712 APPENDIX 



When we arrived in a locality where we thought one of the depots 

 ought to be, we stopped for several hours or perhaps over-night to 

 make a search. I did not expect to find any of them but we did find 

 one which by good luck was in the middle of an old ice floe that had 

 escaped crushing. 



The second morning out I shot a small bear but the rest of the 

 boys would not eat it as they weren't hungry enough yet, so I fed it 

 to the dogs. This was better for them than the one-pound pemmican 

 ration. 



The morning when we left camp the wind was freshening from the 

 northeast. It gradually increased to a blizzard and kept up for five 

 or six days. In the morning of the sixth day we arrived at the 

 pressed-up ice where the edge of the landfast floe meets the moving 

 pack. This proved to be about forty miles from Wrangel Island. The 

 ice was crushing and tumbling so that we just had to wait for it to 

 stop. I picked out what I thought was a good cake for camping. I 

 then went to have a better look at the ridge and found the ice in a 

 frightful condition. I got on top of a small pinnacle which was not 

 moving just then and found the ridge extended about three and a half 

 miles through such ice as I had never before seen in my twenty-five 

 years' living in this country. Nothing could be done till the crushing 

 stopped. I had grave fears for the Doctor's and the Mate's parties if 

 they got caught in this. 



We camped and waited for the ice to stop crushing. That evening 

 about eight o'clock we were all in our blankets and I was listening to 

 the ice groaning and vibrating when, snap ! the ice cracked right across 

 the floor of the house. We tumbled out as quickly as we could, packed 

 the gear on the sled, hitched up the dogs and got everything ready for 

 retreat. I found we were surrounded by lanes of water, but, as we were 

 two or three miles from the ridge, I thought we wouldn't do anything 

 until daylight unless we had to because it was so dark you could cut it 

 and it was impossible to see where you were going. So we walked 

 around to keep ourselves warm until daylight. When it was light 

 enough we started to climb back. Then the ice began to get its work 

 in, splitting and opening up in all directions. But there was no 

 crushing where we were. About 4 P. M. we managed to get back to 

 the solid pack and picked a place to camp. 



Next morning I heard more crushing. We again packed up. We 

 moved southeast a few miles and then sovith and camped about two 

 miles from the ridge. The Chief and I walked down to have a look 

 at it and found it still crushing a bit, so we concluded to wait another 

 day. We knew the Captain's gang would be along shortly. All hands 

 could then pitch in and cut our way through, for we knew the ridge 

 was solidly grounded on the sea bottom and once inside it we would be 

 safe. It certainly was there to stay till summer. It seemed to me 

 this would have been a good place to stop and make several trips back 



