Evening star., 1925-06-19
RY FRERERICK r. NEELY.

In possession of a radiogram from
Glko. New, stating it was solid
overcast, raining; ceiling 5000 and
Visibility miles, light ground haze;
over mountains calm" Capt. Street,
took off from Salt Lake City at
10:44 am. Eastern time into threat
ening clouds in the west The al
titude of the field is 400 feet, and
although we use up Il goodly por-
tion of it in getting away. we do
much better than at the last two
neldS. AS we get up we see the
green lake bordered on the north
east by heavy thunder clouds. We
cross over a section of the lake and
the course takes us through an open
Ing between the mountains ahead
half of which are on land and the
other half rising out of Salt Lake
1t begins TO look clear ahead. and at
1l:15 o'clock we see the last of the
lake. passing over the Salt Desert.
This is an area of solid salt, re-
semblinS Il frozen lake and very in
riting to land on. \ mail division
superintendent was flying west not
long ago on his first trip over this
section of the course. In another
plane was Il mail pilot flying on
schedule. AS they crossed over this
Salt Desert the superintendent
wanted set down" and began to
dive. The mail pilot tried to pre-
vent him by flying in front of him,
In fact, almost crashing against him.
but the superintendent would land.
And as his wheels struck the soft
salt the plane nosed over on it's
back. The inquisitive superintendent
had to walk 16 miles in salt almost
up TO his knees to get help. Even
tually caterpillar wheels were put
To- vi
solid land.
Scan Salt Desert.
We sacrifice ] 900 feet of altitude
to come down and look over this
unusual ground formation. 1t re-
sembleS caramel icing on a cake
smooth as glass and broken now
and then by a little plot of ground
covered with sagebrush. Another
ridge marks the ending of the Salt
Desert. and the skipper goes to 1000
feet above sea level, or 5000 feet
over the ground. Instead of going
over the ridge directly behind the
first one, we slip around and skim
over low point to find ourselves
III the State of Nevada In going
through the opening we pass very
close to the side-about 20 feet
away-and see that this ridge is
hours flying we had not seen a sign
of man or beast or vegetation. More
mountains. to just barely climb over
and into Independence Valley, where
behold, railroad train, three houses
and dirt highway. The clouds get
thicker and hang on the crest of
the mountains ahead. the East Hum
boldt range. In this range is an
opening known as Secret Pass-it
10. toll IL
is formed by the overlapping of the
ridges running parallel But the
storm clouds are right on the top
and unless Bill can see to the very
top of the mountains he doesnt go
through any trick alleys. SO we fly
up the range for awhile. hugging the
side. and find a suitable entrance,
passing over this at so feet On
the side of this range is 4 pile of
debris resembling sticks and cloth
probably the remains Of n era sh.
Across a small valley to another
range and close to snow-covered
peak and we see the expected val
ley. but it is filed with fog, so
down goes the plane to keep in sight
Of the ground. A few hundred feer
above the ground we fly and ahea i
see large ''E" imbedded in the side
Of another mountain. 1t is Elko
and we land at 1:16 o'clock
Pilot Delayed.
The mail pilot who left Salt Lake
the previous day for Reno. but was
delayed in getting away because of
the "set down" in Nebraska of the
Eastern mail, got as far as Elko and
had to remain over night because
darkness was closing in on him and
there are no night-f1ying facilities
into Reno The mail however was