Man will not be content with a mystery unexplored, will not rest with a perpetual interrogation point at the end of the earth’s axis, who's query he cannot answer.
-- The New York Times (chapter 2 paragraph 5)

Importance: This New York Times editorial captures the mystique and curiosity that the North Pole held for the public and media.

The American invents as the Greek sculpted and the Italian painted: it is genius.
-- The London Times (chapter 6 paragraph 10)

Importance: This was the reaction in a London Times editorial to the Corliss machine that was a sensation at the World’s Fair in Philadelphia in 1876.

The filling up of the blank spaces of the unknown in the maps had such a fascination for him that rest seemed impossible to him while any country remained unexplored.”
-- J. G. Bartholomew (chapter 6 paragraph 14)

Importance: J. G. Bartholomew who was a renowned British cartographer reacted to fellow map-maker and theoretical cartographer, August Petermann’s ability to create maps of unexplored locations and the confidence he had...