A TRAGEDY OF THE FAR NORTH 



years in establishing depots, one beyond the other, and 

 then when you have placed supplies all along the road 

 make your journey up and back, pushing from one out- 

 post to the other?" The answer is very simple: So far 

 as the land goes this is just what every Pole-seeker tries 

 to do. But it is useless to establish depots upon the sea- 

 ice beyond the land, for the conclusive reason that they 

 could never be found again, except by rare good luck. 

 Even in winter the ice-sheet is never at rest. It is con- 

 stantly drifting to and fro, with a general movement in that 

 region, as was shown by the voyage of the Fram, toward 

 the west. If one left a depot upon the ice he could never 

 be sure the ice had not opened there during his absence 

 and destroyed it. On returning from their sledge journey, 

 Nansen and Johansen made no effort to find the Fram 

 again, though they were at no time more than 115 miles 

 from the ship, and on their southward march, with a 

 dreadful and doubtful prospect before them, they must 

 have passed within 30 or 35 miles of her at farthest. 



Our winter headquarters were established at Cape Teget- 

 thoff, and there the main party passed the winter. From 

 this point a party was sent out in August to establish the 

 advance station. The principle involved in this plan was 

 precisely the same as that employed by Lieutenant Peary, 

 who passed the winter at his headquarters at Etah or Cape 

 Sabine, but used as an outpost or depot Fort Conger, 

 Greely's old house, 200 miles to the north. The party 

 sent out to establish our outpost stopped at Cape Hellerj 

 there they built a hut of rocks. A few pieces of driftwood 

 served for the ridge-pole. The hides of walrus, killed 

 in the water pools of Austria sound, near by, formed the 

 roof. In this hut were accumulated about a ton of stores 

 for use the following spring — sledges, boats, and other arti- 

 cles needed on sledge journeys. Forty dogs were there 

 also, and for their sustenance during the winter the flesh of 

 fifteen walruses was cut up in small squares and stored in 

 a bin built of snow blocks. To protect the hut from the 

 winter's storms high walls of snow were built, and these 

 made the premises look so much like an old-fashioned 

 fortification that Mr. E. P>. Baldwin, leader of this party, 

 named the place Fort McKinley. 



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