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the captive balloon venture, and during the winter of 1900 made two spherical gas balloon for free ascensions for 1901 season. Again he had a bad year with much hard luck, but he was learning many basic lessons and gaining valuable experience.

In 1902 he wanted to build an airship and called on Octave Chanute in Chicago to get his opinion about the type of power plant to use. Chanute advised him to go to Dayton and see the Wright brothers, and Roy did so. This was their first meeting, but they were unable to help him. As a result he continued his free ballooning through 1903 and most of 1904 and by that time has made ascensions in almost every major town in the country.

In October, 1904 he took a new special balloon to the Worlds Fair in the St. Louis , Missouri, hoping to get some of the big prize money in the ballooning contests. During the event Captain T.S. Baldwin came with his airship, the "California Arrow", and Roy helped assemble it. It was a crude affair, the bad being 52 feet long and 17 feet diameter. Underneath was a light spruce framework of 52 feet long, and a second-hand 2-cylinder 7 r.p.m [[strikethrough]]?[[/strikethrough]]. Curtiss motorcycle engine drove an 8-foot propeller at 150 r.p.m [[strikethrough]]?[[/strikethrough]]. Baldwin was scheduled to make his first ascent on October 25th but found that the ship would not lift his 210 weight, so Roy volunteered to make the flight for him. He was to make a big circle and return to the starting place. Totally inexperienced, Roy had a harrowing ordeal, barely missing trees, building and Ferris wheel, but soon found he was overcontrolling, so made a succeeded in a getting close to the starting point when the engine stopped. He was then unwillingly free-ballooned to over 5,000 feet and floated eastward with the wind across the Mississippi River where he landed in a corn field in Illinois. Roy had made his first airship flight and saved the day for Captain Baldwin. Following this Roy made several more flights at St. Louis, some quite successful, deepening on weather conditions and the behavior of the engine.

Toward the end of November Baldwin returned to California with airship, taking Roy along his pilot. They set up operations at Chutes Park, Los Angeles where, beginning on Christmas Day Roy made seven flights and really