MacMillan, Donald Baxter (1874-1970), an American polar explorer, added much to our knowledge of Greenland and the Canadian Arctic. He found coal deposits 9 degrees from the North Pole. These deposits contained the remains of 36 kinds of trees, showing that the climate there had once been milder.
MacMillan’s 1924 Arctic expedition used radio extensively. His 1925 expedition was one of the first to use airplanes in the Far North. His men made many special aerial photographs. MacMillan received the Special Congressional Medal for surveying and charting Greenland and the Canadian Arctic for the United States Army during World War II (1939-1945). In 1957, at the age of 82, MacMillan went on his 31st trip to the Arctic. He wrote several books about his experiences, including Four Years in the White North (1918), Etah and Beyond (1927), and How Peary Reached the Pole (1932).
MacMillan was born on Nov. 10, 1874, in Provincetown, Mass. He studied at Bowdoin College and at Harvard University. MacMillan taught school until 1908, when he made his first polar expedition as assistant to Commander Robert Peary. On his voyages to the Arctic, MacMillan helped to train many younger explorers, including Richard Evelyn Byrd. He died on Sept. 7, 1970.
