When you're lucky enough to stumble upon a message in a bottle, chances are it was washed up near an ocean, lake or river.
But this particular bottled note was found somewhere a little colder. (Via GrindTV)
"A message in a bottle left and found in Canada's high Arctic." (Via CBC)
According to Halifax's The Chronicle Herald, two researchers found the note tucked into a pile of rocks in the northern Canadian Arctic, about 500 miles away from the closest human settlement.
Turns out the message was left by Paul Walker, a fairly well-known American geologist, during an expedition to the area back in 1959. He was reportedly 25 at the time.
Popular Science reports he and other scientists built two rock cairns, or mounds, to track how far the glacier would move in the future. That's where the message in a bottle was found.
And the note inside was a request to whoever happened to stumble upon it, reading: "To whom it may concern, this and a similar cairn 21.3 feet to the west were set on July 10, 1959. The distance from this cairn to the glacier edge about four feet from the rock floor is 168.3 feet. Anyone venturing this way is requested to remeasure this distance." (Via Los Angeles Times)
Walker also included his address and asked the reader to send him any information about the distance between the cairns.
But he never got the chance to hear back from anyone. A month after Walker left the note, he was reportedly paralyzed by a brain seizure and died a few months later. (Via The Weather Channel)
But the researchers who found Walker's message in a bottle made sure to keep his request alive. Once they were finished reading it, they put the note back along with their own in the hopes that someone else will find it and respond in the future.
And yes, they also remeasured the distance between the cairns Walker left behind 54 years ago. They found the glacier had retreated more than 200 feet since then. (Via CBC)
