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January 21, 1911, and was quite successful from the start. A sizable crowd of local spectators was thrilled by the success of this young hometown aviator and his locally built plane. He continued to fly and experiment with this plane through the summer of 1911 but was plagued by engine troubles, although he did succeed in gaining some flying experience. 

In the fall of 1911 Crawford took his plane and moved all operations to Los Angeles, California, where later he entered the amateur events of the 1912 Los Angeles Meet at Dominguez Field January 20 to 28, 1912. By that time he had installed a 6-cylinder, 2-cycle, water-cooled Emerson aircraft engine. Competing with most of the West Coast junior airmen, Crawford made a notable showing, flying every day and winning first prize for duration in the amateur events with a flight of two hours, twenty minutes. After the meet he continued to practice at Los Angeles. In February he was shaken up in a bad landing with a dead engine. On March 10th Crawford and Frank Stites flew at the Orange Show at San Bernardino, California, under the management of the Eaton Brothers. During that event Crawford had a smashup and sustained minor bruises.

That summer Crawford continued his flying and aviation experiments. Plagued by engine troubles, he finally installed a 60 [[strikethrough]] horsepower [[/strikethrough]] h.p. Hall-Scott engine that enabled him to really get flying. In late September he contracted to make daily 20-minute flights at his hometown Puyallup Valley Fair. During this event he organized the Crawford Brothers Puget Sound Aerial Mail, conducting private experimental mail flights for the fair crowds with such cachets as: "Via Crawford's Puget Sound Aerial Mail," "Greetings from the Valley Fair by Air," "This card carried by Crawford's Aerial Mail," etc. On September 28th Crawford carried mail on a 12-mile cross-country flight from Puyallup to Tacoma, Washington, where he flew across the center of town at 7,000 feet and landed on Tacoma Flats beyond the city. There, after a brief rest, he took a Tacoma News reporter for a ride, then returned to the fair at Puyallup. These were

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Transcription Notes:
See hand notations above "c" in "card carried", 8th line up from last word.