From the Morgue: Arctic explorer lectures in Cape

Donald Baxter MacMillan, 1925Unknown photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Arctic explorer Donald Baxter MacMillan came to Cape Girardeau in the winter of 1925.

The 50-year-old Massachusetts native lectured at the auditorium of the Cape Girardeau Teachers College, a large crowd heard him discuss the Northern Lights, the inhabitants of Greenland and, most likely, although not recorded in articles from the time, Balto and the 1925 serum run to Nome, Alaska.

MacMillan spoke here Feb. 13, 1925, just 11 days after Gunnar Kaasen delivered the needed diphtheria antitoxin to Nome after a 674-mile, 5 1/2-day dog sled relay. The lead dog for the final sprint was Balto, an Alaskan husky. Girardeans followed the story of the mushers and dogs in the Southeast Missourian, as they raced to bring the serum to Nome to squelch an epidemic. I'm betting MacMillan was quizzed about the feat.

MacMillan’s polar adventures began in 1908, when, at the age of 34, he accompanied explorer Robert E. Peary on his journey to the North Pole. But MacMillan was forced to turn back short of their goal because of frozen heels, according to internet sources. Peary reached the North Pole 26 days later.

MacMillan organized his own journey — the Crocker Land Expedition — to northern Greenland in 1913, but that trip also met with misfortune when he became stranded there. He was rescued in 1917 by Robert A. Bartlett.

MacMillan served in the U.S. Navy during World War I and, afterward, built his own ship, the schooner Bowdoin, which was specifically designed for Arctic exploration.

Here’s the Missourian’s coverage of the adventurer’s 1925 appearance in Cape Girardeau.

Published Feb. 9, 1925 in the Southeast Missourian:

Explorer to tell interesting story of his experiences here

One of the most interesting events of the season at the Teachers College is scheduled for Friday evening when Donald B. MacMillan, noted explorer, will come here for a lecture on his stay in North Greenland, 11 degrees from the North Pole. The talk will be illustrated with 800 feet of film, a complete log of the expedition.

Following is an extract from an account of the talk in the Boston Evening Transcript:

Capt. (Donald Baxter) MacMillan took his audience aboard the Bowdoin at Wiscasset, Maine, following a brief introduction in which he explained the objects of the trip as being to study terrestrial magnetism, atmospheric electricity and to place a bronze tablet at Cape Sabine in memory of the (A.W.) Greenly expedition in the ‘80s, from which only six of the 25 in the part returned to this country alive.

Most interesting was the progress of the vessel through the ice pans. Across a field of huge cakes of ice and often a field of solid ice, the Bowdoin progressed, smashing a pathway, the lookout in the crow’s nest watching for wet spots and by his “Starboard… part… steady” directing the bow toward places where the ice would crack into a navigable passage.

Arrived at the place where they were to be frozen in for the winter the lecturer showed the natives at their daily tasks. Summer up there is work time, a time for hunting and winter is play time, and Eskimo storing away meat and provisions. Children, MacMillan said, are probably the happiest in the world. Certainly the film showed them a most carefree set, romping and hunting eggs and birds on the mountain side. The raw skin of the whale, said to taste something like chestnuts, evidently takes the place of the American lollypop for the youngsters at that latitude. Fifty and 60 degrees below zero is no drawback to coasting and frolicking in the snow wastes.

Credit to dogs

The Eskimo dogs were given full share of credit for the success of the expedition. Hard workers, like their masters, they were shown time and again pulling in fan formation on the sleds. One laughable picture showed two of these puppies investigating a tiny black sea-pigeon, the first bird they had ever seen. Before this small bird, these dogs, which would not hesitate to attack a polar bear, charged and retreated and registered confusion that caught the fancy of the audience. Another amusing bit of film was the training of a 6-week-old musk-ox, a “bronco” in harness, but a pet after three hours on the end of a lead. This animal, about the size of a Shetland pony, was cut out of the herd after the dogs had been turned loose to round them up. Musk-oxen when cornered, form a circle, heads lowered and out, and keep this circle except when they charge an enemy; they then return at once to their fellows. Self-preservation has taught them to sharpen their horns on the stony ground, to be ready for attacking wolves or their enemies.

Among the pictures of the natives, Capt. MacMillan showed them chipping tusks to make snow knives, boring holes with a bow such as is used by all primitive peoples, harpooning the walrus and the whale, building igloos and dancing to American jazz received on an American radio set. The Eskimos enjoy music and dancing and their steps, ashore and on the deck of the Bowdoin, did not differ materially from steps to be seen any afternoon or evening on Boston dance floors. The women were very attractive in their beaded skin costumes and furs.

The Eskimos were accorded high tribute by the explorer. He has yet to find a lazy one among them, Capt. MacMillan said, and the rigors of the North have brought them to the height of their civilization. They can show the white man new tricks in deep-sea fishing and, when it comes to handling a kayak, their paper-thin canoe, they can perform marvels, in the hunt and in such tricks as rolling the frail craft over and over in the icy water without unseating the paddler.

Published Feb. 13, 1925, in the Southeast Missourian:

Donald B.. MacMillan, 1912The American Museum journal

Explorer will give lecture here tonight

Although Cape Girardeau’s teeth chattered loudly this winter when the temperature here fell to 5 degrees below zero, that kind of weather would give the jolly Eskimo spring fever, according to Capt. Donald B. MacMillan, arctic explorer and lecturer, who is to speak here tonight in the Teachers College auditorium. Capt. MacMillan asserts that he has witnessed the temperature drop to 60 and 75 degrees below zero and that was considered mild.

At any rate, Capt. MacMillan will undoubtedly give one of the most interesting and instructive talks that has been heard here in a long time. His account of the arctic expedition will be accompanied by 2,000 feet of motion pictures, taken during the trip.

Published Feb. 14, 1925, in the Southeast Missourian:

Explorer of polar region tells of trip

Without experiencing unpleasant feelings such as numb fingers or frostbitten toes, the large audience at the Teachers College auditorium were taken far into the land of the North when Capt. Donald B. MacMillan reviewed his last trip to the polar regions, last night.

In his first words, the explorer made clear to listeners just what it meant by what we call the North Pole attractive force and said that the “northern lights” is a electrical phenomena that still remains a mystery. The region of the lights is far south of the pole and the party passed far past the spot. “The magnetic attraction commonly called the North Pole is in reality many miles south of the pole itself and before one really reaches the pole the compass needle turns completely around. We were able to make use of the compass only because we know how to figure from regular variations,” he said.

The explorer told of how they were able to hear from stations on their radio only from the eastern half of the world at one time and from the western at another period — receiving messages at a distance of 9,000 miles at one time.

Motion pictures

The 8,000 feet of film shown of life in Greenland, some of which was taken within 11 degrees of the pole, was nothing less than a complete cross section of the life of Eskimo land. All of the animals of the ice and show-covered region including the musk-ox, eider duck, thousands of sea fowl, polar bear, white and blue foxes, walrus, seals whales and the snow “horse” — the Eskimo dog — were shown.

The native people were shown eating raw meat, raw eggs, and raw whale skin, much as we would candy. The Eskimo home of snow can be built in an hour, that is, his winter home – for the summer, or six months of day, the family uses skin tents.

Capt. MacMillan told of the hardships of the party, which were verified by the pictures, in getting to the spot reached by the American party 40 years ago. The spot was reached about one year ago and a tablet 4 feet by 5 feet was bolted to a large boulder there to mar the spot in the memory for all time.

The party returned to Wiscasset, Maine, last September after 15 months in the North.

Sharon Sanders is the librarian at the Southeast Missourian.