| |
 |
|
|
|
|
Visitors Guide to
Nebo
Pike County, Illinois |
| |
|
|
The town of Nebo sits in one of Pike's most scenic settings, the lower
Bay Creek valley, and is almost surrounded by rugged hills. Nebo, was
laid out as a railroad town in the early 1870s when the Chicago and
Alton Railway laid a line up through Pike County and across the River to
Louisiana, MO. Nebo and other towns along the line became important
commercial centers during the heyday of the railroads. Freight is still
hauled through Nebo by the Gateway Western Railroad.
Nebo’s most important claim to fame involves the
first trans-continental flight. In October 1910, publisher William
Randolph Hearst offered a prize of $50,000 to the first aviator to cross
the United States in an airplane in under 30 days. This challenge was
taken up by early aviation pioneer Calbraith (Cal) Rodgers. Rodgers had
learned to fly at the Wright Brothers Flying School in Dayton, Ohio. To
make journey Rodgers ordered a plane from the Wright Brothers shop, an
experimental a Model EX biplane with two large propellers powered by a
four-cylinder, thirty-five horsepower engine. In those days there were
no airports along the way and no navigation aids to guide the pilot.
Rodgers would have to follow railroad tracks and have a ground crew
follow him. Because this venture would be expensive Rodgers needed a
sponsor. The Armour Company in Chicago was eager to advertise a new
grape flavored, five-cents-a-bottle soft drink called Vin Fiz. Armour
agreed to cover the costs and pay Rodgers five dollars for every mile he
flew if the plane would carry the Vin Fiz advertising.
Rodgers and the newly named Vin Fiz Flyer left Long
Island, New York, on September 17, 1911 and after a successful first
day, he predicted he would arrive in Chicago within four days.
Illinoisans had eagerly awaited Rodgers arrival and the newspapers
carried regular reports of his progress and the Vin Fiz Flyer was
expected to appear in Springfield at the state fair. But accidents,
equipment failures, and weather problems caused numerous delays.
Although it soon became apparent that he would never meet the deadline
of thirty days, Rodgers was determined to finish the flight. It took
Rodgers twenty-seven days before the Vin Fiz Flyer reached Chicago’s
Grant Park on October 8th. After stops in Joliet, Peoria, and
Springfield Rodgers and the Vin Fiz headed west. The last Illinois stop
was at Nebo on October 10th.
On November 5th, forty-nine days after leaving Long
Island and having made 68 landings, Rodgers landed in Pasadena,
California, missing Hearst's deadline by 19 days. So that he could say
he had reached the Pacific Ocean, he took off again on November 12th, to
cover the remaining 20 miles to the ocean, only to be forced down twice,
once suffering a broken ankle. Finally on December 10th, he landed on to
the beach at Long Beach, California, and taxied the Vin Fiz Flyer into
the Pacific Ocean. The entire trip of approximately 4,000 miles had
taken 84 days, of which only 82 hours were spent in the air. On April 3,
1912, Rodgers was making a test flight when ran into a flock of gulls
and he was killed instantly in the crash, not more than a hundred yards
on the beach in California where he ended his historic flight. In
honor of the historic occasion of the October 10th landing in Nebo
Pike County has renamed the main road running from Pearl to Pleasant
Hill and through Nebo the Vin Fiz Highway and celebrates the Vin Fiz landing with an annual festival in August.
|
|
|
