Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-03-01
OCEAN VOYAGE AFOOT,
Captain 0Idrieve viii Undertake
Trip Across Atlantic.
WALKED ON THE MISSISSIPPI.
Man Who Covered Distance of 1900
Miles on Water Shoes Will Next Try
English Channel and Then the Ocean.
What He Has Accomplished.


English Channel and Then the Ocean
What He Has Accomplished.
Captain Charles w. Oldrieye, who re-
Gently landed in New Orleans after
walking the water from Cincinnati,
o.. q distance of 1000 miles, winning
the worlds championship and bet
of $4,000, now announces that he will
shortly walk across the English cham
mel and then undertake a trip over the
Atlantic ocean on his water shoes.
Captain 0ldrieye's shoes with which
he walks on water weigh twenty.
pounds each and are seven feet six
inches long, seven inches deep and six
inches broad. They are made of can
vas stretched over a light framework
Of cedar. On the bottoms Of the shoes,
or batteaux, are flaps which work,
with the action of the water and pre-
vent the Wearer from going backward
after he has made step forward.
The $4,000 wager is on deposit in a
Boston bank, and Oldrieve and his
wife will get 1t, says a New Orleans
special to the Washington Post. Mrs.
Oldrieve also won a championship In
rowing the 1,60O miles unattended.
Her face was ruddy and tanned from
exposure, and her hands were hard
/ from the constant rowing and handling
the boat. Her husband resembles a
midget beside her. She Is a six foot
brunette, weighing $50 pounds. She is
native OF Nova Scotia, spending her
girlhood in little hamlet 100 miles
from Halifax. She has practiced row
Ing for sixteen years, being taught by
Captain oldrieye while he was court
Ing her.
Oldrieve is native Of Boston. His
first attempt at promenading the water
/ was made in Massachusetts, bay Dec.
%, 1889, and later the fad became gen
eral around Boston. The type Of his
shoes Is an improved model Of the bat
teaux invented by Ed .Hanlon, the oars
man. Oldrieve was first introduced to
the public by Frank J. Pillin at Nara
gansett Pier, Pillin advancing him $500
and starting him in the business
We had some mighty hard pulls, .
said Mrs. Oldrieve, "and no sum of
money would tempt me to allow my
husband to make the trip again on the
Mississippi river. know he could not
do 1t, because / am the only one who
would follow him in the lifeboat and
keep him from drowning. was right
behind him all the time, Ifeared all
along that something would happen
and there was hardly day that we
did not have an accident.
The falls of the Ohio river were
easy for my husband, . continued Mrs
Oldrieve, ..and he walked over them
twice, once blindfolded. They say. that
Captain Oldrieye does not walk; that
he shufi1es along in the water. This Is
not true. He does walk on the waves
and his time is faster than the current
We even beat the gasoline launch con.
tanning Captain Weatherington after
we left Baton Rouge, La. For three
days we did not see the launch. We
spent our nights in the homes of plan.
tation owners. .
| "I've done something nobody else has
ever DONE said Oldrieve, with a sat
isfed air, "and don't think 1 could
beat my own record. After I have re-
gained my health I shall walk from
England to France on my water shoes.
| I will cover the route from Dover to
| Calais and then shall make try for
| transatlantic feat.
For twenty-five days during my
walk down the Mississippi river wad-
ed through rain and sleet and my
wife In her open boat was exposed to
! the same trying conditions. Several
times the swamp chills and fevers
seized US, but we worked through it all
and won out. was all in when the
1000 mile post was reached -
Oldrieve was backed by Captain j.
w. Weatherington Of Dallas, Tex, and
the wager was laid by Ed Williams, a
sporting man Of Boston, and Orthus
Jones, representative OF Williams,
and Weatherington followed oldrieve
in gasoline launch to see that he
! made good.
Valuable Seed Corn.
A single ear Of Reid Yellow Dent
u 49,. - 2 :