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"If Mr. Peary knew as much about ballooning as he does about sleighing he would never advocate attempting to reach the north pole over the ice," said Mr. Wellman. "Late in June I will leave in the air for the pole, and I am confident I will round it in my dirigible balloon and land again in safety in Spitzbergen. There will be no danger from the snowfall. Mr. Cruiser of the Air will carry a weight of 500 pounds to the square foot, and the snow that may fall on it will have no more effect than if it fell on a gigantic copper roof." 

"Now, as to details: My balloon is covered with three thicknesses of cotton, and between each thickness is a layer of rubber. The craft, or envelope, as aeronauts call it, possesses a lifting power of 19,500 pounds, which is far in excess of the weight it will have to carry. The airship will carry 7,000 pounds of gasoline, 3,000 pounds of food, enough to last us all winter; twelve dogs, which will be delivered to me at Spitzbergen from the Arctic regions in the north; a sledge, and four persons. I have ordered, in all, twenty-five dogs, and will pick out the best twelve from that number. 

"We have made numerous experiments with the air ship and have ascertained that the loss of gas amounts to but 1 per cent. a day. I figure that we could afford to lose 2 per cent. of gas a day and make the round trip in safety. Our power will be obtained from a seventy-horse motor power, which will drive us through the air at the rate of fifteen miles an hour. [[?]] estimate that our trip north will take from two to eighteen days to reach the pole, and the return trip from five to twenty days. We will, therefore, be out of the world for about a month. We will take cameras and all the necessary [[?]]." 

[[?]] Mail. New York. 
3 Apr-1907.

SAYS PEARY IS NO AERONAUT

Walter Wellman, Who Will Hunt Pole in Balloon, Replies to Criticism.
 
DECLARES EXPLORER KNOWS NOTHING OF FLYING.

"If Mr. Peary know half as much about ballooning as he does about sledges he would not be likely to condemn the project of reaching the north pole by means of a balloon as impracticable."
 
With this preface Walter Wellman, who will hunt the pole in a balloon this summer, spoke to-day of this undertaking. Mr. Wellman arrived from Europe in the steamer Kaiser Wilhelm II. to attend the wedding of his daughter Rose to Leroy Chamberlain in Washington. He will return to Europe next week.
 
When told that Peary attached little value to the balloon for northland work and that he believed that the needlelike snow would destroy it, Mr. Wellman added:

Peary Ignorant of Balloons.
 
"Mr. Peary is a king at sledge work, but his knowledge of ballooning must be limited. He does not know, perhaps, that the envelope will have a tensile strength of 500 pounds to the square foot. I would like to see the snow which could harm that. Snow falling on this envelope would have no more effect than on a tin roof.

"The balloon which I will use is constructed of three thicknesses of cotton, covered by an emulsion of rubber. It has a lifting power of 19,500 pounds. We will take 7,000 pounds of gasoline, 3,000 pounds of food and twelve Eskimo dogs for enforced sledge work.

"We hope to leave Spitzbergen early in June that we may take advantage of July, the best month for Arctic work. We will make test flights in May and June before we leave."
 
Open Sea at the Pole.

"How do you expect to come back?"

"We will cross the bridge when we come to it."
 
"Do you think that there is land at the pole?"

"No, I think there is an open sea." 

"What's the use of scientific parties going there, then?"

"We don't know what science may discover. We will find out and theorize afterward." 

knife.

Anyhow, B. J. Green of Brooklyn now owns the airship, having bid $80 for it, and having had no time to renig before the auctioneer cried "You're it." Mr. Green denied the report that he was going to use it for his summer trips to Coney Island to beat the Brooklyn Rapid Transit, but any one seeing a streak of green amid the blue overhead this summer will quickly guess that it is the Green of Brooklyn.
 
Consul, Capt. Bostock's famous trained gorilla, was also sold to-day. He is less educated than he was, having been claimed by death, and is only a stuffed Consul now. He was purchased by William Woodbridge, a member of the Swans Club, and it is reported that Consul is to be elected to membership in that organization. Once Consul was quoted at $5,000, but he only added $5 to Uncle Sam's exchequer. 

Globe - Boston 
3 Apr-1907

SPREAD OF BALLON RACING.
 
BALLOON racing apparently is destined to become as fashionable in America as it is in France. Last year in our own Berkshire hills there were numerous trips taken by expert handlers of the balloons, and the sport is likely to be much in vogue in the future judging by the preparations which are being made in various parts of the country.
 
The most exciting balloon races this year will be of an international character, and will occur at St Louis next October. About 300 of the richest men of St Louis have banded together to be known hereafter probably as the "Aero 300." This club proposes to provide the comforts and balloon paraphernalia required by the foreign enthusiasts over aerial navigation who will participate in the international balloon races, which are to start from St Louis.

The program as now planned is for the international races to be held under the rules of the International Aeronautic Federation, the prize to be a cup valued at $2500. This cup goes to the club represented by the successful balloon--the one covering the greatest distance--the aeronaut in charge receiving a prize of $2500 in cash.

In addition to the above, four other prizes for the aeronauts have been offered by the St Louis citizens——respectively $1000, $750, $500 and $250.

It is the intention of the Aero club of St Louis to make this international contest the occasion of a general aeronautic carnival, extending through perhaps a week. Events for dirigible airships, aeroplanes, and other kinds of flying machines, will probably be arranged.

One feature of the carnival will be a contest for the Lahm cup, to be awarded to the person making a record of more than 402 miles, the distance covered by Lieut Frank R. Lahm's balloon when he won the first competition for the Gordon Bennett cup last year. 
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Those unfamiliar with balloon races are naturally most interested to learn where the contestants are likely to land after their aerial voyage. This is by far the most important point in the whole contest. 

The answer to this query is that the millionaires who are engineering this novel race have discovered that St Louis is so far removed from mountains and all large bodies of water that it affords an ideal field for ballooning, offering an immense stretch of space over which the airships can pass with very little danger. They also found that the upper air currents of St Louis are almost invariably from southwest to northeast, so that 1500 to 2000 miles can be traversed before the ocean is reached, and without encountering any mountains. Furthermore, the coal gas at St Louis proved the best for ballooning purposes that they have ever tested. These would appear to be ideal conditions or at any rate far superior to those that exist near the coasts. 
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Ballooning recalls all sorts of at