Part 17

Reaching Black Knob Point, where there was a tent, they found it blown down. After some delay in repitching it, they started overland toward Sun Bay, through soft and deep snow, and soon afterward reached Stony Cape, where they encamped, all the party being very much fatigued.

Resuming their march, they found the snow not particularly deep, but with a light crust, not quite hard enough to bear, which made the traveling fatiguing. They stopped to rest every hour, the weather being really too warm for comfort, so that Lockwood actually longed for the cold and hard work he had experienced in north Greenland. They reached Keppel’s Head in three hours, and found that _Mr._ Keppel had a very stony face, and not a handsome head by any means, being a lofty promontory and precipitous mass of rocks, very grand and imposing. In two hours more they reached Hillock Depot, and stopped to get some corned beef left there by Lockwood in June of the preceding year, the English rations left there having all been eaten by foxes.

On reaching Depot Point, they transferred everything from the supporting sledge and sent it back to the station, afterward getting along with the whole load very well. The high, steep cliffs on their right threw their shadows almost across the fiord, and kept them out of the glare of the sun moving along the northern horizon. Fox-tracks constantly appeared. These tracks were found everywhere, and yet it was but seldom that the animals themselves were seen; and in thinking of their habits, Lockwood wondered if they laid up in store their surplus food against the days of want. A tame fox kept at the station would always take what was offered; but, when the ice-wall was pulled down, a large supply was found which Mr. Reuben had abandoned on regaining his liberty.

Greatly enjoying the pleasant weather, after finding some Esquimaux relics, and making a vain effort to surmount a glacier, they finally reached the head of Ella Bay, where, after some delay in finding freshwater ice, and snow hard and deep enough to pitch the tent, they went into camp. Lockwood and Frederick then took the team and empty sledge, and proceeded up a little water-course a few miles. Found less ice and more stones than they expected, but, having ascertained that they could advance up the valley with some extra labor, returned. Numerous fox, ptarmigan, hare, and musk-ox tracks were seen, but no game. Brainard became permanent cook, as the difficult business of making observations devolved entirely on Lockwood. The cliffs about here were grand, at least three thousand feet high.

Lockwood was disappointed in getting equal altitudes of the sun for longitude (time), the lofty cliffs shutting out the orb of light on each side of the meridian; and yet he had camped away out, a mile or two from the cliffs, in order to avoid this difficulty. This was one of the annoyances he had frequently experienced. After lying awake for hours, or taking his sleep by short cat-naps with one eye open, and running out in order to catch the sun at the right time, and all this after a tiresome march, it was very provoking to have “some miserable cliff” lift its ugly head right in his way. To get the local time _well_, it was necessary to take the sun’s altitude some hours before noon, and then catch the precise instant of the same altitude in the afternoon, the sun being nearly on the meridian at a time midway between the times of the two observations. This middle time needed certain corrections, and then, the watch or chronometer being regulated to Greenwich or Washington time, the difference of time, or longitude, was known. The little streams occupying the valleys (or cañons, as they should be called) of this Arctic country are utterly insignificant compared with the depressions themselves. A great, ditch-like break in the country, from two to five miles wide and ten to thirty miles long, the sides of which are vertical walls rising thousands of feet, may be the bed of a little brook that in summer-time can be readily waded, and at other times of the year can hardly be seen under the universal mantle of snow. It was one of these that they followed in its windings. Here and there they would encounter very deep snow, and the sledge-runners would stick on the beds of stone, requiring all their efforts to get under way again. In about an hour they came to a long, level area, indicating Lake Katherine, which Lockwood had previously discovered and named when up near here in the launch, and then the view up the valley was unbroken as far as the glacier. Its terminal face could be clearly seen, looking like a little wall of ice three or four feet high, upon which one could readily step. Back of this the surface gently ascended until lost in the snow-covered mountain-side far beyond. The whole thing looked like a mass of barber’s lather, flowing slowly down a deep ditch. For some hours, Lockwood and Brainard both thought there would be no trouble in getting sledge and dogs up the _little_ face to the undulating and gradually ascending surface beyond. After proceeding some distance on the lake, Lockwood stopped the sledge, and with Brainard went off to the right, ascending a low ridge that ran parallel with the lake and between it and the high cliffs on the north side of the valley. They found the top to be four hundred feet high, and beyond was a wide ravine running down to the bay. There they saw the tracks of three musk-oxen that had evidently passed along on their way toward the fiord; also many tracks of foxes, ptarmigan, lemming, and hare. Probably, the chief reason for seeing so few animals, though so many tracks, was that the birds and animals (excepting the musk-ox) are all pure white in color for three fourths of the year. One might _look_ at a hare or ptarmigan a few yards away and yet not _see_ it. The lake called Katherine was found to be three or four miles long. At its farther end, the ground was quite bare of snow in places, and everywhere the snow was hard and thin, so that they went along very rapidly. Every half-hour, they thought, would bring them to the glacier, but the longer they traveled, the farther the glacier seemed to move away. When only a short walk from the glacier, as Lockwood thought, he stopped the sledge, and with Brainard went on ahead. The _face_ seemed much higher than they had supposed it, but it was only after walking a mile that they realized what it was—a wall of ice, straight up and down, stretching a mile across the valley from side to side, and nearly two hundred feet high.

After surveying this wonderful object, they returned to the sledge and pitched the tent, seeing no way of proceeding farther; and there they remained a day or two to get a good look at the surroundings before deciding upon the proper course to pursue. A decided fall in the temperature was quite noticeable, due, doubtless, to the proximity of the glacier. They got to sleep after a while, and during the day took a good rest, getting up in the afternoon. The twain went again to reconnoitre, leaving Frederick to hunt, or amuse himself in any other way he chose. They went to the glacier-wall again, and followed along its foot to the south side of the valley. This wall was beautiful and imposing. From the top, one third of the way downward, the ice was of a charming green color, and looked like glass; below this came a white surface, in which small stones were numerous imbedded in the ice, with here and there streaks of a brownish color, like chocolate ice-cream mixed with vanilla. A close approach showed that it was earth. At the foot of the wall, probably concealing a “terminal moraine,” was an undulating bank of snow, and over the upper edge of the wall hung wreaths of drifted snow that looked like the icing of cake. The ground for some distance out was strewed with blocks of ice and stone of all imaginable shapes and sizes. On reaching the corner of the glacier, a similar wall was seen extending up along its flank, abutting against an inclined plain of immense bowlders and masses of rock, the _débris_ from the cliffs above. The angle thus formed was full of large blocks of ice, many recently detached from the wall of ice. Traveling along the flank proved so difficult that they took to the incline and scrambled for some time over immense masses of rock and snow, often across deep cracks and openings concealed by the snow covering them. After gaining an altitude of several hundred feet, they reached something like a terrace formation, from which they overlooked all the lower part of the glacier. It presented an undulating and gradually rising surface, extending up the valley fifteen or twenty miles, or more. Just opposite to them, a branch glacier came in from the north through a gap in the mighty cliffs. The slope of this branch in places was very precipitous, showing great rents and fissures. The surface of the glacier was free from snow, except, here and there, in what seemed little depressions in the ice. There was no way of climbing upon the glacier, much less of getting the sledge and dogs up. It would simply have been ascending a precipice of ice two hundred feet high. To get upon it had been their original intention, although Frederick went through a pantomime at the time, which they did not exactly understand, expressing how a sledge would go faster and faster, and finally shoot over the edge like a waterfall. Whether he ever had had such an experience in Greenland he did not say, but he would never have had it more than once. Seeing no way of getting on or along the glacier, except with the greatest labor, Lockwood proposed to Brainard that they should ascend the cliffs and get an outlook from the top. It did not seem very far to the crest, and accordingly they started, but a more severe climb they had never had, and hoped never to have again. It was a very steep incline of rocks and snow all the way up. When the barometer showed an elevation of twenty-five hundred feet, Lockwood found himself on a ledge of rocks from which he could get neither up nor down for some time. Beneath him was a steep surface of frozen snow, falling on which he would have gone down-hill like an avalanche. Brainard had inclined more to the left, and, by following the side of a steep gully full of ice, had got ahead of him and out of sight.

Finally, Lockwood reached what had long seemed the summit, and stopped to rest. Presently Brainard came in sight, and said the top was about a mile off. They then started together, walked over a gradually ascending surface like the top of a vast dome, covered with hard frozen snow and ice, and very smooth and slippery, giving them frequent falls, and at 4 A. M. reached the summit and viewed the country around for many miles. Being cold, they did not stay long—only long enough to take bearings by compass of several distant mountains to the south, snow and ice-clad peaks with many glaciers between. To the west the country was less broken, and seemingly was a lofty surface of snow and ice. They traced the glacier near their camp about twenty miles toward the west-south-west, when it, and the valley containing it, came to an end in a high mountain-ridge. This wonderful feature of nature possessed great interest for Lockwood. The face of the barometer gave an elevation of the mountain or cliff on which they stood of 5,050 feet above the sea-level. As their tent was only three hundred feet above tide-water, their climb had not been a small one. They descended the mountain readily, although they had to use hands as well as feet all the way down, in some places carrying with them a land-slide of earth and stones.

They were constantly deceived as to distances and heights. A headland on the fiord looked but a half-hour’s travel away, yet it took two or three hours to reach it. So these cliffs, which looked from below like an easy climb, proved the highest and steepest in that benighted region. They got back to the tent after thirteen hours of as hard work as they had yet experienced, and completely tired out. They took meridian observation for latitude, and then enjoyed a hearty meal of ptarmigan killed by Frederick during their absence.

On the 2d of May, they left their beds and had breakfast at about midnight. Found it snowing and unpleasant. Saw little else to do than retrace their steps to Ella Bay, and thence proceed around to Beatrix Bay and try to get inland from that place; spent the day, however, in further reconnoitring, as Lockwood did not wish to leave before night. Brainard went over to the northeast corner of the glacier, but found no way of proceeding in that direction, and, after carefully studying the surroundings, Lockwood could see no means of getting on even with packs. Spent most of the day in taking observations, etc. Occasionally they heard a noise like thunder, caused by the falling in of sections of the great wall before them, more formidable than any to be seen in China. The ground at the foot of the wall was only the bed of a stream with blocks of ice, and here and there a big bowlder. Everything being packed up and ready, they started down the stream again, examining several deep breaks in the cliffs to see if there was any prospect of _flanking_ the glacier by means of one of them, but without success. There was no way of getting up even a short distance, except by leaving dogs and sledge behind and taking to the knapsacks, which was not then to be thought of.

They got along without event and reached their old camp after midnight, pitching the tent farther toward the north side, in order to see the sun when ready to take observations. Shortly after getting in, Frederick laid his whip down for an instant, and the promising dog Barker gobbled up all except about six inches of the butt-end in much less time than it takes to mention the fact. The praises of Barker had been sung ever since his birth, and this was only one of many of the tricks by which he proved his proficiency. Frederick quickly made a new lash, however, and _gave it_ to Barker on the next march.

On the 3d of May, as they pushed their way onward, they took a series of angles and paced distances to get at the height of the tremendous cliffs near at hand. The result gave an altitude of forty-one hundred feet, which was almost vertical, the _débris_ extending a third of the way up, and not being quite so steep. They then followed the north shore to Record Point, and thence took a straight course for the head of Beatrix Bay. The cliffs were so grand that Lockwood never tired of gazing at them, wondering how they were first formed, and thinking what tremendous force of nature had scooped out the awful chasm that comprised the fiord. These walls, high as they were, were only one half or one third of the height of the great snow-covered elevations back of and beyond them.

The appreciation of the grand in this region was frequently marred by fatigue and hunger, and so it was on the present occasion, Lockwood being glad enough when, at half-past one, they reached the head of Beatrix Bay. In the valley which they now entered, they concluded to spend another day. This one, like nearly all the valleys in this region, was simply a cañon, a narrow, ditch-like formation, walled in by steep, high cliffs. It was occupied as usual by a very insignificant stream, the successor of some mighty mass of water or ice which had originally hollowed out the great gorge. This, and the head of Ella Bay, were the farthest reached by Lieutenant Archer, R. N., who explored the fiord named for him to find out whether it was simply a _fiord_, or a strait or channel, as the Polaris people had asserted it to be. His Mount Neville, thirty-eight hundred feet high, Lockwood looked for in vain as a regular head to the valley, and finally fixed it as one of the cliffs which, a little way back, rose slightly higher, to a dome. Archer was a day making the ascent. Lockwood and Brainard walked about four miles up the valley, and saw its termination nearly six miles beyond, when they retraced their course to camp, greatly disappointed in seeing no game, except two or three ptarmigans. The valley seemed practicable for the sledge, and so, after considering one or two narrow and rocky gorges which came in from the west, they determined to follow it to its head (north-northwest), and then seek farther a route in the direction desired, which was west or southwest. As they proceeded, the weather became bright and clear, and the mercury was only 2° below zero. They passed up the valley, leaving in _cache_ for return two days’ rations. The dogs were in excellent condition, and, in spite of stones, went along very well. There was some ice in the stream-bed, and of snow quite an abundance. Above the farthest reached the day before, a small lake was discovered—a level expanse of snow with ice beneath. The lower part of the valley had two distinct elevations, the stream-bed, a very easy grade, forming one, while along the stream extended broken terraces, termed shoulders, which from the cliffs projected out on either side, sometimes beyond the middle of the valley, which was from one to three miles wide. The breadth decreased as they ascended, and after several miles it was but a few hundred yards wide. At this point, they suddenly came to a place where the valley seemed to run out, the whole breadth being a mass of rocks. Good traveling was seen beyond, however, and, after working an hour doubling up (taking half-load at a time), they got over, and shortly afterward the real end of the valley was reached. They then turned short off to the north, and, going up a steep, rocky ravine, about midnight pitched the tent for further survey of the scene on the morrow.

From this camp a low-looking “hog-back” was seen to close in the head of the valley. They determined to ascend this and get a look at the country, it seeming certain that the _big_ sledge could go no farther. After making some coffee as strong as it could be made, and drinking about a quart each, to bolster up their spirits, the twain again started out, leaving Frederick to crawl into his sleeping-bag or keep warm as best he might. They proceeded north up a rocky ravine about a mile, and then came to a level plain stretching northward, some half a dozen miles farther, to a line of cliffs running across which seemed to indicate another valley or lake. To the right were two or three high, dome-shaped elevations, and to the left was Mount Easy, so called, afterward, on account of the ease with which they ascended it, and in contradistinction to Mount Difficult, the last they had ascended. They soon came to a pretty little lake—Lake Carolyn—only a few miles long. This they crossed, and, in places where the snow had been blown off, they could see down through the beautiful transparent ice, seven feet in thickness, even to the stones on the bottom of the lake near the shore. This lake had an elevation of eleven hundred feet above the sea. In three hours from camp, they reached the top of the mountain, an elevation of 2,720 feet, and had a good view. To the south the country was very high, and several glacier-walls came into view, probably connections of the glacier above Ella Bay. The Henrietta Nesmith glacier, the Garfield range, and the United States Mountains, were plainly seen, and also the depression in which lay Lake Hazen. Snow and ice in every direction. The cliffs to the north of the camp were very conspicuous, but whether along a valley or lake they could not make out. They stayed on top two hours, and then descended the south side of the mountain through a deep ravine filled in places with snow-drifts, and lower down with stones and bowlders. However, they went down very rapidly, and got to camp in two hours. The cliffs to the north seeming to extend to the west, Lockwood decided to visit them and take that route. The only other feasible route was by way of the ravine they had descended from the mountain-top.

Shortly after midnight of the 7th, Frederick had the dogs and little sledge ready, and, with nothing upon it but the shot-gun, hatchet, and telescope, they all started. The dogs were irrepressible, and took the little sledge over the rocks in a way calculated to cripple all hands, for they had to run alongside and hold on to the upstanders to keep up. Occasionally a runner of the sledge would catch under a bowlder and bring the sledge to a sudden stand-still, the immense strain of the strong dogs threatening to break it. On reaching the lake, all three of the men managed to crowd upon the sledge, and the dogs went at a rapid trot over its smooth, level surface. Beyond Lake Carolyn was a ravine leading toward the river, and there the dogs took to a gallop, and in an hour they reached a rocky height overlooking a long, wide valley walled in on the north side by high, precipitous cliffs, and on the south by heights of even greater elevation, but not so steep. There seemed no way, however, to get down. The water-course from the lake here became a narrow gorge blocked with large bowlders, the spaces between which were full of soft snow. It was not inviting, but they tried it, and in an hour reached the river-bed, the descent being most laborious. Here they found themselves only four hundred feet above the sea-level, and, turning to the right, went down-stream in a northeastern direction, the barometer constantly showing that they were going _down_-stream. _En route_ they passed over several small lakes formed by expansions of the stream. In many places the ice was very thick and beautifully transparent. Seven miles from Rocky Gorge, where they entered the river, they suddenly saw four musk-oxen. Frederick being very anxious for slaughter was allowed to go after them, while Brainard remained to watch the sledge and dogs, and Lockwood went off to the right to take some compass-bearings. After a while he heard a shot from Frederick, and saw one of the animals fall. The others did not seem at all frightened, but stood by their dead comrade until Frederick _drove_ them away by throwing stones at them. The dogs became greatly excited, and, going to where the dead game lay—a second ox having been killed—they gorged themselves with the entrails until there was danger of ruining their own.

Having returned to the camp, Lockwood now projected a special trip westward of twelve days, and prepared his outfit as follows: Shelter-tent, sleeping-bags, axe, sextant, etc., telescope, shot-gun and ammunition, medicine, cook’s bag, rubber blankets, small lamp, knapsacks, snow-shoes, rations for three at forty-five ounces each per day, and one sack of pemmican for dogs; total, 328¼ pounds. The _large_ tent was left standing with the big sledge alongside and the American flag flying from the upstander. They got off at an early hour on the 8th with the dogs in excellent condition. Much work was required to get over the rocks, but after that they proceeded satisfactorily until near the valley. This was found to be quite wide for a region where everything of the kind was more like a cañon than a valley in the ordinary sense. Its width was two or three miles, or perhaps in some places four, and the general gradients of the stream-bed (Dodge River) were very slight, perhaps thirty feet to the mile. Narrow, deep cuts in the cliffs and high ground around indicated tributary streams.

Frederick having shot a hare, and gathered up the other food, they proceeded on their way, traveling now over thick, clear ice and hard snow, with now and then patches of stones. The valley seemed to come to an end some fifteen miles up-stream, a range of high hills running directly across it.