Matthew Henson
August 8, 1866 – March 9, 1955
In one of America’s darkest moments President Benjamin Harrison shed some light and handed down more guidelines by signing the first U.S. law requiring inspection of meat regulating the meat packing industry. Matthew Henson had covered 9000 miles on dogsleds, primarily across northernmost Greenland and Canada. The time spent in the arctic and Henson’s natural capacity to learn had garnered him many vital skills for their exploration in these extreme climatic conditions. The native Inuit (also known as Eskimos) took a great liking to Henson, and admired his skills in hunting and sled-driving,Having learned their language, the native Inuit (also known as Eskimos) taught him how to survive in the grueling environment, and he then personally trained all the members of the North Pole expedition, including the explorer and brilliant engineer, Robert Peary, a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy. Peary, himself even stated theses remarks in reference to Matthew Henson: “He was more of an Eskimo than some of them.” Henson technically arrived first, in that, leading the dog sleds by foot and having the precarious task of breaking the trail across the icepack, he was ahead of the expedition according to most scholars. It is widely believed that, because Peary had become paralyzed from frostbitten feet and had lost several toes, and likewise was being pulled in a sled, Henson was to have stopped just before reaching the Pole, to allow Peary to reach first. As fate would have it, though, thanks perhaps to a miscalculation by the whole group, Henson, and 2 Eskimos arrived first, then waited for Peary, during which Henson realized they had already reached their ultimate destination.
Sources (Biography.com, www.matthewhenson.com, wikipedia.com)
