New-York tribune., 1921-03-27
THREE HUNDRED years have

"HREE HUNDRED years have
passed since these lines
were penned, and now upon
the wings of the night winds new
Lochinvar has come out of the West
in most unexpected way to COM
plete the prophecy they contain.
When Jack Knight, of the aerial
mail, in the first fash of dawn came
down from out the clouds upon the
turf of Checkerboard Field in Chi
cago after the most thrilling night
ride in history he completed the fifth
act in the drama of mans conquest
of the imperial West, and he did it in
Times noblest offspring" air.
plane.
There remains but the epilogue to
this stirring drama, and it will be as
replete with adventure as have been
the thrilling acts before it, but it will
be the adventure of undreamed-of
speed in chariots of the air.
Envision now the greatest inven-
ton of mans genius-the machine
that endows him with the power of
flight-f1ashing cometlike through
the air at 500 miles an hour, and you
have conception of the basic theme
that will dominate the epilogue. But
let us return to the drama before we
present the finale.
X
THE stage is the rugged territory
of our Western states from Ne
braska to California, and the title
Of the drama that has been enacted
upon it might we'll be called "The
Night Mail" because throughout its
course mans efforts. which culminat-
ed in the spectacular night ride of
Jack Knight, have been concentrated
upon opening up this vast territory
to rapid communication.
How were you thrilled when you
read with pride the stirring details
Of the achievement of the United
States aerial mail service in trans
porting those eight historic sacks of
mail from San Francisco to New
York in the brief space of thirty
three hours? But in reading did you
stop to consider the wonderful story
of the gradual evolution of trans
portation which resulted in that
fight?
1t is a pioneer story of constant
struggle against the greatest odds
that Nature can impose-a story of
real dramatic scope. It's first act
opens in 1880, when Captain Ben
iamin L. E. Bonneville, of the
United States Army, with single
hearted purpose, plunged into the
wild territory, then unknown, and
blazed trail across the continent
that will forever stand out in the
history of the Western Hemisphere.
This intrepid pioneer-who was
lost to civilization for so many
years that the United States Army
officials struck his name off the list
Of officers-after many hardships
came out upon the Pacific Coast
after traversing what later became
famous, partly as the Oregon trail,
the old Salt Lake trail and the old
California trail.
He pursued his hazardous course
along the valley of the River Platte
into the country of the Rocky Noun
tains. He took the first wagon
train over the elevated gap that
forms the junction between the
northern and southern chains of the
Rockies, the connecting link in the
Oregon trail that permitted COM
munication between the East and the
West.
Onward he pushed over the Wa
satch Mountains into Utah until
there was unfolded to his gaze the
great inland sea of salt. Thence
through rugged Nevada and over
the difficult Sierras he emerged into
the state of the Golden West.
Thus falls the curtain upon the
: first act in the drama, its various
scenes having emphasized the meas
urement of communication between
East and West in terms of years.
\ LMosT twenty years later th'
~ curtain again rises upon thi:
historic stage for the second act. Il
rs composed of two scenes--tht
great Mormon migration Of 1874
and the gold rush of '49.
That was the s:ge Of the prairie
schooner, that numbering structure
on wheels which transported whol'
families, together with their world,
possessions. Both the migration
end the gold rush proceeded owe
the self-same trails that Captain
Bonneville broke so brilliantly a