Imperial Valley press., 1935-12-02


|. The propeller on our wireless gen.
/ Grating set. which furnishes the
necessary electrical current To broad
cast. froze solid and couldn't be used.
We landed on Marjorie lake to
thaw it out and in landing We struck
a piece of solid ice with our ski
shaped pontoons. Our left pontoon
was so badly damaged that We had
to go to work repairing 1t. That
required nearly Is hours. But here
We are at Polazeruk safe and sound
and everyone is happy again.
I do hope that the children read
ing the Post and Press were not un-
duly anxious over our silence for so
many hours. If We had been strand
ed around Marjorie lake, unable TO
take off again, it is very likely we
would never have reached civili-
zation again.
Like Frozen Ocean
The entire country over which We
flew was one vast plateau or tundra
covered with a heavy mantle of
snow. In the short Arctic summer
this is one vast swamp dotted with
innumerable nf.neless lakes. We
might as well have flown over a
frozen ocean, devoid of any land
marks. We had to fly solely by com-
pass.
The air was clear and calm as is
usually the case here up North when
the thermometer registers 40 be-
low zero. The exhaust of the en-
gines. which in normal cold weather
would have kept our cabin warm,
brought the temperature up to only
10 degrees above zero 1t would have
necessitated a brick wall or heavy
log cabin to keep the intense cold
out, instead of our canvas sides, un-
der an icy blast of 100 miles an
hour.
Our electrically heated flying
suits, donned over our Eskimo rein
deer suits, were the only things
which kept our limbs timber enough
to use the controls. Even SO, it was
impossible to sit for any length of
time immovable at the controls.
Mrs. Kleinschmidt relieved me every
half hour for 10 or IS minutes which
is the main reason why We succeed
ed and now are here. She says. and
we all agree with her, that dog
teams or reindeer will look mighty
good to her from now on.
Eskimos Hid in Igloos
Well, wish the Editor and the
children could have been here to see
our landing at this Eskimo village
Imagine you had never seen or even
heard of an airplane, dirigible or
balloon or even OF an automobile or
railroad train, nothing but a team
of dogs TO travel with. Then you hear
a rumbling sound that increases to
a great roar, next a monster bird
appears circling over your village.
Lower and lower it comes roaring
with deafening noise. Nothing that
man has ever seen can be compared
with this giant bird; therefore it
must be from another world, or is
a dragon. A bad spirit come to de-
your them. The Eskimos scurried
like rats into their underground ig-
loos.
We struck Victoria Land, west OF
Dease Strait and followed the high
bluffs to the west. The Eskimos at
VINO SAA4lI "a bAA1 gReiA w AAOS A4fC III
snow houses but in underground
igloos, the roofs of which are almost
level with the ground. IN the center
of the roof is a window made of seal
gut. The light shining through
these windows was what betrayed
their village to us in the air, other
wise there were only few dogs and
several caches for meat which we
would scarcely have noticed.
1t was an even, pe,iectly smooth
landing place and our ski-pontoons
slid over the smooth surface until
they came to a stop without a jar,
about quarter of mile from the
village.
III send a dispatch telling you
about the village and the Eskimos
as soon as we have unloaded our
supplies tomorrow.