SLEDGING 
Cape Columbia was discovered over fifty 
years ago, by the intrepid Captain Hall, who 
gave his life to Arctic exploration, and lies 
buried on the Greenland coast. From the 
time of the arrival of the Roosevelt at Cape 
Sheridan, the previous September, communi- 
cations with Cape Columbia were opened up, 
the trail was made and kept open all through 
the winter by constant travel between the ship 
and the cape. Loads of supplies, in anticipa- 
tion of the start for the Pole, were sledged 
there. 
The route to Cape Columbia is through a 
region of somber magnificence. Huge bee- 
tling cliffs overlook the pathway; dark savage 
headlands, around which we had to travel, pro- 
ject out into the ice-covered waters of the 
ocean, and vast stretches of wind-swept plains 
meet the eye in alternate changes. From Cape 
Sheridan to Cape Columbia is a distance of 
ninety-three miles. In ordinary weather, it 
took about three and a half marches, although 
on the return from the Pole it was covered in 
two marches, men and dogs breezing in. 
On February 18, 1909, I left the Roosevelt 
on what might be a returnless journey. The 
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