Williams news., 1921-07-29

the near vicinity of the canyon
 as it is on the railroad, ] , miles , airline from the Grand Canyon
 and it would cost but little tc
 put it in condition. The near
 ness to the railroad is an inn portant item, as all supplies even water, must be shipped : in, and the roads are none too = good. Passengers for or from z Grand Canyon could be car : ried to and from Anita on a : railroad or an auto in one-half i hour at all seasons of the year.
 Very good emergency fields
 exist all the way between Will ] Hams and Anita and to the east
 as far as the San Francisco Mts.
 and to the west for 30 miles i between Anita and Grand Can
 yon.
 1 On June 5th Lieut.. Pearson.
 in company with the Chief Ranger of the Grand Canyon National Park, went down in the Canyon to look over the
 plateau. The plateau is 3,750I
 feet above sea level and while
 generally level, it is rough or
 full of small rolls and hollows.
 Lieut.. Pearson states that a
 landing on any part of this plat
 eau would almost certainly re-
 suit in a crash, though not ne
 cessari1y fatal. Two way land
 ing fields of 400 or 500 yards |
 in length by 75 yards in width
 could be built on this plateau
 at a number of places at a cost
 of about $1,OOO each, as the
 surface of the plateau is of de- composed rock and could be
 easily worked. No other level
 of the canyon is at all suita ble for any kind of an emergency landing field.
 On June 9th Lieut.. Pearson started on his return trip to Nogales and arrived there on June 9th. On the following day he flew to Williams, Ariz., which he used as a base be- cause of the close proximity of the field to town and the avail a ability of gas and oil of good quality. It was also the closest field to Grand Canyon that , could be used, as no funds were available to prepare fields clos CT. {
 On June 11th, the day fol- { lowing Lieut.. Pearson's flight ] over the Grand Canyon, he left Williams at 8 :25 A. M., flying ] by way of Flagstaff, San Fran 1 cisco peaks, Little Colorado , River, Painted Desert, Marble I Canyon and Kaibab Plateau. ! There were few, if any, fields f that could be landed in at all T after leaving San Francisco as it is rough, sandy 1eSert that would surely cause ] crash. The Kaibab plateau \ $ a high rolling tract of land heavily covered with timber. There is one unique spot in the Plateau, called Big Park, which I, which for some curious reason 4 S bare. It is approximately Y, )ne-half mile wide and miles v ong, lying in a small valley E 'unning north and south. It is <, he only place on the plateau r 'n which a landing could be nn fldO0. Lieut.. f0aTSOn 1anQ0Ot = here at 1O:3O A. M He states z hat it is a very good field, and .. an be used by any plane, with b ut any preparation. if the ,lane can take off at this alti- ude-8,8OO feet. He took off without any difficulty and flew e n and around the canyon for D lalf an hour. His experiences p were similar to those of the pre- iOus day. He descended $500 eet below the south rim of the A ;anyon and 4,5OO feet below he north rim No difficultyI h vas experienced except that n he motor became very hot, due cl 0 the hot air in the bottom of he Canyon. B
 On June 18th Lieut.. Pearson M 1ade another trip to the Can sl on, taking off at 2 20 P. M. in n
 strong southwest wind blow si 1g4O miles an hour. The air re 7as extremely rough and bum co y all the way to the Canyon. SC fe crossed over and back 3 m umber of times at attitudes of SC rom 500 to 4,OO0 feet above w oo 1-1,oo l..