“The sails were rotten”: Fragmentary Memorandum by Wilbur Wright, circa September 13, 1900, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 1, 24.

  “a little uneasy”: Ibid.

  “struck the boat from below with a heavy shock”: Ibid.

  “At 11 o’clock the wind had increased to a gale”: Ibid.

  a highly dangerous maneuver: Ibid., 25.

  He would not land on sandbars: Orville to Katharine, October 14, 1900, ibid., 33.

  “The community of Kitty Hawk at that time”: Captain W. J. Tate, “With the Wrights at Kitty Hawk: Anniversary of First Flight Twenty-five Years Ago,” Aeronautic Review, December 1928; Jakab and Young, eds., The Published Writings of Wilbur and Orville Wright, 283.

  “double-barreled ISOLATION”: Ibid., 284.

  Houses had little in the way of furniture: Interviews conducted by historian Bill Harris with Kitty Hawk residents who lived on the Outer Banks during the time of the Wright brothers’ experiments.

  “proceeded to unfold a tale of hardship”: Tate, “With the Wrights at Kitty Hawk: Anniversary of First Flight Twenty-five Years Ago,” Aeronautic Review, December 1928; Jakab and Young, eds., The Published Writings of Wilbur and Orville Wright, 280.

  “no carpets at all”: Wilbur to Bishop Wright, September 23, 1900, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 1, 25–26.

  a beautiful white French sateen: Wilbur to Octave Chanute, November 16, 1900, ibid., 41.

  “I have my machine nearly finished”: Wilbur to Bishop Wright, September 23, 1900, ibid., 26.

  “The man who wishes to keep at the problem”: Ibid.

  “every precaution” about his drinking water: Ibid., 27.

  “darn fool contraption”: Tate, “With the Wrights at Kitty Hawk: Anniversary of First Flight Twenty-five Years Ago,” Aeronautic Review, December 1928; Jakab and Young, eds., The Published Writings of Wilbur and Orville Wright, 281.

  “We believed in a good God”: Ibid., 279.

  “soaring machine”: Wilbur to Octave Chanute, November 16, 1900, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 1, 40.

  With everything in place: Wilbur to Octave Chanute, November 16, 1900, and November 26, 1900, ibid., 40–46.

  the “horizontal” rudder: Wilbur to Octave Chanute, November 26, 1900, ibid., 46.

  With Wilbur aboard as “operator”: Wilbur to Octave Chanute, November 16, 1900, ibid., 42.

  “May the wind be ever at your back”: Author unknown, “An Irish Wish,” Respectfully Quoted, 277.

  “We’ve been having a fine time”: Orville to Katharine, October 14, 1900, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  “too strong and unsteady”: Ibid.

  “It naturally wants to go higher and higher”: Ibid.

  in a heap 20 feet away: Ibid.

  “The site of our tent was formerly a fertile valley”: Ibid.

  “you see dozens of them”: Ibid.

  “It’s just like in the north”: Ibid.

  “pitiable”: Ibid.

  bedbugs, mosquitoes, and wood ticks: Ibid.

  “The vulture’s needs are few”: Wilbur Wright, “What Mouillard Did,” Aero Club of America Bulletin, April 1912; Jakab and Young, eds., The Published Writings of Wilbur and Orville Wright, 173.

  “The buzzard which uses”: Wilbur Wright’s Notebook A [1900–] 1901, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 1, 34.

  “All soarers, but especially the buzzard”: Ibid.

  “We couldn’t help thinking”: William O. Saunders, “Then We Quit Laughing: Interview with John T. Daniels,” Collier’s Weekly, September 17, 1927; Jakab and Young, eds., The Published Writings of Wilbur and Orville Wright, 275.

  “Learning the secret of flight”: Howard, Wilbur and Orville, 33.

  a “very tame” mockingbird: Orville to Katharine, October 14, 1900, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  “When we crawl out of the tent”: Orville to Katharine, October 18, 1900, ibid.

  “We each have two blankets”: Ibid.

  “Well, part of the time we eat hot biscuits”: Orville to Katharine, October 14, 1900, ibid.

  words like “disremember” for “forget”: Wolfram and Schilling-Estes, Hoi Toide on the Outer Banks: The Story of the Ocracoke Brogue, 39–49; Discussions with historians Bill Harris and Sarah Downing at Outer Banks Historic Center, Manteo, North Carolina.

  “Doc” Cogswell: Orville to Katharine, October 18, 1900, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  two or three hours a day at his own work: Orville to Katharine, October 14, 1900, ibid.

  “two of the workingest boys”: Saunders, “Then We Quit Laughing”; Jakab & Young, eds., The Published Writings of Wilbur & Orville Wright, 275.

  had to fire the young man: Orville to Katharine, October 14, 1900, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  “not a tree or bush anywhere”: William Tate to Wilbur, August 18, 1900, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC; Kelly, ed., Miracle at Kitty Hawk, 26.

  “And although in appearance”: Wilbur to Octave Chanute, November 16, 1900, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 1, 43.

  “a pleasure trip”: Wilbur to Bishop Wright, September 23, 1900, ibid., 27.

  “without having our pet theories”: Wilbur Wright, “Some Aeronautical Experiments,” Smithsonian Report for 1902.

  From the undamaged portions: Tobin, To Conquer the Air, 91.

  “improved construction in its details”: Wilbur to Octave Chanute, May 12, 1901, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 1, 54.

  “entirely free” on Sundays: Wilbur to Octave Chanute, May 17, 1901, ibid., 55.

  He arrived at 7 Hawthorn Street on June 26: Milton Wright, Diaries, 1857–1917, 551.

  Charles—Charlie—Taylor had been born on a farm: Taylor, “My Story of the Wright Brothers”; Jakab and Young, eds., The Published Writings of Wilbur and Orville Wright, 293.

  just to “gas”: Ibid., 285.

  none was to so aggravate sister Katharine: Katharine to Orville, October 5, 1902, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  Wilbur and Orville left Dayton together: Milton Wright, Diaries, 1857–1917, 551–52.

  winds recorded at 93 miles an hour: Wilbur to Octave Chanute, July 26, 1901, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 1, 70.

  sharing the most uncomfortable bed: Orville to Katharine, July 28, 1901, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  no source of fresh water within a mile: Ibid.

  “grand institution with awnings at both ends”: Ibid.

  they built a long, solid shed: Chanute-Huffaker diary, July 18, 1901, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 1, 69.

  “in the form of a mighty cloud, almost darkening the sun”: Orville to Katharine, July 28, 1901, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  “as nothing” by comparison: Ibid.

  “Our blankets then became unbearable”: Ibid.

  Edward Huffaker of Chuckey City, Tennessee: Octave Chanute to Wilbur Wright, July 3, 1901, McFarland, ed., Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 1, 65.

  He arrived in the last days of the mosquito siege: Orville to Katharine, July 28, 1901, ibid., 74–75.

  “mechanical facility”: Wilbur to Bishop Wright, July 26, 1901, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  “character building”: Wilbur to George Spratt, September 21, 1901; George Spratt to Wilbur, November 17, 1901, and January 31, 1902, ibid.

  But no sooner was the machine up: Crouch, The Bishop’s Boys, 208–9.

  Something was “radically wrong”: McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 1, 108.

  “the fix” that had plunged: Orville to Katharine, July 28, 1901, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  “The adjustments of the machine are away off”: Ibid.

  “The machine with its new curvature”: Wilbur Wright, “Some Aeronautical Experiments,” Smithsonian Report for 1902.

  “Mr. Huffaker remarked”: Wilbur to Bishop Wright, July 26, 1901, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  helping himself to one of Wilbur’s blankets: Wilbur to George Spratt, September 21, 1901, ibid.

  “groping in the dark”: Tobin, To Conquer the Air, 113.

  “not in a thousand years would man ever fly”: Kelly, The Wright Brothers, 72.

  how disagreeable Edward Huffaker had been: Katharine to Bishop Wright, August 26, 1901, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  4. Unyielding Resolve

  “We had to go ahead and discover everything ourselves”: Orville Wright, “How I Learned to Fly,” Boys’ Life, September 1914; Jakab and Young, eds., The Published Writings of Wilbur and Orville Wright, 53.

  “He was at work the following day”: Washington Post, October 4, 1908.

  “We knew that it would take considerable time”: Jakab and Young, eds., The Published Writings of Wilbur and Orville Wright, 60.

  “boys” . . . “scientific” investigations: Katharine to Bishop Wright, October 12, 1901, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  “We don’t hear anything but flying machine”: Katharine to Bishop Wright, September 3, 1901, ibid.

  “as thrilling interest as any in the field”: Wilbur Wright, “Some Aeronautical Experiments,” Smithsonian Report for 1902.

  an invitation from Octave Chanute for Wilbur to address: Octave Chanute to Wilbur Wright, August 29, 1901, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 1, 91.

  “nagged” him into going: Katharine to Bishop Wright, September 3, 1901, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  Only days later, in the first week of September: Dayton Evening News, September 7, 1901; Milton Wright, Diaries, 1857–1917, 555.

  “arrayed in Orv’s shirt”: Katharine to Bishop Wright, September 25, 1901, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  Never had he looked “so ‘swell’ ”: Ibid.

  “Ladies’ Night”: Octave Chanute to Wilbur Wright, September 5, 1901, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 1, 93.

  “I will already be as badly scared”: Wilbur to Octave Chanute, September 6, 1901, ibid.

  “Pathetic”: Katharine to Bishop Wright, September 11, 1901, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  private study was so chock-full of models: Wilbur to Bishop Wright, October 24, 1901, ibid.

  “two gentlemen from Dayton, Ohio”: Introduction by President Chanute, “Some Aeronautical Experiments,” Smithsonian Report for 1902.

  “the Book of Genesis of the twentieth-century”: Howard, Wilbur and Orville: A Biography of the Wright Brothers, 71.

  “settle steadily down as a staid, sensible piece of paper”: Wilbur Wright, “Some Aeronautical Experiments,” Smithsonian Report for 1902.

  “Do not be afraid of making it too technical”: Octave Chanute to Wilbur Wright, September 25, 1901, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 1, 119.

  “somewhat in error”: Wilbur Wright, “Some Aeronautical Experiments,” Smithsonian Report for 1902.

  “a devilish good paper”: Octave Chanute to Wilbur, November 27, 1901, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 1, 168.

  Some of the letters ran: See letters of Wilbur to Octave Chanute from October 6, 1901 to December 23, 1901, The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  “The first successful flyer will be”: Newcomb, “Is the Airship Coming?” McClure’s Magazine, September 17, 1901.

  “lift” and “drag” of a wing’s surface: Wilbur to Octave Chanute, August 29, 1901, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 1, 86.

  “investigations”: Katharine to Bishop Wright, October 12, 1901, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  “balances” or “airfoils”: See McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 1, 556–57.

  “those metal models told us how to build”: Orville Wright, “How I Learned to Fly,” Boys’ Life, September 1914; Jakab and Young, eds., The Published Writings of Wilbur and Orville Wright, 52.

  “It is perfectly marvelous to me”: Octave Chanute to Wilbur, November 18, 1901, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 1, 156.

  his letters were always too brief: Octave Chanute to Wilbur, November 27, 1901, ibid., 168.

  “Never in the history of the world”: Aeronautical Journal, Vols. 19–20, Aeronautical Society of Great Britain, 1915, 72.

  “A calm survey”: Crouch, A Dream of Wings: Americans and the Airplane, 1825–1905, 17.

  “Practically all the expense”: Wilbur to Octave Chanute, October 24, 1901, McFarland, The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 1, 142.

  “Would you like for me to write to him?”: Octave Chanute to Wilbur, December 19, 1901, ibid., 183.

  “too hardheaded a Scotchman”: Wilbur to Octave Chanute, December 23, 1901, ibid., 187.

  “aeronautical experts”: Wright Family Scrapbooks, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  At the same time the family was facing: Tobin, To Conquer the Air, 136–37, 206, 230; Crouch, The Bishop’s Boys, 41, 43, 51–52, 63–69, 78–86, 215–18, 302; Chicago Chronicle, August 24, 1902; Wilbur to Octave Chanute, May 28, 1905, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 1, 493.

  “My chief regret”: Wilbur to Bishop Wright, February 15, 1902, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  “The question of whether officials shall rob”: Ibid.

  In mid-March, Wilbur took the train: Milton Wright, Diaries, 1857–1917, 566.

  “very crooked”: Ibid., 567.

  “an exposé of Keiter’s defalcations”: Ibid.

  an “egotist”: Crouch, The Bishop’s Boys, 217.

  “absolutely inconceivable, incomprehensible”: Wilbur to Reuchlin Wright, May 20, 1902, The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  “finding new instances of his stealing”: Ibid.

  “When my father and myself came to examine”: Wilbur Wright, “The Church Trial at Huntington,” August 15, 1902, ibid.

  “things are moving nicely”: Wilbur to Bishop Wright, August 18, 1902, ibid.

  “Will is thin and nervous”: Katharine to Bishop Wright, August 20, 1902, ibid.

  “Some say the boys just go camping”: McMahon, The Wright Brothers: Fathers of Flight, 110.

  “Will spins the sewing machine around”: Katharine to Bishop Wright, August 20, 1902, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  “He was completely unnerved”: Katharine to Bishop Wright, August 20, 1902, ibid.

  “We’ll never stop fighting now, Pop”: Katharine to Bishop Wright, September 9, 1902, ibid.

  “too weary for words”: Katharine to Wilbur and Orville, September 4, 1902, ibid.

  making an unprecedented $25 a week: Katharine to Bishop Wright, September 27, 1902, ibid.

  “His former friends have become”: Bishop Wright to Estella Petree, October 2, 1907, Milton Wright Collection, Huntington University, Huntington, Indiana.

  get used to some of Charlie Taylor’s peculiarities: Orville to Katharine, September 11, 1902, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  “royal luxuries”: Wilbur to Katharine, August 31, 1902, ibid.

  “He met with a rather warm reception”: Orville to Katharine, September 7, 1902, ibid.

  “immensely improved”: Wilbur to George Spratt, September 16, 1902, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 1, 253.

  took only one hour, instead of three on foot: Ibid.

  “learned to love ’em”: Saunders, “Then We Quit Laughing”; Jakab and Young, eds., The Published Writings of Wilbur and Orville Wright, 275.

  “There are other improvements too numerous”: Wilbur to George Spratt, September 16, 1902, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 1, 253.

  “Monday, September 8. Finally began work”: Orville Wright’s diary, ibid., 249.

  “very satisfactory” results: Ibid., 258.

  “without a bruise or a scratch”: Ibid, 260.

  “My brother”: Wilbur to Octave Chanute, September 23, 1902, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 1, 261.

  Lorin Wright walked into camp: Wilbur to Bishop Wright, October 2, 1902, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  “We are in splendid health”: Ibid.

  “always ready to oppose an idea”: George Spratt to Octave Chanute, August 16, 1901, ibid.

  “a good scrap”: Wilbur to George Spratt, April 20, 1903, ibid.

  “as it makes us too conservative”: Ibid.

  “hip cradle”: Kelly, The Wright Brothers, 79.

  “shell of hauteur”: Tobin, To Conquer the Air, 61.

  wrote at once to the brothers: See Wilbur to Octave Chanute, November 12, 1902, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 1, 283.

  5. December 17, 1903

  “When we got up a wind”: Orville Wright’s diary, December 17, 1903, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 1, 394.

  “but if there is any hope for him”: Dayton Evening News, January 1, 1903.

  No new year had “ever brought the people”: Albuquerque Journal-Democrat, January 2, 1903.

  One of the few puzzling questions: Philadelphia Inquirer, January 1, 1903.

  “Those two sure knew their physics”: Taylor, “My Story of the Wright Brothers”; Jakab and Young, eds., The Published Writings of Wilbur and Orville Wright, 288.

  Aluminum Company of America: Orville Wright to ALCOA, December 1939, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  “The fuel system was simple”: Taylor, “My Story of the Wright Brothers”; Jakab and Young, eds., The Published Writings of Wilbur and Orville Wright, 288.

  “The spark was made by the opening”: Ibid.

  “little gas motor”: Milton Wright, Diaries, 1857–1917, 583.

  “I think the hardest job”: Taylor, “My Story of the Wright Brothers”; Jakab and Young, eds., The Published Writings of Wilbur and Orville Wright, 288.

  “Our minds . . . became so obsessed”: Orville Wright, “How We Made the First Flight,” Flying, December 1913; ibid., 41.