Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1907-11-20
CAPT. AMUNDSEN HERE THIS WEEK.
Famous Norwegian Explorer will be Ten
dered Reception and Banquet. and Will
Lecture on Friday Evening.

LcCtuIc VI rTIudy Evening"
The citizens of DEBORAH generally,
and especially the ScandinaviaDs, are
looking forward with the anticipa-
tion of much pleasure to the visit this
week of Captain Roald Amundsen,
the famous Norwegian explorer, who
is making tour of the United States.
He will arrive in DEBORAH on Thurs
day afternoon. and will be met at the
station by the Luther College Band,
faculty and reception committee,
who will escort him to the Winnie
shiek hotel, where at Z 80 O'Clock
Thursday evening he will be rendered
banquet under the auspices of Lu-
ther College. On Friday afternoon a
reception will be rendered him at the
Luther College auditorium, to which
the citizens generally are invited.
Speeches will be made by various
citizens and Capt. Amundsen, and
there will be plenty of good music.
On Friday evening he will lecture
Mt the Grand opera house, on 1.-THE
Conquest of the Northwest Passage.
The lecture will be in English, and
will be illustrated by numerous
stereopticon views, representing his
travels and attempts to reach the
north pole through the Northwest
Passage 1t will be rare treat for
orr people and doubtless there will
be q large attendance.
Captain Roald Amun1sen, the
famous Norwegian explorer. who has
made the Northwest passage has
been lectur ing through the larger
cities of the East and his account of
the thrilling experiences through
which his expedition passed has
caused much favorable comment in
New York, Washington and Boston.
While in Washington Captain Amund-
sen was received by President Roose-
velt, who conversed with him for a
long time about the expedition
through the Northwest passage. and
also about his coming venture when
in 1909 or 1910 Captain Amundsen
will try with an expedition from San
Francisco to reach the North Pole by
way of Behring Strait. the route
attempted by the Jeanette expedition
and Nansen. The President pro-
nounced his desire and willingness to
90 along so as to have chance ct
some of the polar bears, the only kind
of bear which the President has not
yet found an opportunity to shoot at.
While in Boston, Captain Amund,
sen was the recipient OF much atten.
tion; he was received at the South
Station by a couple thousand people,
and the Norwegian Singing Society
greeted him with a national anthem.
He was also the guest OF Governor
Guild at luncheon where the Gov
ernor's staff attended in uniform, and
the state officers of Massachusetts
were present. After the luncheon
the whole party were taken by the
Governor in carriages to the Left
Erikson monument which stands in
Commonwealth avenue.
In speaking of his intention to use
Polar bears instead of dogs on his
coming expedition, Capt. Amundsen
said that it was quite feasible as
Hagenbech, the great animal dealer
and trainer in Hamburg, has polar
bears which for several generations
have been born in captivity and
which are tanner than the average
Esauimeaux dog. These dogs never
get quite tame and are born fighters ;
they often kill each other and also
give a lot of trouble with sore feet
when they have heavy loads to pull
The polar bear of course can pull as
much as 30 dogs and during the winter
time when they are not in use, eat
very little. as they have their an
sestors' alternating instincts.
Captain Amundsen's lecture is based
upon popular interest and is in no
sense scientific. The life of the
Esquimeaux of King Williams land
forms the bulk of the talk, and as the
expedition brought back with them
nearly 5000 photographs, Captain
Amuudsen had plenty of material
from which to select his beautiful
views