In my ongoing quest to finish what Perry Greene started in 1951 — ascending Mount Katahdin by dog team — I received a big surprise.

A few weeks ago, Peter Richards gave me a phone call. He is the grandson of Perry Greene. What’s more, Richards — now in his 80s — was one of the Boy Scouts who accompanied his grandfather on the Katahdin dog sled expedition.

Peter Richards and I have become friends over the past two weeks. We talk on the phone or message almost daily, swapping stories.

*Peter Richards Sr., grandson of Perry Greene*

I asked him if he had seen the 1941 Fort Kent, Maine images of his grandfather with his team of Chinooks, which had been featured on the old Can-Am Crown website. He had not.

This set me on a quest to track those photos down — first to the Can-Am Crown, where they were no longer on their new website, so I reached out to their social media team. Then to the Fort Kent Historical Society. And then to the Acadian Archives.

I have described in detail elsewhere on this blog Greene’s 1951 attempt to ascend Katahdin by dog sled team in my own expedition proposal. But Greene is perhaps better known for his 1941 mush across the state of Maine.

During February 1941, Perry Greene, his stepson Johnny Gephart, and seven Chinooks hauled 800 pounds of equipment by dog sled from Fort Kent to Kittery. They traveled 502 miles in 90 traveling hours — the longest sled dog trek ever made entirely within the United States at the time, or so the promotional material said.

Eventually the Can-Am Crown was able to pull the images from their old server and sent them to me. I want to share them publicly here to ensure they will not be lost to history. The Fort Kent Historical Society reviewed the images and identified the brick building in some of the photos as the Acadia Hotel, which stood where the Irving Gas Station is now located in town. The Society also identified the photographer as local resident Tim Hoyt.

Chad Pelletier of the Historical Society also shared these images of a postcard in his personal collection from the 1941 Greene/Chinook trip.

The caption reads:

*”World’s Only Breeder of Pure Bred Chinook Dogs, for House and Harness. These dogs make excellent playmates and companions for children, and are exceptionally intelligent, strong, and gentle. On sale or exhibition at the Perry Greene Kennels, on US Highway #1, Warren, Maine.”*

A special thank you to the Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Race and the Fort Kent Historical Society for taking the time to dig these up for us. Perry Greene’s grandson and I thank you!