The North Pole | Page 8

the United States Navy, to an interest in the
polar problem. Peary a few years previously had been graduated from
Bowdoin College second in his class, a position which means unusual
mental vigor in an institution which is noted for the fine scholarship
and intellect of its alumni. He realized at once that the goal which had
eluded so many hundreds of ambitious and dauntless men could be won
only by a new method of attack.
The first arctic problem with which Peary grappled was considered at
that time in importance second only to the conquest of the Pole; namely,
to determine the insularity of Greenland and the extent of its projection
northward. At the very beginning of his first expedition to Greenland,
in 1891, he suffered an accident which sorely taxed his patience as well

as his body, and which is mentioned here as it illustrates the grit and
stamina of his moral and physical make-up. As his ship, the Kite, was
working its way through the ice fields off the Greenland shore, a cake
of ice became wedged in the rudder, causing the wheel to reverse. One
of the spokes jammed Peary's leg against the casement, making it
impossible to extricate himself until both bones of the leg were broken.
The party urged him to return to the United States for the winter and to
resume his exploration the following year. But Peary insisted on being
landed as originally planned at McCormick Bay, stating that the money
of his friends had been invested in the project and that he must "make
good" to them. The assiduous nursing of Mrs. Peary, aided by the
bracing air, so speedily restored his strength that at the ensuing
Christmas festivities which he arranged for the Eskimos, he out-raced
on snowshoes all the natives and his own men!
In the following May, with one companion, Astrup, he ascended to the
summit of the great ice cap which covers the interior of Greenland,
5000 to 8000 feet in elevation, and pushed northward for 500 miles
over a region where the foot of man had never trod before, in
temperatures ranging from 10° to 50° below zero, to Independence Bay,
which he discovered and named, July 4, 1892. Imagine his surprise on
descending from the tableland to enter a little valley radiant with
gorgeous flowers and alive with murmuring bees, where musk oxen
were lazily browsing.
This sledding journey, which he duplicated by another equally
remarkable crossing of the ice cap three years later, defined the
northern extension of Greenland and conclusively proved that it is an
island instead of a continent extending to the Pole. In boldness of
conception and brilliancy of results these two crossings of Greenland
are unsurpassed in arctic history. The magnitude of Peary's feat is better
appreciated when it is recalled that Nansen's historic crossing of the
island was below the Arctic Circle, 1000 miles south of Peary's latitude,
where Greenland is some 250 miles wide.
Peary now turned his attention to the Pole, which lay 396 geographical
miles farther north than any man had penetrated on the western

hemisphere. To get there by the American route he must break a virgin
trail every mile north from Greely's 83° 24´. No one had pioneered so
great a distance northward. Markham and others had attained enduring
fame by advancing the flag considerably less than 100 miles, Parry had
pioneered 150 miles, and Nansen 128 from his ship.
His experiences in Greenland had convinced Peary, if possible more
firmly than before, that the only way of surmounting this last and most
formidable barrier was to adopt the manner of life, the food, the
snowhouses, and the clothing of the Eskimos, who by centuries of
experience had learned the most effective method of combating the
rigors of arctic weather; to utilize the game of the northland, the arctic
reindeer, musk ox, etc., which his explorations had proved
comparatively abundant, thus with fresh meat keeping his men fit and
good-tempered through the depressing winter night; and lastly to train
the Eskimo to become his sledging crew.
In his first north polar expedition, which lasted for four years,
1898-1902, Peary failed to get nearer than 343 miles to the Pole. Each
successive year dense packs of ice blocked the passage to the polar
ocean, compelling him to make his base approximately 700 miles from
the Pole, or 200 miles south of the headquarters of Nares, too great a
distance from the Pole to be overcome in one short season. During this
trying period, by sledging feats which in distance and physical
obstacles overcome exceeded the extraordinary records made in
Greenland, he explored and mapped hundreds of miles of coast line of
Greenland and of the islands west and north of Greenland.
On the next attempt, Peary insured