The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1932-12-16

have done much better in delivering perishable
gift such a long distance.
Many shipments of toys, such as little sets Of
tin soldiers, dolls and mechanical gadgets form
part of the cargo of mail plane. An ex-
quisite beautifully set pearl bracelet whose
value was almost that of the ship which carried
it, was once part of the cargo in a shipment
of air express.
What about the mail pilots on Christmas day?
Do they share in the festivities or is it just an
other work. day for them? In the isolated dis
tricts in the Far West and Northwest it Is Gus
tomary for the people to come from miles around
and gather at the airport to see the ship come
In, just as it used to be customary in small
communities to go down to the depot and see
the train come in.
At many airports on Christmas day the at
PENDANTS there prepare a Christmas dinner for
the incoming pilot who will descend from bit
terly cold sky, throw off his fur-lined flying
suit and join with ravenous appetite in as fes-
tive Christmas dinner as will be served in the
land.
The story of the development of the air mail
service in this country is an interesting one On
the tenth anniversary of it's establishment Har-
~ S. New, then United States postmaster-gen-
eral, prepared an article on the early develop
ment of the service from which the following
excerpts are taken:
"It was May 15 1918, that the department
over which I preside took the initiative
and with planes and pilots borrowed from the
War department essayed regular service by
air between Washington and New York.
ION that eyentful day the stage was set and
rightfully So as in celebration of major event.
The President of the United States and other
high officials were present to witness the in
auguration of the first air mail route. They were
kept waiting quarter of an hour when it was
discovered that the plane, ready to start other
wise, was without gas. This inauspicious begin
ming was by means redeemed when the in
experienced pilot landed near Waldorf Nd, to
discover that he had been travelling almost in
the opposite direction from Philadelphia which
had been his goal.
Subsequent efforts at flying the mail proved
more efficient, however. and, three months later
the Post Office department took over operation
of the route furnishing its own equipment and
personnel Before the end Of year it had been
demonstrated that, with the solving of various
problems, flights on regular schedule and in
all kinds of weather could be made with a cred
liable degree of performance.
1T was exactly one year following the inaug-
uration of the New York-Washington route that
service was begun between Cleveland and Chi
cago. designed as the first leg of a prospective
transcontinental system. The second leg New
York to Cleveland. was established less than two
months later-July /. 1919. 1t was September g.
192O before landing fields had been laid out and
other necessary work completed to permit Of
operation from one coast to the other.
THE transcontinental operation was not a
through service. Planes few in the daytime car
rying only such mail could be advanced in
delivery speeded on its way at a saving Of
from II to "a hours 1t was called an "advanc-
Ing" service. 1t resulted in clipping something
like "a hours from the best possible transcon-
tinental train time of 81 hours.
up to this time and for some time afterward
everything was in experimental stage. Each
new step was taken gingerly and there was
much peering into the future not without some
repidition.
THE year 1870 was especially gloomy for the
air service. combination of unsafe and obso-
lete equipment and difficult weather conditions
did not create record particularly inspiring to
already unfriendly congress. upon which the
great experiment was dependent for appropria-