Talk over pipes that evening disclosed what great precautions this modest father of aviation had taken to keep his expedition secret. The tug chartered to carry equipment, supplies and men had turned north after leaving the Chicago river and went nearly to the Wisconsin line before veering out into the lake and returning past the city far out of sight. This was to throw anyone off the track who might be snooping. The expedition beached at the south end of Lake Michigan on the lonely Indiana shore between East Chicago and Michigan City. The spot was several miles east of the site where the future steel town of Gary some years later was to spring up overnight. All material was lugged behind a sand dune, where camp was set up out of sight from lake and beach.

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I became interested in drawing out some facts about my host. What he was reticent about disclosing was afterward learned from his helpers. Octave Chanute was a distinguished inventor and mechanical engineer. He served the Illinois Society of Engineers as president and as chairman of its reception committee the year of the first world’s fair and had entertained visiting engineers from all over the world. City elevated rapid transit was really his invention, although he was not connected with that business. The so-called Brooklyn Elevated was built as the result of a paper with plans that he presented to an engineering society, proposing to put streetcars up in the air out of the way of traffic. The new method of creosoting timbers and railroad ties under heavy pressure to prevent wood rot was his invention. He operated such a plant in Chicago, which gave him ample means to experiment with flying. At Mr. Chanute’s North Side home, a glider laboratory was kept under lock and key in the backyard, and his staff tried to keep his secrets.

An early start the next morning included a breakfast of coffee, ham and eggs that gave a heartening feeling for the day ahead. On trudging up the dune that sheltered the camp there appeared three gliders anchored behind the ridge. These were box-kite affairs, with parallel shelves of muslin for wings, placed one above another, like shelves in a bookcase. Their slender wood frames were guyed and strengthened with wire struts in every direction. The wings glistened with coatings of varnish. Three feet under the glider hung parallel bars, at right angles to the wings, which gave the operator something to hold onto and to use to make a rude attempt at steering. The wings had an expanse of 8 by 3 feet. One glider was built with three superimposed wings; two models had but two. Such was the simple device with which man began to study the ABCs of aviation.

A glider was brought up onto the crest of the dune facing the lake. The crew raised it off the ground while Bill Avery, chief operator, got under it, placed his elbows over handlebars to support his weight and gripped them to hold up the structure, which was not heavy. Balancing the craft above him, he called Gangway! as the crew stepped aside. The bold birdman then ran to the edge of the dune and jumped off into space, the shiny white thing coursing down toward the beach with the man dangling under it. This first try of the day covered more than 200 feet, ending in a bit of a spill but without the operator sustaining bruises.

Succeeding flights followed the same pattern, with operators sometimes landing just right on their feet and being able to run along to orderly stops. It was a sporting proposition to see who could travel farthest, and each tried vainly to reach the water. Operators took turns gliding so as always to be at their best. The day was divided into shifts, with two hours of rest at noon. Occasionally, an operator would move his weight a little too forward or backward in flight and get into a nose dive or a backward spill that inflicted sprains or bruises. The boys acquired skill at avoiding this, but sometimes produced an upset in the effort to prolong a flight.

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