Northwest History. Aviation 8. Wilkins' Expedition, United States.

• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1926
• Subjects: polar vanguard; Nenana; snow motors; Anchorage; Alaska; Wilkins transpolar flight expedition; Point Barrow; subarctic snows; Alexander Malcolm Smith; commander of transportation; Ralph Smith expedition; Colville river; Alatna pass; civilization; Bettles; Koyukuk river; Brooks; Arctic ocean; Northwest; Pacific > History > 20th century; Aviation; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Pacific; Wilkins; Barrow; Brooks Range; Subarctic
• Online Access: http://content.libraries.wsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/clipping/id/86073

Polar Vanguard Reaches Nenana: To Test Snow Motros There In Arctic Snows. POLAR VANGUARD REACHES NENANA To Test Snow Motors There in Arctic Snows. Anchorage, Alaska, Jan. 26. -- The vanguard of the Wilkins transpolar flight expedition arrived at Nenana today. The snow motors to be used to haul 15 tons of supplies from here to Point Barrow, supply base for the expedition, had already arrived and are to be assembled and tested in subarctic snows. The party has encountered perfect weather. Some snow has fallen but not the kind that was wanted to prove the efficiency of the tractors. Among the severest tests the motors will encounter is the dry flowery snow in the interior and on the Arctic slope, where low temperature prevents thawing. Alexander Malcolm Smith, commander of transportation on the expedition, expressed confidence in the route to be taken to Point Barrow, which is the one followed by the Ralph Smith expedition. The Wilkins party plans to reach Colville river via Alatna pass, a distance of 700 miles. They will make their last contact with civilization at Bettles on the Koyukuk river, where they will swing off west along Alatna pass. Proceeding north they will cross the Brooks range down the headwaters of the Colville to an unnamed river, down which they will travel to the Arctic ocean and then proceed to Barrow.