Volume Vi Part 23 (1/2)

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Photograph, Copyright, by Clinedinst. Was.h.i.+ngton.

President Taft signing the proclamation making New Mexico a State, January 6, 1912.

January 6, 1912, New Mexico, having complied with all conditions, was formally admitted into the Union as the forty-seventh State.

Arizona, having an area of 113,000 square miles, was organized as a territory in 1863 and appeared in the federal census reports for the first time in 1870 with a population of 9,658. From 1870 to 1890 its growth in population was rapid, increasing a little more than four times during the decade 1870-1880 and doubling during the succeeding ten years. The population in 1900 was 122,931 and in 1910 it was 204,354.

During the last decade, therefore, the increase in population has been 66.2 per cent, while the percentage of increase in the United States as a whole has been only 21 per cent. According to the thirteenth census, Arizona contained eight cities with an aggregate population of 58,414.

The largest cities were Tucson, with a population of 13,193, and Phoenix with 11,134.

Arizona produces more copper than any other State in the Union. Of the total copper ore mined in the United States (1909) 27.7 per cent was from Arizona. There are also good mines of gold and silver. Coal-mining, marble-quarrying, lumbering, raising cattle, sheep, and ostriches are also important industries in Arizona. Through the efforts of the Reclamation service in completing the Roosevelt Dam and a dam at Parker, and by the use of pumps, it is estimated that 1,000,000 acres of fertile land will become available for cultivation. Other large areas are also susceptible of irrigation.

In 1850 the territory of New Mexico was organized and in 1863 it was reduced to its present limits with an area of 122,000 square miles. The population of New Mexico in 1900 was 195,310 and in 1910 was 327,301 an increase of 67.6 per cent. Albuquerque, with a population of 11,020, and Rosewell with 6,172 were the two largest cities. Like Arizona, New Mexico possesses great wealth in mines and forests, but the foundation for her future industrial progress lies in her farms. In 1910 New Mexico possessed 500,000 acres of irrigated land. It was estimated that 3,000,000 acres more were amenable to artificial watering and the government is expending millions of dollars on projects which will fertilize vast areas of this land.

During the year 1911 the world was astounded at the unparalleled exhibitions of the possibilities of the aeroplane. The dream of centuries had been realized, and American genius was responsible for the achievement. In 1896, a model machine which had been constructed under the direction of Professor Langley, secretary of the Smithsonian Inst.i.tution, driven by a one horse-power steam-engine, made three flights of a mile each near Was.h.i.+ngton. Congress appropriated $50,000 for the construction of a complete machine, but after two unsuccessful attempts to fly, with an operator, the project was abandoned.

Wilbur Wright and his brother Orville, bicycle manufacturers of Dayton, Ohio, did not share in the general ridicule which followed this failure, and after three years of experimentation demonstrated that the principles upon which Professor Langley had constructed his machine were, in the main, sound. The first successful flight of a few seconds by one of their machines weighing 750 pounds was made in 1903. Two years afterward a flight of 24 miles was made at the rate of 38 miles an hour.

Other successful experiments followed, and the claim of the Wrights to be considered the inventors of the first successful man-carrying flying machine was established. French inventors at about the same time were carrying on successful experiments with machines similarly constructed.

September 16, 1908, Wilbur Wright, at Le Mans, France, demonstrated that his machine could remain in the air for over an hour and at the same time fly across country at a high speed. In that year, also, Orville Wright, in a government test at Fort Myer, Virginia, not only made flights lasting over an hour, but carried a companion with him. During July, 1909, a French aviator, Bleriot, flew across the English Channel, a distance of 32 miles. That year, also, Orville Wright ascended to the height of 1,600 feet; with a pa.s.senger, made a record flight of 1 hour, 12 minutes and 36 seconds; and flew across country with a companion for 10 miles at the rate of 42 miles an hour. Thus it was shown that a machine had at last been constructed which would not only fly, but would remain in the air at the will of its pilot and subject to his guidance.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Automobile and airplane racing.]

From a photograph by H. H. Morris.

Charles K. Hamilton racing an automobile on the beach at Galveston, Texas.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Photograph by Brown Bros., N.Y.

Wilbur and Orville Wright, and the late King Edward of England.

[1911]

In the aviation meet at Los Angeles, January 10, 1910, Louis Paulhan, a Frenchman, established the record of 4,000 feet for height and Glenn H.

Curtiss with a pa.s.senger set a new world's record of 55 miles.

Shortly afterward Curtiss demonstrated for the first time that it was possible for an aeroplane, especially constructed, to rise from the surface of water, make a flight in the air, return to the starting-point, and again alight on the water.

The great possibilities as well as the dangers connected with aviation were brought out in the meet at Chicago during August, 1911, where two aviators lost their lives. C. P. Rodgers, in a Wright machine, remained in the air twenty-six and one-half hours out of the possible thirty-one and one-half hours. Lincoln Beachey set a new world's record by ascending 11,642 feet. This record was again surpa.s.sed within a month by Ronald G. Garros, a French aviator, who ascended 13,943 feet.

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Wilbur Wright in his aeroplane at Pau, France, with King Alfonso of Spain.

Harry K. Atwood flew from St. Louis to Chicago in one day, a distance of 315 miles. He continued his flight to New York, and in eleven days reached that city. He had travelled 1,265 miles in the actual flying time of 28 hours. C. P. Rodgers eclipsed all records for long-distance aeroplane flying by crossing the continent from Sheepshead Bay, New York, to Pasadena, Cal., a distance of 4,231 miles. He accomplished this feat in the total time of 49 days, September 17 to November 5, 1911. His actual flying time was 82 hours.

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