Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-03-14
Mss J. F. ERWIN. am not afraid to sign my name.
A START FOR THE POLE.

What the Young Explorer Hopes tn Accom- plish-NovcI Features of the Expedition.
 The Frozen North's Fascinating; Mystery May Soon Be Solved.
 NEW YORK. March l4.-Nr. Walter We'll man. the we'll known journalist. sailed on the steamer Britannia today en route fol Spitzbergen, from which ECint his eNpedi- tiOn will make a summer GaSh for the north pole. Mir. Wellm"n was accom- panied by three other Amrrican.--Profess- or Owen B. French. late of .hp United States coast and geolrtic survey and an experienced and capable scientist; Dr. Thomas B. Mohun, a successful Washing ton physician, and Charles (. Dodge, the artist and photographer of the expedition. The enterprise is under the leadership of Mr. Wellman. and the three men named are his lieutenants
 Ten hardy young NorWr..i;tns, ambitious and experienced in arctic vNi lorution. will join the party in .Iorway. and the eNpedi- tion will sail from Trnneor. Norway. for the islands of Spitzbera;tn about the lst of May. At Dane's island. which is very near the eightieth parallel-that point of lati tude so far north that many explorers have never reached and few have ever passed it headquarters will be established. and then the party will steam to the edge of the great ice pack about a degree farther north. After landing is effected the steamer will return to Danes island, and about the 10th or f5th of May the dash for the pole will begin.
 Will Use Aluminium Boats.
 That marvellous new metal. aluminium, has been utilized in the construction of sledges, boats and other apparatus, and thus equipped with far lighter parapher- nalia than any previous explorer MT. We'll man expects to be able to push on north at the rate of from 12 to 20 miles per day. AS he will have only about 600 miles to travel before the pole is reached. he expects to either reach that goal or point very near it in 30 days. He will then return to the edge of the pack ill 50 days more, his steamer will pick him up. and he will then return home.
 Mir. Wellman has carefully studied the great problem before him and expects to profit by the knowledge gained by previous explorers who have traversed the pack and to avoid their mistakes. His early start is for the purpose of getting far north before the pack begins its drift toward the south. Away back in 1927 Sir Edward Parry pushed on northward over the pack at the rate of from Is to 20 miles per day, but his heavy equipage compelled him to break his loads into parts and pass from five to seven times over the same road.
 Other explorers. handicapped with old time sledges and boats, have been com pelled to progress ill the same slow man. ner, but Mr. Wellman believes that with his light aluminium outfit retracing his steps will be unnecessary, and that every mile travelled will take him mile farther toward the pole. At the start the drift of the ice pack will not be against him, and when he returns later in the season it will assist him in his homeward journey.
 MT. Wellman carries with him his alu- minimum boats and sledges-the first ever built in America-and tests have demon strated that they are by far the lightest and at the same time the very strongest boats and sledges of their size that the world has ever seen. The entire equip ment of the party of II will be about 5 5,5OO pounds, and as 40 hardy draft dogs will assist in carrying it, the average weight per man and dog will be about 100 pounds.
 A Newspaper Expedition.
 One novel feature of Mr. Wellmans scheme of exploration is that it is strictly a newspaper expedition. and if MT. We'll mans plans are carried out the world will be appraised of his progress toward the pole, thing that has never before been done in the case of any previous polar ex- petition. Members of his party will be sent back from time to time to the edge of the ice pack with letters describing the progress of the expedition and the discov- cries made by the explorers. At the edge of the ice pack the dispatches will be taken on board Mr. Wellman's steamer, which will return to Norway, whence the world will receive the news.
 Whether Mr. Wellman's dash for the pole will be successful or not remains to be seen, but if his novel plan is even partly carried out he will succeed in reaching a degree of latitude farther north than that reached by any previous explorer. With Wellman, Peary, Nansen and possibly Jackson in quest of the pole this year, it seems highly probable that 1894 will mark the solution of the frozen north's fascinat- ip0 r,uoforv