DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of the official marker for Cal Rodgers and the Vin Fiz, standing in Val Verde County. Now, fifty thousand dollars was a lot of money in 1910. A whole lot of money.
And publishing titan William Randolph Hearst was willing to hand every last dollar of it to the first person who could fly — fly — across the entire width of America in thirty days, with a stop in Chicago, Illinois. That prize sat out there like a dare. And dares have a way of finding exactly the right kind of person.
That person turned out to be Calbraith Perry Rodgers. Cal, to his friends. An adventurer.
A newly-trained aviator. The kind of man who hears fifty thousand dollars and transcontinental flight in the same sentence and starts making arrangements. Now, arrangements take money, and Cal didn't have enough of it.
So he went to the Armour Meatpacking Company with a proposition. You fund the attempt, he told them, and I'll promote your new grape-flavored soft drink. The drink was called Vin Fiz.
The deal got done. And when Rodgers climbed into his customized Wright Brothers EX Flyer and pointed it toward the horizon, that airplane had a name too. He called it — appropriately — the Vin Fiz.
On September 17, 1911, Cal Rodgers lifted off from Sheepshead Bay, Long Island, New York. Behind him, rolling along on the ground like a loyal shadow, was a support train carrying spare parts, mechanics, and Rodgers' wife, Mabel. That train would have plenty to do before this story was over.
Now, early aircraft were underpowered things. Mountain ranges were a major problem — you couldn't just point the nose up and clear a peak the way you might imagine. So after reaching Chicago, Rodgers steered south.
South into Texas. He crossed into the state and reached San Antonio by October 22nd. Two days later, he landed in Uvalde, and then again in Spofford.
The next morning, taking off from Spofford, he crashed. He survived. The support train kept rolling.
On October 26, 1911, Cal Rodgers landed in Del Rio. And Del Rio noticed. Schools closed — actually closed — so that children could walk out and watch the Vin Fiz come down in a field east of San Felipe Creek, south of the railroad tracks.
Think about that for a moment. Most of those kids had never seen an airplane. Most adults hadn't either.
This was what aviation looked like arriving in Val Verde County for the very first time. Rodgers' stay was brief. He had California on his mind.
He pressed westward toward El Paso and kept going, and on November 5, 1911, he set the Vin Fiz down in Pasadena, California. He did not win the Hearst challenge. Thirty days had long since come and gone.
But here is what Cal Rodgers did do: he flew more than a thousand miles over the state of Texas. He landed in Texas twenty-three times. And on one October afternoon in Del Rio, he gave a field east of San Felipe Creek and a crowd of wide-eyed schoolchildren a story they'd carry the rest of their lives.
Fifty thousand dollars. He didn't get it. But some crossings are worth more than the prize at the end.
What the marker says
In 1910, publishing titan William Randolph Hearst offered $50,000 to the first person to successfully complete a transcontinental flight across America in 30 days, with a stop in Chicago, Illinois. Adventurer and newly-trained aviator Calbraith "Cal" Perry Rodgers sought sponsorship from the Armour Meatpacking Company to bankroll his attempt. In return, Rodgers agreed to promote Armour's new grape-flavored soft drink called Vin Fiz. The marketing agreement finalized, Rodgers took off for the West Coast from Sheepshead Bay, Long Island, New York, on Sept. 17, 1911, in a customized Wright Brothers EX Flyer he named, appropriately, Vin Fiz. Mountain ranges were a major problem for early underpowered aircraft, so after reaching Chicago, to avoid large ranges, Rodgers steered southward to Texas. Accompanying him on his record-breaking attempt was a support train carrying spare parts, mechanics and Rodgers' wife, Mabel. Rodgers crossed into Texas and reached San Antonio by Oct. 22. Two days later, he landed in Uvalde and later in Spofford. The next morning, he crashed while taking off but survived. On Oct. 26, 1911, Rodgers landed in Del Rio. The arrival of the airplane was such an event that schools closed to allow children to see the Vin Fiz land in a field east of San Felipe Creek and south of the railroad tracks. Rodgers' stay in Del Rio was brief, but his landing brought aviation to Val Verde County. From here, Rodgers proceeded westward toward El Paso and landed in Pasadena, California on Nov. 5, 1911, but failed to win the Hearst challenge. In his attempt, though, Rodgers flew over 1,000 miles of Texas and landed in the state 23 times. (2005)