following his 1906 expedition that failed to reach the north pole, robert e. peary reported in his book that he had sighted distant land from the heights of the northwestern shore of ellesmere island. he named it crocker land, after san francisco banker george crocker, one of his financial backers. it is now known that peary's claim was fraudulent, as he wrote in his diary at the time that no land was visible. the invention of crocker land was apparently an attempt to secure further support from crocker for peary's 1909 expedition. if so, the attempt failed, as crocker had diverted all of his available resources to the rebuilding of san francisco following the 1906 earthquake.