The next march, in spite of every exertion, took us only to View Point. With open water and shattered ice on one side, and the entirely impracticable ice-foot lake and Cape Henry cliffs on the other, our only possible route was the crest of the stupendous and now doubly ragged and chasm-intersected ice-foot. Along this, after I had dug out a tortuous road with a pickaxe, the sledges, one at a time, were pushed, dragged, hauled, hoisted and lowered by all of us, and sometimes unloaded and backed over the roughest places.
Then the snow slopes of the shore, interrupted with patches of bare rocks, past Hamilton Fish Peak, then the sea ice less broken here, then the shore snow, and a river and strip of bare land, over which the sledges were run on pole rollers, and finally to our camp on dry gravel at View Point, the first time this side of Columbia. An arduous march, long in time but short in distance. Fortunately the finest of weather.
Cape Joseph Henry is the most satisfying perhaps of any of these northern capes, in an æsthetic sense. A striking vertical cliff dropping into deep water, there is no buffer between it and the heaviest floes which crash and grind against it incessantly, throwing up a stupendous ice-foot, and making the surroundings of the cape savage in the extreme throughout the entire year.
At the View Point camp, I told Egingwah he was to go on to the Roosevelt in the morning alone, with a letter to the Captain to send some men and dogs out to meet me; and Ooblooyah and myself, after caching one sledge and half our loads, would follow after him. Of the five dogs remaining only one could really do any work, and one was entirely useless.
Following Egingwah some two hours later, his trail was of great assistance in negotiating the cracks and pools. For perhaps three miles from camp there was such a labyrinth of these, that I feared it would take four days to reach the ship. Then the going improved, and on a direct course to Cape Richardson, we made good progress. Near the cape the ice was rotten and we kept out into the bay. Finally after wading several pools mid-thigh deep, we pitched our tent on an elevated floe about a mile west of the north end of William’s Island. Still fine weather. About eight in the evening, we heard shouts, which were answered, and a little before eleven, Marvin came in with Ahwegingwah, Teddylingwah and Sigloo. Marvin told me the Roosevelt had broken out from winter quarters at Sheridan on the 4th of July, and had squeezed down along the shore past Cape Union when she was smashed against the ice-foot just south of the cape, tearing another blade from the propeller, and breaking off her stern-post and rudder. She was now laying at Shelter River just south of Cape Union effecting repairs.
Marvin had been unable to get north from Hecla, owing to the breaking up of the ice, and working westward had carried a valuable line of soundings along the Grant Land coast as far west as Cape Fanshawe Martin.
Captain Bartlett had made cross-sections of Robeson Channel in accordance with my instructions. Marvin and the Eskimos had come over to Sheridan to wait for me. On the arrival of Egingwah they started overland to meet us.
From my tent to the shore abreast of William’s Island the going was over hummocky floes which were now a succession of hummocks and deep pools. With two inflated floats on the sledge, making a raft of it, we made nearly direct for the shore, paying no attention to pools less than hip deep. At the shore, high tide barred us with a wide strip of clear water. Search in each direction showing no practicable crossing, we resorted to the ice cake ferry-boat method, and finally gained the shore. Here we wrung out our foot-gear and each taking a back-load, started for Sheridan, leaving the sledge and other things for another trip.
This twelve mile trip was very unpleasant for me, my wet foot-gear offering little or no protection to my feet (softened by three weeks of constant soaking) from the sharp stones. I was very glad to get to the boat which had been left on the west side of the Cape Sheridan River for this purpose, and pulling along the ice-foot lake, arrived at the tent at noon, Tuesday, July 26th. Here I found that Egingwah had gone on to the ship. The two men came in a few hours later, and I turned in, glad to feel that I did not have to travel the next day. Friday morning the two men went back for the other things. In the afternoon the fine weather ceased, and it began to rain, changing to snow.
