Polar Pathways: Robert E. Peary's Arctic Expeditions
The White March- The Cairn
“Astrup and I completed the cairn on Navy Cliff. In the centre of this cairn I placed a tightly corked bottle containing an account of the expedition, it aims and objects, with portraits of all the members… and the following record: ‘Have this day, with one companion Eivind Astrup and eight dogs, reached this point via the Inland Ice, from McCormick bay, Whale Sound. We have traveled over five hundred miles, and Astrup, myself, and the dogs are in best condition. I have named this fjord ‘Independence’ in honour of that day, July 4th, dear to all Americans, on which we looked down into it. Have killed five musk-oxen in the valley above, and have seen several others. I start back from Whale Sound tomorrow.'" - Robert E. Peary in Northward over the “Great Ice”, published in 1898
