Imperial Valley press., 1930-01-16
SMALL HOPE OF
FLYERS SAFETY
Held BY PILOTS

LAS VEGAS, Nevada, Jan. 16.
UP-The slight hope that Naury
Graham, air mail pilot missing since
last Saturday, might be found alive,
was fading rapidly today.
The possibility that he was in
iuled when his plane came down in
q binding snow storm, the severe
ness of the weather in the district
where he must have struck, and the
limited supply of food he carried,
, ali tended to eliminate the expecta-
ton that he might be safe.
Weather conditions which made
further search impossible early to-
day seemed to wipe out the last
chance of finding him alive.
A low, heavy fog in the lowlands
| and sleet and rain in the higher dis
tricts prevented six ships gathered
! here from taking off to renew the
hunt this morning.
Other planes at Bristol mines and
Caiiente, likewise were held on the
| ground by the impossible flying
! weather.
Despite the adverse conditions
Western Air Express officials re
fused to give up. Chet Cole, super
intendent in charge of operations
for the company, said that he still
held hope that Graham would be
| found alive. In any event, he said
the search for him and his plane
was to continue indefinitely.
Cole announced that as sOor as
| weather conditions permitted, the
search ships would make systcmat
| id search of from so to IS miles OF
each side of the regular Las vegas
to Salt Lake run.
Until-this section has been covered
LAS Vegas will be the headquarters
| for the group. Later, if necessary
the search planes will be quartere'
at Milford, Utah, while that enc
of the line is combed, he said.
Two Tips Remain
Two important tips still remained
! to be checked again today.
The first was the report that
| signal flare was seen in Sawmll
canyon, near Caliente, night before
last. Fred w. Kelly, an air mai
| pilot, covered the section from thu
| air Yesterday but failed to see any
| sign of Graham or his plane. A
grohp of ground searchers was ex
pected to return from the district
today with final information con
oerning the light.
A second lead was the report from
Phoebe that an unnamed man hat
| reported finding Graham's plane
The report was made to DIR. II. )
Hastings and asserted that the ship
demolished, was located l6 miles
from Bristol mines. Graham was
| not in nor near the wreckage, it was
| said.
While a definite check was to be
made of the story, searehers held
little hope of it being accurate. l:
was pointed out that the section
had been thoroughly secuted from
the air when visibility was good.
Most of the pilots here were of
the opinion that Graham and his
plane would be found in the desolate
White river valley country.
These pilots believed that Gra-
ham, lost in the snow and darkness,
spied the lights of the Bristol mines
| and mistook them for those of Es-
| calantes, Utah.
In such an event, it was said,
Graham would have made turn
which would have left him without
gas some place in the White river
valley country.
Storm conditions were so bad in
the White river valley that had he
banded there it was unlikely he
could find his way out. Heavy
snow drifts would have made pro
gress on foot almost impossible.
Even had Graham landed unhurt
it was said, his food supply must
have been consumed some time ago