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Starting with Eliza Kent Kane in 1853 and ending with Robert Peary in 1909, "Harnessed to the Pole" is a unique study of the nineteenth-century sledge dogs that led American explorers to the North Pole. Almost totally ignored in their exploits, these dogs made possible what never could have occurred otherwise: an American claim on the Pole. Even if we do not know their names, we know that they pulled with all their hearts, even though they were fed little, driven hard, and sometimes left to die along the trail. Often referred to as little camels of the north, these courageous partners provided transportation of people and freight through extremely difficult conditions, protected against wolves and polar bears, helped in the hunt, found their way through storms, and provided warmth in extreme cold, meat in times of starvation, and even skins for clothes. Most importantly, they provided companionship in a hostile world poised on the edge of death and madness. Here is the untold story of these extraordinary dogs, truly man's best but least known friend in the race to reach the Pole."
About the author
Sheila Nickerson is a poet and author, most recently of
Disappearance: A Map: A Meditation on Death and Loss in the High Latitudes and
Midnight to the North: The Untold Story of the Inuit Woman Who Saved the Polaris Expedition. A former resident of Alaska, she now lives in Bellingham, WA.
