Archive Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog Number |
2019.001.016 |
Object Name |
Clipping, Newspaper |
Title |
Sooners Join Alaskans to Honor Will Rogers, Wiley Post |
Collection |
Wiley Post Collection |
Creator |
James Johnson |
Scope & Content |
Describes Oklahoma state Sen. Stratton Taylor and Rep. Robert Henry's visit to Point Barrow, Alaska, where Post and Rogers died. |
Date |
08/16/1985 |
Transcription |
[Top] Oklahoma City, Ok. Friday, August 16, 1985 25 cents Sooners Join Alaskan to Honor Will Rogers, Wiley Post By Jim Johnson Staff Writer Point Barrow, Alaska --A somber sky and chilly weather greeted Alaskans and Oklahomans who gathered at the world’s largest Eskimo village Thursday to mark the 59th anniversary of the deaths of two of Oklahoma’s most famous sons, humorist Will Rogers and aviator Wiley Post. In a choppy sea with ice flows viable About five miles out in the Arctic Ocean, the group attempted to travel by boat to the point 15 the miles east of Barrow, where the plane carrying Rogers and Post crashed on [?] Aug. 15, 1935. Thursday, however, the sea was too rough and the cold-benumbed group was forced to turn back. Oklahoma state Sen. Stratton Taylor, D-Claremore, and state Rep. Robert H. Henry, D-Shawnee, were the early state officials present far the observance. "We paid our own way up here. We felt we just wanted to be in Barrow this day," Henry said. They were joined by Bill Codeman of Claremore, a volunteer worker at the Will Rogers Memorial. Dr. Reba Collins, director of the Will Rogers Memorial, was prevented by bad weather from joining the group Collins has been in Alaska for the past week, but found herself stranded at Juneau for the past two days by fog which was too thick for safe travel. The Oklahomans joined with a Group of Eskimos around a circular-cut reindeer hide which was used to bounce a willing Eskimo girl breathtaking distances into the air. They also joined Eskimo dancers to the beat of flat native drums in an Awkward version of a dance which the Eskimos made appear graceful. The place crash, by which older Oklahomans still date time, came as Post was flying Rogers around the Alaskan territory in search of material for Rogers’ newspaper column. Rogers had heard of a locally famous Eskimo hunger at Barrow and tragedy struck as they sought to go interview him. Apparently missing the village, Post spotted a sealing camp east of town, and landed his pontoon-equipped Lockheed Orion to ask directions. They took off almost immediately, but Eskimos said the engine sputtered at low altitude and the nose- heavy aircraft fell off on the right wing straight into shallow water and crashed upside down. Reverberations from the loss of the two Oklahomans were felt around tge world, especially by fans of Rogers, an internationally known humorist and film and radio star who had risen from a rope-spinning cowboy through vaudeville. Post, a quiet mass with a high level of scientific curiosity, was an experienced cold weather pilot, having flown the region twice is his record setting around the world flight. |
People |
Robert Henry Stratton Taylor Wiley Post Will Rogers |
Search Terms |
Alaska Article Barrow Crash Plane Robert Henry Stratton Taylor Wiley Post Will Rogers |