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254
BARTON L. PECK
Pioneer Detroit Pilot

Barton L. Peck was born at Detroit, Michigan, December 28, 1868, son of the President of the Edison Illuminating Company. He attended the Miami and Washington Avenue public schools, then started to work at the Edison Company in November 1886. There he worked in the dynamo room for a time, then was appointed motor inspector, an assignment that took him to customers' premises where electric power was furnished.

Peck remained with the Edison Company until 1891 when he left to open an electrical repair shop to work on motors and generators. After moving to a larger shop he built, entirely by hand, an automobile and a 4-cylinder gasoline engine, the third horseless carriage in the "Motor City." It was such a creditable machine that Henry Ford came to examine it carefully. Peck operated the machine for some time, then sold it to a local coal dealer. Peck's electrical genius grew and he went on to develop a number of patented products used in various fields.
 
With the advent of flying in Detroit he became very interested, especially in water aircraft. William E. Scripps, wealthy Detroit sportsman and owner of the Detroit News, owned and had been flying a Burgess [[strikethrough]] hydroairplane [[/strikethrough]] hydroaeroplane on the Detroit River for some time. When Beckwith Havens and J.B.R. Verplanck completed the Great Lakes Reliability Cruise at Detroit on July 18, 1913, flying a Curtiss flying boat, Scripps and Peck flew out to meet them. 

Havens remained in Detroit for some time with the Curtiss craft carrying passengers and demonstrating the machine. Both Scripps and Peck had rides and five days later Scripps ordered one of these plane. A while later Peck also ordered one, and before leaving, Havens gave him some instruction. Scripps's Curtiss machine was delivered in August and Curtiss pilot-representative Elwood "Gink" Doherty came to supervise assembly of the plane and give Scripps