Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-07

GTdllS WOuLIu OVCL OllC AloV GIN
treeless prairie. A grass fire
showed that the wind had shifted
around the compass and the
ship touched wheels to the great
turf covered Wichita T. A. T. air
port 9 minutes ahead Of schedule.
Oklahoma in "a Hours.
Out of Wichita at sos pm, the
plane began the last hop Of the
day over the Kansas wheat coun-
try. The entire color scheme o.
the country changed as the
ripened and cut grain fields re-
placed the open fields. Over the
tawny fields tractor drawn reap
erS crawled sluggishly, Spewing
forth bundled wheat shocks at
regular intervals. We crossed into
Oklahoma over Sandy Creek-a
name which means rust what it
says. AS the plane glided down
to landing, the butteS Of min
nature bad land" rose out of the
prairies to the west.
The wheels ground into the
oiled runwayS of Portair, Way
noha, Okla, at 6:12 pm, IL min
utes ahead of schedule. Since
leaving Columbus we had flown
938 miles in a total flying time of
8 hours and SO minutes. a shade
under 100 miles per hour. We
were less than IL hours from
Washington.
A comfortable "aero car" took
baggage and passengers from the
plane to a waiting Pullman car
on the Santa F'e at Waynoka. We
were delivered at the T. A. T.
field, Clovis, N. Mex, at $3.50 the
next morning, 40 minutes behind
schedule, and sister ship of our
first days plane left Immediately
for Albuquerque on the first leg
Of the flight to the Pacific.
Over the Ancient West.
The grimy fists of Mexican chill
dren and the felt sombreroS Of
coW-punchers waved us away over
the great ranches Of New Mexico.
The plane was climbing steadily
as we crossed the head breaks of
the Red River and picked up, far
to the right, the dusky bluffs of
the Llano EStacado. The country
below looked hot and parched, but
at 5000 feet the air was cool,
crisp and clear. The fiat country
was broken for the first time by
dry washes of fabian Creek and
other wet-weather tributaries of
the Pecos River.
The river channels cut deeper
and deeper and about an hour
out we saw the deep Pintada
Canyon several miles to the north.
We crossed the line Of the South
ern Pacific and to the south could
see our first mountains. Over
Camalion and Rattlesnake Hills,
so miles to the south, rose the
formidable mass of Jicarilla
Mountain, former stronghold of
the dread Jicarilla Apaches,
towering to a height of 1894 feet.
A little later the mass of Chupa-
dero Mesa, where Is located the
Gran Quivira National Noun
ment, barricaded the southern
horizon.
The country grew increasingly
rough and wooded below and at
1925 we crossed the Cerro de las
Manzano Mountains and dropped
through a pass, with mountain
buttresseS at our wing tips, into
the dry open stretches beyond [
where the City of Albuquerque
SquatS on the banks of the Rio
Grande. The ship had been max
ing up time fast and we we're q
minutes late at Albuquerque Field,
where we refueled rapidly, saving
another minute.
Over Desert and Mountain.
Leaving the green grass and
trees of Albuquerque behind we
were over the desert abruptly, the
water hungry land all broken and
twisted below by the choked beds
of streams, long waterleSS. The
Ceboletta and San Mateo Noun
tains, dry as the desert around,
rose to the north and west, with |
the 11,389-foot peak of Mount |
Taylor far beyond. Black lava
beds broke the monotony of the
sand.
Ell Moro, famous as Inscription |
Rock" jutted knife edge of rud-
dy stone out of the sands to the
left before we climbed over the
Zuni Mountains and Oso Ridge
under gathering clouds. Water
appeared below in stagnant
stretches and a spur of the Zuni
ButteS, all red and yellow, rose
out Of a bilious pond Of turgid
fluid.
Out of the mountains again, the
Little Painted Desert swan below
in bright sunlight. Famous Pilot
Rock, dark and abrupt, rose out
of the waste above the wild desert
LIE Roux Wash Valley. The air
was very bumpy. We landed at
Winslow, Ariz., at 1909 pm, 8
minutes ahead of schedule, hav-
ing made up 81 minutes since
leaving Clovis.
Fiery BeIOw-COOI Above.
Leaving Winslow we immediate
ly picked up Crater Mound, sup
posed to have been created by the
plunging of a giant meteor into
the desert floor. Kingman, in
the heart of the desert, was our
next stop and we landed in a
temperature of ITO degrees in the
shade. Climbing thankfully out
of Kingman, 8 minutes ahead of
schedule, we we're UP in cool air
once more over the sun bitten
ash. piles Of the Black Ute Noun
tains. Miles and miles of barren,
broken country, tossing up into
mountain ridges and dropping
into sandy flats, stretched in every
direction, with not one trace of
green to relieve the desolation.
After more than an hour over
almost fracklASO MA Stac VIE ca VI