The History: Wilbur replied to Octave Chanute's letter of September 3rd. He notes that Mr. Merrill recently contacted the Wrights and disclosed the same information which Chanute had mentioned in his last letter.

Wilbur relates to Chanute that the Wrights plan for a device similar to Merrill's had failed due to low winds. In Merrill's device, the glider would remain attached to the tower and would not have forward motion [the glider would act more like a kite]. Wilbur explains to Chanute that the Wrights plans for similar experiments without forward motion failed due to lack of appropriate wind conditions. However, Wilbur speculates that if Merrill has a lighter machine requiring less lift per square foot of wing area he might be successful.

The brothers shipped some equipment to Kitty Hawk today and hope to ship the rest next week. They currently plan on leaving Dayton on September 20th. They will construct another building at their campsite in North Carolina. The building and machine preparations may take a month. Consequently, Wilbur does not foresee any flights of the new machine before October 25th.

Wilbur and Orville are delighted to hear of Chanute's new business opportunities with the railroads but hope he will not be too busy to visit their camp again this year.