Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-30
BY FREDERICK GRIFFIN.

BY FREDERICK GRIFFIN.
WINNIPEG. Manitoba. September &c
! CN.A.N .A)-First definite trace Of the
! eight lost Canadian explorers and theil
/ two planes since they left Baker Lake
! base on Chesterfield Inlet on September
was revealed at the week end. This
! trace narroWS somewhat the vast area
/ OF search and makes it almost certain
! that they came down at a point OF
! points beyond the siXty-fifth parallel
! They possibly are stranded within the
| Arctic Circle up near the last limit:
| of the Canadian mainland, perhaps or
! the shore of some Communicating inle1
! of the subpolar seas.
On the other hand, there is the
| sad chance that lost in the fogs which
| prevail along, these harsh north coasts
they may have flown blindly out into
one of the CULTS.
Compass Fails in This Area,
II these men. missing now three
weeks, were caught in fog then they
were blind indeed, for airnlen who
have flown there declare that the
| compass gees on a jag in this area
which is suburb of the magnetic
pole.
Regarding the trace found of them
! it was established that the lost party
uIIuCI wi. ~. II. II. I1dCEalpLIlc, EIeSl-
| dent OF the Dominion Explorers Co.
| had spent the night of September
| at Beverley Lake. which is at the enc
| of series of lakes running due west
| from Chesterfield Inlet and Baker Lake
whence they set out. The flyers at least
reached the end of their first leg safely
on their hop to Bathurst Inlet, er
route to the Mackenzie River.
! Two relief planes under the command
t@f
Fokker piloted by Roy Brown OF
Western Canada Always and WASP
Fa!rchild pi!oted by w. Spence OF
| Dominion Explorers, pushed off Thurs
| day from Stoney Rapids toward the
Barren Lands to seek trace OF the
MacAlpine party.
Rescuers Win to Point.
No word came from these daring men
| of the rescue party, who yentured into
! the teeth of advancing Winter with
machines equipped not with skis but
| with pontoonS, until yesterday, when a
| radio message came from Baker Lake
| on Chesterfield Inlet, saying that they
had wen through to that point, having
! passed Beverley Lake on the way and
| discovered traces that showed that the
| MacAlpine party had camped there and
| refueied thc!r machine from the gas
| cache maintained at this point by the
| exploration company.
This flight of Pilots Brown and
| Spence, over more than five hundred
miles of uninhabited territory with
| Winter likely at any time, found evil
dence that the area i'll which the eight
| men'are lost already is in the first grip
| of ice and snow.
| For, when Brown and Spence found
| the Beverley Lake camp of the missing
men, they began to push on north
| toward Pelley Lake and Bathurst IN
! let on the north rim of the Canadian
mainland, the direction in which the
| lost planes are presumed to have
| headed. But Brown and Spence were
beaten back by Winter.
| The land north of Beverley Lake. al
most along the level of the siXty-fifth
| parallel, rises to height of some 1000
| feet. Here Winter reigned. Lakes were
| found frozen, where the pontoon equip
ped machines of Brown and Spence
| could not have landed. And they ran
into fog, frost and snow. They veered
| east and slipped over the open water
ways to Baker Lake.
Finding May Be Postponed.
It does not look possible that sea-
| planes from the south will cross the
| height of land in this area until Win
| ter spreads south and makes it posi-
| BILE to fly with skis from the southern
bases. That may postpone the find
| ing of the lost explorers for five or
i six weeks.
Spence and Brown have been ordered
| by Winnipeg headquarters to comeback
south and get skis.
The above clue to the missing eX-
| plorers has come to hearten, and at the
same time to dishearten, the relief ex-
pedition, which is being organized on
| the basis that the real search will not
be possible until Winter, already creep
| ing down as related from the the north
| has locked the land areas with snow
and the waterways with ice to make
the terrain of the north uniform for
| flying with skis.
Winters Barrier Defies Two.
| While the clue at Beverley Lake has
given heart to the men undertaking the
| epic task of rescuing the lost men from
| the tracklesS Barren Lands, 1t has add
| ed at the same time somewhat to the gen.
eraI anxiety felt, For If Brown and Spence
could not break through Winter.
breastworks on the height of land, who
else could?
Undoubtedly the two missing plane.
headed north toward Policy Lake
en- route to Bathurst Inlet, from Bsy'
erley Lake, but where did they land?
Did they, too, run into Winter ovel
the height of land or in the area south
Of Bathurst Inlet and lose their wa!
as they few blindly?
Are they down somewhere In tina
bleak. treelesS, uninhabited, lost LIANT
or did they 60 on. blindly?
It appears now that the eysutua
search viii have to be nads north ant
al - IL 4
Circle from as far west as Great: ). IA;