The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1921-07-29
WILDERNESS
s! EXPLORED
BY AIRMEN
Thrilling Adventure Reach
ING Arctic Oil Region by
Air Is Described

Air Is Described
ueee thrIIis than most m~a
9pgtaes h . lifetime are
Enehea h this short story BY
4Aoe1ero vink sf his sirpiAs~
NO eve t-see mice II Canadian
y0eA tAvu fsrs~s fire. and snew
soes~Aa. - NE Fers Norman oil
4eeeA seAr the Arctic Circle.
AAnA = the gens~xsss for the Inn
1911 OIL cemtAsy. whe. after
woeoe eapterAfteus, disceves~d
49, I'll fieadA whtcA have been
~ gveaa<~t s<~s~ttcx - the oil
oA1s e1esy from Zen Newman.
voere ~ NV y ~ work.
10y TlJE0DORR A. LINK
rlno1ua. Imperial Oh Company
VRT NORMAN. Alta. July 60
f(r< reached Fort Norman In the
airpianc ever TO mako the
- >mile Journey across the dcsoiate,
nckleSs wilderness that separates
y new Arctic oil fields from civil
3tionL
;lt wAs = trip fun Of shrirls I never
" forget But Il proved that air.
Ane travel over the UNEMPLOYED vii
rness II practical.
EW PROPELlOR
FASHIONED
with me In the plano were rifo,
Dcr Fullerton and Mechanic Bin
)L Roth. had "won their spurs" In
~4k1>~l Ux<~. ~ i. ss-~..ts.,,. "a
npt TO make Fort Norman. we had
m forced down in the wilderness
= broken propeller. undaunted.
D two Set TO work and fashioned a
~ propeller. with which we hob
~ hosne for our second start
( ~ appreciate the difficulties OF ny
j h such = country. one must real
~ That wilderness stretches on al
~ for hundreds OF miles. unhroker
re Tor an occasional trading pos,
\ = mounted police fort on one OF
ytyers-
plane equipped with pontoons
~ hummer and runners In fall or
ng Is the only one feasible. for
4 Of the north country Is sloughs
u owampA
One must have endured the hard
&lpo Of "flatboating IT. 10 the oil
1dA a. did last year. spending
oelks on the pcriious trip. 20 realize
y difficulties that airpisnes viii
Inmate. But northiand flying. too,
: hazardous game
Dur run ~ far as Fort vermfYlion
- unevcntfui. Just q short after
On jump. which We made in . hours
"a IS minutes Yet the same trip.
! flAtboat the year before. had
zen me - hours
0ln. THRILLS
&0yE RIVER
|5seyond yermnliou cur ShrfIis b.
N Below the fort are the chufes,
wurxe rapids In the Peace river
~ passed over them. I WAS snap
NJ pic<ures- The plane began 10
nh and turn thought FULLERTON
- doing It 10 help me get better
1nuu until he yelled:
sour exhaust pipe has cracked.
0uro enough, And other cracks
- pruning
ondtng IN the FLYER thers would
- meant being swiricd to instant
hin Fullerton headed upstream.
King the first smooth stretch,
~ than two miles away. That
y IN anxious minute Fortunate
however. the pipe held and we re
Dned Fort yermiilson- -
The NEXT morning we again took
ana headed north thru fog, liks
oke from forest fires We tried
NJ high to escape the smoke. but
curtain was 50 thick that we had
lue down to get our bearings.
II was real thrill. Tho nyins
we could barely see the river w
following. Often Fullerton
n have to mount quickly when
reached spot where the red
nes we're Ieaping higher than
~. 20 they would not envelop US
fAI4LY COME
Ian Or SMOKE
Dne hundred and fifty miles OF
u and suddenly we broke out OF
= smoke ana into the clear again.
y were Just approaching the Great
I've river.
Ne slipped past Fort Fitzgerald
Ma altitude Of 1000 feet and
- down. ~ ON nero rippies. al
= y5wfuous rapids below the fort
~ have played havoc with 80 many
nkt3g expeditions. A short tims
= We TAXED to a landing at Fort
Silh IN . backSeddy at the base OF
S rnptd2
Our flying time from vermiliion 70
o Chutes was two hours and a
.1nufes. BY boat. the same trip took
- enc month
Neat morning q stiff head wind
- blowing and the rain was driv
- down But we hoped off. never
I1xIeR
A. far ~ the eye could reach
|Hess was : monotonous succession
. swamps, sloughs and muskeg
NJ turned west at Great Slave lake
~ after three attempts we finally
~ the narrow Fay river channel In
nf3ty and spent the night at Hud
- Bay post
I'm HEAD ON
DeTO gNOWsTORM
4 We had barely started on the fol
wing morning. heading across
)rsat Slave lake toward the Macken'
3 river, when we ran head-on into
enewstorm.
uEkks swiried thickiy about us
Jkutting off everything. Had tbs
u1orm continued we must have beer
|onnelessIy lost Fortunately we soon
ut thru II and found that Fuller
1n had stayed on the course.
Tho Mackenzie river stretched out
1ov NJ We circied Fort Provi
". but made no stop, and two
y II later we made perfect land
a Fort Simpson. tying up~nt
y bar In the river.
Ne awoke early the next morn