Curtiss airplane piloted by Eugene B. Ely flying over a U. S. Navy ship in Elliott Bay during Golden Potlatch, Seattle, July 1911

• Main Author: Nowell & Rognon
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Subjects: Biplanes > Washington (State) > Seattle; Bodies of water > Washington (State) > Seattle; Golden Potlatch Festival (1911: Seattle; Wash.); Warships > Washington (State) > Seattle; Yukon; Pacific; Elliott; Elliot; Elliott Bay; Alaska
• Online Access: http://cdm16786.contentdm.oclc.org:80/cdm/ref/collection/imlsmohai/id/5589

Seattle’s first Golden Potlatch festival opened on July 17, 1911. The city-wide summer celebration was conceived by civic groups to celebrate the Klondike gold rush and capitalize on the success of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition of 1909. The week-long festival included concerts, parades, aircraft and boat demonstrations. Seattle’s annual Seafair celebrations each July continue the Potlatch tradition. This photo shows an airplane flying high over a U. S. Navy warship while a seaplane hovers nearby over the water. During the Potlatch festival Navy lieutenant Eugene B. Ely, credited as the first pilot to take off and land on a ship, gave flight demonstrations in his Curtiss airplane three times a day. The photographer identification is based on the resemblance of the numbering system and handwriting to attributed photos in the collection. Caption information source: HistoryLink.org. 1 photographic print: b&w; 6.75 x 4.75 in.