The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1922-11-03

In days of old when Castle VIZ
: new, great were it's wonders. MOI
tana's premier silver camp, it la
at one end of the Jaw-bone railwa
that well-nigh tabled thread c
steel that wound gnarled cours
up Sixteen-Mile canyon from LON
bard and the Northern Pacific.
! Castle in 1890-its boom days
had all those wonders that could b
! offered for a mining camp of SOM
1900 or 1000 persons. Now that i
has dropped to cluster of molderint
cabins, the remaining Is inhabitant.
still tell tales that bear the mark o.
the high community ambitions thai
only an early mining camp-and the
early mining camps inspirationa.
beverages could incite.
Such a story is that of Sure Shot
Bill of the Castle mountains and the
airplane he built in 1890. w. B.
Wiley, supervisor of the Jefferson
national forest, returned from trip
through the White Sulphur Springs
region, tell it.
Sure Shot Bill left behind him as
evidence of his early aeronautical
experiments and the veracity of his
remaining townspeop1e, the skeleton
of his flier. 1t lies on the mountain
back of Castle.
Sure Shot Bill came to Castle in
it's early days and was one of the
builders of the silver camp. He
came to take an exceeding pride in
its growth. But torn between mu-
nicipal patriotism and the promise
of wealth, he was forced to leave
Castle to develop the mining claims
he located on the top of the noun
tains four or five miles distant and
high above the town.
Perhaps it was the desire to make
a quick descent to the mining town,
perhaps to avoid the roughness of
the mountain trails that first led
Sure Shot to divide his time between
the mining work and building of his
airplane. The lodge pole pine about
MS claim provided the materials and
10 all appearances it met the require
nents as we'll as the spruce wood of |
he modern plane.
1t was 80 years ago that Sure Shot |
Bill built his plane. His neighbor-
ng miners scoffed and joked the pro-
ect. The laughter then is reflected |
n chuckles today. Yet, 80 years ago
sure Shot Bill built glider, as
hown in the skeleton still existing,
hat was not essentially different
rom the gliders that are now attract
ng attention in Europe and are be-
ng experimental with largely by
viators in the United States. 1t util-
zed the elementary principles that
he Wright brothers, then hardly out
f knee trousers, used in their air
lane of almost 20 years later
A long slender lodge pole, some 40
set in length, provided the chief
Lay of the canvas wings. A deep ,
roove was carved in the length of
lie pole and the stays of bent pine
ere fitted in this. 1t was a mono
lane and beneath it are still the
avs that held rude seat. So light :
/ construction is it that a man can
asi1y lift it.
So far as anyone knows, Bill never
led out his air plane. Before he
yer gathered the courage to take to
lie air, he became disguised with
le possibilities of silver in his mine, o
Id moved to happier fields, where v
} heard of Silver mines as had sill "
r." The principle of flying his ma h
line was undoubtedly to take a a
wing start from the long grassy N
opes of the mountain, even as pilots Il
gliders do today. k
Tradition has it that once in his IL
ps, he bet his silver claims that O.
could fly from Castle to Lombard 81
ID beat the Jaw-bone flyer.
Today the skeleton of this early ts
rerunner of the airplane lies be- Fl
lie the ruins of the old cabin. Only q,
heap of rotten and disjointed logs Of
arks the cabin, and the lodgepole
eleton is weathered but still dry !,
d solid. -
Ask native about it and he'll say:
ure Shot Billie built 'er. He =
yer flew err" =,