Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1921-07-25
Thrills of Lifetime Ex-
perienced by Intrepid
Airman
BY THEODORE A LINK
Geologist, Imperial Oil Company.

Geologist, Imperial Oil Company.
FIT. NORMAN, Alta, July 25.-I
Just reached Fort Norman in the
first airplane ever to make the 1900
mile journey asross the desolate,
trackless wilderness that separates
the the new Arctic oil fields from riv-
ilization.
1t was trip full of thrills | never
will forget But it proved that air
plane travel over the unexplored will
derness is practical.
With me in the pane were Pilot
Elmer Fulleton and Mechanic Bill
Hill. Both had won their spurs" in
northland flying. On precious at
tempt to make Ft. Norman, we had
been forced down in the wilderness
by broken propeller. Undaunted,
the two set to work and fashioned a
new propeller, with which he hob
bled" home for our second start.
To appreciate the difficulties of fly
ing in such a country, one must
realize that wilderness stretches on
all sides for hundreds of miles, un
broken, save for an occasional trad
ing post or a mounted police fort on
one of the rivers. ~
A plane equipped with pontoons in
summer and runners in fall or spring
is the only one feasible, for most of
the north country is sloughs and
sWamps.
One must have endured the hard
ships of "fiatboating it, to the oil
fields, as |. did last year, spending
weeks on the perilous trip, to realize
the difficulties that airplanes will
eliminate. But northland flying, too,
is hazardous game.
Our run as far as Fort Vermillion
was uneventful. Just a short after
noon jump, which we made in 2
hours and 35 minutes. Yet the same
trip, by flatboat the year before, had
taken me 33 hours.
Beyond Vermillian our thrills be-
ban. Below the fort are the Chutes,
the worst rapids in the Peace river
AS we passed over them, | was snap
ping pictures. The plane began to
bank and turn. I thought Fullerton
was doing it to help me get better
views until he yelled:
'Our exhaust pipe has cracked"
Sure enough! And other cracks
We're forming.
Landing in the river there would
have meant being swirled to instant
death. Fullerton headed upstream,
seeking the first smooth stretch,
more than two miles away. That
was an anxious minute. Fortunately,
however, the pipe held, and we re-
gained Fort Vermillion.
The next morning we again took
off and headed north through a fog
like smoke from forest fires. We
tried flying high to escape the
smoke, but the curtain was so thick
that we had to come down to get
our bearings.
That was a real thrill! Though
flying low, we could barely see the
river we were following Often Full
lerton would have to mount quick
lv when we reached a spot where
the red flames were leaping higher
than usual, so they would not en-
velop US.
One hundred and fifty miles of
this, and suddenly we broke out of
the smoke and into the clear again
We were Just approaching the Great
Slave river.
We slipped past Fort Fitzgerald
at an altitude of 1000 feet, and look
ed down, as on mere ripples, at the
tortuous RAPIDS below the fort that
have played havoc with so many
boating expeditions. A short time
later we TAXED to landing at Fort
Smith in back eddy at the base of
the rapids.
Our flying time from Vermillion to
the Chutes was two hours and 40
minutes.9 BY boat, the same trip
took me one month.
Next morning stiff head wind
was blowing and the rain was driv-
ing down. But we hoped off, never
theless.
AS far as the eye could reach
there was a monotonous succession