THE WELLMAN EXPEDITION
AND ITS CHANGES OF SUCCESS
Tht- world at large will await with interest the outcome of the under
taking assigned to Walter Wellman by Frank 1!. Noyes, editor of the Chicago
ji Kecord-IIerald. On the whole, it is hard to point out wherein the plan to
J reach the pole in an airship is not feasible. It may strike the average indi
> vidual that the enterprise stands more risk of failure from eumbersomeness
> of paraphernalia than from any other cause. The size of the airship and
^ the amount of cargo seem, to a novice, to he out of proportion to the needs
of the occasion. Amundson’s success is due to the fact he “went light.”
As an assistant on his expedition Mr.
Wellman will have the services of Santos
Dumont, of Paris, who will have charge
of the construction of the airship and
will act as aeronautic director and pilot
i i the ship on its voyage toward the
north pole.
The airship will lie built by Louis
Goddard, of Paris, under the supervision
of M. Santos-Duinont, and will be com
pleted by the end of next April. No
delinite date has yet been decided upon
when the explorers will start on their
journey, but it is expected that every
thing will be in readiness to get away
next July or early in August. After
completion the airship will have several
trials in or about Paris, and in June all
the paraphernalia for the journey will
he assembled in Spitsbergen, where the
explorers will await a favorable oppor
tunity for the dash to the pole, which,
according to Mr. Wellman, should the j
expedition meet with a good run of luck,
should be reached in less than a week.
In announcing his acceptance of the
proposed expedition Mr. Wellman said:
“If I did not believe that the chances
of success were greater than those of j
failure I should not accept the assign
ment.
“Mr. Noyes acted upon no sudden j
whim or impulse, when he gave me the ;
order to locate the much-sought north
!>ole, as he had before him a rei>ort,
which I submitted to him as the out
come of two visits to the inner polar !
regions; of years of study of the prob
lem of the iM*le; of many months of
special investigation of airship construc
tion and navigation; the wind and cli
matic conditions to be encountered, and
the mechanical and meteorological fac
tors involved. In this specialists were
consulted, voluminous technical re[>orts
were received, and, finally, a complete,
symmetrical, and at least promising
project was evolved by me as represent
ing a seemingly practical combination of
the latest development of many of the
arts for accomplishing the results in
view.
“The problem of reaching the pole by
mean* of an uirahip iloea not require
high ajiectl, uml the pre-eut rate of the
art of aerial navigation by gax-<l riven
xhip* i* ample for that purpoae. Front
an eaailv reacluxl !««• of o|>eration* in
northern Spitzliergen we have alxiut niit)
t>c. graphical mile- to go to the |*.|e, ami
a like liwtanee for the return voyage. If
we take the w hole at I ,1!UU mile* it mean*
but ttw> hour* of motoring at Ilf mile* un
hour. Santo*-1 turnout ha* rc|*-utv«lly
m.ete from 1ft to lilt mile* an hour with
*malt airahijat.aml eipiip|«*l with rela
tively *mall motor*.
“The air*hip in which we projaxte to
attain tlte north pule will l>e the lurgent
practicable uir*htp ever built It wilt
la- |t»t let t long, an<l it.« greatc*! •hame
t,r will le tt* feet. It* *urfacr will
mvaalire «H,atl -tpiare feet ami it* vol
lime will lie 22(1,000 culm- foet. Inflated
with hydrogen, it will have a total
ascensional force of 15,300 pounds.
Seven thousand pounds will be the
weight of the ship and its equipment
complete, leaving 8,000 pounds for cargo.
The ship will he provided with three
motors, with a combined energy of 70
horsepower. If the winds hinder no
more than they help, and there are no
delays, this ship can motor from north
Spitsbergen to the pole in 47> hours.
“The airship will have an endurance
capacity in buoyancy sufficient to enable
it to remain 25 or :>o days in the air. It
will carry 5,500 pounds of gasoline and
its distance capacity during calm weather
will be eighteen miles, more than equal
to thedi-tance from Spitzhcrgen straight
across the pole and the whole Arctic
ocean to Alaska.
“As ottr airship will he constructed, it
will he able to make headway against
twit thirds of all the winds that blow,
even though squarely adverse, and it is
part of our project to motor only with
favorable winds and to anchor our ship
to the ice and ‘lie to’ in all unfavorable
winds of a velocity exceeding one half
the normal speed of our craft. The ship
will he equipped for safe anchorage in
the highest winds ever known in the
Arctic legions. In fact the ship will be
subject to the will and hand of the navi
gator just like a steamship upon the
ocean.
“Beside the 5,500 pounds of fuel men
tioned, the ship will carry also live men,
a comfortable car to live in (which is
also a boat in case of need), food and
supplies for 75 days, sledges to draw
them over the ice, and, in fact, a com
pletely organized and equipp'd sleighing
party, ready at any moment, should it
lie necessary to abandon the airship and
take to the ice. If, at the worst, our
ship of the air carries us only to the
vicinity of the )x>le, or two t)11 r<Ih of the
way to it, we have an alternative method
of travel hv w hich we may reasonably
hope to eomplete our task anti make our
return to land in safety.
“At no time will our airship la* out of
touch w ith the surface of the earth. A
guide ro|n—so called, hut in our case a
smooth, ta|icring line of steel—is to drag
its lower end over the ice, keeping the
ship at a fairly stable hight loll to liUO
feet, the altitude most favorable to wire
less telegraphy . and maintain, under
ordinary conditions, the vertical stabil
ity of the i raft.
"Wireless telegraph stations will Is'
c-tabli-lied at Spit/U rg, n and at Main
tmriest, Norway, ikMl miles distant.
Further than this, a wireless equipment
will la- carrier) in our airship, and it
will he our effort to sent 1 freiplent and,
if |s«*ihle, daily disptttrhe* to the out
side world throughout all the time tlie
c\js >lite'it is in tie- \r% tie regi* ns, even
from the p'lr Itself, should we he sue -
eessful in reaching it.”
S. E. HEETER.
IIARHY RURRUSS.
HEETER & BURRUSS,
FREIGHTERSjnd PACKERS
Freighting and Packing to and from all Creeks.
Good Equipments and Service Unexcelled
Are the Philippines
To Be Parted From?
Skusrway Alaskan.
Eastern pajiers are publishing a story, 1
“vouched for by those in the confidence :
of the president,” that it has been de- !
termined to sell the I*lii 1 ij>pino Islands
to Japan or to parcel them out among:
the nations. The appointment of Gen. :
Luke E. Wright, a democrat, to he am- '
bassador to Japan is explained to he for
the purpose of negotiating the sale, llis
long association with the islands, it is
said, qualifies him particularly to speak I
of their value to Japan.
In substantiation of this story it is !
pointed out that recently Senator Crane,
of Massachusetts, who is close to Mr.
Roosevelt, introduced a resolution in the!
senate authorizing the president to ne- 1
gotiate with foreign powers to the end
that the integrity of the Philippines will
be preserved in case the United States
relinquishes them, and that Represent
ative Longworth, of Ohio, who was soon
to become the president’s son-in-law,
made a speech on the Philippine tariff
hill in which he asserted with startling
frankness that the Filipinos are a shift
less lot, and that the sooner the United
States is rid of them the better it will
he for all concerned.
These things were given something
more than passing attention when they
took place, as indicating a loosening of
the “keep-the-Philippines-at-any-cost”
attitude of the dominant foices in the
republic, hut in view of the announce
ment, coming with credentials said to
lie first class, that plans are already
under way for disposing of the islands,'
they loom up in the background like
towering mountains in a landscape
painting.
It is said further, that whether any
thing more nearly official shall ever
come of this scheme depends upon the
manner of the acceptance of the unoffi
cial announcement by the people.
CAPT. HOLMES STRICKEN
Captain Unimex, <i( the V C. xteamer
service, v\Ito wax nn the Livvllr Yimni;
laxt xummer ami who hax U rn watching
the xteauirrs at Sunnyxiile, l>awxnn, the
prevent winter, wax xtricken with par
alysis early in Kflirnary ami Inxt hi
power of speech.
The ilillii'ulty wax cau"e«l hy the burst
ing of one of the xmall blmxl vexxrlx of
the hrain, which cuuxol a elot ami
|>rexxe<t on the nrrve rout rolling the
vixal organs.
The lfctw«nn Newx xaiil the captain
wax regaining hix speech ami wax ea
pcvtrxt to fully recover.
The government axwwyer at WkHrkax'
ix *iiarl >owax tilanu - Yxlilri Nrat.
RECEPTION
...SALOON...
S. E. HEETEIi, BOB SCHABER,
Proprietor Manager
Wines, Liquors and
GOOD Cigars....
....Billiard and Pool Rooms
Barber Chair in the House.
St l.ouis
ABC
and Seattle
Ranier Beers
OLD VALLEY WHISKY
The Only Stock.
MIXED DRINKS
Our Specialty
A. B. NOTICE.
Regular meetings of the Arctic Brother
hood Lodge are held at their hall on the
second and fourth Tuesdays of each month at
S o'clock p. ni.
WM. SIPAKY, G. A. KKTTERER,
Arctic Recorder. Arctic Chief
BEN DOWNING’S ESTATE
IHnvfon Nows*: Tin1 report reached
here that lien I’owning left an invalid
wife in Harnstead, N. II., and that his
will provided she should receive a
year from his estate, and that two other
relatives in the east should each receive
♦•'>00 a year. Silas Archibald, a f< rmer
Ihnvson eoimnission man, Hen’s late
|>artner, was made administrator. Archi
l hi Id is in business in Seattle.
DEATHS.
r*.\KX.\!i\ , ( IIAKI.KS—,\i
IVli. !>«*! rh«*tiiiiatt»iu. lit- a mini r
on Ikiittinioii creek. HS? year* old
Hh ks, i llAltl.*:*- lie »»» h.uutl
♦ lead in liis mhiii o|» l.ont creek, \u
Yiltio. and if* <*ti|>|wM>«d lo have died of
|*iietiiiu>nhi. ||«> w.o a e«»|ored man, hud
a refutation. and had m»mm*
*rtv in Taliana.