Harrison J. Hunt

Born: June 1, 1878 in Bangor Maine [Note: Document likely contains a typo for year of birth]
Died: July 17, 1967
Buried:

Harrison J. Hunt was born on June 1, 1876, in Bangor Maine. He was the son of Walter and Ella Hunt. Harrison attended Bowdoin Medical College after graduating from Bangor High School. From there, he applied to the Maine Medical College where he was accepted into a residency program at Eastern Maine Medical Hospital. Dr. Hunt married his wife Marion Webb Hunt on the 28th of June 1905, they had one daughter, Ruth Hunt Thompson. Dr. Hunt practiced medicine in Island Falls from 1907 to 1913.

Dr. Hunt was a surgeon on the Crocker Land expedition to the Arctic in 1913–1917, and the first to return to civilization with news of his fellow explorers, who had been trapped in the ice for four years. Hunt escaped after a grueling four-month dog-sled journey accompanied by six Inuit’s. On his adventure however, he was accused of murder because one of his teammates died of natural causes, but many people were convinced Dr. Hunt did it on purpose. Dr. Hunt is credited with finding the major biological specimens returned by the Crocker expedition, the eggs of the Red Knot, the Red Knot is a shorebird which breeds in the tundra in the Arctic. He wrote about the experience in his book North to the Horizon: Arctic Doctor and Hunter, 1913–1917. On March 1, 1918 Dr. Hunt gave a lecture in Island Falls on his Arctic trip.

He spent his post-Arctic career working at the Eastern Maine Hospital in Bangor, and was appointed Medical Examiner of Penobscot County Maine in 1925.

During the years 1948 to 1960 Dr. Hunt served in the National Guard. Due to his position, he was not around often, but his family meant very much to him. After he retired, he spent the rest of his life near his home in Bangor, Maine, until his death on July 17, 1967. To this day he is memorialized as one of the great explorers who had the opportunity to embark on the Crocker Land Expedition.