In June and July of 1904 the Wright Brothers worked on their flying machine at Huffman Prairie mainly by themselves without witnesses. During this period of time the Wright Brothers were contacted by a gentleman names Amos Root. Amos Root was known as the Bee Man of Ohio. He operated a beekeeper’s supply business and wrote a newsletter called The Gleanings in Bee Culture. He loved new technology and loved including stories about his findings in his beekeeper’s newsletter. The Wright Brothers stuck-up a friendship with Amos Root and finally invited him to come to Dayton in September 1904. Amos Root made it to Dayton on Tuesday, September 20th, 1904 to watch Wilbur try something that had never been attempted before in the history of the world. He would fly the airplane in a complete circle. In January 1905 Amos Root wrote an article about his experience witnessing Wilbur’s circle flight in his beekeeper’s newsletter. Up to this point the American press had largely ignored what Orville and Wilbur had been doing. Amos Root sent a copy of his article to Scientific American magazine. Scientific American ignored the article. Instead they wrote an article titled “The Wright Aeroplane and Its Fabled Performance”.
This was the first image I created in my series. I went to Huffman Prairie in February 2016 after reading David McCullough’s biography of the Wright Brothers. As I stood there in snow flurries, I could hear the words of Amos Root in my head. I could see the Wright Brothers plane flying in my mind. I started researching photographs the Wrights had taken at Huffman Prairie and realized the landscape hadn’t changed in 100 plus years.
“When it turned that circle, and came near the starting point, I was right in front of it, and I said then, and I believe still, it was the greatest sight of my life. Imagine a locomotive that left its tracks and climbed up in the air right toward you. A locomotive without any wheels but with wings instead, spread 20 feet each way, coming right towards you with a tremendous flap of its propeller and you have something like what I saw. I tell you friends the sensation that one feels is something hard to describe.”
Amos Root witnessing a full 180 degree turn September 20, 1904
