Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-06-25
fly close to the water.

fly close to the water.
II expected trouble ut Peekskill. To
my establishment l found nothing I'M
usual there. I came around the prom
ontory looking for trouble. 1 was close
to the water. so as to avoid any posi-
BILE conflicting currents, however, and 1
guess that is why did not experience
the conditions the steamboat and sail
boat men had warned me about.
81 had been told that at that point
the battling winds would hit first on
one side of a boats sail and then on
the other. But all encountered there
were the rising and falling air cur
rents. 1 should say / was flying about
fifty feet above the water at that point.
It was the lowest point of the entire
flight.
Before the landing I made on the
Isham estate, near Spuyten Duyvil,
noticed that my lubricating oil gauge
registered empty. / feared that 1 could
not reach Governors island.
THE little plateau on the Isham es-
tate didn't look very large as 1 ap-
| preached it over the water, but had
no difficulty in landing there After
landing and replenishing my lubricat-
| ing receptacle from oil offered me by
one of the automobilists there 1 found
that by a new trick 1 could get off
with running start which would car
~ me well on my way.
'eThe terrace slants down toward
swamp to the southwark Getting into
my machine. 1 started down the slope
Iof ha
a drop of some fifty feet from the
plateau to the swamp. but 1 cleared
the latter with plenty of room to spare
and was soon out over the river again,
flying low.
Looked Good to Me.
'I saw the Metropolitan tower from
about thirty miles up the river as I
rounded one of the promontories. 1t
certainly looked good to me. 1t was a
question whether 1 could reach the city
then before my oil gave out. but to
know that l was only about thirty
miles away was comforting. The only
way l can account for the lubricating
oil running low is that the pump had
been working overtime.
Coming on down the river I didn't
have much time TO look at the build
ings Ny attention was needed right
there on my machine.
my sensation on landing? 1t was
relief, and relief of the same sort as
when l landed on the Isham estate,
for l knew then that the prize had
been won and record made"
Mr. Curtiss made a discovery the day
after his great fight which would
have caused him uneasiness had it
come to his attention during the fight
from Albany to New York. During
the latter stages of the trip his lubri-
eating tank was working badly. That
was the reason he landed on the
Isham estate, near Spuyten Duyvil. He
thought at the time that the reason for
the small amount of oil remaining in
his tank was the overworking of the
lubricating pump, but he found that
his guess was wrong. The real reason
was that the oil tank had sprung a
leak. When his mechanician went
over to Governors island to see If the
aeroplane was all right he found the
lubricating oil tank leaking badly.
1.-The only way l can account for
that" said Mr. Curtiss, ''is that the
tank got a violent wrench either dur
ing the trial fight on Friday evening
May 20 or when 1 alighted at Pough-
keepsie. Had the leak been larger it
might have caused disaster"