Dunkerton High School - Raider Yearbook (Dunkerton, IA)

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Sensational Rescue in Mid Air A September morning dawned bright and fair without a cloud in the sky. This morning was a very busy one on the aviation field for several of the men were going to make their first flights on this day. One of the men was very quiet, thinking about his flight. When the time came for him to start he advanced to his plane in a very nervous frame of mind. He climbed slowly into his seat and rather awkwardly fastened the straps that held him in his seat. His companions yelled a cheery “Good live and Good Luck as his plane left the ground. His plane rose higher and higher into the air until it reached an elevation of 4,000 feet. Then the plane suddenly turned to one side and entered into a nose spiral. It began to fall rapidly, and all the men on the ground looked horrified at each other as they watched the plane fall. They knew what would happen if the plane struck the ground. About 500 feet from the ground the plane straightened out and landed safely on the ground a short distance from the hangar where the men were standing. They all rushed over to the plane to see the aviator. Another aviator climbed out and stood grinning before them. “What does all this mean ?” exclaimed an officer, “1 thought John was the only one that went up.” “I climbed into the back seat thinking that John might need help up there.” “How did you straighten the plane? I thought all controls were disconnected with the second seat,” said the officer. “1 climbed over from my seat into the one where John was. He had fainted after he lost control of his machine.” —Charles Penne, Grade 10. Autobiography of a Base Ball M y rubber center came all the way from Brazil, was wrapped with wool yarn under a tension, this covered with a wrapping of finer linen thread, and over all this my maker stretched a horse-hide cover sewed together strong and tight with blue and red waxed threads. After a thorough inspection of weight and size I was passed as a regulation “Big League Ball” and guaranteed for nine innings of our National Pastime. Covered with tinfoil and closely confined in a small paper box 1 was put on the market in Cincinnati. Shortly after the season opened 1 found myself with hundreds of other base balls stored away on the shelves of the club house of the Reds at their park. After resting there for about two weeks I was given, along with three or four others, one of whom 1 had met before, to the umpire. We two balls had a very pleasant visit together but after the game began 1 lost trace of him and have not seen him since. The pitcher sent me spinning through the air and I went with a smack into the catcher’s mitt after I had been ticked by the batter. At the next throw 1 wras hit square and w as sent high into the air and I began to think I w'as never coming down. Before I hit the ground 1 got another shock when 1 banged against the high board fence around the grounds. When I was thrown again I was sent whirling tow ard the grand stand and as 1 struck the wire I tore a nasty three-cornered hole in my cover. I regretted this because I w'as beginning to enjoy the sensation of the trips through the air, but after being torn I was thrown out of the diamond and another ball was put in my place. Page eighteen

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I was later patched up by some youngsters and furnished a great deal of sport to them. They lost me out here in the deep grass and 1 have come to helieve that I shall spend the rest of my days here resting in peace. —Russei. Braxt, Grade 9. My Native Town Dunkerton, my native town, is situated on Crane Creek. It has the best scenery of any town in this vicinity, especially along the Creek. Since it is on the Chicago and Great Western Railroad it has become a shipping point for the country around. It has many good stores and a tile and cement factory, as the town is furnished with good water power. There are three grocery stores and a fourth one combined with a meat market, a hardware store, a drug store, a barber shop, as well as many other small stores. The elevator is situated near the Depot and there is one auto garage that has the agency for the Ford, the Overland, and the Oakland cars, and for Samson tractors. The Wells Fargo and American Express Companies have offices here. The B. and H. transport line runs through the town going from Oelwein to Waterloo. Dunkerton has one graded public school; the primary, grammar and high school grades being located on High School Hill and the intermediate grades being located in the old Free Methodist Church. There wras also offered this year a ten weeks’ Agriculture Course for those not regularly enrolled in school. There are two thriving banks here—The First National Bank and The Farmers’ and Merchants’ Bank, the latter being just recently organized. There are also three churches located here: The First Baptist, the Methodist Episcopal and the Evangelical. The Postoffice has been recently moved from the Bellmer building to the building at the west end of Main Street. Ehe Postal Telegraph line runs through Dunkerton and there are also a Telephone Office and an Electric Light and Power Company here. There are two doctors in Dunkerton, Dr. Buckmaster M. D. and Dr. Strain, the veterinarian. The tract of land that Dunkerton wras built on first belonged to James Dunkerton and in 1887 was laid out in lots. Dunkerton has now become a thriving town of three hundred inhabitants. —Melba Viola Dunkerton, Grade 8. A Pleasant Evening One night after school the Grammar Room pupils and teacher went to the woods for a wiener roast. At four o’clock we started out for the woods, the boys going ahead to gather the wood and start the fire. When we girls got as far as my home we all stopped for a drink of water, so we would not get thirsty while we were gone. When we came to the creek, we found that we could not get across without getting our feet wet. Most of the girls went about a quarter of a mile out of their way to get across and when they arrived there they found the crossing no better than back where the boys had crossed. Elizabeth and I tried our luck crossing where the boys did. We, of course, got our feet a Page nineteen