Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-01-13
ga Pack of Bald Eagles
BY Frederic ]. Hnskin

W h9ninKtpn. -. y jan. IU.-IltRn up
in vstern mountain rsngsa, far from
railroads, wngon roads and even tfalsl
there is great wealth in gold, sIlyer and
other precious metals. Much OF 1t II uti-
discovered, becaue no prospector would
waste his time hunting for gold mines
in situation. from which the gold could
never be brought out But some OF these
defosts Are well known. and some Of
them miners hsvc tried again IN reach.
Recently i'm tho Olympic Mountains
dozens of horses were killed IN a vain
attempt to csrTy . hydraulic outfit IN one
Of these inaccessible bonan2as. ihe horses
siipped and fell into a deep canyon,
killing and manning themselves aud
sInashinp with which they were loaded
Old prospectop, discussing these lodes
of unattainablc wealth, are wont 10
remark:
"Ihe stuff rs thcr. sl right, bat you
would necd pack OF bald eagles to
bring it out .
Well. the pack of frcsght-csrrying
eagles. of which the old-timers used
longingly to dream has become reality.
Man has made himself mechs nicai birds
that fly faster and higher and bft more
weight than the iustiest eagle that ever
flew Why cannot n,rplsnes or diigiblea
NV fff THESE tftflTff23fbfF pA
carving the machinery in, bit by bit,
and the netsl OUT
This idea ~ not merely the pipe dream
of q REPORTER. II otiginated with . mining
e,spert of high scientific attachments. who
hoIis nm important government portion.
lie knows . grest deal about gold mines
and something about aifplancs. fIe ex-
!, e,ssed the opinion that IN all profTs-
btI;ty some man who combines imagIna-
tian with practical ability will ast0nish
the world and enact orc more great
industrial romance by bringing gold and
silver aud possibly radIum down from
the mountain tope in fyIng machines.
POSSIBILITIES or aiRPLAHF
When this mining expert WAS con
frontcd by newspaper reporter who hnd
heard Of his idea, he was immediately
sared with that acute panic which ~
often aflicts tho scientific man when
be encounters a representative Of the
prcss. Tic average scientist Is just as
spontaneously afraid Of a Newspaper man
as a cat p afraid of a bull dog The
minute his natural enemy comes IN sight
he gets fustercd, and usually goes un a
high tree Of non-connittI language,
where he remains until the brute goes
away 1t may be that the scientist, like
thu cat, is partly justified IN his conduct
by experience
At any rate, this scientist WAS genuinely
and deeply alarmed at the ldea that his
reputation for conservatism, or that of the
government department with which he IS
connected. should be exposed to injury
by the publication Of q sensational story
to the effect that mining by aIrplsne Il 4
practicable thing, Nevertheless when hc
hsd been promised thnt his name would
not be used, be admitted that ii did lock
practicable 70 him
The possibilities Of the airplanes as a
means # carrying freight have been
pretty well canvassed II has been sad
that it costs about as much 70 carry .
pound bY alrplane az ii does 70 carry
ton tie game distance by rail IN :
word, the cost IS prohibitiye. That is whv.
50 far, tho airplane has been used for
carrying nothing heavier than mail
Ia tire second place, an aIrplane must
have = safe and adequate landing field
before It can operate at all At present.
when tire United States Air Service Is
asked to land plane anywhere, It
stipuiates that there must be 0 level
field least 1890 feet square. Now It
might BE- nard to clear ..eid that large
en- come Of the mountain tops where tie
rich mines are located But tie AR
Service officials have also officially pre-
dicted at within s year or two they VIII
be able TO land on field 200 feet square
with comparative safety They are learn
ing more about the landing business
every day. It is understood that the
development of 4 reversible propeller has
much 10 do with tins o.tcial optimism
about the landing business. And It
would seem that landing feld POO feet
square could BE arranged on most noun
tain tops
OF course, an airplane can carry only )
few hundred pounCs Of freight. It weiIlC
hardly b. practicable To snip cut crude
ore by airplane. But gold and silver ars
usually reduced at the mlne. The pro-
cedure would presumably be 10 carr.
70 the mountain top All the MACHINERY
for stamp mill and reduction ulant
by alrplane, piece by piece. This would
be expensive, but II would orlv nave +.
b. done once. Then the metal IN ba-.
worth thousands of dollars each would 3,
carried out by airplane, and thev would
be far safer from robbery than most gold
IN transport away from railroads is
nowadays
So much for gold mining BY slrplanes
The idea IS offered, without ROYALTY
charge, to anyone who wants to try II.
Meantime, the Bureau Of Mines hss