Dewey County advocate. [volume] (Timber Lake, S.D.) 1910-1913, 1911-12-22

radius Of hundreds Of milss. To
hotels wsfe packed from cellar toj
garTst Private houses had no troa-
BILE n renting roons and ftirnishingi
meals The sood people Of that Villages
rsaped . haTvsststhat year. They have
bssn reaping evsr since. but less and
less - time goes on. With tAe inhuxl
Of 10 many strangers. all come to-
the same purpose. the natives gradual
y ceased TO become excited them,
selves IN Witnessing the excitement 81
those strangers. Soon the inhabtt-'
ants assumed m air 4scmething sweaSy.
liks-sort Of boxed demeanor. - Il
were.
And 20 It has gone for three years.
It h great privilege for the stranger
to mingle personally with those m.
lives who have actually ridden aero
planes and have had such wonderful
experiences-In their minds.
After listening awhile to these tales
the stranger goes to the aerodrome
deld. There he fnds . half dozen mon
working at. an aeroplane- repairing
rents In canvas, testing the engine. re-
placing ribs. These men are looked
upon with awe. You zee, they make
aeroplanes. You watch them from the
outside. The aeroplane II In = barn
like building with = huge door mat
slides Just like q barn door, and this II
open - the men work. Perhaps youl
may, In your eagerness. step inside To
get 4 better view Of what that fellow
ID doing with the soldering pot, but
they don't notice you. They don't even
notice you when they step on your
feet They have . very peculiar habit
these men Of stepping on your test.
Since 1908 hundreds and hundreds
Of flights. varying from Is feet to sev-.
eral miles. have been made ct Ham
mondsport, and 90 today the native
pays little or no attention to Nights.
II he sees an aeroplane lying ahead
of his he may follow It with his eyes
until either he or the machine turns.
II he has to turn around to follow it,
aight-wsll. he simply wouldn't turn.
Aeroplanes to him are like autom0-
biles on Broadway to New Yorker.
Three years ago the native eagerly
picked up his daily paper and scanned
It for q .Hammondsport date line.
Now aeroplane news appears not TO-
interest him. Whereas he used to
tramp four miles almost daily to tho
original aerodrome field. now he sell
dom. II lever, goes to the now held
located right In the village-unless Z
game Of baseball II to b. played. Tho
diamond IL ON the aerodrome neld.
The young men Of the village play
baseball while Curtiss or some other.
aviator. II circling over the tield. and
no errors are made through fielder
having his eye ON the aeroplane.
Dick Brown will tell you that once
Aviator McCurdy, who some time
plays center on Hammondsport
team, played that position In IN aero
plane and made four put-outs and
two assists out Of six chances.
Millions q people would deem & Z
great boon to get just = glimpse of IN
aeroplane in flight Thousands and
thousands have gone great distances
and spent much money to witness
flights, and he who came back from
one and told about It to his fellow
citissns .was looked up to. But the
Hammondsport inhabitant dossn't
turn his head. But they're proud Of
Curtios.
When Curtiss evolved the aeropaane
with which hs has been 20 successfal
he interested DR.. Alexander Graham
Bell. Of Bell Telephone fame, who
spsnds large sums Of money for expeg.
iments, but who closes his purse when
the experiments have reached . sue
cess1ul stage and the matter takes ON
. commercial aspect Then the Aero
association was formed.
The asroplane with which Mr.. Cur.
tiss Jew down the Hudson to New
York, and the one which he new last
summer from Cleveland and return
are practically Of the same make -
the June Bug. built in 1905 and one Of
the first made.
The immediate surroundings Of the
aerodrome building, which houses the
with which Mr.. Curtiss
broke many records and made his long
est flights. are commonplace enough.
A dozen cows roam the fields. With
these cows the story Is also old. The
noises made by the engine and whix-
ring Of the propeller no longer CAUSE
them to lift their heads. Az said be-
fore, the building itself IL q barn
like structure, implanted. Weeds grew
abundantly. The men 60 about their
work Of making and repairing aap0-
planes much ~ do others at, digging
potatoes with NO thought, seeming
". that they are engaged in builling
objects that now hold the AttsaAisn
Of the whole world. =