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the family lived there for a time and a short time later their daughter was born. Eventually Goldfield became a ghost town and the Walsh family moved to San Diego where he obtained employment as an elevator operator.

Late in 1908 Walsh became intensely interested in the newspaper accounts of the early exploits of the Wright Brothers. This really fascinated him and eventually led to a decision to undertake the building of an aeroplane, even though he had never seen one. Mrs. Walsh went along with the idea in spite of necessary privations and family sacrifices to spare enough money to buy materials and hardware for the project. After much consideration Walsh decided to build a monoplane. It was made largely of wood and had two propelles, driven by a 40 H.P. Cameron automobile engine. 

Shortly after completing the plane in late 1909, he wanted to go to a flying meet to be held at Los Angeles January 10th-20th, 1910 to examine the planes there and see some actual flying. Mrs. Walsh even pawned her rings for $50.00 to enable him to make the trip. What he saw and learned there, and the personal contacts he made, was the real beginning of his notable aviation career. Flying at that first Los Angeles meet were: Glenn Curtiss, Charles Willard, Charles Hamilton, Clifford Harmon and the famed French aviator, Louis Paulhan. Walsh was so thrilled he wanted one of the aviators to go to San Diefo after the meet to make some flights there and, largely due to his persuasion, arrangements were made for Hamilton to do so. He hurried home and took his new monoplane to the Coronado Polo Grounds where Hamtilon was to fly, hoping for an opportunity to fly it at the same time. With his plane sitting in the field, a bad storm came up during the night causing damage that required several days work to repair. Meanwhile Hamilton arrived and made flights on January 24th and 25th and gave Walsh his first ride in an aeroplane. Mrs. Walsh was thrilled and readily understood her husband's interest in wanting to learn to fly. 

After seeing Hamilton's flights Walsh tried to fly his monoplane, but ran into a curb to avoid the crowd that swarmed on to the field, and a bad smashup resulted. Instead of rebuilding the monoplane he decided to build a Curtiss-type

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