will
be three teams of nine dogs each, each
team pulling two sledges, fastened to-
gether with cross-chainS so that the
rear sledge follows in the track of the
front one.
The front sledges will be freight
sledges and two of the trailers will be
basket sledges, with high sides at the
rear. They have a brake on which the
driver can jump in case of emergency.
The third trailer will be light sledge
made by Christopher Braathen and to
be used by him, as his dogs are some
what lighter than the others.
All the trailing sleds have gee at the
front-strong poles sticking upward at
an angle of about 20 degrees, on which
the driver can throw his weight and
guide the sledge around obstacles.
The dogs will be harnessed in pairs
on either side of a long line, called the
gang line, with the leader at the head.
The harnesses are somewhat different,
as, instead of stiff collar, harness
of webbing easily adjustable to the size
OF the dogs has been made to suit the
individual liking of the drivers of the
supporting party. 1t is light and strong.
Two tents will be carried by the sup
porting party, tents of the 1obster-pot