Show p REPORT FROM WASHINGTON Utah Congressman Hoists Stars and Stripes at So Pole By Rep Rp Laurence Laurent J. J Burton To paraphrase an old saw One of the good things about being In Congress Is the travel one does and one of the bad things about being a Member Mem Hem ber her of Congress is the travel one does Much of our hearing travels are a complete away from the office and fam ily lly Other trips are the thrill of a lifetime ONE SUCH was my recent venture to the South Pole in Antarctica during the congressional recess What on earth was I doing in Antarctica Well the House Interior and Insular Insular In In- sular Affairs Committee in addition addition addition ad ad- to maintaining internal jurisdiction over mines reclamation reclamation mation matlon and irrigation In In- dlan dian affairs national parks and recreation also oversees the administration administration ad ad- ministration and programs in Puerto Rico The Virgin Islands American Samoa the US U.S. Trust Territory of the Pacific and Antarctica For twelve years our country has bas maintained permanent year year- around bases in Antarctica a forbidding continent at the bottom of the world about half again larger than continental United States The off place for Antarctica for us in Christchurch Christchurch Christ Christ- church New Zealand All the scientific work being done there thereby thereby thereby by our people Is under the direction direction dir dir- of the National Science Foundation directed by Dr Tom Jones But his staff their operations and the bases themselves them selves are supplied and main maintained maintained by Navy Task Force 43 under the command of Rear Admiral Doc Abbott Hence our departure from Christchurch Christchurch Christchurch Christ- Christ church in a prop-driven prop Navy cargo Constellation T Ten e n hours later after flying over several thousand miles of Ant Ant- antic artic Ocean and ice shelf we landed on a frozen ice pack above the Ross Rosa Sea at McMurdo do Sound THE FRONT wheel of our plane ran over a cub se seal l flopping lopping along the ice pack which the pilot couldn't avoid without skidding his his' plane o out opt t of control It was a balmy 12 degrees be below below low zero a warm summer day at it McM McMurdo rdo when we stepped from the plane The base at McMurdo in contrast to I our other bases on the ice is above ground Quonset huts are the he most fashionable town townhouses townhouses townhouses houses and form the backbone of the community Water everywhere in Antarctica and at all stations is in short supply With all the ice and snow around that seem seemed d an to me until it was explained explained explained ex ex- that the real problem problems Is s converting the solid ice and snow into a useable liquid state It takes heat and heat takes akes fuel and fuel is a most precious commodity there OUR SAILORS and scientists are limited to two gallons of water every seven to ten days for Eor a shower shower- It was six days before we got back to Christchurch Christ Christ- church so we didn't qualify for fora a shower on the ice and beHove believe be be- lieve Hove me did that hot water feel good in the Christchurch motel The next morning at dawn we took off from McMurdo in In Ina a Hercules prop-driven prop plane for forthe forthe forthe the South Pole The plane had three huge aluminum skis mounted to it and carried fresh supplies for the twenty some Americans who live permanently permanent permanent- ly at Gods God's most remote out post We landed there after a four lour hour flight in a ground blizzard and the temperature was a cozy 27 degrees below The average temperature day in and day out Is minus 57 7 degrees In the winter June July August temperatures dip below minus degrees The The Pole Station called so-called is all underground The rooms in hi hithe inthe the station are connected by byIce Ice tunnels that are always 10 to toor or 15 degrees below zero so they wont won't melt They are stacked with frozen cases of pf fruit soap meat vegetables and two huge tunnels hold the fu fuel l containers I 1 WAS surprised to find that the commander of the Pole Station St Sta ton tion Base was a a fellow Utahn Navy Lt Jay Bowman ln whose father still resides III Salt Lake City Jay helped me fly from the South Pole Itself an an American flag I had ld brought with me for my son Laurence Shupe and then asked me when I got back stateside if I would call his Dad and also send him a Utah State Flag that he be could fly from the Pole Standing there in the cold and the ice I 1 conjured up feelings feelings feel feel- ings of how Roald Amundsen Amund Amund- sen the famous Norwegian explorer must have felt when he gained gamed the pole to become the first man there after losing losing los los- ing three-fourths three of the sled dogs he embarked with lIe He had beaten by a matter of days the Englishman Captain James Scott WHEN CAPTAIN Scott amy anty cd ed a few days later late U the tte c five r rK 1 13 K s. s I ra sti s a s i aisa r ry y t O-i-t f N g 4 a sav u ui S i S i if i f i Sa 11 r D a SOUTH POLE ANTARCTICA After hoisting Old G Glory ory at atthe atthe atthe the South Pole Rep Laurence J. J Burton Utah R-Utah on the left chats with the Commander of the Pole Station Navy Lt Jay Bowman a former resident of Salt Lake City men in to his party were hand drawing their sleds Their dog teams eams had turned back and the he Siberian ponies they had hoped loped would pull the sleds had to be shot because they were not up to the task Captain Scott and his men found a small black tent over which fluttered the flag of Norway and inside were some notes from Amundsen indeed a bitter pitter pill for the exhausted and half frozen frozen Scott and his four companions They started back on what was to become a race for sur sur- I II I vival One man fell off a glacier glac glac- glacier ier ler suffered concussion and later another companion who had frozen feet and scurvy and could not pull his share of the sled walked from the tent into a blizzard never to return return re reo re- re turn rather than handicap his further on their race with deathA death A A AFEW FEW days later a wild blizzard befell the remaining three They were starving freezing to death and could not go on They pitched their tent and awaited the inevitable They were only eleven miles miles' from their next base camp which h had plenty of fuel and food but bit their cause was hopeless They concluded entries entries en en- tries in In their diaries Cap Scott wrote to his wife a companion companion com com- panion wrote to his mother and andone andone andone one by one they perished Next spring a relief party found their tent and their frozen bodies They removed their diaries and papers and folded the tent over the three valiant explorers and left them where they died Where is their pitiful tragic camp today The scientists told me probably bly hundreds of feet deep in the ice The weight of their bodies would gradually cause the ice to absorb them and that was more than five fifty years ago |