The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1919-08-01
STORY OF THE TRIP.

jio"ilS story OF the trip made nv
Lieut.. Hall and Mechanic Smith from
vancouver to Oroville, taken from an
interview with a reporter in Van
couver paper, in the first flying ma
ehine to cross country from the coast
to the valley of the Okanogan. 1t is a
full and interesting account of that
thrilling experience and will be read
with great interest by the people of
OroVille and vicinity, most of whom
mad the pleasure of witnessing the fly
ing stunts at this place during the re-
cent 4th of July celebration:
Two Vancouver boys, I4ieuts. Ern-
est Hall and Dudley Smith are resting
tired nerves and wondering if they
VIII always have as much luck in life
as they had on a recent trip into the
interior of British Columbia
Yes" said Smith meditatively, as
he sat on bench in a little east end
|auto repair shop. cleaning rod with
piece OF waste, Il never expected to
see this little shop again.p
Two weeks ago Hall and Smith set
plane of the Vancouver Aerial Trans
portation company Curtis bus" of
the JN4 type. Their Object was to fly
to PentiGton by the way Of Chiliwack
land Princeton. There they had an en-
gagement to fill July 1st From Pen
ticton they were to go to Orovile,
Washington, and do some stunt fly
ing for the residents of that town on
July 4th.
The trip to Chilliwick was found
VERY enjoyable. The plane climbed
well, the scenery was magnificent and
there were landing places which could
be used in case of emergency all along
the way. Forty minutes after
leaving Minoru the fliers put the nose
of their machine down ard landed in
field at Chilliwack. A refill of gaso-
line was obtained there and Smith ex-
amined the engine carefully, as a pre-
lcautionary measure. Having prospect
| ed in the interior at one time, he had
a slight idea of what the trip would
| demand of the plane, and how awk.
ward it would be if the engine cut off.
They set out from Chilliwack and
then the excitement came. On the way
to Hope they were given 3 slight idea
of what was coming by the bumpiness
of the air in certain valleys. When
they had passed Hope and had entered
Coquihalla Pass, the MACHINE was
tossed about in a most aiarasing man.
ner.
I'VE were not afraid" said Smith,
"but there was that terrible suspense
II motioned for Hall to climb, but we
kept on the level. | motioned again
and again but Hall kept shaking his
head and knew then that we couldn
look. There were trees and rocks
above, beside and below us, and
knew that if the engine stopped we
would never make landing-not on
those steep canyon walls.
| There were times when we could
mot see any way out of the pass. Be
| fore us would be a mountain that
seemed miles high above us and we
knew the machine couldn't climb an
other ten feet. Then when we got close
Ito the mountain we noticed that the
Ipass turned sharply around it and we
lin the pass. There were currents In
1.-THE pass that kept us rocking and
lplunging constantly. At times we would
shoot up two or three hundred fee
before we knew il and the air woulC
leave from beneath us and down
we would go until we were al
most upon the tree tops. Sometimes
1.-The pass was just wide enough for u:
to get through.
"By Halls mastery plotting" Smitl
|contnued I'VE reached Princeton
lsafely. We couldn't find a landing
lplace on the first look around, so Hal
lshoved the planes nose down AM
Handed in the main street We tool
laway telegraph wire in the process
lbut we wern't worrying any abou
THAT. We had found good landin!
place
The following day they set out f.
lPepticton and after another rocky
"trip. although considerably less tenn
lpestuous than the one through Coqul
lhalla pass, they reached the city OF
IOkanogan lake. After giving eXnibl
ltions on Dominion Day they flew DOW
Ito Oroville Washington and stunned
there on July 4th. Then they flew oac
to Penticton and prepared to make tn
return trip.
They filled the tank to its capacity
l22 gallons, and took off with t'e IN
tention of landing in Princeton 10
another supply of gas. They cllmoe
we'll and after a more or less strenu
Ions tourney landed in Princetoi
There they refilled the tank, ana sc
lout TO follow the same route hy whic
they had come.
"Then we found that we slmpl
lcouldnt get hight" continued Smitl
, "There Is a hill that has to be passe
, lhefore one gets out of the slght
: Princeton, and try as we might III
, machine refused to CLIMB that HI
Hall went back at it time after TIM
but inst as we would reach the to
we would strike a downward currei
= and down we would go with it. re
> almost an hour Hall tried to go oV'
l the tor, then fearing that the gf
, supply would give out, he turned u
l machine back to Princeton and lande
! on hill there"
Y At Princeton a conference was ne
4 and the boyd decided that they bo'
E could not cross the hill. so they S
Y out for Penticton again to have a.
other tank put in the front seat. b
[ ooain the current got them and aga
0 tbev had an experience equal to TN
f Of the flight through Coquihalla pas
!, The currents tossed them about, no
!. shooting them up hundreds Oh leet
a time and again pulling them dow
,rost to the ground At times Sa