Lincoln Ellsworth

Lincoln Ellsworth (May 12, 1880 – May 26, 1951) was an American polar explorer, engineer, surveyor, and writer. He led the first Arctic and Antarctic air crossings.

Early life

Linn Ellsworth was born in Chicago, Illinois on May 12, 1880. His parents were Eva Frances (née Butler) and James Ellsworth, a wealthy coal mine owner and financier. He was named Linn after his uncle William Linn, but changed his name to Lincoln when he was a child.

His mother died in 1888. Ellsworth and his sister moved to Hudson, Ohio, to live with his grandmother. He attended the Western Reserve Academy in Hudson and The Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. He took two years longer than usual to graduate, before entering the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale University. His academic performance was poor, and he subsequently enrolled at Columbia University School of Mines and studied civil engineering. He joined the fraternity of Delta Psi (St. Anthony Hall) at Yale in 1900 and Columbia in 1901.

After dropping out of college in 1903, Ellsworth climbed the Andes with a fraternity brother.

Career

Ellsworth was a surveyor and engineer with a team conducting the first Canadian Grand Pacific Railroad survey from 1902 to 1907. He worked the winter of 1904 in his father's coal mine. In 1905, he worked as an assistant engineer of a gold mine in Teller Alska. In 1906, he returned to his father's coal mine, working as an engineer. He then worked as an engineer in Alaska and Canada from 1907 to 1924, including spending three years with the United States Biological Survey, gold prospecting along the Peace River, and working on a railroad over the Rocky Mountains in Alaska.