The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1936-01-16
ADMIRAL BYRD LECTURES
ON ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION

ClleTG uIlG1l Oltt Va tAlC POI W ASA AAA
Every party was tied together by a
rope thus saving many a life. The
tractors were playing an important
part in exploration for the first
time. Supplies for the dog-sled had
to be packed in a special box in a
special way because many times
sled had gone down in these crew
ices and the dogs were the whole
means of getting it up to the top
again. Likewise many times the
dogs would go down and the men
had a time getting sleds and dogs
back. During his long stay Byrd
once noticed while it was SO de-
grees above in New York it was ~
degrees below zero in his camp.
There was minor change of tenn
perature of about 20 degrees be-
tween the outside and inside of the
houses.
During the long night they had
many storm and very windy ones
when they came. After the long win
ter night they lifted the hood of one
of their tractors and found it pack
ed solid with snow and ice. -. 49,
No one should get the idea that
it was all work and no play. Two
pups were born and since the
mother had been sick they were
brought up on a nursing bottle.
(The great mystery is how a nurs-
ing bottle and nipple happened to
get on. a trip like that.) Later five
more pups were born and to have
something to do the men put them
in front of a specially made sled,
but the mother didn't like it and
the babies were promptly brought
back home The dogs were fed a
specially prepared mixture called
"pemican." It is a meat which has
all the water removed from it and
mixed with cereal and fat. It is
then cut into carefully weighted
amounts and packed away. This is
sometimes eaten by the men.
Seal meat is also given the dogs.
They kill seals that weigh from 500
tot 1000 pounds. When frozen this
is chopped up with an axe. Many
axes have been broken doing it.
To keep the vegetables of the
company from spelling all the wa.
ter was taken out and they looked
like dried leaves or grass.
The men were always kept in
laughter by the actions of the PEN
quins. One of the flock was caught
and black bow tie was placed
around his neck. It fit in very well
with his full evening suit and he
didn't seem to mind. If the men
would run up and down in front of
them and wave their arms, the pen
gums would mock them to the best
of their ability. s.s u.
The night ended and trips were
made to reach Byrd. When they
finally came upon him, they found
him extremely sick. The supplies
were loaded and they came back to
their main camp. During the long
night they had had one man stay
in the barn with the four cows. He
had to be dug out in the spring and
his first words were Say, what's
that funny smell out here?"
AS this trip was made in the
benefit in scientific exploration
they were making many expert
ments. While blasting to find how
deep the snow was they found it to
be $500 feet deep.
The boats arrived and all hands
were at work loading what supplies
there were on the boats. When
everything was set they decided to
try to get some penquins to the U.
S. as it had never been successful
before. They were put in 24-foot
refrigerator and came through nice
ly, even the flock of babies which
arrived a few days later.
At last they set sail. They had
had a successful trip and accom-
plished many things. Among them
was an appendicitis operation which
was successfully completed. With
sigh of relief and regret they
turned their backs on Little AM
erica the second time.