Title: Under Polaris : an Arctic quest /
Authors: Washburn, Tahoe Talbot.
Publisher: University of Washington Press,
Year: 1999
Subjects: Washburn, Tahoe Talbot Diaries.; Inuit Northwest Territories Victoria Island Social life and customs.; Inuit Northwest Territories King William Island Social life and customs.; Inuit Victoria Island (Nunavut and N.W.T.) Social life and customs.; Inuit Nunavut King William Island Social life and customs.; Victoria Island (Nunavut and N.W.T.) Description and travel.; King William Island (Nunavut) Description and travel.
Abstract: "Tahoe Talbot Washburn first visited the Arctic in 1938 with her graduate student husband, Lincoln. The journals she kept of their adventures over the next three years - written in tents and snow houses, at missions and Hudson's Bay Company posts - form the basis for Under Polaris. The Washburns traveled the coastal areas of Victoria and King William Islands, learning to deal with close calls aboard boats while struggling to keep from colliding with ice floes, running aground in icy fog, or drifting helplessly out into open water. They learned to travel by dog team, even through blinding snow storms. And they learned how to hunt and fish for food for themselves and their dogs. They came to value greatly the help and companionship of the people who became part of their lives, whether they were Inuit, Hudson's Bay Company employees, Canadian government workers, Catholic and Anglican missionaries, or the remarkable pilots of the single engine planes that got them to their destinations." "Washburn made a concerted effort to learn the survival skills of the Inuit women and to understand their lives. She tells of their patience and gentle amusement as they helped her, their curiosity about her way of life, and their generosity in sharing meager resources."--BOOK JACKET.
Contents: 1. North! Cambridge Bay, Victoria Island, Hike to Mount Pelly, July 17-20, 1938 -- 2. With George Porter and family on Fox, To Minto Inlet and on, July 21-August 30, 1938 -- 3. Fossil hunting on Read Island, With Ikey Bolt on Jane B. to Minto Inlet, July 20-September 13, 1939 -- 4. Cambridge Bay area, Snow house living, March 26-April 18, 1940 -- 5. Investigations around Cambridge Bay area by dog sledge, April 14-May 29, 1940 -- 6. Mount Pelly, Local investigations, June-July 1940 -- 7. Flying to the west coast of Victoria Island, August 4-25, 1940 -- 8. With Sea Otter to Wilmot Island, On to Cambridge Bay, August 26-September 10, 1940 -- 9. With Patsy Klengenberg on Aklavik, To Terror Bay, King William Island, September 14-19, 1940 -- 10. Learning about Inuit life, September 20-December 8, 1940 -- 11. Attempt to reach Cambridge Bay with Patsy, Retreat, Travel with Jorgen and family to Perry River, December 16-27, 1940 -- 12. To Cambridge Bay, On to Ole Andreasen's at Richardson Island, December 28, 1940-February 16, 1941 -- App. Itinerary and People Met.