The Powder River County examiner and the Broadus independent. [volume] (Broadus, Mont.) 1919-1935, 1922-11-10

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In days Of old when Castle was
new, great were its wonders. Mon
tana's premier silver camp. It lay
at one end Of the Jaw-bone railway
that well-nigh tabled thread Of
steel that wound q gnarled course
up sixteen-Mile canyon from Lom-
bard and the Northern Pacific.
Castle In 1S90-its boom days
had all those wonders that could be
offered for q mining camp of some
1900 or 1000 persons. Now that It
has dropped to cluster Of moldering
cabins. the remaining Is Inhabitants
still tell tales that bear the mark Of
the high community ambitions that
only an early mining camp-and the
early mining camps inspirational
beverages could incite.
Such q 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 1t.
Sure Shot Bill left behind him as
evidence Of his early aeronautical
experiments and the veracity of his
remaining townspeople, the skeleton
Of his flier. It lies on the mountain
back Of Castle.
Sure Shot Bill came to Castle in
its 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
his claim provided the materials and
to all appearances 1t met the require
ments as we'll as the spruce wood of
the modern plane.
It was 80 years ago that Sure Shot
Bill built his plane. His neigtbor-
ing miners scoffed and joked the pro-
ject. The laughter then is reflected
in chuckles today. Yet, 80 years ago
Sure Shot Bill built a glider, as
shown in the skeleton still existing,
that was not essentially different
from the gliders that are now attract
ing attention in Europe and are be-
ing experimental with largely by
aviators in the United States. It util-
lied the elementary principles that
the Wright brothers, then hardly out
of knee trousers, used in their air.
plane of almost 20 years later.
A long slender lodge pole, some 40
feet in length, provided the chief
stay of the canvas wings. A deep
groove was carved in the length of
the pole and the stays of bent pine
were fitted in this. It was a mono
plane and beneath it are still the
stays that held a rude seat. So light
In construction is it that a man can
easily lift it.
So far as anyone knows. Bill never
tried out his air plane. Before he
ever gathered the courage to take to
the air. he became Disguised with
the possibilities Of silver in his mine,
and moved to happier fields, where
he heard Of 'silver mines as had sill
ver." The principle of flying his ma
chine was undoubtedly to take a
flying start from the long grassy
slopes Of the mountain, even as pilots
of gliders do today.
Tradition has it that once in his
cups, he bet his silver claims that
he could fly from Castle to Lombard
and beat the Jaw-bone flyer.
Today the skeleton of this early
forerunner Of the airplane lies be-
side the ruins Of the old cabin. Only
q heap Of rotten and disjointed logs
marks the cabin, and the lodgepole
skeleton 10 weathered but still dry
and solid.
Ask native about It and he'll say:
"Sure Shot Bill-he built 'er. He
never flew 'er."