Evening star., 1937-10-19
Parties Climb PreCipitous
Mountains in Worst Trag-
edy of U. S. Air Travel.
PLAN DIFFICULT TASK
OF REMOVING BODIES
Mrs. Campbell Prichett and
Charles D. Renough of Wash
ington Among Victims.
(Picture on Page Az
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
SALT LAKE CITY, October ia
ground searching party reached the
crumpled Mainliner high in the Uinta
Mountains today and found all 10 oc-
cupants of the luxurious air transport
dead.
Ralph johnson, a United AirlineS
pilot and one of a group of four who
kept going all night in the treacherous
snow, informed L. D. Cuddeback, divi-
sion superintendent, that survey of
the wreckage by flashlight showed no
sign of life.
After johnson brought out word of
the tragedy-the greatest number OF
persons ever killed in an American
airplane crash-the airline quickly as
sembled officials, airplanes and ground
workers to bring out the bodies.
The Knight, Wyo., airport, 26 miles
to the north, was made the base OF
operations.
Cuddeback said johnson went up to
the big airplane, "peered in and found
that the 16 passengers and crew OF 8
were dead"
Because of the condition of the
wreckage on towering Chalk Peak,
johnson was unable to make COM
plete investigation.
He wasted no time but started i'm
mediately down the mountainside for
help.
Missing Since Sunday.
The great airliner had been missing
since 8:l6 pm. IN. T.; 1915 E. S. I'd
Sunday when it was en- route from
Cheyenne, Wyo, to Salt Lake City.
It was first sighted from the air
yesterday morning in the most diff
cult sort of terrain-it crashed at
about the 1O,O0O-foot level
Johnson's searching party was aided
toward dawn by an almost full moon,
but the bitter cold made the going
difficult.
johnson made no report as to the
condition of the victims bodies.
Airline officials declined to spec
ulate as to how long it would take to
remove the bodies.
Struggle to Scene of Crash.
The searchers struggled over precip-
itous cliffs and through deep slush
I'D the trailless Chalk Peak, seeking
the wreckage of 'the huge airliner
which crashed in a storm Sunday
night.
From the outset there had been
virtually no hope that any of the oc-
cupants survived and today's discovery
established the tragedy as the worst
In the history of American plane
crashes.
Greatest death toll in United States
airlane history was at Goodwin, Ark,
January IA. 1886, when transport
plunged into a swamp, killing II per-
sons.
Weather May Have Caused Crash.
Airline officials refused to hazard an
opinion as to definite cause OF the
crash other than to say it was at
tributable "in some degree to adverse
weather and flying conditions.
Although the crash scene is only III
minutes flight from Knight, Wyo., 1t
took rescue parties many hours to
force their way into the rugged region,
20 SOQlil VI eAARU 'AAANSS'
Except for the first 18 miles OF crude
wagon ruts threading out of Knight,
there are no trails. From the end OF
the rough roads parties worked into
the wild, deeply -crevised region afoot
or on horseback.
The ground was covered with from
10 to IA inches of slushy snow. Brush
is heavy and matted. Searchers were
further impeded by the altitude-the
sleek. silver United Airline's Main
liner hurtled into a rocky ridge at
10000 feet altitude.
The airliner, flown by Veteran Pilot
Woodgerd of Denver, made its last re-
port to the Salt Lake City Airport at
port to the Salt Lake City Airport.
Woodgerd said he was flying through
broken clouds at 10000 feet.
Three minutes earlier, as the plane
(See CRASH, Page A-30