OVER THE SOUTH POLE

Hokitika Guardian, 3 December 1929, Page 6

OVER THE SOUTH POLE

(13y Bussell Owen— Copyrighted 1929 by the New York Times Company, and St. Louis Post Despatch. All rights for publication reserved throughout the world. Wireless to New York Times.)

[United Press Association.—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.]

SOUTH POLE, December 1

It had been lonely wandering round over that endless plateau. Meantime the weather turned hazy and that did not augur well. The mountains were entirely out of sight. On and on they flew until a shadowy line was visible and slowly the mountains began to lift out of the distance, their heads circling the rim in that white world over which they were flying. At the Pole, June estimated that they had two hundred and fifty gallons of gas left. That ought to be enough if everything went well, and they could see the snow slipping by under the skiis much more rapidly than before. They think they made ten miles an hour better time coming back over the plateau than going out, but they were glad to see the mountains again, even though at first it was difficult to recognise them. They were fust like -company arriving, laughed June. AA'e got over being lonesome right' away. As they approached the mountains they could see clouds forming and the. wind picked up more- drift d snout., and. whirled it thicker • below them. It sifted off the sides of the mountains and drifted over the glacier. When they reached Axel Heiberg they had risen to thirteen thousand and entered the Great Canyon at that height. They then began to slide down it. Even so, the mountains towered above th'om and some of them to the east seemed twenty thousand feet high. They were thrown up and down by violent currents, as they slid down the mountain pass over the glacier, sometimes the plane being tossed to one side as if it were a chip. I skated round like T was on skates, laughed Mac, and finally sat on a blow torch. 1 had to move around, hut I shot out of every window in that plane! Some of these pictures are; just going ■fo he blurs of waljs shooting past.j .' Byrd again went forward ou tlie [down trip standing beside Bntehen. GlacieE Gorge was full of jieh'ks sticking up through the ice and little clouds were forming about them and on the sides of the mountains -which lined the way. Ascending currents flowed from the bare rock- heated by sun and cold down drafts dropped them, as they passed over the precipices of ice and snow. There was one great hole, the sides of it nearly six thousand feet, where, the plane went down like a rock for five hundred feet. Everyone inside was skidding and hanging oir and Matwas struggling again with his camera. Presently we came out over the Barrier to the east of the" depot placed on’ £ lie former flight. Byrd turned east for a. time to see something of the country over that way hut the finishing gas caused him to turn back-after; a short an|l he headed frtf the depot. waV hard to find at first. The mountains looked so different.

The plane slid on fast motors throttled down at this new Pole, hut tliey changed to a more familiar aspect as the plane neared to the base and they looked like old friends, said Mac. When we got down there he said June and I thought—Well we can walk home from here. “Yes,” laughed Mac, “ and T thought the same thing, only I thought T could run that four hundred miles. June climbed into the cockpit and took the controls as he had been on the former flight and after smoke bombs had been dropped by the Commander to get the wind direction June picked a fairly smooth landing place. Fortunately the wind was such that he could land parallel to the snow ridges and by the time the plane hit the bumps, the speed had decreased by half. We taxied around to get the plane in position so that a good picture could be taken of it there on the snow with the base and mountains in the background and Mac ground the last of his movie film. He noticed that since the former landing much more ice had formed by melting at the foot of I'Tlives Glacier. It was like looking at a big pool of water shining in the sun.

At the base the Commander took more sights, and then buried more food for the geological party. While he was doing this Balchen and Mac were opening the gasoline tins left there and passing them up to June on top of the wing whore he stood in the cold wind of the idling motors. WASHINGTON, December 1. President Hoover radioed congratulations to Byrd. When they had refuelled which took about an hour they took off again and made it easily with a light load and the wind to help them. The load was on the wings before they hit the bumps which eased the shock on the landing gear and skiis. From there the flight was comparatively easy although Byrd had to navigate all the way. They went somewhat to the east and when they came hack did not see the dog trail at all. They first hit it at the crevasses about Ifif) miles out, making a perfect landfall there and then following the compass course for the trail was completley invisible at this time. They came straight on to camp. The Commander flew part of the way and Mac also took the controls. On tho latter part of the flight they did not see a landmark until a few miles from the camp. They then sighted the radio towers dead ahead. Tn a few hours there was a high wind blowing so much drift snow that the house windows were buried this morn-