150 Years Ago in The Old Pueblo

The morning of August 10, 2024, we had a thought: "Wonder what was happening 150 years ago in Arizona?"  We selected the "Arizona Citizen" in Tucson to find our "whazzup" 150 years ago.  We read the entire August 8th edition cover-to-cover, so to speak.  There were all sorts of interesting tidbits we thought about clipping.  But then we realized we'd wind up with way, WAAAY too many clips.  So, why not see if we could clip the entire edition?  A Dear Friend beta tested the idea with us and determined that, yes, he actually could read a full page.

So, here's how it works: You click on the link below each page shown here.  That takes you to our Newspapers Dot Com clipping.  Then simply enlarge the clipping and you can read whatever you want.

https://www.newspapers.com/article/arizona-weekly-citizen-tucson-08081874/153005877/

https://www.newspapers.com/article/arizona-weekly-citizen-tucson-08081874/153006791/

https://www.newspapers.com/article/arizona-weekly-citizen-tucson-08081874/153007135/

https://www.newspapers.com/article/arizona-weekly-citizen-tucson-08081874/153007188/

Early Globe Christmas

 The holding of the celebration to commemorate the birth of

Christ, the Saviour of mankind, in a saloon, was the talk of the

Territory at the time. But, with due respect to churches that are

dedicated to celebrate this transcendent event and impress its

divine inspiration upon the minds of their votaries, let it be said

here that no gathering of people in cathedral hall or simple church

ever paid a more reverent homage to the Master of mankind's

higher ideals, than the rough-hewn denizens of the mining camp

of Globe that memorable Christmas Eve in the year 1876.

The Knox and McNelly Saloon was one of the finest in the

southwest. Its bar was of bronze oak and mahogany surface,

which shone as glass. The back bar too was highly ornate, with

its wonderful long mirror, decorated with glass chandeliers and

beautiful vases, goblets and drinking vessels. Huge Rochester oil

lamps suspended by other glass chandeliers illumined the large

spacious hall as if it were day. Gambling layouts, faro, roulette,

monte, and poker games were played in the back part of the

saloon and the respective tables were crowded every day and

night where thousands of dollars were won and lost.

When the news that Knox and McNelly were going to have

a Christmas tree in their saloon with everybody invited, and that

the bar and gambling would be closed during the event, reached

the miners and prospectors in the hills and the people in the camp,

the novelty and unique proposition took hold of their minds.

They approved heartily and vowed to make the celebration an

honored success. For, with all their wild, boisterous, rough, and

daredevil mien, there was a tender cord in the souls of every one

of them. The sentiment that played that cord was memories of

Mother, Home, and Childhood -- Christmas Eve! What a feeling of

joy it brings to millions of the Christian faith all over the world,

and to the hardy and indomitable pioneers of Globe, its cheer

and joy were none the less.

Committees had been appointed to select presents for the

pioneer families in the district, the John Branimans, Richard

Freemans, Mr. Clover, John Hise, John C. Clark, grandfather of

Mrs. Tony Neary, Mrs. John Griffin and Mrs. Doc Perry, now

living in Globe, and a few others whom the writer has failed to

learn. The exemplary pioneer family of William and Miriam

Middleton, were living at Wheatfields at the time.

A beautiful young pine tree was brought down from the Pinal

Mountains and set up in the saloon, its balsam fragrance filling

the space with pleasing odor. Eight inches at the base, ten feet

12 PREHISTORIC AND HISTORIC

high, with its numerous branches one to four feet in length taper-

ing to its top, it was indeed a wonderful tree fit for the gods to

adorn. Red, white, yellow, green, blue, and brown ribbons were

draped and twined around its boughs and trunk. Candles were

arranged to shed a soft glow over its verdant beauty and then the

presents were placed.

The saloon had been closed during the preparation, and its

bar, back bar, and gambling tables were covered with white muslin

cloth, as one of the gamblers said, to clear the minds of the most

pious and prove to the sceptical that the celebration was in spirit

and truth a real Christian affair.

It had been gently snowing through the day and when night

came the little camp was wrapped in a mantle of white. The road,

or street, through camp and rough board sidewalks shone brilliant

where the lights from shacks and buildings along the way il-

lumined the frozen gems of snow.

At eight o'clock the doors were opened and the people came

to the saloon. As they entered, any sense of ridicule or banter,

toward the event, was soon banished and reverence and silence

gripped their minds instead. An usher directed them to where

they were to stand during the ceremonies and, as they crowded in

and took their places, and officer asked, "Did you leave your gun

at home?" "Yep," "Sure," and "You bet your life," were the re-

plies; one brawny miner, known for his fighting ability, cried out,

"Any man that would start a rumpus on a night like this otter

be strung up on the sycamore," (the hanging tree on main street).

As the crowd awaited the coming of the women and children

to receive their presents, they represented a true type of the

west; tall and short, stalwart, broad-chested, bearded men from

the mines and trail, wearing hobnail or cowhide boots, blue over-

alls or jeans, blue, red, and brown shirts, low-crowned felt hats

and mackinaws or blanket-lined ducking and buckskin coats. The

town folks wore "store clothes" and kept up with the times,

while the gambler and his class wore the most immaculate dress

suits, boots and shoes, hats and derbys.

Subdued and low were the tones in which they addressed one

another. No levity or expressions of ridicule escaped their tongues.

Rather, a feeling of supressed emotion masked their faces as the

memories of childhood had taken hold of them again and with

that same tense feeling of pleasant expectation they waited pa-

tiently for the most honored guests.

Finally they came, the women and children of Globe's earliest

days, hesitant in their plain, neat clothes, coarse shoes and scarfs

or shawls over their heads, timid as they approached the wonderful

tree with boys, girls, and babies. Their timidity was soon dis-

GILA COUNTY, ARIZONA 13

pelled when W.T. (Bill) McNelly, master of ceremonies, tall,

Debonair, and handsome, spoke in kindly tones to them. Then

Felix Knox, a dead game gun man, gambler, and gentleman,

assured them that wonderful Christmas tree was for their pleasure

and everybody would be disappointed if they did not enjoy it.

The reserve was broken and one lady spoke, saying, "Mr.

McNelly, I wonder if we cannot have a few words in prayer from

someone?" This was a stickler for Bill; he had overlooked a bet.

But his mind was active, he answered, "Sure ma'am." Then he called

out, "Is there anyone here who has real honest religion enough

in his toughened soul to give us a word of prayer?"

Out from that hardened crowd of rough frontiersmen a tall,

powerful man with black beard, blue eyes, and raven black hair

hanging down to his shoulders, blue shirt opened at the throat,

brown jeans tucked in cowhide boots, a wonderful specimen of

physical and intelligent manhood of the west, stepped to the side

of the tree and in a clear, mellow voice told of that Divine Hour

at Bethlehem centuries ago, when Christ, the Son of God, was

born to the world to teach mankind of the true and only God

that they might enjoy eternal life. He painted, in words, a pic-

ture of the sufferings of the Saviour and His death and final

victory over mortality and His ascension to the throne of God.

His hearers stood spellbound as he discoursed to them. Hand-

kerchiefs were to be seen wiping away starting tears upon

women's cheeks. Men, when their emotions were about to over-

come them, drew back into the crowd to hide their weakness.

"And now, my friends," he concluded, his face aglow with

zeal and fervor, "I will close by quoting a verse which I feel you

will all agree is appropriate to this assembly of people and the

celebration:

'Whether it be in cathedral hall,

Or the snow bound north where the moose herd calls

Or out upon the raging main,

Or the Dantic regions of our western plain,

The spirit of Christ abides in men.

And to those who are of a rougher mien

With that self same spirit, we say, Amen'."

After these simple truths were expressed a short prayer was

said by the lay preacher, then he withdrew to the crowded doorway

and disappeared in to the night. No one tried to stop him; no one

knew who he was, but his mellow fervent voice and the sermon

he gave to them lingered in their minds and it was some time

before the spell or its soothing influence was broken.

The distribution of woolen mittens, scarfs, and other valuable

necessities for the women, and nuts and candy for the children

14 PREHISTORIC AND HISTORIC

and gifts from personal friends to each other climaxed the occa-

sion; the merriment and rejoicing waned and the families de-

parted, happy and bubbling with glee.

The bar and tables were stripped of their coverings and

opened for business. Those who remained were hesitant and shy at

beginning their wild life again, as if the event, just over, was too

sacred to mar by the spirit of Bacchus being presented to the

saloon. However, the urge to maintain the standard of life they

lived was too strong to resist and soon the scenes of Christian

prayer and festivities were turned into a wild, boisterous roar

of mingled songs and happy greetings; the old carefree life of

the frontier was in full swing again.

The Plank Road

Once upon a time, intrepid travelers drove their early automobiles on planks hand laid across a shifting sea of sand dunes between Yuma, Arizona, and the alluring ocean breezes of San Diego beyond.  

The precarious stretch became known simply as The Plank Road. Although in service for only 11 years, The Plank Road continues to live large in the annals of Southwest transportation and local lore.

How did such an audacious route happen?  Who was behind the scheme? What was the motivation?

What was it like to travel The Plank Road?  What replaced The Plank Road?  What happened to remnants of the old Plank Road? This article attempts to answer those questions.

America's so-called "Little Sahara" is the nation's largest contiguous area of sand dunes.  The dunes formed thousands of years ago from wind-blown remnants of an ancient lake formed by the meandering Colorado River. The searing summer sands rebuffed human encroachment. The loose, deep sand made early travel next to impossible.  Lack of water compounded perils of the shifting sand dunes.  Early travelers simply avoided the 45-mile-long dune field by detouring into Mexico or around the north tip. Throughout decades of early settlement, pioneers considered the dunes an impenetrable obstacle.  So what happened to cause The Plank Road to be pushed across the dune field?

In a nutshell, the sand dunes were conquered largely because of a single-minded, natural-born salesman---Ed Fletcher.  Fletcher came to San Diego in 1888 at the age of 15 with $6.10 in his pocket.  He quickly parlayed pocket change into lifelong economic and political success.  Fletcher was like a pied piper for "all things San Diego" and had an uncanny knack for raising lots of money for his many pet projects and causes.  Fletcher leveraged the antagonism between San Diego and its rich northern neighbor, Los Angeles, to fan the flames of fervor for a road that would bring cash-laden tourists directly to San Diego first instead of that big city up yonder.

Of course, most folks thought Fletcher had gone daft when he suggested a road across the sand dunes.  One of his scornful critics in Los Angeles challenged Fletcher to a 1912 race coinciding with the Cactus Derby.   Fletcher recruited two reporters and obtained a six-cylinder, 30-horsepower, air-cooled Franklin touring car.  He lined up a teamster with six mules to drag him across the dunes.  As luck would have it, heavy rains fell when the race got underway and Fletcher was able to motor across the dunes without assistance.  He beat his rival to Phoenix by over 19 hours!

This victory emboldened Fletcher and he used both his showmanship and salesmanship to add momentum to the growing support for a road across the dunes.

In the meantime, Fletcher gained a bulldog ally in  Edwin Boyd, an Imperial County Supervisor who lived in Holtville. Boyd (right with wife in 1950) was the originator of the idea to lay planks down across the sand to make a road.  Once Fletcher saw the genius in Boyd's ideas, he was off to the fundraising races.  In hardly any time, Fletcher raised enough money to have a boatload of Oregon lumber shipped south and carried to the edge of the dunes.  By that time, a relatively narrow width of the dunes had been identified.  The dunes there were much lower in height than elsewhere in the sprawling sea of sand.  Likewise, the route even had a little "valley" that was flat with far fewer dunes.  Boyd bullied, cajoled and sweet talked his friends and associates into "volunteering" to help build the first Plank Road in 1915.  He also was able to use some scant funding to hire laborers.  The Oregon planks were carefully attached to each other and strung across the dune field like some sort of boardwalk for cars.  The first Plank Road opened to much fanfare.  Sadly, the poorly-designed, flimsy and precarious first draft Plank Road was doomed to failure by both the relentless winds and the toll wrought by heavy traffic.  It lasted only a few months.

Undaunted, Fletcher somehow convinced the newly-formed California Highway Commission to fund a much better Plank Road. Thousands of railroad-tie-style treated timbers poured into a hastily erected fabrication facility at the whistle stop Ogilby on the Southern Pacific railroad east of the dunes.  Large sections of Plank Road weighing 1,500 pounds each were built at the Ogilby facility.  Up to four such sections could be hauled to the dunes by plodding horses and mules.  The sections were so heavy and cumbersome that additional apparatus had to be erected just to offload and position the sections on the roadway.

In the USGS topo map clip above, Ogilby is in the red circle.  The red line marks the approx. location of the Plank Road. Although it  was slow going by wagon between Ogilby and the road construction area, the distance was short.  Animals could be fed and watered back at Ogilby.  (NOTE: Yuma is at lower right on this map.)

As you can easily see from this photo, the timbered sections used in the Plank Road were very stout and well-constructed.  They were clearly engineered to take a beating from heavy traffic volume and truck weight and they actually performed very well...except when the wind went on a tear.

The newly-minted Plank Road was put into service in 1916. Whenever the timbered sections stayed together anchored in one place they performed well.  The trouble was that the wind often eroded sand from under the sections or drifted big piles of sand atop the sections.  In theory, the sections could be unbolted and dragged to new locations.  In practice that idea was only marginally successful.  Sand dunes often towered to elevations of 250 feet (or more) in the dune field.  Plank Road promoters and builders were lucky to find a "seam" through the dunes that helped their road survive more than it failed...and perhaps slightly longer than it would have otherwise.

From the few reports written by or recorded from travelers of the Plank Road it was a bone shaker.  One woman said it was far better than a visit to the chiropractor.  Vehicles crept across the Plank Road, often as slow as 2-3 miles per hour.  The one-lane reality of the Plank Road created bottlenecks that often caused tempers to boil over more than radiators. One report indicates fist fights were a common cause of delay on the Plank Road.  Once a line of 20 cars was held up by a lone driver who refused to back up to a turnout.  Frustrated motorists simply picked up his car and placed it on the sand beside the road.  After their 20 cars passed, they courteously placed his car back on the planks.

Over the past 100 years, the Plank Road has grown in the retellings of travel across there dunes until it has assumed a larger-than-life role in the imaginations of modern travelers.  In truth the Plank Road was perhaps 6-8 miles at its longest.  The "open valley" indicated on the map above was flat and stable enough to be oiled instead of planked.

Many newspaper "road reports" from the early 1920's indicated the Plank Road was in good shape but travel between Holtville and the Plank Road was "rather difficult."

As traffic volume inevitably grew by leaps and bounds due to insatiable demand for automobiles, the arcane behaviors and "rules of travel" required to safety navigate the Plank Road became untenable.  Something clearly had to be done.

As the Plank Road aged so, too, did ongoing maintenance tasks become ever more daunting.  Ferocious storms rolling in off the Pacific often brought gale force winds and heavy rains which wrecked havoc with the Plank Road.  The California Highway Commission wisely decided to create a "real road" in the mid-1920's. 

Road construction technology had improved by leaps and bounds from the mid-teens to the mid-20's.  Far more custom machinery and efficient engineering could be brought to bear on once vexing road route and construction issues.

Prior to beginning the mid-20's construction of what would become US Highway 80, engineers conducted a long study of the sand dune behavior.  Their data showed that a road elevated much higher than the old Plank Road would be far less susceptible to both wind erosion and sand deposition.  They were quite correct.  In its early years, US 80 was not closed by either of the bug-a-boos that doomed the old Plank Road.

For many years, the old Plank Road ran more or less alongside of US 80, a visible reminder of the hardships and perils of early travel across the sand dunes.

Famed Southwest Photographer Burton Frasher loved to create images of sand dunes.  His dune portraits from Death Valley remain some of the best in that genre.  Frasher occasionally stopped to capture the dunes draped across the old Plank Road, giving us modern highway heritage fans an endearing image of a fading chapter of transportation history.

Eventually the remnants of the old Plank Road succumbed to the ravages of wind, water, sun and firewood-hungry dune-runners.

We are fortunate that various organizations and inspired citizens

stepped forward to join forces and preserve pieces of the Plank Road.

The old photo at left in this pair was the one that prompted our study of the Plank Road.  "Bloo" from the Antique Automobile Association of American (AACA) Forum identified the car for us.  He said:

"That's a Studebaker. It is possibly a 1913, not an SA-25 like mine (those still had acetylene lights), but possibly a "35" or a "6". I can't see the steering wheel. In 1913, it was still on the right. I think I see a spare tire on the right side of the car, which argues for right hand drive. There was no door on the drive side, so it wasn't blocking anything. I believe 1914 had left hand drive for the US market.

Here's a 1913 "35" and then "Bloo" provided the photo at right.

In closing this discussion of the Plank Road we would like to add our Thanks and a Commendation for "work well done" to all members of the AACA Forum who keep alive the memories and details of early automobiles.  The men and women of that esteemed Association are a true credit to the Spirit of our Nation's Transportation Legacy!

For discussion and a partial list of our sources see:
https://azitwas.blogspot.com/2019/01/plank-road-sources.html

    THANK YOU FOR READING!
John Parsons, Rimrock, Arizona

Steamship Newbern 1871

 On October 14, 2021, we decided to see what was happening 150 years ago in the Prescott newspaper, "The Weekly Arizona Miner." The are many interesting things in that old newspaper.  We focused on a small Page 2 "Notice" regarding  steamship passage from San Francisco to the Mouth of The Colorado River.  That was a distance of 2,100 miles which cost a First Class passenger about $2,000 in today's inflated dollars.  Narratives and some links are under each screen clip.  Our primary source is cited at the end of this post.

The main keywords in this tiny little Notice are "Steamship Newbern."  It took quite a bit of digging but we eventually found quite a bit of information about the ship and its role in the early commerce of Arizona.

Source: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/87077069/ss-newbern-1817/

This is "probably" an illustration of the Steamship Montana judging from the location of the smoke stack.  In those days, ocean going, coal-fired steamships were propeller-driven.  Here is one narrative excerpt from "Steamships of The Colorado River":  "The greatest growth of the Colorado Steam Navigation Company came in 1871 when they purchased an ocean-going steamer, the Newbern, and opened a direct steamer route from San Francisco to connect with the riverboats at Port Isabel. The Newbem, built in Brooklyn in 1852, was a 943-ton, 375-horsepower, propeller-driven vessel, 198 feet long with a 29-foot beam. Under Captain A. N. McDonough she began regular monthly trips to the river on 2 July 1871. She made the 2,100-mile voyage in just twelve days, nearly cutting in half the usual sailing time and greatly expediting passenger and freight service. Passenger fare from San Francisco to Yuma was $90 for first cabin and $40 for steerage. In the boom years of the 1870s the Colorado steamers were carrying more than a hundred passengers a month, and the accommodations were good enough so that a few adventuresome souls even took the trip purely for pleasure."

(Source cited at end of post.)

Note the size and location of the smoke stack on the Newbern compared to the previous illustration.  This photo came from an article about wreck diving and some details differ from the above narrative:

"The Newbern was constructed by the firm C & R Poillon in Brooklyn. N.Y. in 1862. The government bought her during the Civil War and christened her the United States, but later changed her name to the Newberne. She was 198 feet long, had a 29 foot beam, measured 943 tons gross and was coal powered by a 250 horsepower steam engine. After her service during the Civil War, she sailed to the West Coast via Cape Horn in 1867 and was sold to Hartehan & Wilson. The new owners changed her name by dropping last "E" and gave command of the ship to Capt. Eugene Freeman. In 1869, Capt. Metzger sailed the Newbern from San Francisco to Mexican ports in the Sea of Cortez. In 1871, the Newbern was sold to Capt. George A. Johnson of the Colorado Steam Navigation Co. who continued to turn high profits from the trade with Arizona and Nevada, now accessible via Port Isabel at the foot of the Colorado River."

Source: http://www.cawreckdivers.org/Wrecks/Newbern.htm

This is an illustration of the man whose name is listed in the 1871 Notice, J. Polhamus, Jr.  He is arguably the most famous individual associated the steamboat commerce on The Colorado River. (Source cited at end of post.)

We found two additional ads for passage on The Newbern.  The ad below lists the fares.

Inflation calculators differ slightly in computing the 1871 value of $90 with 2021 dollars.  A rough consensus of such onlline calcuators pegs the value at about $2000, plus or minus.

Here's a good map of all the various landing sites on The Colorado River.

Getting freight and passengers from the Newbern onto The Colorado River was quite the logistical feat in those days.  Ocean going vessels could not steam into the Delta.  They disembarked freight and passengers onto sloops in deeper water.  The sloops then sailed far enough into the delta to offload goods and people to paddle-wheeled steamboats.

The railroad put the Newburg out of business in 1877.  There was no longer a need to sail freight and people around the tip of the Baja Peninsula and then up the full length of the Gulf of California.  The Newbern was sold and had a checkered subsequent life afterwards.  Here is is shown capsized in San Francisco in 1880.  You can get a good idea of the Newbern's scale and layout from this photo.  To read about the Newbern's ultimate demise see:  

https://www.maritimeheritage.org/passengers/SS-Newbern-October-1893.html

Our primary source material for this post was drawn from Richard E. Lingenfelter's excellent 195 page 1978 book "Steamboats on the Colorado River." Used copies of this book range in price from $35 to well over $200.  However, it can be downloaded free via the link below.  Unfortunately, the link is very long but it DOES work.  The files is housed at a rather unlikely location--the Arizona Navigable Stream Adjudication Commission.  The book is a genuine "must read" for anyone interested in the Steamboat Era of the Gulf of California and The Colorado River.  Most of the information used in this post came from Pages 53-62.

http://www.ansac.az.gov/UserFiles/PDF/08182014/X028_FMIBurtellLingenfelterSteamboats/FMI%20Lingenfelter%20Steamboats/Steamboats%20on%20the%20Colorado%20River%201852-1916.pdf

Thanks for reading, John Parsons, Rimrock, AZ

Libby Army Air Field - Fort Huachuca

Sgt. George D. Libby

Libby Army Air Field (AAF) at Fort Huachuca near Sierra Vista, Arizona, was constructed in the early-1950's and named to Honor the Heroism, Gallantry, Courage and Sacrifice of Sgt. George Dalton Libby who was killed in combat July 20, 1950, while acting as a human shield to save his comrades-in-arms.

You can read about Sgt. Libby's heroism here:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_D._Libby

Throughout all of its early history dating back to 1877, Fort Huachuca was a "soldier's fort" and had no role or association with aviation.  After the end of World War Two, Fort Huachuca was deactivated and then administered by the State of Arizona and some private development interests.

When the Korean War erupted, Fort Huachuca once again became a military installation.  Some of the first US Army units assigned to Fort Huachuca were engineers.  They were to be trained as "aviation engineers" with an early project to build an air field on the base.  Construction of that air field began in mid-1951, right about the time that Sgt. George D. Libby was posthumously award the Medal of Honor for his heroic gallantry.  There's no doubt that the "aviation engineer" trainees took special pride in "one of their own".  At the December 3, 1952 dedication of the air field, post commanding officer Col. David M. Dunne said, "It is a tribute to the engineer units that completed this project to be privileged by naming the field in honor of another engineer."

May 24, 2021, photo of plaque courtesy Joe Payne, Sierra Vista, Arizona.

Source: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78236963/dedication-of-libby-aaf-december-1952/

Fort Huachuca has a long, distinguished and very well documented history of its own dating back to 1877.  Fort Huachuca does not appear to have been used as an Army Air Force training facility during World War II.

A 1948 USGS topo map updated in 1953 shows a small field labeled "Fort Huachuca Airport" located at what's now the Mountain View Golf course in Sierra Vista, Arizona.

Above is a clip from the USGS 1:24,000 topo map.  Source:
https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/topoview/viewer/#14/31.5487/-110.3323

We were able to derive a longitude & latitude from the USGS topo map. (See red push pin.)
Note the area between the tips of the red arrows.  You can see faint outlines of a runway.

Between Spring 1951 and late fall 1952, the first Libby Army Air Field was constructed at its present location northwest of Sierra Vista.  The first media usage of the name "Libby Army Air Field" that we can find dates to 1955.  Thereafter, the name became common in various media reports.

Source: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78222202/1955-use-of-name-libby-army-airfield/

Fifty years ago, a ceremony was staged to dedicate an enlarged and enhanced Libby Army Air Field.
Source: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78192083/1971-libby-dedication/

Efforts to further enlarge Libby Army Air Field began in the early 1980's. Ground breaking for the improvements was held on September 30, 1981.
Source: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78221814/ground-breaking-for-new-runway-1983/

A substantial gala dedication was staged to celebrate the major expansion of Libby Army Air Field.
Source: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78221968/runway-dedication-promo-1985/

Both photos are screen clips from a video edition of "The Fort Report": https://vimeo.com/416412699

One of the key features of the innovative partnerships prevailing at Libby Army Air Field is a USDA Forest Service tanker base.  The 12,000 foot main runway allows the DC-10 Very Large Air Tankers to use Libby AAF as a base for annual wild land fire fighting efforts.  Permanent retardant refilling apparatus allow a wide variety of aerial fire fighting resources to utilize Libby AAF.

Photos are screen clips sources from this video: https://vimeo.com/416412699

The Forest Service tanker base is located next to the main 12,000 runway.

Source: https://aeronav.faa.gov/d-tpp/2105/05081AD.PDF

The US Army's innovative partnerships at Libby AAF have enabled the Forest Service and wild land fire fighting contractors to organize and implement much more aggressive initial attack for early season wildfire in the Sonoran Desert of Southern Arizona.

Race for First Photos.

EXTRA! EXTRA! EXTRA! shouted the newsboys for The Los Angeles "Evening Express" in the dawn hours of June 24th, 1926.  People grabbed The Extras out of their hands as fast as they could keep 'em comin'! The EXTRA was a result of Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson being found alive in Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico early June 23rd.  When the Press Corps learned she was lying in a Calumet & Arizona Hospital bed in Douglas, Arizona, a media feeding frenzy broke loose.

The newspaper was boastfully proud of printing the first photos and even wrote a sidebar story about "a tale of newspapermen and their work in the raw." Here is the complete text of the story as transcribed from screen clips using OCR technology.

Express Wins Airplane Race for Aimee Photos

"Details of one of the most thrilling cases in which high-powered automobiles of the sheriff's office, as well as two airplanes, took part In an effort to obtain pictures and a complete story of Aimee Semple McPherson for the public of Los Angeles, were laid bare when the Evening Express scored the "scoop" of the year over all other Southern California papers and issued an extra containing the first photographs of the evangelist to be shown since her rescue.

READY FOR BATTLE

The story, which reads like a novel and is replete with thrills, is a tale of newspapermen and their work in the raw. One reporter traveling in an automobile close to 80 miles an hour, armed to the teeth, races another carload of photograph "hijackers" to a stranded plane in the Santa Suzanna pass while two others drop 2000 feet in another plane and narrowly escape serious injury. But the Evening Express is still the first and only paper to show the actual photographs of the famous evangelist lying on a bed of pain in a hospital 700 miles away.

Less than an hour yesterday morning after word was flashed here that Mrs. McPherson had been found, Harry E Meason, Express reporter, and Albert Schmidt, staff photographer, took off in a biplane and headed for Arizona, traveling at a speed of 100 miles an hour. While passing a range of mountains at an altitude of 4000 feet the plane engine developed trouble and began to "buck." A landing was made in the town of Imperial and the two men, together with their pilot, again took to the air.

NEARLY CRASH

The trio had climbed to an altitude of 2000 feet when the engine stopped dead. Barely grazing a telephone pole and several trees in their wild flight to earth, the three men escaped serious injury or death when the pilot, owing to his exceptional skill, managed to make a landing in a field below without turning his plane over.

There's no doubt that T. Claude Ryan flew to the rescue of the "Evening Express."  Ryan was something of a Southern California icon back in 1926.  He had established an exceptional reputation as a daring pilot.  But what's more is that he was an astute businessman and early aeronautical engineer.  He instinctively knew how to design a sweet aircraft that could fly and fly FAST!  So, the LA "Evening Express" called The Best Guy they could find and Claude fly to the rescue.  This is his Ryan M-1, an early monoplane powereed by a Wright Whirlwind radial engine that really cold do 185 mph!  The plane had only been flown for the first time a mere four months before The Great Photo Race to Douglas.  For Claude to fly this mission in the dark of night is a testimony to his skills as a pioneer pilot.  See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_M-1

Word was then flashed to the Express office of the accident and the fact that the plane could not again take the air. From there another message was relayed to Claude Ryan, San Diego aviator, noted for his skill and daring in the air, and 10 minutes later he started out in his own monoplane for Douglas where, the Evening Express told him, were waiting pictures for the famous preacher. Flying at the fullest speed his wasplike machine was capable of, which is 185 miles an hour, Ryan reached his destination, and, despite the fact that the night was pitch dark, immediately took off.

THREATENED WITH DEATH

On his last stop for gas and oil Ryan was handed a telegram informing him that a car containing seven men had been sent out to the place where he was expected to land. Their object, he was informed, was to rob him of his pictures, even if they had to "knock him cold." The message ended with a warning to him to "come down" somewhere in the Santa Suzanna pass and he would be met by representatives of the Evening Express and several deputy sheriffs.

T. Claude Ryan

Then began a race from the Sheriff's office in the fastest available car Piloted by Jack Lane, the fastest driver connected with Sheriff Traeger's office, the machine contained Elmer Terrill, an Express reporter, and Deputy Sheriffs Charles Ellison and Charles Patton, both noted for their ability to either fight or shoot. Careening from side to side the big car's speedometer reached the 80-miles-an-hour point.

Terrill and his deputies met the plane and escorted Ryan to Los Angeles and the Express office. Despite assurances Ryan refused to part with his package of precious photographs until he came face to face with the city editor. Then, his eyes streaming water, caused by a leak in his goggles, the tired aviator completed his 24-hour job with a simple:
"Here's your pictures!"

When we saw the car used in the race did 80 MPH on East LA desert roads we knew it had to be a Studebaker Sheriff Big Six.    There was no other cop car that could do that in 1926.  We did a big article on The Sheriff and you can find it here:
https://azitwas.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-sheriff-arizona-big-six.html

POLICEMAN HERO

Even the police department, in its effort to give a hand to one of the biggest enterprises ever undertaken and won by a newspaper, assisted the Evening Express, when Officer Kimberly of University division willingly undertook the hard job of keeping in telephonic communications with the hurtling planes as they made their various stops for water, fuel and oil. It was largely through Kimberley's efforts that the Express was first notified that one of its airplanes had made a forced landing and was out of commission.

And that is the story of how the Evening Express was able to present to the Los Angeles reading public the first photographs of Aimee Semple McPherson to be taken following her thrilling rescue. And that, doubtless, is how the newspaper will always beat the field and be the first to give its readers what they want ahead of any paper in Southern California.