Video: Did Lyman Gilmore Fly Before the Wright Brothers? (13 minutes)

Full Transcript of the Video:

You might think that coming to an elementary school is an unlikely place for a history lesson, and I would agree with you. I'm here at the Lyman-Gilmore Elementary School in Grass Valley, and this was once an airport. Now the individual that the school is named after supposedly flew an airplane before the Wright Brothers. Although it's kind of questionable whether or not he actually did that. Let's take a look at this marquee right here. Lyman-Gilmore School. It says there. He lived from 1874 to 1951. He established the first commercial airport on the site in 1907. To him and his memory, the people of this community dedicate this school as the Lyman-Gilmore School, Grass Valley School District. And this school has a lot of symbols for aeronautics. In fact, on the side of the gym here, in the multi-purpose room, they have a depiction of Lyman-Gilmore. The Lyman-Gilmore School District. Were the Wright Brothers the first one to experience the first-powered airplane and first-powered flight on December 17, 1903, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina? Some residents of Grass Valley differ. Local legend has it that Lyman-Gilmore made the first-powered flight from his Gilmore air drum in Grass Valley on May 15, 1902, some 18 months before the famous bicycle shop owners from Dayton, Ohio. But any recorded evidence that the early flight actually took place would have been consumed in the Hanger Fire of 1935. Allegedly, there was a notation in Gilmore's flight logs dated May 15, 1902, corroborating this legend. But Gilmore did not make his claim until 1935. On June 11, 1935, 10 individuals certified that Gilmore flew a powered airplane three miles in 1902 and achieved a control landing. There are no films of his alleged maiden flight at little proof. Look at this. The side of the multi-purpose room has this giant mural of Mr. Lyman, and we're going to go check it out. Supposedly, the big problem with this particular claim is that he supposedly had a steam-powered engine and all these experts say there's no way that you could have had something that heavy and that it would have flown. Now, there's a likeness of him up there and here is a, I guess, a calling card. I don't know if it's based on anything that was real, but it could be. Yeah, this whole school honors Mr. Gilmore. Look at this documenting a fire in his hangar. And you see the runways right there, like the local fire departments putting it out. And over here we have a school. Possibly it was a school that was on this place right here. Now, it is actually on this soccer field where the airport was, where Mr. Lyman Gilmore had an airport. Right out here, now it's a soccer field. All this history lost due to a 1935 hangar fire. Lyman Gilmore was born in Alepio, Washington on June 11th, 1876 and came to California in 1894. Gilmore was considered a unique and odd local character who had poor hygiene and wore tattered clothing. Gilmore was obsessed with flying and built airplanes with his brother Charlie. He claimed that his first plane in 1902 was a 32 foot span glider powered by a 20 horsepower steam engine. He stated that the airplane flew from 100 yards to a mile on multiple occasions beginning on May 15th, 1902. Gilmore died in 1951 without receiving any credit for the first alleged power flight. However, his obituary in the New York Times and the Washington Post claimed that he founded what may have been the first commercial airport in the United States in 1907. Apparently, when the old man died, his house was found in such neglect and disrepair that it was declared a nuisance by the city council and was believed to have been demolished. So we came to the Pine Grove Cemetery looking for Lyman Gilmore's grave. Unfortunately, I have no GPS. I have no sections to go by. So it's going to be like finding a needle in a haystack and quite honestly, I don't think we're going to be able to do it. But somebody did take a picture of his grave and we do have it. So we might have to go with that. As we're looking for Lyman Gilmore, which I doubt if we're going to be able to find him, I want to show you another zinc marker. They last forever. They don't kind of consider cheap. But look at this. It's a gosketti. Gone but not forgotten. Like I said before, it's like finding a needle in a haystack. If you don't have any sections to know your search and find a grave is not helping us whatsoever. And those GPS just says he's buried here in the cemetery. Sarah is helping me find, but the only thing she came up with are acorns she just tossed. No, I found some Rockefellers and some Hearst. Just the wrong kind of Hearst. Oh, still no Lyman Gilmore. And then I just found Gillespie who's got to be related to Dizzy Gillespie, right? Well, as the sun goes down on this day, I'm not going to find it. We're losing daylight. And like I said, if there's no indication of what section or any GPS coordinates, then we're just not going to find it. So that's unfortunate. But this is one of the saddest cemeteries I've ever seen. So this is what happens when coffins collapse. Ground drops in like that. Sarah and I wanted to check out the Nevada County Railroad Museum, where ironically we found some displays shedding more light on the mysterious Lyman Gilmore. We found this model of Gilmore's 1912 Batwing monoplane, but we found no evidence that this plane ever flew. If anybody has information to show us otherwise, please let us know what you know in the comments section. Sarah, look at this. Oh, is this the steam powered airplane? Well, this is 1912. He supposedly went up in 1903. So this maybe is a different model of airplane that he built. Huh. Has skis. It's pretty elaborate. Interesting. That'd be cool. You know those big cars that I want to ride on? But this is a bike. Oh, yeah, to ride the rails. Among the items on display at the museum is this 1925 check filled out and signed by Lyman Gilmore while he was manager of the blue channel mine at Iowa Hill. This letter explains how Gilmore was trying to sell off his mining claim of 180 acres for $2,500 money that he needed to secure patents for his airplane designs to help finance his plane and invention building endeavors. Gilmore issued stock in the Gilmore airship company. This being shares issued in 1911. Well, this is a replica of John and Sarah Kitter's mansion. They were the presidents of the narrow gauge rail. Where was this at? It was in Grass Valley, but in 1982, they dismantled it because of lack of care. That's what it says right there. There's John and Sarah on the wall. We were allowed inside the one building that houses the narrow gauge engine. It's a gorgeous Baldwin steam engine built in 1875 in Philadelphia. And yes, we were told it still runs just not the day that we were there. This is coach 52 from the Florence and Cripple Creek Railroad, which rode the rails between those two locations in Colorado from 1897 to 1915. Originally, it was used to haul ore from the mines to Florence where it was processed for gold extraction. The Florence and Cripple Creek Railroad was abandoned when a major portion of the tracks was washed out in Phantom Canyon. This operated in Colorado. This isn't part of the railroad here. Jets. Also, what displays a small scale model of the Nevada trolley that ran on six miles of track between Grass Valley and Nevada City. Plants to connect to Sacramento never materialized, and the entire operation closed in 1923 due to the growing ownership of the automobile. Besides the trains, the museum has two very interesting vehicles. The actual 1901 steam automobile invented by Richard Edgar Jeffrey is on display. It's possible that it's the first steam powered car ever invented and most certainly the first operating of Attic County. The two metal cylinders on the floorboard were used to store hot coals to warm the shoes of the driver and the passenger. This car had been designed by Geoffrey at his home in Nevada City. Also on display is a rare Studebaker wagon created in 1853 for the miners. South Bend, Indiana blacksmith John Studebaker came to Placerville during the gold rush and started making wheel burrows for the miners at $10 apiece. It's said that he made $8,000 from the enterprise and when he returned home in 1858 he embarked on a new venture making automobiles. Thus came the Studebaker. What do you think of the claims of Lyman Gilmore? Was he a fanciful dreamer or did he actually fly before the Wright Brothers? We'd love to hear your comments and on the way out please hit the like button. 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