Walter Wellman

(1858-1934) lived at Sutton, Clay County. Journalist, adventurer, known for claiming to have identified in 1891 the location of Christopher Columbus' arrival at San Salvador, then attempted unsuccessful overland expeditions to the North Pole in 1894 and 1898 and by air in 1905, 1907, and 1909, then made first but unsuccessful attempt by dirigible to cross the Atlantic Ocean in 1910, anticipating triumphs by others that followed; established weekly newspaper at Sutton, Nebraska in 1872 and the Cincinnati Evening Post in 1879, published three books and an expose of Frederick Cook's claims that he discovered the North Pole. Consult New York Times obituary, February 1, 1934, p. 19 and Who Was Who in America, Vol 1 (1942) 1319 and John Grierson, The Heroes of the Polar Skies (Meredith Press, 1967) 10-24 and American National Biography, Vol 25 (1999) 11-12.

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