Professor Walter's History Lessons

If at first you don't succeed, fail, fail, again.

We've all been taught about the Wright Brothers, Orville and Wilbur, and their famous December 17, 1903 achievement of the first powered flight. The potential for sustainable flight was there, but their initial flight lasted less than a minute and achieved heights of roughly ten feet. While even this was ground breaking, it was not a viable machine for commercial or government use. It would not be until October 5, 1905, when Wilbur Wright flew the Flyer III 24 miles in 39 minutes and 23 seconds, that the full potential of powered flight was finally in sight. That single flight was longer than all flights in 1903 and 1904 combined. The Wright Brothers wrote to the US Secretary of War, William Howard Taft, offering to sell aircraft to the U.S. Military.

While the first flight rocked the world, it didn't really change anything other than proving powered flight was, in fact, possible. It would take two more years before practical flight was realistic. Over the next few years the Wright Brothers would travel the world, contracting with local firms to build their Flyers. On June 29, 1909, they finally demonstrated the first U.S. Military plane, the Military Flyer. That day Orville took the new plane up. And into a tree. After repairs the first successful demonstration occurred on July 27. And the rest, as they say, is history.

-Professor Walter

The man who single-handedly launched the United States into a depression

Jay Cooke was possibly the most important banker during the Civil War and post-war period. His clever advertising helped increase the sale of war bonds which, in turn, helped to fund the Union. After the war he founded the famous banking house "Jay Cooke and Company." Then, abruptly, on September 18, 1873, he closed the doors of his bank forever. A panic ensued and thirty seven other banking houses and brokerages shut their doors that same day. The Stock Exchange followed, and by the end of the year over five thousand business had failed.

What Cooke did is not too far removed from the shady banking exploits we hear of today. Beginning in 1869, he invested heavily in the Northern Pacific Railway. The railway was considered a high risk venture. Not only were new trains being constructed across the west at unexpectedly high costs, but the model itself was flawed: linking together small towns in the wilderness is not particularly profitable. Railroad Baron Cornelius Vanderbilt, who understood the industry well, pinpointed the problem with the investment strategy:

"Building railroads from nowhere to nowhere is not a legitimate business."

Not unexpectedly, Cooke's get-rich-quick endeavour failed, leading to the ruin of thousands of others in the process. After the collapse of his banking house, the Northern Pacific Railway slipped into bankruptcy in 1875. When the depression he sparked finally ended in 1879, Cooke was able to recover enough to pay his debts, but he never rose to prominence again.

Ironically the Northern Pacific Railway persevered through many difficult economic times, and on March 2, 1970 it was consolidated with other railways into the Burlington Northern Railroad. This nearly 100 years after it played a pivotal role in the financial collapse of the United States.

-Professor Walter

Russia's Ghost Railway

Often referred to as the "Railroad of Death," "Road of Death," or "Death Road," the Salekhard-Igarka Railway is an abandoned 806 mile (1,297 km) project in the Russian Tundra. The construction of the railway began in the summer of 1949 with the 501st Labor Camp working eastward from Salekhard and the 503rd Labor Camp working westward from Igarka. The plans called for a single railway with 29 stations.

An estimated 80,000 to 120,000 laborers were put to work on the project and tens of thousands died. These deaths were even more unfortunate because they were entirely unnecessary: the demand for rail transport was already met by existing routes. The unofficial purpose behind the project was an attempt to keep political prisoners busy. One way in which this was made evident was the fact that the requirements called for everything to be built by hand. There were little to no machines brought in to assist with the work. Additionally, the food rations were meager and the shelters inadequate. Further contributing to the deplorable conditions was the rule that if a prisoner could not meet the impossibly high work-quotas, their food rations were cut, weakening them more, thus making it so that they had no chance of meeting the quotas, thus resulting in further ration cuts. And so the cycle continued until death.

The futility of the effort was even more apparent in winter, when the -60 C temperatures and blizzards wiped out laborers, and the frost heaves destroyed the rails. The summers brought millions of mosquitoes, gnats, and parasites as the tracks were pushed through swampland.  Construction finally ended in 1953 upon Stalin's death. A total of 434 miles (699 km) were completed, but the bulk collapsed shortly thereafter from frost heaves and poor construction.

Remnants of the Ghost Railway can be seen today in places where the work was literally left in progress at the time the project ended. Ghost Trains, quietly rust on warped tracks, where they will never reach their intended destination, filled with the phantoms of those who lost their lives to cruelty and folly.

-Professor Walter

Almost late for its own party

The Jaguar E-Style is a vehicle that is considered by many to be one of the most beautiful and glamorous cars ever made. It was ranked first in the Daily Telegraph's list of the "100 most beautiful cars" and first in Sports Car International magazine's Top Sport Cars of the 1960s. Even today one is in the Museum of Modern Art in New York as part of its permanent design collection. Unveiled at the 1961 Geneva Motor Show, it caused a sensation for its looks and its ability to reach 150 miles per hour. Unfortunately the sporty coupe almost didn't make it in time.

Last minute tweaks and refinements delayed the delivery. The car was finally ready the day before the show, but it was in the British Midlands, about 700 miles from Geneva. In a mad race, the E-Style averaged 70 miles per hour on the 12 hour trip, arriving at the convention with only twenty minutes to spare. The car didn't get any rest as it was presented at the Restaurant du Parc des Eaux Vives where journalists were given rides on a hill-climb course to substantiate the engine's power claims. There was so much excitement generated that another Jaguar completed the rapid race to Geneva in order to give additional rides alongside the original.

Manufactured until 1975, the E-Style, which Enzo Ferrari would call "the most beautiful car in the world," would earn a place in the hearts of auto enthusiasts for over fifty years. But for some lead on the pedal, it almost didn't make it.

-Professor Walter

 

Everyone needs a little inspiration now and then

Born in 1901, Carl Banks would become an iconic illustrator and comic book creator for Disney Studio.  Called "the Hans Christian Anderson of comic books" by writer-artist Will Eisner, Banks created characters such as Scrooge McDuck, Gladstone Gander, the Beagle Boys, Junior Woodchucks, and Gyro Gearloose.  His comic book tales of Donald Duck took the famous character around the world with incredible realism.

He credited his accuracy to his best reference, which he would "rob" for inspiration, National Geographic Magazine.  At least a dozen National Geographics directly influenced his comics.  In a 1983 interview he stated, "If I didn't have something like the Geographic, I wouldn't have any means of making things realistic."

-Professor Walter

The Titanic's unintentional victims on the Great Lakes

The S.S. Eastland was a passenger ship based out of Chicago that transported passengers to locations along the shores of the Great Lakes.  The ship was an unusual design being quite high on the water.  The ship was always top heavy, but that condition became more pronounced with the sinking of the Titanic.  After that disaster the Seaman's Act had been passed which mandated that all vessels carry a complete set of lifeboats.  The Eastland had recently been refitted with the additional boats on it's already top heavy design.  On a fateful day in July of 1915 the passengers would learn that the lifeboats couldn't help them.

It was July 24th and the Eastland as well as two other passenger liners were charted to take Western Electric Company employees to a picnic.  This was a major event as many of the workers could not take holidays.  The ship quickly filled to its capacity of 2752 passengers.  That day people filled the Eastland when a canoe race passed the ship.  People moved to that side to see the race.  Jack Woodford, a writer, gave an eye-witness account of the event in his autobiography.

"And then movement caught my eye. I looked across the river. As I watched in disoriented stupefaction a steamer large as an ocean liner slowly turned over on its side as though it were a whale going to take a nap. I didn't believe a huge steamer had done this before my eyes, lashed to a dock, in perfectly calm water, in excellent weather, with no explosion, no fire, nothing. I thought I had gone crazy."

That day, in calm waters and secured to the dock, the Eastland tipped and lay on it's side in twenty feet of water, it's hull poking out, resting on the bottom.  Within minutes nearby ships came to the rescue pulling people out of the water and off the stricken vessel.  Unfortunately, many passengers had been inside the ship and, as it turned on its side, furniture, tables, and pianos crushed them.  Others were trapped and drowned.  By the end of the day, the fatality count of the disaster would be 844 passengers and four crew members.  Most of which were women and children.

On that fateful day, while tied to a dock, in twenty feet of water, in beautiful weather, a ship fell over taking hundreds of lives with it in many ways owing to the forced addition of lifesaving devices.

-Professor Walter

The birth of an industry

With every great new innovation there are unforeseen developments.  One of the greatest inventions is arguably the automobile, but it too created it's own challenges.  One of those innovations that rose to meet a challenge lives on to this day. 

In 1916 Ernest Holmes, Sr., a Chattanooga, Tn native, helped a friend to retrieve his car with the use of three poles, a pulley, and a chain connected to the frame of a 1913 Cadillac.  That day would mark to birth of a new technology known as the tow truck and an industry of wreckers. 

Holmes operated Chattanooga's first auto-repair shop at 318 Market Street and there, after patenting his invention, he began building wreckers and towing equipment for sale to garages and anyone who wanted to retrieve stranded vehicles.  He ran his business until his death in 1943 at which point his son Frank Holmes, Jr. took over and ran the business until 1973 when it was sold to the Dover Corporation.

During WWII Holmes's company made the first military wrecker and would supply the allies with thousands of his twin boom wreckers.  Today you can see Holmes's and other tow trucks and wreckers at the The International Towing and Recovery Hall of Fame in Chattanooga, TN.

-Professor Walter

The first armoured presidental car

It was December 7th 1942, the Day That Would Live in Infamy.  Japan attacked Pearl Harbor destroying a large portion of the US Naval fleet.  There is not an American who lived through that time who does not remember it.  The next day President Roosevelt was to go before congress to ask that they declare war with Japan.  The Secret Service was concerned that there was a very real chance that someone sympathetic to Japan or Germany may attempt to assassinate the president before the declaration could be made.  They needed a bullet proof car, but there was a problem.

The federal law limited the budget for automobiles to $750.  No car may exceed that cost and an armored, bulletproof vehicle would certainly cost more that that.  With less than 24 hours available there was no time to wait for legislation authorizing the extra expenditure needed.  The Secret Service had an idea: the famous Chicago Gangster Al Capone was convicted of tax evasion in 1931 and his bullet proof 1928 341A Cadillac Town Sedan was seized.  The night of December 7th an around the clock detail refurbished the car so that by the morning President Roosevelt could use it to make the journey to Congress and state the case for war.

The car was used until the 1939 Lincoln V12 convertible limousine (The Sunshine Special - So called because it was a convertible), which the president used regularly, could be updated with the same safety features.  The $750 annual cap was not removed, but rather sidestepped by the US Government leasing the car for $500 a year.  The Capone car was returned to the Treasury Department after its use.  In 2006 it was sold at auction to a private buyer for $621,500.  The Sunshine Special rests at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn Michigan.

-Professor Walter

The Ford Nucleon: miles ahead in alternative fuel innovation

In 1958 the Ford Motor Company was developing multiple concept cars.  One of them was designed to take advantage of the recent advances in nuclear power.  The car was a sleek two seater with a small nuclear reactor located in the rear.  Designed to go up to 5,000 miles on one nuclear core, the car was a leap forward in thinking.  Designers envisioned the owners driving their cars to changing stations at the 5,000 mile mark and replacing their nuclear core. 

The car was an example of the public's limited knowledge of atomic power at the time.  Designers assumed that the shielding and bulk of reactors would eventually be overcome.  They did not fully understand the technology to make such a system operate.  The car never passed the concept phase, and a working prototype was never built.  Today you can see a mock-up of this car at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.

-Professor Walter