One of Ronnie Smith’s early works of poetry was an accomplishment honoring the sled dogs and pack ponies that sacrificed their lives to the early South Pole Expeditions of 1911-1912.
He recreated a navigational chart that aircraft use to navigate from New Zealand to McMurdo Station, Antarctica. This chart now memorializes the animals by reconfiguring an airway (a highway in the sky planes have to fly to get to Antarctica) using the dogs’ and ponies’ names designated as aircraft reporting points (way points) on the airway. This was captured by numerous newspapers and magazines, including but not limited to, features in:
- The New York Times
- National Geographic
- St. Louis Dispatch
- St. Louis Magazine
- The Riverfront Times
- EQUUS Magazine, and more…
The first edition of this navigational chart was presented to the country of New Zealand by Secretary of State Clinton in Christ Church in 2011.
