54 



The National Geographic Magazine 



member when we congratulated ourselves 

 upon a thousand members ; but today we 

 number eighteen thousand members ; this 

 little seed has grown into a tree and cov- 

 ers the whole world ; wherever Americans 

 are, there we find members of the Na- 

 tional Geographic Society. 



But I have been asked to say a few 

 words about a man who must be known 

 by name, at least, to all of us, Dr Fred- 

 erick A. Cook, President of the Ex- 

 plorers' Club, New York. We have had 

 with us, and are glad to welcome, Com- 

 mander Peary, of the Arctic regions, but 

 in Dr Cook we have one of the few 

 Americans, if not the only Am^^rican, 

 who has explored both extremes of tlie 

 world, the Arctic and the Antarctic re- 

 gions. And now he has been to the top 

 of the American continent, and therefore 

 to the top of the world, and tonight I 

 hope Dr Frederick Cook will tell us 

 something about Mount McKinley. 



THE TOP OF NORTH AMERICA, BY DR P. .V. 

 COOK 



Mr Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen- 



I would prefer to tell you tonight of the 

 splendid achievement of Commander 

 Peary and of the noble charact-; of the 

 man who has succeeded in pushing hu- 

 man endeavor to the utmost limit of en- 

 durance, all with the unselfish motive of 

 carrying the honor and the flag of his 

 country to the farthest north but your 

 chairman has put me to the task of get- 

 ting to the top of our continent. 



In the conquest of Mount McKinley 

 success was mostly due to our use of the 

 working equipment of polar explorers, 

 and among polar explorers Commander 

 Peary has worked hardest to reduce the 

 outfit to its utmost simplicity. Thus in- 

 directly to Commander Peary should fall 

 a part of the honor of scaling the arctic 

 slopes of our greatest mountain. 



Mount McKinley is in mid-Alaska. It 

 is 20,300 feet high. Its summit pierces 

 the frigid blue one thousand feet above 

 any other mountain on the North Ameri- 

 can continent. It is, then, the top of our 

 continent and the most arctic of the bis: 



mountains of the world. The country to 

 the east was entirely unknown, and the 

 country to the west but roughly outlined. 

 A venture to ascend this mountain must 

 therefore assume the 'responsibilities of 

 an exploring enterprise and be prepared 

 for all kind of difficulties. 



Three years ago, as Commander Peary 

 was preparing for his assault upon the 

 North Pole, I organized an expedition to 

 ascend Mount McKinley from the west. 

 In this we failed, but we carried a line 

 of exploration through and around the 

 range. 



Last spring I organized another ex- 

 pedition upon a similar general plan. My 

 chief companions were Prof. H. C. 

 Parker, Russell W. Porter, Belmore H. 

 Browne, and Edward Barrille. We took 

 twenty pack horses from Seattle for our 

 difficult cross-country transportation, and 

 for the river we built a powerful motor 

 boat. 



We reached Cook Inlet early in June. 

 During June and July we forded and 

 swam icy streams, pushed through thick 

 underbrush, and over gloomy marshes, 

 only to find that the part of the mountain 

 which we finally reached was impossible 

 for an ascent. 



A good deal of pioneer work was done 

 at this time, but the opportunity to make 

 an attempt to climb did not present itself 

 until early in September, after all hope of 

 mountaineering had been abandoned. 

 The launch was pushed up the Susetna 

 and the Chulitna rivers to the east of 

 Mount McKinley. From here with two 

 men I aimed to explore a route for a 

 future ascent. 



We left the boat and with our camp 

 equipment and instruments in rush sacks 

 we started for the mountain. In an air 

 line we were forty miles from the summit, 

 and from our position we noted three 

 possible lines of ascent. A large glacier 

 which we had previously discovered of- 

 fered us here a highway through the 

 giant foothills. In three days we were 

 against the main slope of the great moun- 

 tain ; but here our difficulties began. 



I was fortunate enough to have two 



