MAJOR FUNDING FOR IDAHO EXPERIENCE PROVIDED BY THE J.A.

AND KATHRYN ALBERTSON FAMILY FOUNDATION.

MAKING IDAHO A PLACE TO LEARN, THRIVE AND PROSPER.

WITH ADDITIONAL SUPPORT FROM ANNE VOILLEQUÉ AND LOUISE NELSON, JUDY AND STEVE MEYER, RICHARD K. AND SHIRLEY S. HEMINGWAY FOUNDATION, THE FUTURA CORPORATION, THE FRIENDS OF IDAHO PUBLIC TELEVISION, THE IDAHO PUBLIC TELEVISION ENDOWMENT, AND THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING.

NARRATOR: ON THE MORNING OF APRIL 6, 1926.

AN OLD BI-PLANE IS PREPARED TO MAKE HISTORY.

IF SUCCESSFUL, IT WILL BE THE FIRST COMMERCIALLY OWNED AIRCRAFT TO CARRY U.S. MAIL IN THE COUNTRY.

BUT IT'S NOT WITHOUT RISK.

FRED STADLER: IN THOSE DAYS, JUST THE THOUGHT OF GETTING OFF THE GROUND WAS SOMETHING ABSOLUTELY AMAZING.

NARRATOR: BEFORE 1926, THE MAIL WAS CARRIED BY U.S. ARMY PILOTS - AND NEARLY HALF OF THEM CRASHED.

BUT AMERICA WAS FACINATED BY THE IDEA OF FLIGHT.

AND THERE WERE HUNDREDS OF PILOTS WILLING TO PUT THEIR LIVES ON THE LINE TO MAKE A LITTLE HISTORY.

COL. ALVA MATHESON: SO WE LOST A LOT OF AIRPLANES.

THERE WERE A LOT OF CRASHES, A LOT OF MAIL THAT HAD PROBLEMS.

BUT IT WAS CERTAINLY AN EXCITING WORLD, AND IT WAS VERY DEPENDENT UPON AN INDIVIDUAL'S PERSONAL ABILITY.

NARRATOR: IN IDAHO, VARNEY AIRLINES WAS RACING TO BE THE FIRST: FLY A COMMERCIAL MAIL ROUTE MANY BELIEVED WAS TOO DANGEROUS, OFTEN CALLED THE NOWHERE ROUTE.

VARNEY PILOT LEON CUDDEBACK: "WE HAD BEEN TOLD WE WERE TRYING TO DO THE IMPOSSIBLE, BUT WE DIDN'T KNOW BETTER, AND WE WENT AHEAD AND DID IT."

FRED STADLER: IT WAS THE EARLY PIONEERS WHO BROKE GROUND AND BASICALLY WERE THE ONES THAT BLAZED THE TRAIL FOR THE PEOPLE THAT FOLLOWED.

NARRATOR: FROM MYSTERIOUS CONCRETE AND METAL LANDMARKS, STILL VISIBLE NEARLY A CENTURY LATER... FIND OUT HOW PILOTS CONQURED IDAHO'S RUGGED LANDSCAPE AND BUILT A THRIVING ECONOMY, AND CREATED MODERN EMPIRES WITH GLOBAL REACH.

NEXT ON IDAHO EXPERIENCE.

SHOW OPEN (MUSIC) NARRATOR: IT WAS TUESDAY MORNING AND A SWALLOW BI-PLANE LOADED WITH 9,000 PIECES OF MAIL IS PREPARING TO MAKE HISTORY.

THE AIRCRAFT OWNED BY WALTER VARNEY IS RACING TO BE THE FIRST COMMERCIAL AIRMAIL FLIGHT IN THE UNITED STATES.

CAN IT SUCCESSFULLY CARRY MAIL FROM PASCO, WASHINGTON, TO ELKO, NEVADA, IN HOURS INSTEAD OF DAYS?

BUT NOT EVERYONE THOUGHT THE FIRST FLIGHT BY VARNEY AIRLINES WOULD SUCCEED.

THE PILOT LEON CUDDEBACK RECALLED THAT DAY 50 YEARS LATER IN 1976.

CUDDEBACK: "THERE WERE A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO THOUGHT WE WOULDN'T MAKE IT AND THAT WALTER VARNEY, THE OWNER OF VARNEY AIR LINES, WAS FOOLISH FOR BIDDING ON THE AIRMAIL CONTRACT OVER SUCH DESOLATE COUNTRY."

STADLER: WHEN THE POST OFFICE DECIDED TO TURN IT OVER TO CONTRACT CARRIERS, THEY LAID OUT THE ROUTES.

AND THE ROUTE FROM ELKO, NEVADA, TO PASCO, WASHINGTON, WAS ONE THAT NOT VERY MANY PEOPLE WERE INTERESTED IN FLYING.

HE SAID THAT WAS A BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY FOR WALTER.

HE SAID, YOU KNOW PEOPLE CALLED IT THE FLYING FROM NOWHERE TO NOWHERE.

MALIN BERGSTROM, PASCO AVIATION MUSEUM: THE TERRAIN WAS TERRIBLE, YOU KNOW, THE MOUNTAINS BETWEEN HERE AND THERE, THE WEATHER IN THE NORTHWEST WAS UNPREDICTABLE AND NO NAVIGATION SYSTEMS.

I MEAN THERE WASN'T REALLY EVEN AIRPORTS, PROPER AIRPORTS IN PLACE.

STADLER: HE REALIZED HE WAS PROBABLY GOING TO BE THE ONLY BIDDER, SO HE PUT IN A VERY AGGRESSIVE BID FOR 80 PERCENT OF THE REVENUE, AND SINCE HE WAS THE ONLY BIDDER, HE WON IT.

BUT THEN HE HAD TO GO ACTUALLY FIGURE OUT HOW TO DO THAT AFTER HE'D WON IT.

CUDDEBACK: " IT WAS RATHER SIMPLE FROM PASCO TO BOISE BECAUSE THE ROUTE FOLLOWED THE HIGHWAY AND A RAILROAD, BUT FROM BOISE TO ELKO THERE WAS JUST A DIRT ROAD WITH VERY FEW LANDMARKS."

KAARIN ENGLEMANN: HE TOOK THE BACK OF A POSTCARD JUST SORT OF SKETCHED OUT A MAP AND SAID TO THE PILOT, YEAH, THIS IS GENERALLY WHAT YOU NEED TO DO IN ORDER TO GET THERE.

NARRATOR: THE FIRST OFFICIAL AIR MAIL FLIGHTS STARTED IN 1918.

U.S. ARMY PILOTS WERE ASKED TO FLY MAIL CROSS COUNTRY, TO GET THEM TRAINED FOR LONG FLIGHTS DURING WAR.

BUT THE EARLY MILITARY PLANES WEREN'T DESIGNED TO CARRY HEAVY MAIL.

AND IT TOOK ITS TOLL IN CRASHES AND DEATHS.

ENGLEMANN: THOSE EARLY AIRMAIL PILOTS, I THINK THEY LOST ABOUT HALF OF THE PILOTS THAT WERE FLYING WHEN THE ARMY WAS DELIVERING THE MAIL.

NARRATOR: SO CONGRESS STEPPED IN, ON FEBRUARY 2, 1925, WITH THE KELLY ACT.

BERGSTROM: IT ALLOWED PRIVATE COMPANIES, AIRLINES, TO BID ON FLYING AIR MAIL.

NARRATOR: THE U.S. GOVERNMENT HAD JUST CREATED THE FIRST COMMERICAL AIRMAIL ROUTES IN THE COUNTRY, OFTEN REFERRED TO AS CAM ROUTES.

THE ROUTE FROM PASCO TO ELKO WAS KNOWN AS CAM ROUTE 5.

BERGSTROM: PASCO-BOISE-ELKO IS STILL NOT WHAT I WOULD SAY AN EASY FLIGHT.

I MEAN, THE TERRAIN IS STILL THERE, THE WEATHER IS STILL THERE, YOU HAVE A LOT OF THINGS THAT YOU HAVE TO TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION FLYING OVER THAT AREA.

MATHESON: SO THE AIRCRAFT WERE VERY MANEUVERABLE.

THEY WERE VERY LIGHT.

IN GENERAL, THEY WERE MORE RELIABLE THAN PEOPLE GIVE THEM CREDIT FOR.

MANY OF THE ENDURANCE RUNS THROUGH THE 1920S, 1918S, YOU KNOW, WE'RE TALKING ABOUT A WEEK AIRBORNE WITHOUT A STOP.

SO IT WAS KIND OF A DAREDEVIL PERIOD, BUT IT WAS ALSO A DAY WHEN PILOTS DEVELOPED SKILLS THAT ARE NO LONGER AVAILABLE OR NECESSARY IN TODAY'S AVIATION.

NARRATOR: FROM THE MOMENT THE WRIGHT BROTHERS TOOK FLIGHT IN 1903, PILOTS WERE PUSHING THEMSELVES IN AIRPLANES -- FIGURING OUT WHAT THE LIMITS OF FLIGHT REALLY WERE.

IT WAS AN EXCITING TIME IN AVIATION.

AND WALTER VARNEY WAS RACING TO STAY AHEAD OF HIS COMPETITORS.

STADLER: OF COURSE BACK IN THOSE DAYS, JUST THE THOUGHT OF GETTING OFF THE GROUND WAS SOMETHING ABSOLUTELY AMAZING.

IT'S AS IF TODAY SOMEBODY CAME IN AND SAID, "HERE, I HAVE THIS MACHINE THAT CAN MAKE YOU INVISIBLE," OR - YOU KNOW, PEOPLE COULDN'T BELIEVE IT.

NARRATOR: IN A RARE PIECE OF FILM, YOU CAN SEE WALTER VARNEY FLYING AN EARLY AIRPLANE WITH FRANKLIN ROSE CHASING IT ON A MOTORCYCLE.

ROSE THEN GRABS A DANGLING ROPE LADDER AND IS CARRIED INTO THE AIR.

BERGSTROM: IN AVIATION THAT WAS A LOT OF WAS HAPPENING THEN.

A LOT OF NEW ADVENTURES AND FLYING IN GENERAL WAS GROWING BY LEAPS AND BOUNDS.

AND TO BE AROUND IN THAT PERIOD WOULD HAVE BEEN SOMETHING PRETTY REMARKABLE.

MATHESON: BUT IT WAS CERTAINLY AN EXCITING WORLD, AND IT WAS VERY DEPENDENT UPON AN INDIVIDUAL'S PERSONAL ABILITY.

YOU COULDN'T RELY ON ANYTHING - MOST OF THE AIRPLANES DIDN'T EVEN HAVE AN ARTIFICIAL HORIZON.

ENGLEMANN: AND SO THAT'S WHY THEY MOVED IT TO THE CONTRACT AIR MAIL IN ORDER TO HAVE PEOPLE BE WILLING TO PUT MORE MONEY INTO IT AND HAVE BETTER TRAINED PILOTS AND BETTER PLANES AND THAT SORT OF THING.

NARRATOR: ON APRIL 5, 1926, THE DAY BEFORE VARNEY AIRLINES WAS TO FLY THE FIRST SACKS OF MAIL.

LEON CUDDEBACK WAS IN BOISE, IDAHO, WHEN HE RECEIVED BAD NEWS.

THE PILOTS SCHEDULED TO FLY THE FIRST AIR MAIL TO ELKO, GEORGE BUCK AND RESERVE PILOT JOE TAFF, HAD CRASHED THEIR SWALLOW BI-PLANE ON LANDING IN PASCO, WASHINGTON.

STADLER: LEON BROUGHT IN A BACKUP AIRPLANE THAT HADN'T BEEN THE ONE THAT WAS INTENDED.

HE BROUGHT IT IN, HAD TO FLY AT NIGHT, WHICH THEY ALSO WEREN'T REALLY WELL EQUIPPED TO DO.

LANDED AND THEN JUST WENT TO SLEEP EVEN THOUGH THERE WERE, YOU KNOW, ALL KINDS OF PEOPLE THERE.

NARRATOR: THE FOLLOWING MORNING, CUDDEBACK WAS UP AT 4 A.M.

IT WAS DARK.

HE PLANNED TO LEAVE FOR BOISE AT SUNRISE.

THE MAIL HAD ARRIVED THE NIGHT BEFORE BY TRAIN FROM PORTLAND, SEATTLE AND SPOKANE.

BUT IT ARRIVED AT THE PASCO AIRPORT IN STYLE, A HORSE DRAWN STAGECOACH.

CUDDEBACK: " THERE WERE 9,285 PIECES OF MAIL IN SIX SACKS, WEIGHING JUST OVER 200 POUNDS, DESTINED FOR BOISE AND POINTS EAST."

STADLER: ACTUALLY, A LOT OF THE PUBLIC THOUGHT IT WAS VERY EXCITING THAT THEIR LETTER WAS CARRIED BY (AIR) MAIL TO THEIR DESTINATION.

AND SO PEOPLE WERE WILLING TO PAY QUITE A PREMIUM FOR AIRMAIL, BOTH BECAUSE OF THE SPEED, BUT SOMETIMES THERE REALLY WASN'T THAT MUCH OF A SPEED ADVANTAGE, IT WAS JUST THE VERY CONCEPT THAT YOUR LETTER HAD GONE IN THE AIR.

NARRATOR: ALMOST IMMEDIATELY CUDDEBACK RAN INTO PROBLEMS.

CUDDEBACK: BUT WHEN WE TRIED TO START THE AIRPLANE, THE ENGINE BALKED.

WE CRANKED, AND IT BALKED, AND WE CRANKED....I WAS ALMOST READY TO SET FIRE TO THE DARN THING TO SEE IF IT WOULD BURN UP, BUT IT FINALLY GOT GOING.

NARRATOR: THE SUN WAS ALREADY UP OVER THE SAGEBRUSH DESERT OF WASHINGTON.

23 MINUTES LATE, CUDDEBACK TOOK OFF.

THE THREE-HOUR FLIGHT WENT SMOOTHLY, ARRIVING IN BOISE AT 10:10 A.M. CUDDEBACK: I DIDN'T EXPECT MUCH OF A RECEPTION, BUT THERE WAS A HUGE CROWD AT BOISE WHEN I TOUCHED DOWN.

IT SEEMED LIKE EVERYBODY WAS THERE - DIGNITARIES FROM WASHINGTON, D.C., THE STATE, THE CITY, POSTAL OFFICIALS AND A NUMBER OF SCHOOL BANDS.

NARRATOR: BEFORE WALTER VARNEY COULD LAUNCH A NEW INDUSTRY, BEFORE HE COULD LAND THAT FIRST PLANE IN BOISE, HE NEEDED AN AIRSTRIP.

THE POPULAR FLYING CIRCUSES AND DEMONSTRATIONS OF THE DAY USED THE ORCHARD STREET FAIRGROUNDS OR THE POLO GROUNDS AT MILITARY RESERVE.

BUT A FLYING BUSINESS NEEDED A BASE, AN AIRPORT.

CHET MOULTON :WHERE THE AIRPORT WAS BUILT WAS THE OLD DUMP, WHERE THEY HAULED ALL THE TRASH AND LOTS OF SLOUGH AND TULES AND BIRDS AND THINGS DOWN THERE.

NOBODY HAD ANY MONEY, THIS WAS BEFORE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT NORMALLY WOULD HELP AIR CARRIER AIRPORTS.

SO CYRIL THOMPSON ORGANIZED THE AMERICAN LEGION TO GO DOWN THERE AS FREE LABOR AND A LITTLE MONEY AND DO THIS JOB.

ANDERSON: AND THEY CONSTRUCTED TWO RUNWAYS.

THEY WEREN'T PAVED.

BUT THEY HAD TO ROLL THEM AND FLATTEN THEM AND THERE WERE A LOT OF ROCKS, I'M SURE, ASSOCIATED WITH THE RIVER.

AND SO ONE RUNWAY STARTED ABOUT WHERE CAPITOL BOULEVARD IS AND RAN ABOUT BROADWAY.

NARRATOR: COLLEGE FIELD WOULD BE THE BOISE AIRPORT FOR MORE THAN A DECADE.

BUILT ORIGINALLY TO FLY THE MAIL.

IT WAS SOON USED TO GET PASSENGERS AROUND THE COUNTRY.

CHARLES LINDBERGH VISITED IN 1927 ON HIS 48-STATE VICTORY TOUR.

THE DASHING YOUNG PILOT HAD JUST FLOWN ACROSS THE ATLANTIC, A FEAT THAT CAPTIVATED A WORLD ALREADY OBSESSED WITH FLYING.

NARRATOR: EVENTUALLY THE CITY COUNCIL DECIDED IT WOULD BE BETTER TO MOVE THE AIRPORT FROM COLLEGE FIELD THAT WAS WOEFULLY UNDER SIZED...TO A NEW LOCATION.

A PLACE THAT COULD ACCOMMODATE A BIGGER RUNWAY AND BIGGER PASSENGER PLANES.

THE AIRPORT OPENED IN 1939.

ANDERSON: THEY MOVED THE STEEL HANGAR THAT WAS HERE AT THE RIVERSIDE AIRPORT UP TO THE NEW AIRPORT, THE ONE THAT VARNEY HAD BUILT AND VARNEY USED IT UP THERE AND MADE IT THEIR TERMINAL.

AND THEN WHEN UNITED STARTED, THEY WERE ABLE TO ACTUALLY ABLE TO TAXI DC-3S INTO THAT HANGAR WITH A ROOF OVER THEIR HEAD AND UNLOAD AND LOAD.

IT WAS PRETTY UNIQUE.

NARRATOR: TWO YEARS LATER THE MILITARY BUILT AN AIRBASE NEXT DOOR... AND WAS RENAMED GOWEN FIELD AFTER FRST LIEUTENANT PAUL GOWEN, A WEST POINT GRADUATE FROM CALDWELL.

RICHARD HOLM: GOWEN FIELD WAS THE TRAINING BASE FOR B-17 BOMBERS, IS PRIMARILY WHAT THEY DID EARLY ON IN THE WAR.

THE MOST FAMOUS AVIATOR TO FLY THERE WAS JIMMY STEWART.

HE WAS AN INSTRUCTOR THERE.

NARRATOR: BUT IDAHO HAD MADE HISTORY AT THAT OLD DIRT AIRSTRIP, NOW HOME TO BOISE STATE'S FAMOUS BLUE TURF.

TODAY, A SMALL MARKER ALONG THE GREENBELT NEAR THE BSU FOOTBALL STADIUM INDICATES WHERE THE OLD AIRPORT ONCE STOOD.

ANDERSON: AND IT POINTS OUT THAT THIS IS THE LOCATION OF WHERE EVERYTHING STARTED IN TERMS OF THE RIVERSIDE AIRPORT AND THE STEEL HANGAR AND THE VARNEY AIRLINES AND WHAT BECAME UNITED.

AIR SERVICE WAS CRITICAL TO BOISE.

I MEAN, YOU COULDN'T -- I DON'T THINK MORRISON KNUDSEN COULD HAVE BEEN BASED IN BOISE BECAUSE THEY OPERATED THROUGHOUT THE WORLD, IF THEY WOULDN'T HAVE HAD GOOD AIR SERVICE OUT OF BOISE.

NARRATOR: HAVING LANDED IN BOISE AND DROPPED OFF THE MAIL AS PLANNED.

VARNEY AIRLINES PILOT LEON CUDDEBACK WAS READY TO TAKE OFF FOR ELKO.

IT WAS NEARLY 10:30 IN THE MORNING.

VARNEY PILOT LEON CUDDEBACK: " BUT AGAIN, THE K-6 ENGINE WOULDN'T START.

SO I HAD THEM FUEL UP THE ORIGINAL AIRPLANE I ARRIVED IN, VARNEY AIRPLANE NUMBER 3.

IN THOSE DAYS, THREE OR FOUR HOURS OF FLIGHT TIME WERE SUPPOSED TO BE THE MAXIMUM PUT ON AN ENGINE AT ONE TIME.

AFTER THAT IT NEEDED AN OVERNIGHT OVERHAUL."

NARRATOR: WITH A LARGE CROWD ANXIOUSLY WAITING, CUDDEBACK DID THE ONLY THING HE COULD.

HE MOVED THE MAIL BACK TO THE PLANE HE ARRIVED ON, NUMBER 3 AND TOOK OFF FOR ELKO, NEVADA, AFTER SPENDING FORTY MINUTES IN BOISE.

CUDDEBACK: " I TOOK OFF AGAIN IN NUMBER 3 FROM BOISE AT 10:55AM AND ALL WENT WELL, AT FIRST."

NARRATOR: THE FLIGHT FROM BOISE TO ELKO WOULD TAKE ROUGHLY TWO AND A HALF HOURS.

BUT CUDDEBACK SOON RAN INTO A PROBLEM.

THE WEATHER WAS TAKING A TURN FOR THE WORSE.

HE WAS FOUR HOURS IN THE AIR SINCE LEAVING PASCO, WASHINGTON.

COL. ALVA MATHESON: THE SWALLOW WAS A BEAR.

IT WAS KNOWN FOR ITS AGILITY, BUT GUESS WHAT?

AGILITY MEANS IT'S FLIGHTY, YOU CAN'T CONTROL THAT SUCKER, IT'S ALL OVER THE SKY.

YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT MISERY IS.

NARRATOR: BATTLING A LATE-MORNING STORM, HE WAS FORCED TO FLY LOW AND THROUGH A THUNDERSTORM.

TODAY, PILOTS MIGHT FLY AROUND A BIG STORM, BUT CUDDEBACK WAS WORRIED HE MIGHT GET LOST IF HE DEVIATED FROM THE FLIGHT PATH.

CUDDEBACK: " I FAITHFULLY FOLLOWED THAT LITTLE MAP WALTER VARNEY HAD DRAWN ON THE POSTCARD AS I WAS AFRAID THAT IF I LOST MY WAY FOR FIVE MINUTES, I WOULD PROBABLY NEVER FIND IT AGAIN."

NARRATOR: TO HELP GIVE PILOTS DIRECTION, SOMEONE HAD THE IDEA OF LAYING DOWN LARGE CONCRETE ARROWS ON THE GROUND.

PAINTED YELLOW, THEY WERE EASY TO SEE FROM THE AIR.

KAARIN ENGLEMANN: AND SO INITIALLY THE ARROWS WERE PUT IN ORDER TO SAY OK, THIS IS THE DIRECTION TO GO.

THIS IS WHERE YOU'RE COMING FROM AND THIS IS WHERE YOU NEED TO GO TO, WHEN THE ONLY THING BETWEEN THE TWO STATIONS WAS, YOU KNOW, SAGEBRUSH AND MOUNTAINS.

MATHESON: THESE ARROWS WERE NOT LIKE A LINE IN THE EARTH.

YOU HAD TO PASS ONE.

THEY'RE LIKE 10 MILES APART, GENERALLY A MINIMUM OF 10 MILES APART.

THESE WERE PUT OUT THERE AS INFORMATION SIGNS TO KEEP YOU FROM GETTING INTO TROUBLE.

ENGELMANN: THEN LATER ON, THEY PUT IN THE BEACONS IN ORDER TO BE ABLE TO ORIENT.

OK, THIS IS AN AIRPORT OR THIS IS A SPOT IN BETWEEN AN EMERGENCY AIRPORT AND THIS IS THE DIRECTION YOU NEED TO GO.

SO THEY COULD COME IN AND SEE IT EVEN AT NIGHT HOW THEY NEEDED TO TURN TO GO TO THE NEXT BASE.

ANNOUNCER: "THE LIGHTS ARE NUMBERED FROM WEST TO EAST, OR SOUTH TO NORTH, DEPENDING ON THE GENERAL DIRECTION OF THE AIRWAY.

SOME OF THESE COURSE BEACONS ARE IDENTIFIED BY NUMBERS AND LETTERS ON THE ROOF OF THE SMALL POWER HOUSE."

MATHESON: NOW REMEMBER, IF YOU'RE HIGH ALTITUDE, THE LIGHTS DON'T HELP YOU MUCH.

BUT IF YOU'RE LOW ALTITUDE, THEY'RE A GODSEND.

NARRATOR: THAT LIGHT LINE HELPED AIR MAIL PILOTS AND LATER AIRLINE PILOTS GET TO THEIR INTENDED DESTINATIONS.

IT WORKED SO WELL, IT WAS SOON PART OF A NATIONWIDE AIR SYSTEM.

NARRATOR: TODAY THERE ARE VERY FEW OF THOSE OLD AIRMAIL ARROWS AND BEACONS STILL VISIBLE.

THAT'S WHY SOME VOLUNTEERS ARE TRYING TO PRESERVE THE EARLY AVIATION ICONS STILL STANDING.

LIKE THIS ONE IN DUBOIS, IDAHO.

IT WAS REALLY SPECIAL THAT THIS IS LOCATED HERE IN IDAHO.

SO WE WANTED TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT AND BRING IT TO OTHER PEOPLE'S ATTENTION.

NARRATOR: NOT FAR FROM ELKO, CUDDEBACK FOUND A VALLEY WHERE HE COULD FLY UNDER THE STORM.

STILL ABLE TO SEE THE GROUND, HE COULD EASILY NAVIGATE THE REST OF THE WAY TO ELKO, NEVADA.

LANDING AT THE SMALL AIRPORT AT 12:27 P.M., HE AGAIN WAS MET WITH LARGE CROWDS, WANTING TO SEE HISTORY IN THE MAKING: THE FIRST ORGANIZED COMMERCIAL AIRMAIL FLIGHT.

CUDDEBACK: " THERE WAS A LOT OF CELEBRATING.

BUT I WAS TIRED AND MY CARES WERE OVER, SO I RELAXED.

I WENT TO THE HOTEL AND WENT TO BED."

"WE HAD BEEN TOLD WE WERE TRYING TO DO THE IMPOSSIBLE, BUT WE DIDN'T KNOW BETTER, AND WE WENT AHEAD AND DID IT.

WE SHOWED THAT WE COULD OPERATE AN AIRLINE, AND, ALL IN ALL, IT WAS A GOOD DAY."

STADLER: IT WAS THE EARLY PIONEERS WHO, YOU KNOW, DEFINITELY BROKE GROUND AND BLAZED THE TRAIL FOR THE PEOPLE THAT FOLLOWED.

AND WALTER VARNEY AND HIS PILOTS WERE CERTAINLY TRAILBLAZERS BACK THEN.

NARRATOR: THE NEXT FLIGHT BACK TO PASCO THAT SAME EVENING WAS BLOWN OFF COURSE AND FORCED TO LAND IN THE DESERT BETWEEN ELKO AND BOISE.

IT WAS DAYS BEFORE VARNEY AIRLINES LEARNED THE PILOT WAS OKAY AND THE MAIL WAS FINALLY DELIVERED.

BUT THE CONCEPT WAS ALREADY A SUCCESS.

VARNEY SOLD HIS COMPANY TO BECOME PART OF THE ORIGINAL UNITED AIRLINES.

BUT HE WASN'T DONE.

VARNEY SPEEDLINES WAS A PASSENGER SERVICE THAT LATER BECAME CONTINENTAL AIRLINES.

AND HE PURCHASED HALF OF A DETROIT AIRCRAFT COMPANY TODAY KNOWN AS LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION.

PAUL B. ANDERSON: AND SO YOU GO BACK AND YOU LOOK, AND WALTER VARNEY, YOU KNOW, HE'S GOT HIS FINGERPRINTS IN VARIOUS PLACES AND THIS AIRMAIL ROUTE THAT BECAME UNITED, WHICH IS A BIG THING ITSELF.

THAT WASN'T HIS ONLY ACHIEVEMENT.

HE DID, YOU KNOW, LIKE THE LOCKHEED THING, IN SOME WAYS IT MIGHT BE EVEN LOOKED AT AS BEING A BIGGER THING THE WAY IT TURNED.

NARRATOR: WHILE WALTER VARNEY WAS INVENTING COMMERCIAL AIR-MAIL ON THE PASCO-TO-ELKO ROUTE, OTHER IDAHO PILOTS WERE CREATING AN INDUSTRY FROM THE GROUND UP.

PILOTS WERE FERRYING GOODS AND PEOPLE TO MINES, RANCHES, DAM SITES - AND GETTING HUNTERS AND ANGLERS TO SOME OF AMERICA'S BEST BACKCOUNTRY.

HISTORIAN ARTHUR HART: YOU HAD A LOT OF PEOPLE LIVING IN THOSE MOUNTAINS AND IT WOULD TAKE YOU A WEEK TO GET TO THEM WHERE A PLANE COULD FLY THERE IN AN HOUR OR SO, AND COULD DROP YOUR MAIL, DROP ANYTHING THAT YOU HAD ORDERED FROM SEARS ROEBUCK OR WHATEVER.

AND IT WAS AN ENORMOUS LEAP FORWARD IN TERMS OF TRANSPORTATION.

RICHARD HOLM: THE TERRAIN AND TOPOGRAPHY OF IDAHO HAS HELPED DEVELOP AVIATION IN THIS STATE.

THERE'S MORE DESIGNATED AIRSTRIPS IN THE STATE OF IDAHO THAN ANYWHERE IN THE LOWER 48.

RIGHT FROM THE VERY BEGINNING, THERE IS A TRADITION IN IDAHO THAT THERE IS PUBLIC ACCESS TO THESE AIRSTRIPS.

ENGELMANN: AVIATION WOULD SOLVE A LOT OF PROBLEMS HERE IN IDAHO AND MAKE IT POSSIBLE TO GET PEOPLE WHO WERE SICK OUT TO HOSPITALS WHEN THEY LIVE IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, TO BRING IN EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES, AND TO HELP MANAGE ALL OF OUR HUNTING AND FISHING AND MINING OPERATIONS AND LUMBERING OPERATIONS BACK THERE.

ENGELMANN: THEY STILL HAVE A LOT OF THOSE AIRSTRIPS.

AND THAT HAS MADE IT POSSIBLE TO HAVE IDAHO BE THE WAY IT IS, TO BE ABLE TO SPREAD OUT AND NOT BE CENTRALIZED IN CITIES, AND TO BE ABLE TO TRULY EXPERIENCE THE WILDERNESS.

NARRATOR: THE ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY USED TO FLY PLANES, THE ABILITY AND EASE OF FLYING ALMOST ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD, AND THE SPEED OF DELIVERING THE MAIL TODAY WOULD MOST CERTAINLY SURPRISE THOSE EARLY VARNEY PILOTS.

THE PILOTS WHO RISKED IT ALL TO DELIVER THE MAIL ALMOST 100 YEARS AGO.

MOULTON: SO I THINK VARNEY WOULD JUST SIT AND ROLL HIS HEAD AROUND ON HIS HANDS AND SAY, "MY GOD, I NEVER KNEW IT WOULD BE LIKE THIS."

MAJOR FUNDING FOR IDAHO EXPERIENCE PROVIDED BY THE J.A.

AND KATHRYN ALBERTSON FAMILY FOUNDATION.

MAKING IDAHO A PLACE TO LEARN, THRIVE AND PROSPER.

WITH ADDITIONAL SUPPORT FROM ANNE VOILLEQUÉ AND LOUISE NELSON, JUDY AND STEVE MEYER, RICHARD K. AND SHIRLEY S. HEMINGWAY FOUNDATION, THE FUTURA CORPORATION, THE FRIENDS OF IDAHO PUBLIC TELEVISION, THE IDAHO PUBLIC TELEVISION ENDOWMENT, AND THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING.

FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING.