Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum and Arctic Studies Center

Cary and Cole left their canoe and most of their supplies in a camp and reached the Grand Falls on foot on August 13.

The amazing waterfall turned out to be 316 feet in height, far less than predicted by Goldthwaite's Geographical Magazine, but Cary and Cole were impressed by the force and volume of water flowing over the falls.

The two men spent one day exploring the falls, and then set out on the return journey. When they reached their previous night's camp, they found it destroyed by fire.

Austin Cary described the scene in an essay about the voyage for the American Geographical Society, writing, "A hard sight was before us. Our camp-fire had hung in the ground, and in the middle of a half-acre of burnt moss and uprooted trees we found the ashes of our outfit."

Cole and Cary saved what they could, and set out with few provisions, no canoe, and only one hand gun to hunt for game.

Their next cache was 150 miles away. This was the beginning of a long and arduous trek.