Polar Pathways: Robert E. Peary's Arctic Expeditions
The White March- Dogs and Equipment
Peary bought dogs from Inuit
villages where the animals served as trained hunters and sledge dogs
“Our clothing may be said to have been entirely of fur, a light suit of woolen underclothing, a flannel shirt, a jersey, and light woolen socks being the only articles of civilized make… my instrumental outfit comprised… aneroids, compasses, odometers, thermometers [and a theodolite and a sextant]… my photographic outfit consisted of two No. 4 kodaks… my medical stores were very modest yet sufficient. The only demands upon them were an occasional opium pellet for our [wind-burned] eyes… for firearms I carried a Winchester, ’73 model, 44-calibre, carbine with full magazine, and one box of cartridges…As to dogs, I started from Red Cliff with twenty, but… only eight of these reached Independence Bay. On the return, three more gave out, so that I reached McCormick Bay with five left out of the original twenty. Of this original twenty, twelve were first-class animals, hardy and powerful, trained sledge-dogs and bear hunters.” - Robert E. Peary in Northward over the “Great Ice”, published in 1898
"Dogs" by Emil Diebitsch, 1892-1894, Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum Collections
