History talk details 1909 balloon distance flight across the Manzanos

On Sept. 19, licensed balloon pilot and ballooning author Dick Brown will deliver the East Mountain Historical Society’s first public talk via Zoom, detailing a historic distance balloon flight record attempt made in October 1909.

During that attempt, two balloonists flew from Albuquerque’s downtown across and over the Manzano Mountains, landing on the Macgillivray Ranch east of Estancia.

“Balloonists Attempt Distance Record in 1909” will begin at 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 19, via Zoom and is open to the public. Visit eastmountainhistory.org for internet and phone links to this Zoom presentation. Brown, who also is EMHS board secretary, wrote an article about this flight for EMHS’S book, Timelines of the East Mountains, and will show 44 slides during his presentation, including historic photographs.

The flight took place on the last day of the1909 New Mexico Territorial Fair. The day before the distance record attempt, President Taft congratulated the aeronauts on their aerial exhibitions—all of which took place then at the same time of year when Albuquerque holds its annual Balloon Fiesta in modern times.

In addition to providing this Zoom event, the East Mountain Historical Society, which in 2022 will celebrate its 30th year, will also be participating in the East Mountain Celebration from noon to 5 p.m. Sept. 26 at Los Vecinos in Tijeras.

During the celebration, EMHS will display its map of more than 200 vanishing and long-gone East Mountain towns and landmarks. The group also is planning to present Dist. 5 Commissioner Charlene Pyskoty with a copy of the award-winning Timelines of the East Mountains.

That book, along with the group’s special 30th anniversary calendar for 2022, will be sold. The 700-page book covers 400 years of East Mountain history over 400 square miles and has won both the 2020 New Mexico-arizona Book Award for history and the 2021 Lansing B. Bloom award from the Historical Society of New Mexico. Presenting the book to the commissioner will be Robyn Hoffman, EMHS president, and Kristin Thacher, editor and committee chair of the book. The book was created by an allvolunteer committee over the course of three years.

For more information about the allvolunteer East Mountain Historical Society, visit eastmountainhistory.org.