Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1897-08-13

mining in eastern Alaska mas future
for half of next century. This is not a
dream. The gold is there. Chicago
Times Herald.
GREEDY DOUBTS ANDREE's RETURN.
General A. w. Greedy, the hero of
past arctic expeditions, has given up hope
of ever hearing from Andree, the brave
arctic balloonist.
General Greedy was found by a World
reporter at his picturesque home among
the Blue Ridge Mountains near Linden,
Va, where he is spending the summer
and gaining strength from a recent SER
ious illness and surgical operation.
II have not seen a complete descrip-
ton of what Andree intended to carry
with him in the way of provisions and
means of escape" said he, "but if his
balloon Is lost his chance of escape by
the boat | understood he was to take
with him was almost nil. The chances of
balloon going any long distance IN any
definite direction depend upon its sus-
tanning itself above the earth at a con-
siderable height. As Andrees idea was
not to 60 higher than 200 feet. he would
be moved by surface winds.
"Now. if you take a weather map of
the United States at any time, you will
see that balloon would seldom travel
in any direction GOO miles. If he started
out with southerly winds the chances
are that wind would change to a wester-
ly one as he approached the pole.
"As he started in latitude 81, within
about 700 miles of the pole, and as there
seems to be little doubt that he would
go 300 or 400 miles of that distance north
and east that would leave him such a
great distance from the Siberian coast
that the chances of his escape would be
remote.
"If he had his boats and three or four
months provisions we know now from
the experiences of the De Long party
and from Nansen's drift in the Fran,
that Andree and the boats would drift to
the northwest or west-northwest, which
would be a very slow drift. do not
think Nansen's drift averaged much
over one mile per day. Andree's chances
of escape, with a very small supply of
provisions and much smaller supply of
fuel for cooking would be almost
nothing"
"Would Andree observations from his
~ ho Il of fin. t-1lt =,
His observations would be of value
only as showing the character of the
ocean passed over. He could tell
whether there was land or not. but he
could not see very far on either side.
don't suppose his range of observation
wouly extend more than forty miles on
each side-that is to say it might cover
a country eighty miles wide.
"There is much doubt, moreover,
about his ability TO tell where he was at
any time. 1t seems to me it would be
utterly impossible to tell by the sun
with the seXtant, the ordinary method of
determining the latitude. OF course, he
would not know when to make observa-
lions at the highest point of the sun dur
ing the day, because his longitude
changes so rapidly, and then his altitude
is constantly changing. Thus it seems
to me, the usual means of location fail"
Then he will not know when he
crosses the pole:" the reporter asked.
81 don't see how he can determine
when ne crosses the pole or whether he
crosses it at all, or prove if he did"
"What are the chances of the balloon
making such a trip as Andree has under
taken:"
"Slight. The longest time l ever knew
of a balloon in air is nine days That
was in the siege Of Paris. Andree
attempted to keep his balloon in the air
a longer period by preventing the escape
of gas, which ordinarily Is at the rate of
or + per cent day, and he believed he
had devised a method to reduce the
escape to per cent. But his 1896 bal
loon lost 3 or / per cent. the usual
amount"
How can he escape with his life il
his balloon fail him.
There is, | fear, little hope of An
drees return if any accident happens tC
his balloon. A boat is of no service
where he is likely to land, and sledging
means making but two or three miles &
day, and that shows how meager are the
chances of escape even if he have wears
provisions. He will find little in the
way of food where he would probably
land, and he would have difficulty il
= finding a bear or seal. The bes
chance for food is always around tn,
archipelago or along the coast, where
] the ice breaks readily and where seal
= and walruses and other game naturally
! resort"
"Where will Andree probably emerge
) IF at all?"
/, l.. I