Earhart In Wyoming

While people my age and beyond, know the name Amelia Earhart for a number of reasons, the main one being her mysterious disappearance while on a flight around the world, when it is presumed that her plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean, the younger generation might not know of her. Earhart was a pioneer aeronautics, at least when it came to women pilots. She developed a passion for adventure at a young age, steadily gaining flying experience from her twenties. In 1928, she became a celebrity after becoming the first female passenger to cross the Atlantic by airplane. Never content to be the passenger, she became the first woman to make a nonstop solo transatlantic flight in 1932 and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for her achievement.

Amelia Mary Earhart was born on July 24, 1897, in Atchison, Kansas. She was the daughter of Samuel “Edwin” Stanton Earhart (1867–1930) and Amelia “Amy” (née Otis; 1869–1962). Amelia was born in the home of her maternal grandfather Alfred Gideon Otis (1827–1912), who was a former judge in Kansas, the president of Atchison Savings Bank, and a leading resident of the town. Amelia was the second child of the marriage, following a stillbirth in August 1896. She was of part-German descent.

While her great aviation accomplishments led to her fame, there were a number of smaller achievements, and just plain fun types of flying that she did too. The Kansas aviatrix with a penchant for “first-time things” and a love of “shining adventure,” as she called it, flew an autogiro across the country in June 1931. Her trip took her to Wyoming, where she made stops in Cheyenne, Laramie, Parco (now named Sinclair), Rock Springs, and Le Roy, Wyoming (west of Fort Bridger). She wanted to set a transcontinental record in the awkward-looking plane, if it could be called that. It resembled a fixed-wing propeller plane with an engine on the front, but it was also equipped with four long rotor blades that spun at 100 revolutions per minute. That was much slower than the 400 revolutions per minute of modern light helicopters. The blades were above the open cockpit. The autogiro had a 52-gallon fuel tank, and it had been dubbed the “flying windmill” by the press. The small tank made frequent stops necessary. While many would have considered the frequent stops annoying, Amelia used the stops to make time to visit with local dignitaries and give flight demonstrations. Because of her quick thinking, Amelia charmed the crowds who greeted her on the ground. Amelia didn’t set the record as the first to make the transcontinental trip, being beaten out by pilot Johnny Miller. Nevertheless, undaunted, she started the return trip, but crashed the autogiro on June 12, 1931, in Abilene, Texas. Thankfully, she had managed to aim the aircraft away from the onlookers and no one was hurt. Soon a replacement autogiro was sent.

Amelia had fallen in love with George Putnam, who was a promoter of women in aviation. After he and his first wife divorced, following 20 years of marriage, Putnam and Amelia married in a simple ceremony at his mother’s home in Noank, Connecticut, on Feb. 7, 1931. That day, Amelia presented him with a blunt, rather businesslike letter outlining her wishes that the marriage not be too confining for either of them. If they found they weren’t happy after a year, then she wanted the marriage to end. Nevertheless, they remained married until her passing. Earhart and Putnam filed a mining claim and commissioned the construction of a small log cabin for them near the Wood River and at the base of Mount Sniffer about a mile from the old mining town of Kirwin. The contractor Jim Dunrud remembers that his mother told him that Earhart “didn’t like the limelight much.” Richard kept the correspondence between his father and George Putnam with instructions on how their vacation cabin should be built. Amelia and Putnam loved Wyoming. Following her death, in her hometown of Atchison, Kansas, an annual festival is held in late July in honor of her birthday and to celebrate the accomplishments of the aviatrix. In Wyoming, the Meeteetse Museum sponsors a trek to the old mining town of Kirwin each August, which includes a hike to the cabin site that Putnam and Earhart chose before she disappeared.