New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-07-16

nSnrud and other angling necessities,
asd supply Of concentrated food for
uSE in cage of accident in the wilds of
the Northwest
The aisplanes are equipped with
Photographic outfits, which will be used
IN mapping an unexplnred tract 1T5
miles long and 40 miles wide which
lies south of the Tanana River. The
aviators carry greetings also from
vilhjalmur Stefansson, president of
the Explorers Club of New York;
Henry Fairfield, president of the Amer
lean Museum of Natural History, and
others, to ROAD Amundsen, who is ex-
pected to reach Nome next month af-
ter circumnavigating the globe north
of the sixty-third parallel.
Their own exploits in the field Of ex-
ploration are expected to be Of great
value, not only specifically in the map
ping of the northern wilderness, but
generally in the proof of the airplane's
ability to map difficult country more
swiftly and more rapidly than any
means hitherto employed A survey of
the Tanana River district by the old
method would take three years and
cost$l0,000.
First Flight of Kind
General William Mitchell, who saw
the voyagers off, had this TO say Of
the Importance of their enterprise:
"The New York-to- Nome fight mi
tiates the development of aerial routes
from north to south across the Ameri-
can continent, with eventual feelers
from this route to the eastern part of
Asia and connection with air routes
across Asia to Europe. 1t, is the first
overland flight which we have attempt
ed of any magnitude across the terri
tory of another country.
"For great part of the distance this
route runs across Canada. The Cana
facility for the carrying out of our
plans.
Each landing place has been care
fully selected, supplies of gas, oil and
spare parts distributed, maps provided;
also complete instructions for each
part of the work. In this way each
part of the Army Air Service has been
made to function in way that is
analogous to the preparation of an ex-
petition for war. In other words, it
is a maneuver of our whole service.
Without such exercise the service soon
becomes inelastic and incapable of
working quickly on problems of this
kind.
at forms an example Of the way in
which mail service by air can be in
augurated quickly and routes for COM
mercial aviation be established. We
hope, in this respect, that it will lead
to the development of commercial air
routes to Alaska, which will enable US
to get up there in three or four days,
whereas at the present time it takes
three or four weeks to get into the in
terror of the country.
"The possibilities of transportation
by air in the Far North are very great,
because the cargoes of furs, gold and
precious metals are comparatively
small and their value is very great
Men Carefully Selected
"The officers selected to go on this
flight have been chosen on account of
their qualities as pilots, ability to fly
do the job. 1t is a pioneer trip in
it's nature. Every pilot is entirely
American trained, as are the mechanics,
and all equipment for the expedition
was manufactured in this country. In
this way it is the first expedition in
which entirely American equipment and
training is being used"
Captain u. H. Moos, commander at
Mitchell Field, said that he regarded
the Alaskan flight as the most difficult
ever undertaken and comparable in it's
importance to the first transatl" ntic
fight. During much of the trip Cap
tain Street and his men would have to
keep to an altitude of $4,000 feet, he
said, with unknown perils beneath
them.
although the Alaskan flight is some
what shorter than that between London
ond. Australia" Captain Moos said. "in