Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-09-16

frankest reports eXtanL OF WndI loon
!place on those Kill Devil Hills.
On May IA, 1908. newspaper E:Sn
urged upon Drinkwater's telegraph saco
intelligence as TINS:
ION the eve of a great triumph. with
a sustained record of eight miles Ia ira
air lust rolled of, the Wright aeroplans
was completely wrecked this afternoon:
Wilbur Wright, the pilot, escaped
without injury.
Had the wreck not occurred, the
Wright brothers would have leaped into
tame tomorrow morning as absolutely
successful navigators of the air"
Describing the power plane in fight:
Her motions were like clockwork, and
she sailed along serenely under the
bright blue skies, like thing endowed
with life. A flock of gulls and crows
seemed at once amazed and jealous or
this new thing Of the air.
The picture is astounding and pic
turesque at once. Not motion when
she passed our observation point. and
once more she lifted up and passed over
the hill and out of sight.
Down the hcne stretch, between the
sea and the sand hill, something gave
way. We heard whirr of machinery
then silence.
THE ship was wrecked lever that
should have sent her up mad sent her
down, the life guards said"
The brothers had planned the thing
carefully. In leasing the ground, they
violating Dare County punctll1o by or
dering unwelcome visitors from the
premises.
Today Capt. Daniel Hayman, pron1l-
nent landowner in the Wright country,
tells the story of how the brothers APP
peared before his father and asked for
a lease of the ground.
We'll" remarked Capt Haynan,
senior, there's lots Of room out on the
beach for everybody. The neighoors
let their cattle Craze on my land-but
1 don't care. 1 wouldn't want to drive
the beasts to other pasture.
But" calculated the landowner,
"what1l you do with the land?"
1--WE want it for experiments-in fly.
ing" said one of the Wrights.
His father burst into loud laughter.
Can't. Hayman said Flying expert.
ments? Ha ha! A dogs hind leg
Fly in the air! Ha hal"
Boys, go down on the beach and
use it all you like"
But the brothers held to their plan
of leasing the ground. They insisted,
Can't. Hayn1an says. And the property
of s1.50.
Until recently title to Kill Devil
~ Hills still was in the mama OF
Young Capt. Hayman. He sold his
share, along with other parcels OF land,
to a group of New jersey business men.
But, as the result of still more recent
transaction, the heart of the Wright
|
trusteeship of the Kill Devil Hills Me-
mortal Association, awaiting acceptancy
by the Federal Government as a g1ft.
Frank Sick of Asbury Park. n. j..
vas the principal donor Acquainted
with the efforts 81 Representative Lind
saw Warren, North Carolina, to have
Congress Appropriate funds for suit
able memorial at Kill Devil Hills
Stick wired Warren that he would ofler
100 acres of land, free Of membranes,
to the Government. Also. the donor
Interested his associates in the plan ana
an additional 200 acres have either been
donated or promised. Besides Mr.. Stick,
the men who have contributed the lana
are Elmer H. Geran. Charles NJ. Baker,
W. H. D. Koerner, Carl G. Low ana T..
Melvin Goddard.
On the site of the first flight there is
not a marker of any sort to tell tne
passerby of the spots historical sigaifi--
canoe. Kill Devil Hills are as wild and
migratory In their habitat as in 1903:
Sand dunes drift. Left alone. XIII
Devil Hills soon viii be forced by STEADY
ocean winds into Roanoke Sound. Thu
area wanders southwest over the plain
at a rate Of about IS feet per year.
Unless-a plan to anchor this g!-
eantic dune succeeds. Erect a wal.
around it, say some. Drive steel pil-15'
in it, say others. Move it back to u.
original site-these millions OF tons OF
sand. Plant creeping vines to keep
down the sands. And thus the parti-
sans and proponents stage historic
battle over the life and care OF a mere
sand dune.
But something will be done. The
people of Roanoke island, of Kitty
Hawk. Virginia Dare County. Elizabeth
City, State legislators and the Wright
memorial committee are pushing the
project of a monument on this site.
The Federal Government has author
lied the Wright committee to plan.
erect and dedicate such shrine in tn,
name of the Nation. Appropriations
ar, ample: the Treasury Of the Repub-
lie holds the money in readiness.
Shall the memorial be dedicated
partly to the efforts Of the Coast
1 u
their time in helping the Wrights? If
so. say partisans, it should take the
form of a combination Coast Guard
station and aviation beacon. Dianet-
rically opposed to this proposal stand
those in favor of a grandicse tribute,
chiseled out of steel. stone and sand,
to lift its facade either from Kill Devil
summit or from the actual site OF the
first flight 1t is hoped to have dele
gates to the forthcoming International
Congress OH Civil Aeronautics present
at Kill Devil Hills on December II.
when 1t is planned to lay the corner
stone of the monument or turn the first
shovel of sod.
Meanwhile, the Wright country,
which all these years has lain inacces-
sible. obscure and mysterious. row
blossoms out as prospective resort,
garden SPOT and cosmopolitan watering
place. The bathing anomaly that pre-
sents itself to the casual visitor Is that
! the Wright land has barely changed
since some of the earliest settlers found
habitat there, and the natural piano.
rama stretching out from the summit
is almost an identical vista of what the
brothers saw in 1902.
It Is only within the last one or two
years that the Wright country has
wriggled out of a sandy sarcophaguS
and CARRIED itself in the latest trinkets
of Standardization tile houses, radio
aerials and small pieces of macadam
roads.
The commonwealth of North Caro-
lima has agreed to build IL miles OF
pavement to connect Wright land with
other networks Of concrete pavements.
The local association of boosters holds
800 acres In trust, on which 1t is pro-
posed to lay out an ideal airport. A
giant aviation beacon will guide airmen
to the site, while another beam. thrown
out to sea, will warn mariners against
approaching the treacherous shnre Al
ready Roanoke ISLAND Is connected With
the luaiiiAiid by wooden priusA rtore