J. Dewey Soper

Joseph Dewey Soper (May 5, 1893 – November 2, 1982) was a widely traveled Canadian Arctic ornithologist, explorer, zoologist, and prolific author.

During this trip, Soper explored Nettilling Lake, Koukdjuak River, Cumberland Gulf to Foxe Basin, Amadjuak Bay on Hudson Strait, Cape Dorset covering more than 4,000 miles (6,400 km) by dog sled, boat, and canoe.

Soper's biggest accomplishment, with the help of local Inuit, was the successful six-year, 30,000-mile (50,000 km) search on Baffin Island for the blue goose (C. c. caerulescens) nesting grounds on Bluegoose Plain near Bowman Bay in the Foxe Basin in the spring of 1929.

[2] Soper visited his sister in Wetaskiwin, Alberta, in 1927 where he met and married the first graduate nurse in the Eastern Arctic, Carolyn ("Carrie") Freeman.

Though Soper was a zoologist, ornithologist, and explorer, he also collected Inuit art, including ivory figures and enjoyed hunting.

Inukshuk on top of the limestone plateau at the northern extremity, Baffin Island, photograph taken by J. Dewey Soper, 31 March 1929