PAGE FOUR
THE COASTLAND TIMES
Published Continuously at Manteo, N. C., Since July 4, 1935
The Weekly Journal of the Walter Raleigh Coastland of North Carolina,
Foremost Region of Recreation and Sport, Healthful Living and
Historical Interest On The Atlantic Seaboard.
Knterea As Second Class Matter At The Postoffice At Manteo, N. C.
Subscription Rates: 1 Year $2.50; 6 Months $1.50; 3 Months SI.OO
PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY BY TIMES PRINTING Co\ INC., AT
505 LODGE STREET, MANTEO, NORTH CAROLINA
" VICTOR MEEKINS, Editor
CATHERINE D. MEEKINS Secretary-Treasurer
Vol. XIX Manteo, N. C., Friday, July 31. 1953 No. 5
THIS LAGGING PROGRAM
NEEDS GOVERNOR’S HELP
(Scotland Neck Commonwealth)
It was five years ago, after months of investigation,
that a program for improving the inlets along the coastal
area of North Carolina was presented to the public by Co
lonel George Gillette, executive director of the North Caro
lina Ports Authority. As a member of the Board of Con
servation and Development and as an outstanding army
engineer who had directed the activities of the federal gov
ernment in North Carolina waters for a number of years,
Colonel Gillette was well equipped to discuss the matter
intelligently and to make the type of investigation which
would center attention upon this great need of the State.
Five years ago it was, and there have been a few de
velopments since, but for the most part the program stands
just where it stood when Colonel Gillette presented his
brief to the people of the State through the Department
of Conservation and Development. The need for develop
ment still exists and the need for wider state interest so as
to bring about action in this matter is still there.
As we have said some progress has been made in the
way of obtaining assistance from the Federal Government
for the widening and deepening of some of the inlets, but
the overall plan presented by Colonel Gillette has not yet
been tackled in its entirety by the Federal government. As
for the State itself, while a great deal of interest has been
evinced by some members of the General Assembly and
while Governor Umstead is known to be interested in the
matter, no appropriation has been made to aid in this work,
and now it will be two years before such an appropriation
can be made. Before he was sworn in as Governor and
while he was sitting with the Advisory Budget Commission,
on the proposed budget for this coming fiscal year, Governor
Umstead asked a great many questions of a delegation
which appeared to argue for improvement of the water
facilities of Eastern North Carolina. We confidently expect
Governor Umstead to take some very definite action along
this line in the not distant future. He has the authority,
along with the Council of State, to authorize expenditure
of money for a complete survey of the situation, and this
may be the next important step in the matter.
North Carolina has the longest coastline and the great
est fishing area of all the states of the Alantic Seaboard
wih the exception of Florida. It is said that deepening of
some of the inlets would permit the shad to find its way
from the ocean into spawning grounds. There has been a
great diminution in the number of spawning shad coming
into the inland waters of North Carolina in recent years, and
this is said to be due to the fact that the shad requires
eight to twelve feet of water if it is going to enter the
sounds and some of the inlet channels are only three to six
feet deep. The action of the ocean has caused many of the
inlets to fill partially in recent years.
It is also argued that if the channel depths were in
creased all types of fish would have more ready access to
the inland waters and this would improve the fishirig and
shrimping. It is also true that ocean trawlers which need
from seven to nine feet of water to come across the bar
cannot operate, for instance, at Oregon Inlet. Yet if they
could come in at Oregon Inlet to Manteo, they would save
approximatly twenty-four hours between the time of their
catch and the time when they get it into the Chesapeake
Bay area. This twenty-four hours is important from the
standpoint of keeping the fish fresh and of getting them to
the markets properly iced. Also they will have a port of
refuge at Manteo in case of a serious storm. These factors,
if taken advantage of by deepening the channel of Oregon
Inlet, would be the means of building up the fishing, icing
and packing industries at Manteo.
Colonel Gillette also called attention to the fact that
a proper balance of salt water is needed in the inland wat
ters for better propagation of the oyster, and the depth of
the inlets definitely affects the salinity of the inland wat
ers. He also said improvement of the other inlets along
the North Carolina coast would aid in reducing pollution
and thus promote survival of fish, oyster, shrimp and oth
er types of marine life, and would also be an aid to naviga
tion in many places.
It is sincerely to be hoped that North Carolina will em
bark upon this program in cooperation with the Federal
Government. It is nothing new for states of the Union to do
something about developing their Own waterside facilities.
As a matter of fact, the greatest growth which has come
to some states has been because they utilized State funds
to develop port terminals, improve harbors, clean out pollu
tion, and otherwise work for full utilization of the re
sources and possibilities of the oceans, seas, and Great
Lakes. North Carolina can and should do likewise.
60 SECOND SERMONS
By FRED DODGE
TEXT: “I can usually judge a fellow by what he langhs
at - Wilson Mizner
Little Arthur marched proudly home from his first day
at school. His mother met him at the front steps and asked,
“Well, son, what did you learn at school today?”
“Nothing, mother,” said her son, then seeing the dis
appointment on his mother’s face he added, “But I learned
a lot at recess.’
I
The schools we attend are examined with care. The
classes, the teachers, the subjects are considered seriously.
Formal knowledge comes slowly after untold hours of hon
est study. Between the hours of study and classroom per
iods are many more hours of “recess”. Sometimes these
“recess” periods are planned. Often they appear suddenly,
begging to be used. How we use life’s “recess period ”, the
companions with whom we spend them, may be far more
important than formal schooling. Not only do we learn
much at “recess’, but how we use our “recess” - “what we
laugh at” - is a more accurate guage of our worth than all
the books we study.
To feel oppressed by obligation is only to prove that we
are incapable of a proper sentiment of gratitude.
William Gilmore Simms
■I . .
( OTHER EDITORS
*- -j
GOLDEN TREASURES
LOST PURSUING
TELEVISION FOOLS
By CARLTON MORRIS
Editor, Gates County Index
• Roast ear corn is in full tassel
and tomatoes are ripening on the
vine and the world is a sea of
green. The woodland is speckled
with sunlight and shadow as the
summer sun beats down upon the
earth with relentless heat.
Stopping by in the shade, the
neighbors talk only on the
weather as world affairs are
pushed into the background by
the query: “Do you reckon it is
going to rain?”
Cotton leaves droop on their
stalks and are seldom moved by
the ripple of a breeze and the
earth gives off the heat of the
sun. The first fruits are begin
ning to ripen for it s high sum
ning to ripen for it’s high sum-
To me at least, books are a
great source of learning and
pleasure. Since earliest child
hood, I have derived most of my
spare time pleasure from read
ing the written word. Sometimes
I agree with what I read and
very often I do not agree.
When I was a small boy, old
timey people believed it was
wrong to waste time reading and
in my neighborhood they cited
the case of an old woman of that
day who neglected her home and
garden, to say nothing of her
children and field work, just to
read what they called trash.
Traveling by horseback the wo
man was known to take along a
novel in which she was interest
ed and read it on her journey.
Her horse, said the neighbors,
would stop by the wayside to
nibble grass while the old woman
read on and on.
Entering school at the tender
age of five (there was no age
limit) I learned the alphabet on
my very first day and took great
pride in astonishing my parents
that night with my knowledge.
From that day on a great new
world opened up for me.
I have probably published the
following incident, but it illus
trates my story of a youngster’s
thirst for knowledge so well that
I believe it will bear repetition.
At our little one teacher school
there was a glass book case
which was known proudly as the
“library.” From its sacred por
tals, the girls of our school could
take books at will. Boys were
not interested in books, and thus
were not allowed to carry any
away from the school. In my own
case, I would slip one or another
of the books and prop up my big
geography book on the top of
my desk, while I rapidly read
from the forbidden fruit. I lived
with King Arthur and his
knights and my desk became a
roundtable. In the afternoons, I
fashioned a shining sword and
spear (from wood) and tilted my
imaginary windmills. A shiver
would chase up and down my
spine as I read of the lady of the
lake and I knew the gods by
first name while the sword of
Damocles hung over my head as
I read on and on.
It was a midsummer afternoon
and school had been out for
many weeks when I passed the
little school and thought of the
many books that were lying un
read in the “library.” Never hav
ing stolen in my life, it was with
a feeling of deepest guilt that I
slipped behind the school build
ing and crawled through one of
the windows.
I stood in the middle of the
vacant room which was accumu
lating a coat of dust and listened
to my heart pounding and it
seemed to keep time with the
scraping of a locust in a great
oak hard by the school house
door. I tip-toed across the bare
floor between the desks and guil
tily reached into the bookcase
and withdrew “Fifty Famous
Stories.” I tip-toed to the window
and crawled through. I stuck
the book in my shirt and mount
ed my bike and fled with the
book and my guilty conscience.
That summer I learned about the
defeated king who watched a
spider and tried again and won
and I learned many other things
as well.
I returned the book when
school opened in the fall and se
cretly returned it to its resting
place. Often in later days, I
would look at it and think of it
as an old and trusted friend.
The world would be a wonder
ful place in which to live if one
could always be young and know
the joy of reading again about
“The Little Shepherd of King
dom Come,” “The calling of Dan
Matthews,” and “Girl of the
Limberlost.” But alas and alack,
the world can never stand still
for now we have visual education
and we have no need nor time
to read as we spend our spare
time gazing at the antics of tele
vision fools.
Nothing is cheap that is super
fluous, for what one does not
need, is dear at a penny.
Plutarch
THE COASTLAND TIMES. MANTEO. N. C.
WRIGHT MEMORIAL MARKS AVIATION’S BIRTHPLACE
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Kill Devil Hills, N. C. Kill
Devil Hill National Memorial,
site of the first successful flight
of a powered heavier-than-air
flying machine, has a special
interest for travelers during 1953,
the Golden Anniversary Year of
Aviation.
The Memorial is located in
Dare County, on the Outer Banks
of North Carolina, and within
sight of the location of the first
English colony attempted in
America the mysterious “Lost
Colony” of Roanoke Island.
It was on December 17, 1903,
that Wilbur and Orville Wright
made the flight that was to im
mortalize them as inventors of
the airplane and bring interna
tional fame to the community of
Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, and
the 90-foot high sand dune
known as Kill Devil Hill.
Atop Kill Devil Hill is the
Wright Memorial Monument, er
ected by the Federal Govern
ment after Congress authorized
the establishment of Kill Devil
Hill National Memorial in 1927.
A granite boulder near the base
of the hill marks the spot where
the Wright’s “flyer” actually
left the ground on its first trip
into the air. This marker, erect
ed by the National Aeronautic
Association, was unveiled in 1928
on the 25th anniversary of flight.
The surrounding park contains
315 acres, and a paved road con
nects it with Highway 158 which
skirts the Atlantic surf less than
a-mile away.
The monument was completed
in 1932. It is a 60-foot pylon of
gray granite from the quarries
at Mount Airy, North Carolina,
and rises from a star-shaped base
resting on a sunken foundation
35 feet deep. On the walls are
wings in bas-relief, and the in
scription:
“In commemoration of the con
quest of the air by the brothers
Wilbur and Orville Wright con
ceived by Genious, achieved by
Dauntless Resolution and Un
conquerable Faith.”
Polished steel doors open into
the rotunda of the monument,
where a metal map of the world
depicts events associated with
man’s effort to fly, and the first
25 years of aviation history. A
central niche in the pink granite
walls contains a model of the or
iginal Wright plane, the "Kitty
Hawk,” and on either side there
are niches containing busts of the
Wright brothers.
Curving stairs lead to an ob
servation platform at the top of
the pylon, where a powerful
beacon throws a beam visible for
many miles.
From the top of the monument
is an extensive-view of the com
munities of Kitty Hawk and Kill
Devil Hills, the resort area along
the Atlantic beach, and other
large sand dunes and the resort
of Nags Head nearby.
The Memorial is open from
8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. daily, with
National Park Service guides on
duty to greet visitors and an
swer questions. Visitors from
many countries have signed the
guest book in the rotunda.
, Like Jockey Ridge and the
other big dunes to the south,
Kill Devil Hill was originally a
shifting mass of bare sand which
was constantly subject to wind
erosion and would not have sup
ported a structure like the monu
ment. Before the monument
could be built, the hill had to be
“anchored” by seeding and sod
ding it with tough, wiry grasses
adapted to sandy soil, This pro
ject was so successful that the
entire Memorial area is now cov
ered with grass, and shrubs have
been planted at several points.
A paved road with six parking
areas circles the hill and ex
tends to the nearby flight mark
er. From the road, a spiral as
phalt walkway leads to the
memorial shaft at the top of the
hill.
Each December 17, memorial
ceremonies honoring the achieve
ment of the Wright Brothers are
held at the monument under the
sponsorship of the Kill Devil
Hills Memorial Society, which
was organized at Elizabeth City,
North Carolina, in 1927. Notables
from the civil and military avia
tion world take part, and the
event is climaxed with a gigan
tic display of modern air power
in the skies above the monu
ment.
Wilbur and Orville Wright be
gan their first flight experiments
with model aircraft which they
constructed at their bicycle shop
in Dayton, Ohio, and tested in a
home-made wind tunnel. They
are said to have tested some 200
types of wing surfaces before
they were finally convinced that
a properly designed machine,
propelled by an engine, could be
made to take off and remain in
the air by the pressure of air
currents against wings or planes.
By 1900 their experiments had
progressed to the point where
they were seeking a location
with strong, steady air currents.
The United States Weather Bur
eau directed them to Kitty
Hawk, where for most of the
year the winds blow strongly and
steadily from the north.
Kitty Hawk, a small fishing
village on Kitty Hawk Bay, be
tween the ocean and Albemarle
Sound, was accessible at that
time only by boat from the main
land of North Carolina. (A bridge
and modern highway now con
nect the area with the main
land.) The Wright brothers ar
rived there via schooner from
Elizabeth City on September 12,
1900. They boarded for a short
time at the home of Mr. and Mrs.
W. J. Tate before establishing
their own camp near the village
to begin experiments with an
aircraft flown as a kite.
The following year they moved
their camp to a flat sandy field
near Kill Devil Hill. For two
years they tested and studied
gliders launched from the slopes
of the hill. In 1903 they designed
a larger and much improved bi
plane to which they added a
small gasoline engine with two
pusher-type propellers. At first
they attempted to launch this
craft from a 60-foot monorail
laid 150 feet up the 9 degree
slope. On December 14 the mach
ine was slightly damaged when
it climbed a few feet from the
rail, stalled and settled to the
ground near the foot of the hill.
On December 17, the brothers
had the machine ready for an
other attempt, for which they
had laid the take-off track on the
flat plain near their camp. Five
people had assembled to watch
the trial, and lend a hand if
needed. They were J. T. Daniels,
W. S. Dough, and A. D. Ethe
ridge, from the Kill Devil Hill
Life Saving Station; W. C.
Brinckley of Manteo, and Johnny
Moore, a boy from Nags Head.
The last survivor of this group of
witnesses to the first flight was
Johnny Moore, who died in 1951.
Four flights were completed on
December 17, and on the fourth
and last Wilbur remained aloft
59 seconds and covered a dis
tance of 852 feet.
There were no reporters pre
sent to cover the event, and
when news of the flight reached
the press, most newspapers re
fused to print it. Harry P. Moore
of Norfolk, Va., is known as the
“reporter who scooped the
world” with the story of the first
flight. As a cub reporter on the
Norfolk Virginian Pilot he learn
ed of the flight from a source he
has never revealed, and wrote
the story. His own paper carried
it as a front page article under
the headline “Flying Machine
Soars Three Miles in Teeth of
High Wind Over Sandhills and
Waves at Kitty Hawk on Caro
lina Coast.” At the top of the
newspaper’s front page was the
line “The Flight That Couldn’t
Be Made But Was!” Moore
was an honored guest at the
Wright Memorial celebration on
December 17, 1952, opening-
Aviation’s Golden Anniversary
Year. He still writes a column of
waterfront incidents for the Vir
ginian-Pilot.
The Wright Brothers’ own ver
sion of the famous event was
later published in a dispatch
from Dayton, Ohio, dated Jan
uary 6, 1904. It follows:
AN AERIAL WONDER
How the "Flyer" Breasted the
Gales at Kitty Hawk
Dayton, Ohio, Jan. 6 The
Wright Brothers, inventors of
the flying machine which has
attracted such widespread at
tention, have prepared the fol
lowing which they say is the
first correct statement of the
two successful trials made by
them:
“On the morning of Decem
ber 17, between 10:30 and
noon, four flights were made,
tfro by Orville Wright and two
by Wilbur Wright. The starts
were all made from a point on
the level and about 200 feet
west of our camp, which is
situated a quarter of a mile
north of Killdevil sand hill, in
Dare County, North Carolina.
The wind at the time of the
flights had a velocity of 27
miles an hour at 10 o’clock
and 24 miles an hour at noon
as recorded by the anemome
ter of the Kitty Hawk weather
. bueau station. This anemome
ter is 30 feet from the ground.
Our own measurements made
with a hand anemometer at a
height of four feet from the
ground showed a velocity of
about 22 miles when the first
flight was made and 22 1/2
when the last flight was made.
The flight was made directly
against the wind. Each time
the machine started from the
level ground by its own power
with no assistance from gray-
FRIDAY, JULY 31, 1953
SARAH’ C
ALLIED
SARAH F. HALLIBURTON
L
COME DOWN
A few days after your scribe
passed birthday No. 56, she was
walking into the Shannon&
Beacham store in Kitty Hawk.
Three little girls, about five,
spied her and one of them piped
up, “Just look at that granny!”
Her utter candor tickled your
ancient reporter’s funny bone so
much that she was chortling out
loud as she entered the store,
which probably made the cus
tomers think the old lady was off
her rocker. Here, she’d just been
congratulating herself on looking
forward to another twenty in
teresting, absorbing years.
SPECIAL WISH
Talking about birthday greet
ings (were we doing that?), one
intelligent woman never sends
“happy birthday” greetings ot
wishes a friend “many more of
them.” She writes a little per
sonal note to wish her friend
“another year crowded with in
teresting experiences.”
WHAT A DAY!
Somewhat in line with that,
your scribe makes a practice of
celebrating her birthday by do
ing something unusual, prefer
ably something never tackled be
fore. This year, though, company
was coming and she spent the
entire day putting her house in
apple pie order. Some folks
familiar with this reporter’s
brSnd of housekeeping will say,
of course, that housecleaning
really was something out of the
ordinary. They could be right,
too, but it’s a tedious brand of
adventure. Your reporter took
her first airplane ride, a good
many years ago, on her birthday.
Now that was an experience to
remember! But housecleaning,—
bah!
FAST WORK
Those Kitty Hawk Methodist
women mean what they say and
no funny business about it. For
instance, one Tuesday night they
decided the parsonage needed a
new refrigerator. By Thursday
afternoon the apppiance, the last
thing in electric refrigeration,
was installed and the minister’s
wife was trying hard to resist
the temptation to open it just to
admire its gleaming interior. She
wouldn’t however, admit to be
ing surprised, because, she said,
“these Kitty Hawk people are
the salt of the earth.”
TAXABLE?
If Uncle Sam ever finds out
what a thrill the children of
vacationing families get out of
the blimps gliding over the roof
tops, he’d find away to tax us
for letting the navy use the air
over our heads. Let’s hope none
of the Washington people who
vacation here talk out of turn
of the free show the blimps pro
vide for children who seldom or
never saw one before they came
to the beach.
TIMELY DIAGNOSIS
When a young man came from
lowa to visit his parents, his
mother had a job waiting for,
him, painting the kitchen.
Seems that last fall she and her
husband gave the kitchen one
coat and she suggested that they
wait till this year to give it a
second coat of paint. Meantime,
the husband had occasion to con
sult a doctor and came home
with the verdict that under no
condition must he dabble in
paint. Now the wife is trying to
find out what her husband paid
the doctor for such a prescrip
tion.
STRANGE
When a toddler was knocked
down in the surf and carried
out from shore, recently, a Ral
eigh man who chanced to see
the accident plunged in and resi
cued her. By a strange coinci
dence, this man lost two of his
own children by drowning, some
years ago.
ity or other sources whatever.
After a run of about forty feet
along a monorail track which
held the machine eight inches
from the ground, it rose from
the track and under the direc
tion of the operator climbed
upward on an inclined course
until a height of eight or ten
feet from the ground was
reached after which the course
was kept as nearly horizontal
as the wind gusts and the
limited skill of the operator
would permit.
“Into the teeth of a Decem
ber gale the ‘Flyer’ made its
way forward with a speed of
ten miles an hour over the
ground and of thirty to thirty
five miles an hour through the
air. It had previously been de
cided that for reasons of per
sonal safety these first trials
should be made as close to the
ground as possible. The height
chosen was scarcely sufficient
See MEMORIAL, Page Eight