The Daily Missoulian., 1910-12-30
CALIFORNIA AVIATOR THRILLS
SPECTATORS BY FLIGHT
OVER HIGH PEAK.
OLD problem! [! \! SOLVED!
Army Officer Sees the Relesation Of
the Mule as a Means of Transports
ito" Over Mountain Ranse.-eird-
man Passes Over Mount Wilson
With 400 Feet to Spare.

4.
arch Hoxsey # Pasadena, Cal.
noioer or the present worlds altitude
record of 11.474 feet, today flew over
Mount Wilson. the highest peak OF the
mountain range which rims the valley
IN which Los Angeles, Pasadena and
the towns Of the orange belt lie. Under
ideal weather conditions he scared
lO,005 feet into the sky and cleared
the crest Of Mount Wilson with 1900
feet to spare.
Lieutenant Vernon Boiler and sew
eral other army officers who are here
to see the sights, were quick to
observe In Hoxsey's performance a
new way OF transporting armies across
the mountain ranges and predicted the
early relegation of the army mule as
an essential In scaling heights.
Lieutenant Boiler, who came here
1000 biplanes could transport an army
OF 10000 men across mountains as high
as the Alps in a day,
A Wright sipIans.
Hoxsey used a heavy stock Wright
biplane. equipped for passenger serv-
ice, and he made the Journey from the
field to point beyond the mountains
IN hour and 2s minutes The dis
tance Is estimated at 81 miles. On an
air line the distance from the field to
the mountains Is less than that, but
9HOxsey circled over the field until
he had reached his maximum height
before he pointed the nose of his ma
chine toward the range. He was, out Of
sight Of the crowd before he made the
attempt at topping the peak.
The news OF his success was flashed
to the aviation field by telephone from
the Carnegie solar observatory on
Mount Wilson. and directly above
which the aviator scared.
1T was fearfnlly cold, and when i
got to point just above the summit
I found that the horizon which
obscured the mountains from the avia-
tion field was a heavy pall of vapor
filled with fine ice particles that stung
my face. I am certain that II had
had a recording thermometer with me
| it would have shown the temperature
of the upper altitude to be far below
zero. However, huraling mountains isl
much easier than climbing 1900 feet
over valley or the sea. The earth
does not seem SO far away
Latham's Marrow Escape.
Hoxsey's performance was the only
interesting feat accomplished today.
but just before the close of the dav's
events the crowd got thrin by an
accident which nearly resulted in the
death of Hubert Latham, the French
monoplane expert, who made q valiant
attempt to save Glenn Martin, the
California novice, when the latter lost
control Of his machine ana was blown
into fence by q 20-mile wind After
successfully negotiating the course
once Martin was blown far to the
south of the field, where he narrowly
escaped disaster sevenal times. BY
skillful maneuvering of his machine
he finally tackled back to the course
and the crash came as he was trying
to make a landing.
Two or three thousand men and
women were within a few feet OF hin,
when he dashed into the fence in
front Of the grandstand. Latham was
in front OF the judges box when
Martin brought his machine to earth.
The Frenchman Immediately realized
the danger, and, rushing out. eaught
hold Of the machine and desperately
tried to turn it away from the fence.
but he misealculated its speed and the
force of the momentum. and was
dashed to the ground The running
gear OF the machine. which weighs 800
pounds, missed Latham's face pv only
a few inches and Martin and his BIZ
plane sped into the fence with such
force that it broke the iron stanchions
upon which the wire fencing was
stretched. Martin was hurled over the
fence and fell upon sawdust. rolling
almost under the grands,and, but got
up unhurt.