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By Cliff Buchan
Final Draft Column
There is no envy regarding the tasks that face Ralph Plaisted’s three daughters and one son.
At Plaisted’s home in Linwood sits the still unfinished book that tells the story of Plaisted’s successful trip to the North Pole in April of 1968. Roughly an hour of film shot on that record-setting trip 40 years also sits untouched.
To say that Ralph Plaisted’s work is unfinished is only a half truth. For this world-famous arctic explorer, his trek in life is over and his final rest well deserved. Plaisted was 80 when he died at his home last week.
Meeting Plaisted for the first time this spring was a treasurer and experience this writer will never forget. He was stamped by the years and those bitter-cold days of bucking snowmobiles over conditions most of us would never dare.
Still, his eyes would sparkle when he would talk of the expedition days when the Plaisted Polar Expedition became the first confirmed manned trek to the North Pole. There was excitement that the years could not freeze. He could relate stories as if they happened yesterday.
 Sorry, Admiral Robert Peary, your place in history has been replaced.
Ralph Plaisted with a display of photos from his Plaisted Polar Expedition collelction.
(Photo By Cliff Buchan)
Most experts in the field have long since recognized that Plaisted’s team of mostly Minnesotans was indeed the first to reach the North Pole. Peary’s attempts came just after the turn of the century in 1906 and he tried it by sled dogs.
It was with shock and sadness when the news arrived last week that Ralph Plaisted had passed. In a half dozen meetings this spring to work on the 40th anniversary story of his accomplishment (Forest Lake Times, Thursday, May 1, 2008), he came to be a friend.
And just a week before his death, I had read the final words in the Charles Kuralt book (“To The Top of the World”) that chronicles the events of the 1967 polar expedition that fell short of reaching the North Pole. After putting the book down, I could only wonder what tales and adventures the second book would hold.
I knew Ralph and an author had the book in the home stretch. There was also talk of a documentary film which would include footage of the 1968 expedition. It was Ralph’s goal to have the project finished by next April, which will be the 100th anniversary of the now debunked Peary Expedition’s arrival at the North Pole.
Daughters Taffy and Lesle and Ralph’s only brother, Tom, expressed a wide range of emotions and thoughts during a visit last week.
“Instead of being sad, it’s so neat that everyone is so happy to have known him,” Lesle said of her father. “The telephone never stops.”
In the midst of dealing with the passing of their father, the family knows that work remains if Ralph Plaisted’s life is to be fully documented for the generations to come.
The second book has been completed in draft form. Plaisted was still fact checking and proofing the book at the time of his passing. The book has yet to be titled, although some ideas were discussed, Lesle said. There are some corrections to be made, and now a final chapter, that must be added.
What to do with the film footage is far from being determined, she said. And there is memorabilia enough to fill a museum.
After reading the Kuralt book, I have to believe that the adventures and events of the 1968 trek are equally amazing.
It is unfortunate that more could not have been done with the book prior to Plaisted’s passing. But as with the bands of open water in the Arctic Ocean that had to be skirted and mountains of ice that had to be crossed by their dad, no obstacle is too small for this family.
After meeting Ralph Plaisted, I am convinced that this is a man more people need to learn about. Not only is he a Minnesota treasure but a world treasure.
If ever a movie needs to be made of a man, his life, and his work, this is the time. This is the story. This is the man.
Somewhere out there is the likes of a George Clooney who could turn this hidden gem of a story into a major film work that would capture the hearts and minds of people border to border and coast to coast.
Are you out there George Clooney?
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