Point Barrow


Point Barrow,

northernmost point of Alaska, on the Arctic Ocean, at lat. 71°23'N and long. 156°30'W. Visited in 1826 by Frederick W. Beechey, a British explorer, and named by him for the British geographer Sir John BarrowBarrow, Sir John,
1764–1848, British geographer, promoter of arctic exploration. His early travels as secretary to Earl Macartney (who was ambassador to China and governor of the Cape of Good Hope colony) were recorded in Travels in China (1804) and
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, it has since been the object of many expeditions and has figured prominently in arctic aviation. Navigation is open for only two or three months a year. To the southwest is the village of Barrow. Farther south is a monument to Will RogersRogers, Will
(William Penn Adair Rogers), 1879–1935, American humorist, b. Oolagah, Indian Territory (now in Oklahoma). In his youth he worked as a cowboy in Oklahoma, and after traveling over the world, he returned to the United States and worked in vaudeville as a cowboy
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 and Wiley PostPost, Wiley,
1899–1935, American aviator, b. Grand Plain, Tex. He won fame in 1931 when he and Harold Gatty flew around the northern part of the earth in 8 days 15 hr 51 min. In 1933 he made a second flight alone.
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, who lost their lives there in an airplane crash in 1935.