On the Arctic Frontier: Ernest Leffingwell's Polar Explorati

Eager to investigate rumors of land north of Alaska, Ernest deKoven Leffingwell and Ejnar Mikkelsen organized the 1906 Anglo American Polar Expedition. Despite extreme conditions, they determined the edge of the continental shelf--a significant geographic discovery. Leffingwell remained behind, and with substantial assistance from his Inupiat neighbors, the driven young geologist explored, surveyed and documented geography along Alaska's north coast and what is now the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). On the North Slope of the Brooks Range, he pioneered research in ground ice (permafrost), observed birds, and collected wildlife specimens. His groundbreaking work still informs scientists and scholars. Along with her own passion for the Arctic, Janet R. Collins, former director of the Huxley Map Library at Western Washington University, has an undergraduate degree in geography and a master's degree in library science. For Leffingwell's biography, she consulted his journals and professional reports, family papers and memories, and published and unpublished writings of Alice Barnard, Vilhjalmur Stefansson, and Ejnar Mikkelsen.