The Adventure Girls was a three-book series written by Clair Blank, author of the Beverly Gray stories. A trilogy by default, The Adventure Girls series was published by A. L. Burt in 1936 and never continued. All works were copyrighted on April 27, 1936, the same day as Beverly Gray on a World Cruise.[1] Although a fourth work was advertised at the end of the third, it was never published; where the Beverly Gray series survived and prospered following the publication of its four part "breeder set,"[2] The Adventure Girls series was unable to catch on. Purchased by Saalfield in 1937, the series was entirely shelved until being reissued in the fall of 1942.[3] None of the books had their copyrightrenewed, and all have thus passed into the public domain.[4][5]
Structurally and stylistically, The Adventure Girls books are extremely similar to the Beverly Gray series for which Blank is better known.[6] Each series follows a large cast of central characters through numerous adventures, flowing uninterrupted from one to the next; the Beverly Gray series was termed a "soap opera,"[7][8] an equally applicable designation for The Adventure Girls books. By the third book The Adventure Girls became the college mystery series that started off the Beverly Gray works, and even though cancelled before the fourth volume was published, the similarities in intended plot are clear: in The Adventure Girls on Vacation the protagonists were set to begin a cruise on a yacht owned by a wealthy friend, the precise theme of the contemporaneous Beverly Gray books.[7][9]
* Errantly referred to as "K-Bar-O" on the dust jacket
† Advertised by name at the end of the third book, but never published
The Adventure Girls at K Bar O
Ca. 1936–39 "See America" poster promoting National Parks tourism.
The Adventure Girls at K Bar O introduces the six titular heroines, to wit, Gale Howard, Carol Carter, Janet Gordon, Phyllis Elton, Madge Reynolds, and Valerie Wallace. Rising seniors at Marchton High School, the girls arrive at the K Bar O Ranch in northern Arizona at the invitation of Gale's cousin, Virginia Wilson. Virginia's father owns the ranch, "one of the biggest in the state," with "large" cattle herds "of the finest stock."[10] A weeks-long camping trip on horseback pits the girls, along with Virginia's older brother Tom and ranch hand Jim, against a band of rustlers that has driven Mr. Wilson close to the point of "ruin."[11] Seen as a product of its time, K Bar O reflects a depression-era focus on domestic tourism. Americans "spent nearly half a billion dollars abroad" in 1932, and it was feared that "America was failing to exploit its touristic potential."[12] Stimulus programs targeted "a variety of road-building programs and highway improvements," while "a series of promotions" such as the "See America" campaign was launched "to encourage travel within the United States."[13] By the time K Bar O was published in 1936, domestic tourism had become "the second biggest industry" in the United States.[12] Blank certainly understood how western tourism fit into the zeitgeist of 1930s America. Looking out at the desert, Carol declares "I'm overwhelmed! . . . From now on I shall be a strong advocate of See America First!"[14][note 1]
Scenery combines with adventure in K Bar O, but usually takes a back seat. Chapter nine sees the girls tour the Colorado River and Grand Canyon, the Petrified Forest, the Painted Desert, Monument Valley (and "El Capitan" therein), and the ruins of the Betatakin cliff dwellings. Throughout the rest of the book, various assemblages of girls foil a bank robbery (chapter 1); get uncomfortably close to a rattlesnake (chapter 3); get lost in a cave with the (recently escaped) bandits (chapter 5);[note 2] narrowly avoid being turned into "pancakes" by a boulder (chapter 7);[31] get kidnapped (chapters 7–8); get shot at, and shoot a bandit, during escape from said kidnapping (chapter 8); rope and kill an attacking cougar (chapter 9); get kidnapped again (chapter 11); survive a ride on a runaway horse (chapter 16); get kidnapped for a third time after the bandits escape for a second time (chapter 17); and avoid another bullet (chapter 18). Tom is not quite as lucky, with chapter 19 seeing him get shot in the arm as he and the cook, Loo Wong, capture the bandits for the third and final time. For their efforts the Adventure Girls are awarded $1,000 by the sheriff. This is promptly bestowed upon Bobby, a destitute boy of "about eight,"[32] such that he can pursue a formal education. Adventures and good deeds concluded, the girls depart back East.[note 3]
For their part, the six cattle rustlers are barely distinguishable. Three are originally introduced as bank robbers (one "short" and "dark haired," a second "tall,"[34] the third an unseen getaway driver), before later being shown to be rustlers also. Three other bandits are later introduced; of the five that are white, one is named "Mike"[35] and another "Shorty,"[36] but all remain almost entirely interchangeable. It is never made clear whether "Mike" and "Shorty" are the "short" and "tall" bank robbers, two of the other three bandits, or some combination thereof. The only bandit who is clearly differentiated is the sixth, Pedro. Referred to by name 25 times, as "the Mexican" or "a Mexican" 36 times, and as a "half-breed" or "the breed" 3 times, he is presented in exceptionally stereotyped fashion. Vicious and with a "slurring accent"[37] (e.g., "I weel fin' you and wit' my knife I weel slash"[38]), a "long scar ran down his cheek, making his profile even more repulsive than it would ordinarily have been."[39]
The only other minority character in the book is similarly stereotyped. Loo Wong, "a very fine Chinese cook"[40] employed by the ranch, is as simple as Pedro is vicious. Instructed by Gale and Valerie on how to make fudge (despite being a cook, "when it came to candy he wasn't so artful"), he "bowed low" to the girls with "hands hidden in voluptuous sleeves" and "the grin of a delighted child on his face."[41] More overtly, Loo Wong has a "yellow face"[42] with "oriental pride,"[43] and a locution marked by the addition of unnecessary 'l's.[note 4] "'Missy alle same fline cook,'" he proclaims before the fudge-making lesson. "'You teach Loo Wong?'"[42] Although generally referred to by his proper name ("Loo Wong" 45 times, and "Wong" 6 times), in five instances he is instead "the Chinaman." As with the term "half-breed," in 1936 "Chinaman," while still seeing contemporary usage, was declining in popularity as it became more commonly thought of as a slur.[48]
The Adventure Girls in the Air
"Phyllis' parachute came free and straightened out with a jerk."[49]
The Adventure Girls in the Air picks up with the six girls in their senior year at Marchton High School. The book involves two distinct narrative arcs. The first nine chapters involve the attempt by Brent Stockton, a pilot and inventor, to perfect a new airplane motor, and the attempts by enemies to steal his designs. Chapters ten through sixteen detail a plane crash resulting in Gale's disappearance, amnesia, and rediscovery. The book then concludes with five chapters narrating the end of the school year and preparations for college.
The novel opens on the beach, where the girls and three male companions—Bruce Latimer, David Kimball, and Peter Arnold—watch a "shining red monoplane" doing aerobatics above the Atlantic Ocean.[50] After it crashes on nearby Cloudy Island (chapter 1), Gale, Phyllis and Bruce rush over, discovering a pilot with a sprained ankle and desire to remain for some weeks, anonymously, in a log cabin on the island. Brent Stockton, as it turns out, is a pilot and inventor of about "twenty-three"[51] who is developing a "more or less foolproof"[52] airplane motor that will be "the most practical and economical as well as fastest."[53] An unknown competitor has attempted three times to steal Brent's plans, including "a bold attempt on [his] life."[53] The following chapters involve more such attempts, leading to Bruce being punched (chapter 4) and the airplane hangar being subject to a bomb attempt (chapter 6) and an armed break-in by two men (chapter 7). These attempts prove fruitless. Brent's plane wins a race, setting him up to "sell his patent to the [United States] government" and accept a job in Washington, D.C., with the Transcontinental Air Line Company.[54] His enemies, meanwhile, "after that one last attempt, seemed to fade into obscurity."[55] Except for one glancing reference at the end of the ninth chapter ("The plane had come through and defeated all Brent's enemies"), they are inexplicably never mentioned again.[56]
The disappearance of Brent's enemies, and their complete lack of mention thereafter, brings about a dramatic plot shift. Brent flies Gale and her father, a "successful" lawyer, to visit a client in Quebec.[57] Gale and Brent return the next day while Mr. Howard stays behind for another night. Despite being "one of the best pilots there is," Brent forgets to fill up on gas before leaving Quebec and crashes in the woods (chapter 10).[58][note 5] He leaves to get help for a trapped and unconscious Gale, who, it develops, now suffers from amnesia. She is discovered and taken in by François and Antoinette Bouchard, French Canadian siblings living in a small "farmhouse"[64] in the woods. While Gale's friends search frantically for her, the Bouchards are unable to alert the world to her presence. As François explains it, "I injured my foot [splitting logs], and I have not been able to go to the village to notify the authorities. My sister knows very little about such things."[65] This does not prevent Antoinette from taking Gale into the village; rather, she simply avoids telling anyone about Gale's background, and apparently nobody thinks to ask who the stranger is. Gale is eventually discovered (chapter 13), but this still leaves time for her to spend a night lost in the woods (chapter 15) and have her memory restored by a fall off a 20-foot cliff (chapter 16). Once back in Marchton, Gale accepts Brent's proposal at Senior Prom (chapter 19), and the girls trick Phyllis's "positive tyrant" of an aunt into allowing Phyllis to attend college at Briarhurst with the other five (chapter 20).[66] The next and final chapter sees Gale and Bruce trapped on Cloudy Island during a storm, and the book ends on an anticlimactic note as they await rescuers from the mainland.
The Adventure Girls in the Air was written extremely quickly, possibly in less than three weeks. A January 17, 1936 letter from A. L. Burt acknowledges receipt of the manuscript for The Adventure Girls at K Bar O, and asks "how soon could we have two additional stories . . . ?"[6] 25 days later, on February 11, another letter declared The Adventure Girls in the Air "an absolutely interesting story, and especially delightful [is] the description of life in the Canadian woods."[6] This breakneck pace perhaps explains some of the plot holes and oversights in the story. The book features a series of narrative arcs, which are concluded and forgotten in succession; Brent's enemies disappear halfway through the book, and, after Gale's amnestic saga, the book turns to the more mundane aspects of high school life. Lines are repeated, and sometimes contradict each other. "The wheels were sticking grotesquely up into the air" is used twice, verbatim, to describe the plane crash in the first chapter and that in the tenth;[61][67] incidentally, this line is itself taken almost verbatim from Blank's 1934 work Beverly Gray, Senior, where a car crash leaves "the four wheels sticking grotesquely up into the air."[68] A contradiction arises when Gale attests to Brent's prodigious aviation skills in the eighth chapter, asking "[d]idn't he fly that anti-toxin up to Alaska to those Eskimos last year and save hundreds of lives?"[58] Three chapters later, Peter suggests the pilot was someone else: "Airplanes have saved hundreds of lives. Look at the time that aviator flew that serum to those Eskimos up north."[69][note 6] Meanwhile, Gale spends much of chapter 18, "Studies,"[82] attempting to learn poetry, which previously "awoke no interest in her whatever."[83] Yet despite the fact that before this point "[s]he had not liked any of the poets,"[84] when talking about love with Brent in chapter six she quotes the poem How Do I Love Thee?. "'[D]id you ever read Elizabeth Browning?'" Gale asks Brent. "'She says—"I love thee with the breath, smiles, tears, of all my life!" I always thought—maybe—I should love someone like that some day.'"[85] Blank's trilogy was slated "for early spring publication," and it was written on a tight schedule.[6] After The Adventure Girls in the Air was reviewed on February 11, A. L. Burt asked for the third volume to be ready "a little sooner" than the first week of March.[6] The trilogy was evidently ready by the end of April; it seems that editing, by both author and publisher, was de-emphasized to make this happen.
The Adventure Girls at Happiness House
The Adventure Girls at Happiness House is the third and final published work in this series. The book finds the six girls at Briarhurst College, where they have just arrived to begin their first year. The college has an unpopular new dean, and the main plot revolves around the efforts of an unknown individual to hurt or possibly kill her. A subplot center on Phyllis, who breaks her leg and needs an operation to be able to walk again, and on her unknown father, who is discovered to be a famous surgeon. The book's title refers to the name of the Omega Chi sorority house where Gale and Phyllis live.
After arriving at Briarhurst College, the girls soon learn that newly instated Dean Travis is an unpopular force on campus. Opposition to her plans, which include "new laboratories for the Chemistry classes, a new organ for the chapel, stables and horses to teach the girls riding and a few other such things,"[86] seems to be highest among the girls who enjoyed "special privileges"[87] under the old dean, but at least one person is particularly violent. Gale's introduction to the new dean comes when she saves her canoe, rope cut and set adrift, from going over a waterfall (chapter 2). Suspicious events continue. Chapter 4 alone sees the dean sent poisoned candy, have her curtains set on fire, and, with Gale, narrowly avoid a vial of acid tossed from a window. Two chapters later, college funds are reported stolen from the safe and a typewritten note warning the girls "Do not interfere in affairs that are none of your concern" is slipped under Gale's door.[88]
A number of characters are initially suggested as suspicious. "I heard that one of the Chemistry teachers is sending the Dean candy and flowers," says Janet, and Phyllis tries to draw a link between a professor and the poisoned candy:[89] "Chemistry Professor, acid, poisoned candy—they all fit together."[90][91] Gale exerts her efforts by turning "all the girls into Sherlock Holmeses" to find the typewriter used to create the warning note.[92] Coming back to her room one day, she discovers her room to have been ransacked. "Someone was hunting for that note, I’ll wager," she opines.[93] The mystery deepens when Gale tests the dean's own typewriter and finds it to produce type identical to that on the warning note. Meanwhile, while walking on campus at night she is surprised by a "man's figure" with "hat pulled low ... and a long overcoat with collar turned up completely."[94] Seeing Gale, the man flees.
As the mystery continues, Phyllis breaks her leg during the Freshman-Junior field hockey game and spends weeks convalescing in the college infirmary. Her healing is interrupted and her leg "crushed" some five weeks later when she saves Gale and the dean from a pile of falling lumber.[95] (Although this incident is initially described as suspicious, Gale later declares that "I believe that really was an accident."[96]) At first this is cast as a minor setback. "I am afraid your friend is right where she was five weeks ago," the doctor tells Gale.[95] Phyllis's leg was "[n]ot too badly crushed but enough to undo the healing of these past weeks."[95] Yet this prognosis is suddenly and inexplicably reversed in the very next chapter, entitled "Bad News."[97] The doctor's new diagnosis is that Phyllis "will never walk again," at least "not as other girls,"[98] without an operation by "the best [surgeon] in the East."[99] Gale accepts this news at face value and seeks funds from Phyllis's aunt to pay for the operation. Described most kindly as "aloof" and "stern,"[98] and most damningly as "a female Simon Legree,"[100] she initially refuses to help without explanation. Christmas break brings more opportunities for Gale's overtures, however, and eventually Mrs. Fields divulges that she is not truly Phyllis's aunt. Her tale is, fittingly, "a story as incredible and fantastic as any fiction":[101]
"Years ago I was secretary to a Doctor. He had a wife and a little girl. One day his wife was killed in a bad railroad accident. Before she died she made me promise to stay with Phyllis. The Doctor was heart-broken and partly to forget, partly to further his ambition, he decided to go to Europe to study surgery. He left his little girl with me and enough money to keep her until he should return and longer. . . . I lived in his house with Phyllis for two years. Then one day I received a wire that he was returning. I thought of all sorts of things—that I might be discharged—I might never see Phyllis again. I was lonely—I had no family, and I had grown to love the little girl like my own daughter. . . . I brought Phyllis here. I've hidden her all these years . . . He[r father] returned to Europe after a few years—when he didn't find us. I've always been afraid someone would discover who she was—that is why I didn't want Phyllis to make friends—I was afraid."[102]
So begins the effort to find Phyllis's father, revealed to be the celebrated surgeon Doctor Philip Elton. Brent Stockton, Gale's fiancé, resolves to lead this search, for, famous as the surgeon is, his location remains unknown.
Before the search for Doctor Elton can get far, Dean Travis's enemy is unmasked by Gale. Visiting the chemistry department "to see Professor Lukens about our Chemistry assignment," she observes the dean's secretary, Miss Horton, taking a vial from a locked cabinet.[103] Gale follows her back to the dean's office and catches her mixing the substance into a glass of water and telling someone over the phone that "Sarah—you will be Dean of Briarhurst someday."[104] Confronted, the secretary confesses. "Yes, I meant to poison [the dean]," she says.[105] "'If it hadn't been for her my sister would be Dean of Briarhurst. She worked years to have the position, she studied in Europe, everything to fit herself for this. Then [Dean Travis] came along . . . and [was] appointed. It nearly broke my sister's heart.'"[105] She then adds as an aside that she was also the one who stole money from the safe. "I meant to put it back," she says, "but I couldn't right away. Now you will probably send me to prison."[106] The dean, despite nearly having been murdered, is forgiving. She "smiled in sympathetic understanding. 'No, but if you return the money, pack your things and leave tonight, we will forget the whole incident.'"[106] The mystery is thus solved, and indeed forgotten. Left unresolved is both the question of whether (and if so, why) Miss Horton really was earlier poisoned by candy intended for the dean, and also the identity of the mysterious man in "a long overcoat."[94] As to the latter, "we will probably never know," Gale declares.[96] Miss Horton "must have had someone with her."[96]
With the discovery of Miss Horton acting in flagrante, the plot turns once again to Phyllis, her need for an operation, and the search for her father. His location is partly determined as soon as the girls leave Dean Travis's office for their sorority house. Passing a radio, they happen to hear a relevant bulletin: "Flash! An unconfirmed report has just been received that Doctor Philip Elton, the world renowned surgeon, is lost in the jungles of Brazil.[note 7] Doctor Elton sailed from Liverpool, England, a month ago for a vacation cruise on his yacht, the Tornado."[120] Brent calls to say that he and David Kimball, a friend from Marchton, are flying to Brazil to join "a searching party" sent by the "South American government" (whatever that is).[121] A few pages later Gale receives "a thick letter from Brent" declaring the doctor found.[122] As with Miss Horton and her mysterious accomplice, Doctor Elton's Brazilian adventure quickly passes from all mention with no details ever related of his time lost in the wilderness.
Doctor Elton is flown to Briarhurst once he is found. The necessary operation is performed, Phyllis is informed of the "fantastic fairy story" of her upbringing, and familial harmony is restored.[123] The final chapters relate the more day to day aspects of life at Briarhurst College. Janet is thrown from a horse (chapter 16), Gale pretends to drown to coax Phyllis from her wheelchair (chapter 17), and Phyllis rescues horses from a burning stable, collapses, and is rescued in turn by Gale (chapter 19). The final chapter sees the girls after their final classes discussing summer plans, for which Doctor Elton has offered the use of his yacht. No fourth book was ever published, but The Adventure Girls at Happiness House closes with a promise for more adventure:
"Suppose we leave the Adventure Girls here, discussing their plans for the summer. We shall join them again for more excitement in The Adventure Girls on Vacation."[124]
By January 17 of 1936, Blank had submitted her manuscript for The Adventure Girls at K Bar O to A. L. Burt Company, her publisher for Beverly Gray series.[6] Responding with enthusiasm to the work, her publisher "thought a series of this nature would be a good one to add to our list," and asked "how soon could we have two additional stories to add to the present one."[6] The succeeding novels were written extremely quickly. A February 11 letter called The Adventure Girls in the Air "an absorbingly interesting story," while on March 16 The Adventure Girls at Happiness House was deemed "a very suitable narrative for girls. Although the action slows down at times, it maintains interest and has sufficient number of exciting events to make it interesting as well as mysterious.[6] Blank was paid a flat fee of $150 per manuscript, earning no royalties.[6] The books were copyrighted the next month, and targeted "for early spring publication."[6]
Although the Beverly Gray series would see a book issued in 1937 by A. L. Burt, The Adventure Girls was never continued. In March 1937 A. L. Burt was sold to Blue Ribbon Books,[125] and on June 2, 1938, Blue Ribbon Books wrote Blank to inform her that "[w]e have just concluded negotiations to sell our entire juvenile business to the firm of Grosset & Dunlap."[3] Somewhere along the way The Adventure Girls was dropped; its rights never made it to Grosset & Dunlap, but were instead sold to Saalfield, a small Ohio-based reprint specialist without the means to commission new works.[3] Saalfield left the series idle, perhaps not even reprinting the existing three titles until the fall of 1942.[3] Blank wrote the company in March of that year, stating "[i]t has been several years since you took over the girls' juvenile series 'The Adventure Girls' when the A. L. Burt Company, of New York, disbanded, and during that time the series has been left idle. It is my desire to know whether or not you intend to do anything with the series in the future or if they are for sale to any other publisher."[3] Saalfield responded with plans to publish the three titles "this fall," but declined Blank's request of a fourth volume: "We are not in the market for new material at this time, but should we desire to bring out any additional titles in this series we shall be happy to get in touch with you."[3] Saalfield never did "desire to bring out any additional titles";[3] though the three original works were reprinted over the years, The Adventure Girls never saw any additional titles published.
Formats
The Adventure Girls books were published by both A. L. Burt and by Saalfield, and accordingly were issued in multiple formats. Under A. L. Burt, the books were thick green hardcovers, approximately eight inches in height; the black and white glossy frontispieces copied the illustrations on the dust jackets.[126] When republished by Saalfield, the books initially kept the same height, but were issued with boards of colors, such as blue, green, or red, and with poor quality paper. The frontispieces, no longer glossy, were given line drawn renderings of the dust jacket illustrations.[126] At some point the books were printed approximately an inch shorter, while Saalfield occasionally issued the books in cardboard box sets.[126]
Notes
^The "See America First" slogan came into being in the fall of 1905, and was officially launched on January 25, 1906 at the "See America First" conference organized by the Salt Lake City Commercial Club.[13][15] With the motto "See Europe if you will, but see America first," the aim of the conference was "to devise a plan to divert at least a portion of the travel of Americans which now goes to Europe and other foreign countries, to their own country first."[16] The importance of the objective to state industry was underscored by some of the conference's speakers: Governors George Earle Chamberlain of Oregon, Albert E. Mead of Washington, and John Christopher Cutler of Utah, along with former Utah Governor Heber Manning Wells.[15] The movement quickly became widespread; in 1911, at the urging of Governor Austin Lane Crothers of Maryland, President Taft agreed to write a letter in support.[17][18] By the time of Blank's writing, "See America First" was no longer identifiable with any one concentrated campaign. It had become a phrase in the common vernacular[19][20][21][22][23] and used in multiple promotions, such as in a circa 1936–39 series of seven posters created by the Federal Art Project for the United States Travel Bureau, each emblazoned with "See America" and depicting various national parks.[13] Carol's decision to "be a strong advocate of See America First" was likely more an endorsement of the general movement than a response to any one individual promotion.
^Upon seeing the cave, Phyllis mentions that "I didn't know they had caves in Arizona," to which Gale responds "I know there were a lot of huge subterranean caves discovered in 1909."[24] This may be a reference to a hoax article published in the Arizona Gazette on April 5, 1909. Entitled "Explorations in Grand Canyon: Mysteries of Immense High Cavern Being Brought to Light . . . Remarkable Finds Indicate Ancient People Migrated From Orient," the article claimed the discovery of a massive network of caverns in the Grand Canyon capable of housing "[u]pwards of 50,000 people . . . comfortably."[25] The entrance was said to be hidden halfway between river and rim. A cave opening purportedly situated "1,486 feet down the sheer canyon wall" and "2,000 feet above the river bed,"[25] was more realistically located "where no one but a person with a great imagination could reach it."[26] A civilization "of oriental origin, possibly from Egypt" was supposedly responsible for hewing out the rock. Among other fantastical discoveries advertised was a "shrine" with an "idol almost resembl[ing] Buddha" and a "crypt" filled with mummies.[25] The article appears to have been understood by readers within the context of its time: "Tall tales were a long American tradition, especially on the frontier. Newspaper hoaxes were also a long tradition . . . Readers didn’t even bother to call such stories a hoax, for their truthfulness was beside the point. One was supposed to admire their talent of imagination." Reprinted by one local newspaper, the Jerome News, and commented on by one more, the Coconino Sun, the story did not receive much publicity.[27] In 1962 the article "was rescued from obscurity" when it appeared with little commentary[28] in Arizona Cavalcade: The Turbulent Times, "one of a series of five books of newspaper articles from early Arizona history."[27][29] The story started a second life, as fodder for government conspiracy theories, after David Hatcher Childress included it in his 1992 book, Lost Cities of North and Central America.[27][30] If the 1909 article was indeed Blank's inspiration for Gale's comment about "a lot of huge subterranean caves discovered in 1909," its apparent lack of circulation leaves unanswered the question of how Blank came to hear of the tale. The year and circumstances do align, however, and as Blank's appropriation of material from the 1933 World's Fair guidebook demonstrates, she did do some amount of research into the settings of her books. If Blank did become aware of the article, the lack of contemporary commentary surrounding its publication may have prevented Blank from being made fully aware that it was a hoax.
^"East" is undefined in this book, save for Gale's reference to Marchton as "a little town near the Atlantic Ocean."[33] The Adventure Girls in the Air clarifies that Marchton is "a small but busy little town in Maine, bordering the rocky coast."
^This plot point appears to borrow both plot and language from Beverly Gray, Sophomore, published two years earlier. There Beverly and Larry crash in the middle of the woods in Larry's plane, and seek rescue at a secluded farmhouse. Although they are not as cut off from civilization as Gale finds herself, the "demolished" plane is found "empty" before its former occupants can alert their friends.[59] Just as Gale's friends search frantically for her after she disappears from the scene of the crash, so too do the friends of Beverly and Larry suffer a chapter of suspense. Some of the language of the actual crashes also shares similarities. In Sophomore, "Larry was working feverishly to start the motor and so perhaps avert a crash, but it was no use,"[60] while in in the Air, "Brent was working frantically to bring the plane down in a glide, but it was no use."[61] Likewise, Sophomore declares that "[e]ven if they had parachutes they would scarcely be able to open them,"[60] while In the Air proclaims that "[p]arachutes, if they had had them, would have been of no avail in the fury of the elements."[61] Both crashes are described as "splintering,"[61][62] and where In the Air sees the wrecked wheels stick up "grotesquely,"[61] Larry's prone form in Sophomore lies "grotesquely"[62] by the wreckage. Other similarities exist, such as references in each work to "the whistle of the wind,"[60][61][63] although whatever borrowing Blank did from her earlier work, the two narrations are for the most part unique.
^This is reminiscent of the 1925 serum run to Nome, a sled dog relay carrying antitoxin that was responsible for halting a diphtheria epidemic. Nome was home to some 1,430 residents in 1925[70] "and was a service point for another 8,000 transients,"[71] yet the nearest train depot was 674 miles away in Nenana.[72] When a diphtheria outbreak began in January, primarily affecting children and in particular Native Alaskan children, the available supply of medicine was too small, and five years old. The closest supply that could be found was in Anchorage, and was immediately put on a train to Nenana. From there some 20 mushers worked in tandem over 127 hours to relay the serum to Nome.[73] Somewhat ironically, considering the professions of Gale and Peter, airplanes were initially considered to transport the antitoxin before being deemed unworkable. Airplanes were again considered for a second batch of antitoxin, which arrived from Seattle on February 7.[74][75][76] Once again, dog sleds proved effective against temperatures 50 degrees below zero and "vain" efforts to start airplanes.[77] As one pilot, Roy S. Darling, put it, "[o]ur airplane, designed for summer flying, is not equipped with a radiator shutter. We expect to leave as soon as mechanics of the Fairbanks Airplane Corporation construct a radiator shutter."[78] Attempts to fly were finally shelved on February 11,[79] while the mushers arrived in Nome with the second batch of serum on the 15th.[80][81]
^This story line evokes the disappearance of Percy Fawcett, a British explorer who disappeared in the Brazilian jungle in May 1925 during an exploration for what he termed the Lost City of Z. Fawcett's expedition was largely financed by newspapers,[107] and continued to make headlines even decades later. Among other theories, articles variously speculated that Fawcett had renounced civilization and was living as a hermit,[108] was "living the life of a 'jungle god,' held captive by primitive tribesmen,"[109] or had been "slain and flayed" by "savages."[110] One of the more plausible explanations was initially reported in 1932, but, competing against airwaves full of other theories, it gained little traction until more than 70 years later.[111][112][113][114] Numerous search parties were mounted and reported on over the years,[115][116][117][118] perhaps claiming as many as 100 lives;[119] one search party even came to be known by locals as the "suicide club."[114] Whatever the true cause of Fawcett's disappearance, it is likely that Blank was exposed to some of this reporting.
^According to Gale, "there are four Chemistry professors."[90]
^Large, Brenda (2013). Edward L. Stratemeyer. New York: Infobase Learning. ISBN978-1-4381-4917-2. Each new series was introduced with a 'breeder set' of books: the first three books written and published at about the same time were used to build an audience and gauge its reaction. If this trio sold well, then additional books would be planned for that particular series
^ abcdefgGrossman, Anita Susan (December 1989). "Clair Blank and Her Publishers: A Look at the Written Record". Yellowback Library (66).
^ abBold, Christine (1999). The WPA Guides: Mapping America. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. p. 6. ISBN978-1578061952.
^ abcPillen, Cory (March 2008). "See America: WPA Posters and the Mapping of a New Deal Democracy". The Journal of American Culture. 31 (1): 49. doi:10.1111/j.1542-734X.2008.00663.x.
^"Taft for 'See America First' plan". The New York Times. June 16, 1911. ISSN0362-4331. Retrieved March 5, 2016. WASHINGTON, June 15. – President Taft to-day promised a committee appointed by Gov. Crothers of Maryland that he would write a letter indorsing the 'See America First' movement.
^"General News Section". Railway Age Gazette (53): 213. 1912. Retrieved March 3, 2016. The temporary committee of the proposed 'See America First Association,' has received a letter from President Taft regarding the convention to be held this fall, in which he says in part: 'I should think that a convention or an exposition for the purpose of educating Americans to the glories of their own country, such as you speak of in your letter to me, would be highly desirable. I am glad to say that, should it be possible for me to be present at the opening of the convention, I shall be glad to do so. Should it be within my legal power to aid the convention by the co-operation of the government departments, I will do what I can.'
^"Spending Vacations in National Parks Urged By Chief of Service in Letter to the President". The New York Times. June 7, 1931. p. N1. ISSN0362-4331. Retrieved March 5, 2016. WASHINGTON, June 6.—A government plea that Americans spend their vacations at home and see America first is made in a letter to President Hoover from Horace M. Albright, director of the National Park Service. 'With the vacation season close at hand, millions of our people are thinking of recreation,' Mr. Albright wrote. 'Many of them will go to the mountains, many to the seashore, and many are planning to go abroad. I would like to emphasize the pleasure which Americans would obtain by spending their vacations within the United States. I believe if they fully realized the attractions we offer, ever increasing numbers of our people would take advantage of them." Picturing the scenery of America's national parks as "unrivaled anywhere in the world,' Mr. Albright described extensive improvements to wilderness playgrounds in recent years. 'New roads have been constructed in many of them, opening up high country that has been viewed heretofore only be pioneers and mountain climbers,' he continued. 'New trails have been laid out, increasing the pleasures offered by horseback riding and hiking. Hotels and lodges have perfected accommodations that meet the demands of every pocketbook. Camp sites have been made generally available for those who bring their own equipment.' Pointing out that visitors to the national system of twenty-two parks and thirty-four monuments had increased from 1,670,908 in 1924 to 3,246,656, a gain of 94 per cent, Mr. Albright added: 'It is quite possible the current year will establish a new record, due not alone to the ever-increasing use of private automobiles by those entering the parks but also to the attractive excursion rates offered by the railroads.'
^"SEEING AMERICA FIRST.; Some Families Do It From Freight Cars for Nothing". The New York Times. June 19, 1932. p. E7. ISSN0362-4331. Retrieved March 5, 2016. DODGE CITY, Kan., June 16.—The rod riders have come back. But the difference in 1932 is that the entire family sees the country, in considerably more comfort, whereas in 1920 only men risked traveling by clinging to the precarious perches beneath railroad cars. Nowadays the freight empties, according to trainmen, are helping many to see America first. Non-paying travelers, desirous of getting away from cities, and usually headed West, occupy empty stock and grain cars. Railroad officials are inclined to be lenient, and in many cases mother, father and the children are taking a transcontinental trip in the hope of getting a job on the West Coast.
^"Topics of The Times". The New York Times. April 30, 1933. p. E4. ISSN0362-4331. Retrieved March 5, 2016. At Home This Summer? American tourists in Europe last Summer showed a big slump in numbers. How will it be this year? Two unfavorable factors suggest themselves. Germany is not likely to tempt many visitors this year. But more important is the Chicago Fair. It seems altogether probably that many American tourists of moderate means—and we have so many in that class today!—will make it a See America First Summer, with Chicago as chief centre of interest. Automobiles may be corroborative on this point. There has been a gratifying rise in motor-car sales at popular prices. Can it be that people are already buying the cars in which they expect to drive out to the Chicago Fair?
^"THE TRAVEL RECORD FOR 1935". The New York Times. December 29, 1935. p. XX1. ISSN0362-4331. Retrieved March 5, 2016. More than 50,000,000 persons took trips of some sort in 1935, and after the last sheet has been torn from the calendar the figures may reach 60,000,000, according to travel experts. The total travel bill for 1935 is expected to pass $9,000,000,000. Travelers abroad accounted for the largest proportion of the vast sum spent, though they were outnumbered many times by the 'see America first' brigades. The United States Shipping Board Bureau places the number of voyagers to Europe at more than 130,000 and the total sum spent in foreign travel at $5,350,000,000, an increase of $400,000,000 over 1934. At home the greater part of the citizenry did its traveling by private automobile. It is estimated that 9,750,000 cars carried 35,000,000 persons on long or short trips which cost their participants some $3,225,000,000. About $100,000,000 of this was spent in Canada. Railroad officials estimate gains for the year at from 5 to 15 per cent. Motor-bus lines report a country-wise gain for 1935 of about 7 per cent, and estimate gross receipts at $336,000,000. Airlines report the greatest gains of all on a percentage basis. One expect estimates the gain in number of passengers carried at 30 per cent. Air express shipments increased 55 per cent.
^"Looks Like a Mulhatton Story". The Coconino Sun. April 16, 1909. Retrieved February 25, 2016 – via The Library of Congress. The reported discovery of a mammoth underground city of an ancient race in the Grand Canyon, seems to be a splendid piece of imagination sent out by some Mulhattonized individual, at least one in this section of Arizona knows anything of it and it would be just possible that some one at the Grand Canyon would have been informed of it if an actual discovery had been made. The man who wrote up the find certainly had to dig some for the details and was wise in locating the entrance at a point on a sheer wall where no one but a person with a great imagination could reach it.
^Miller, Joseph (1962). "Treasure Hunt". Arizona Cavalcade: The Turbulent Times. New York: Hastings House. p. 222. LCCN62-16188. Treasure Hunt: There is an old saying, 'Gold is where you find it.' Stories of lost mines and other hidden treasure are almost limitless, and selcome does one account of any particular lost mine agree in detail or even plot with that of another. For that reason, there may seem to be a repetition, especially of lost mine titles in this volume, with some of those contained in The Arizona Story, the first volume of this trilogy on early-day newspaper accounts. This variation, however, it seems would tend to make the subject even more fascinating, and thereby hangs a tale, or several tales . . .
^Miller, Joseph (1962). "Treasure Hunt". Arizona Cavalcade: The Turbulent Times. New York: Hastings House. pp. 280–86. LCCN62-16188.
^Childress, David Hatcher (1992). Lost Cities of North & Central America. Stelle, IL: Adventures Unlimited Press. ISBN0-932813-09-7.
^ abcBlank, The Adventure Girls at K Bar O, p. 196. "Loo Wong looked from one girl to the other. Slowly he reached out and took a piece of candy. Wonderingly he bit into it and a slow grin spread over his yellow face. 'Missy alle same fline cook,' he declared. 'You teach Loo Wong?' . . . Val instructed the Chinaman. Loo Wong might be adept at making flapjacks and other western specialties, but when it came to candy he wasn't so artful. He insisted on doing things wrong and Val was becoming exasperated. But finally it was done, and set out to cool. Loo Wong, the grin of a delighted child on his face, hands hidden in voluptuous sleeves, bowed low and went out to the bunkhouse to start supper."
^Blank, The Adventure Girls at K Bar O, pp. 211–12. "Laboriously and in his funny English, Loo Wong proceeded to acquaint the others with the details of how the man had surprised him at work and held him prisoner at the point of a gun. . . . 'When did he come, Loo Wong?' Tom asked. 'Mebbe one, almost one hour,' the Chinaman said with a shrug of his shoulders. 'Time flies.' 'Don't you think we better go up to the house?' Phyllis asked Tom worriedly. 'Yes, come along, Wong!' Tom said turning to the door. 'One moment, please,' the Chinaman said and disappeared into the kitchen."
^Blank, The Adventure Girls at K Bar O, p. 213. "Loo Wong appeared from the kitchen brandishing his meat cleaver. The wide, sharp blade gleamed dully in the lamplight. 'Don't aim that thing at me,' Tom laughed. 'What are you going to do with it?' 'Show blandits tlwo, thlee thing,' Loo Wong said gravely. . . . 'Come along, Wong,' [Tom said.] 'Velly fast!' responded the Chinaman, his cleaver clasped tightly in his hand, ready to smash the first thing that accosted him."
^Blank, The Adventure Girls at K Bar O, p. 219. "'You're hurt, Tom!' Gale said running forward. 'Just a scratch in the arm,' he answered. 'I reckon we got these fellows this time.' 'Alle same velly blad business,' was Loo Wong's opinion."
^Blank, The Adventure Girls at K Bar O, p. 247. "Once more their departure was halted. Loo Wong had packed a lunch and he proceeded to present it to Janet with a low bow and a wide grin. 'Loo Wong wish many happiness. Bid all tloubles goodbye fo'lever.' 'Same to you, Loo Wong, and many of 'em,' Janet declared. 'Girls, what would we have done without Loo Wong?' 'We couldn't do without him,' Carol declared. 'He makes the best pancakes I've ever eaten.' 'Don't forget how to make fudge, Loo Wong,' Valerie called. The Chinaman bobbed up and down, hands hidden in wide sleeves and his face wreathed in smiles."
^Salisbury, Gay; Salisbury, Laney (2003). "Gold, Men, and Dogs". The Cruelest Miles: The Heroic Story of Dogs and Men in a Race Against an Epidemic. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 26. ISBN0393019624. With the end of the All Alaska Sweepstakes and the coming of World War I, Nome settled into a quiet routine. By 1925, the population was significantly lower than in the years after the first of the cold feets had fled. There had been storms and fires, and the war had led to an inflation that tripled the cost of mining. Many operations throughout Alaska went out of business. Since about 60 percent of Alaskan society was dependent upon the industry in one way or another, thousands of people throughout the territory migrated south. Nome was no exception. The town's population was reduced to 975 whites and 455 Eskimos or interracial residents.
^"Diphtheria Rages in Nome; No Antitoxin; Remedy Sought by Plane on 50-Day Dog Trail". The New York Times. Associated Press. January 28, 1925. p. 1. ISSN0362-4331. Retrieved March 27, 2016. NOME, Alaska, Jan. 27 (Associated Press).—Nome has a diphtheria epidemic and no antitoxin. The nearest known supply of antitoxin is at Anchorage, 600 miles away, and must come by dog team. Several deaths have occurred. There is only one physician here and new cases are appearing daily. The United States Public Health Service, in response to a request relayed by radio, cable and land telegraph, has ordered 1,000,000 antitoxin units dispatched from Seattle. This must come by way of Seward and the Alaskan Railroad to Nenana, 400 miles away, and thence by dog team. This would take fifty days. Dan Sutherland, Delegate in Congress from Alaska, has sent word that he is trying to get an airplane to fly from Fairbanks, Alaska, and pick up the antitoxin at Nenana. By this means it would take about a week to bring the life-saving agent from Seattle. The one physician has already showed signs of overwork, and George Maynard, Mayor of Nome, has appointed a special health board and engaged at public expense all the available nurses. The schools have been closed and Nome has been quarantined. A large percentage of those afflicted are Eskimos, who in previous epidemics here have proved very susceptible to diseases that have scourged the white race.
^"DOGS RUSH ANTI-TOXIN FOR NOME EPIDEMIC; Two Fliers Volunteer Services". The New York Times. Associated Press. January 29, 1925. p. 4. ISSN0362-4331. Retrieved March 28, 2016. FAIRBANKS, Alaska, Jan. 28 (Associated Press.—With Leonard Seppala, noted dog musher, on his way from Nome to meet the Nenana team to relay antitoxin to Nome, the trip to the stricken town should be made in fifteen days, it was generally believed here today. Fairbanks, in a reply to Dan Sutherland, Delegate in Congress from Alaska, as to whether an airplane could be used, said that with seventy-two hours' notice the life-saving antitoxin could be delivered to Nome in four hours. The pilots of three airplanes assembled here have left Alaska for the Winter, but two other fliers are available. James O'Brien, a former member of the Royal Flying Corps of Canada in the World War, who is seventy-five miles distant, on his way to Siberia to take pictures, telegraphed he would like to return and fly. Roy S. Darling, special investigator for the Department of Justice and former navy airman, here on business, said he would go at a minute's notice.
^"NOME RELIEF DOGS SPEED 192 MILES; PLANE READY AT FAIRBANKS Awaits Word to Undertake Trip". The New York Times. January 30, 1925. pp. 1–2. ISSN0362-4331. Retrieved March 28, 2016. Plane at Fairbanks Ready. Although an aviator and volunteer mechanician were available to fly 400 miles to Nome in one of three airplanes stationed here, arrangements were made today to rush by fast dog teams running in relays a supply of 1,000,000 units of diphtheria antitoxin on receipt from Seattle via Seward, Alaska, to the quarantined town of Nome. Roy S. Darling, special investigator for the Department of Justice and a former navy flier, volunteered his services, but Delegate Dan Sutherland sent word from Washington that the dangerous trip must be made by dog teams instead of by airplanes. The antitoxin units are to leave Seattle Saturday on the steamship Alameda. . . . WASHINGTON, Jan. 29.—Possibility that an attempt might be made to send antitoxin to Nome by airplane was revived today, when Delegate Sutherland of Alaska obtained from the Department of Justice permission for Roy S. Darling, a department investigator and a former navy flier, to make the trip from Fairbanks. Before arrangements for such a trip were completed, however, he said the Navy Department would be asked for advice on the plan. Meanwhile, Mr. Sutherland said, arrangements for taking the antitoxin by dog team were being carried out. Conditions at Nome, he said, showed some improvement. The temperature today was about 14 degrees below zero and atmospheric conditions were favorable to flying. A landing, he said, could be made on the sea surface off Nome.
^"MATTO GROSSO YIELDS BODY OF A WHITE MAN; Find Revives Speculation on the Fate of Colonel Fawcett, Who Disappeared 10 Years Ago". The New York Times. Associated Press. November 25, 1935. ISSN0362-4331. Retrieved February 17, 2016. CUYABA, Brazil, Nov. 24 (AP).—Advices from a searching party in the interior of Matto Grosso that they had found the body of a young white adventurer, slain and flayed by the Chavante savages, revived speculation today on the fate of Colon H. P. Fawcett, British explorer who vanished in that region ten years ago. This is the second body found in that area recently, the other being that of a river boatman discovered in the remote reaches of the Araguaya River. The searchers—forty employes of the National Telegraphs at the far north interior post of Paredaosinho, between Tachos and General Carneiro—reported they were unable to ascertain the name or origin of the young victim. In a clearing they came upon a Chavante village, with the insignia of the page (chieftain) aloft in the tallest tree. Fearful of getting too near the hostile savages, they skirted the settlement and came upon the corpse.
^"The Fate of Colonel Fawcett". The Geographical Journal. 80 (2): 151–154. August 1, 1932. doi:10.2307/1784075. JSTOR1784075. I realized that I had been following Colonel Fawcett's trail when some Kalapalu came to me to tell of the visit and departure of three white men a number of years ago. That having been the second time that outsiders had come into their country the incident was clearly remembered. Briefly, they told of three white men who arrived at their village in the company of some Anahukua Indians who had guided them from their village on the Kuluseu to the Kalapalu, a march of four days. The white men carried packs and arms, but no presents for the Indians, such as I had. The Kalapalu gave them food, biiju and fish, and in the morning, having failed to dissuade the leader, the older man, from his project, they ferried the three men across the Kuluene River. It was explained to the Indians that by going east a large river would be reached where large canoes could be found which would take the party home. The younger men were ill and were suffering from Borachuda sores, and apparently were reluctant to go any farther. Subsequently for five days the Kalapalu saw the smoke of the travellers, who apparently were blazing a trail through the high grass. It is presumed that on the sixth day they reached the forest to the east, for the smoke was not seen any more. Later a party of Kalapalu in search of piki found traces of the camps made but not the white men.
^"HOLDS FAWCETT IS DEAD.; Petrullo of U. of P. Museum Offers Proof of His Perishing. BOSTON EXPEDITION TO SEEK FAWCETT". The New York Times. April 3, 1932. pp. N1, N5. ISSN0362-4331. Retrieved March 16, 2016. PHILADELPHIA, Pa., April 2.—Believing that he has established the actual movements of Colonel P. H. Fawcett, British explorer, some forty miles further in Central Brazil than any other living white man, Vincenzo Petrullo, research associate in anthropology of the University of Pennsylvania Museum, today disclosed information which, in his opinion, leaves little doubt that Colonel Fawcett died of starvation and thirst. Mr. Petrullo ridiculed the story told recently by Stephan Rattin, a Swiss 'trapper,' to the effect that he saw a man dressed in animal skins on Oct. 18 whom he felt certain was the missing explorer. Mr. Rattin placed the scene of their meeting about 800 miles west by north of the point where Colonel Fawcett disappeared with his party, including two other white men, one his 21-year-old son, Jack Fawcett. Mr. Petrullo said that he accidentally stumbled upon Colonel Fawcett's trail that Fall while exploring and mapping the great plateau of Matto Grosso Province, in Central Brazil. He talked with Aloike, the Anahukua tribal head, who is charged by Commander George M. Dyott with Colonel Fawcett's murder, and from whom Commander Dyott fled, as related in his book. Mr. Petrullo came upon old Aloike on the Kuluseu River, at an Anahukua camp. The Indian told the Bakairi guides, who translated his dialect into Portuguese, that he had guided three white men, identified positively as Colonel Fawcett, his son and Rimmel, from his own village to that of the Kalapalu, on the Kuluene River. The Kalapalu Indians informed Mr. Petrullo that the younger men with Colonel Fawcett were ill, suffering from borachudo sores, which he believes caused them to succumb later to malaria. His informants said they gave the party food, and, having failed to dissuade the leader from continuing, ferried the three men across the Kuluene River. Colonel Fawcett, according to this information, intended following the Rio des Mortes northward to the Araguaya River, where he would strike settlements and the considerable commerce which passes down to the Amazon. Mr. Petrullo said the Kalapalu saw the smoke of the Fawcett party for five days as the members apparently were blazing a trail through the high grass, the only way progress could be made. On the sixth day they were presumed to have reached the forest fringing the Rio des Mortes, where all trace was lost. The anthropologist said that in the major episodes his information corroborated that of Commander Dyott, who searched for Colonel Fawcett in 1928. 'However, the theory that the Anahukua killed Colonel Fawcett cannot be held,' he added, 'since he reached the Kalapalu safely, and, thus being outside Anahukua territory, could not have fallen victim to that tribe.' Mr. Petrullo said that the men who have related seeing Colonel Fawcett in the jungle, 'without exception, have never been outside of the modern towns in the southern part of the State or some near-by ranch.'
^"The Monthly Record: The Fate of Colon Fawcett". The Geographical Journal. 100 (3): 142–144. September 1, 1942. JSTOR1789129. The Times Literary Supplement of 1 August 1942 reviewed a book of missionary adventure: 'Pioneering for Christ in Xingu jungles,' by Martha L. Moennich, published this summer by the Zondervan Publishing House of Grand Rapids, Michigan. It corroborates in the main the conclusions of Commander Dyott and Mr. Vincenzo Petrullo, that Colonel Fawcett and his son were killed some five marches east of the Kuluene river, but gives a fuller and different account of the events which preceded the tragedy. We are fortunate therefore in being allowed to examine what is probably the only copy of the book in England, and to compare it in detail with what has been published in the Journal from time to time since 1928.
^"Ready to Back an Explorer To Seek Man Missing in Brazil". The New York Times. June 21, 1927. ISSN0362-4331. Retrieved February 17, 2016. LONDON, June 20.—The Royal Geographical Society stands ready to aid any competent, well-accredited explorer who will go in search of Colonel P. H. Fawcett, missing since May 30, 1925, in the interior of Brazil. This announcement was made at the annual meeting today by the President, D. G. Hogarth, who said: 'I forecast a mission of inquiry alone, not of relief. The latter is out of the question, as Fawcett himself stated emphatically that he proposed to go where none but a veteran could penetrate. He left civilization on his own motion and his own responsibility, for ends primarily archaeological. But he had represented this society, and we agreed that geographical work of great value and novelty was possible. He insisted that no uneasiness need be felt for two years or even more. His line was to strike north from Cuyaba, in the province of Matto Grosso, to the headwaters of the Xingu on reaching the eleventh degree south latitude and cross more than 1,000 miles of unknown country towards the Atlantic.'
^"OFFERS TO START HUNT FOR MISSING EXPLORER; Gow-Smith Would Return to Brazil to Seek Fawcett, Gone Since May, 1925". The New York Times. June 22, 1927. ISSN0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-02-17. Francis Gow-Smith, who returned to New York less than a month ago from an exciting trip through Brazilian jungles in the neighborhood of the River of Doubt, sent a cablegram yesterday to the Royal Geographical Society in London volunteering to start in search of Colonel P. H. Fawcett, British explorer, who has been missing in the interior of Brazil since May 30, 1925. The cablegram was in response to an announcement by D. G. Hogarth, President of the Royal Geographical Society, that the society 'stands ready to aid any competent, well-accredited explorer' who would offer to seek out Colonel Fawcett. 'I have read of offer to back expedition to hunt Colonel Fawcett,' Mr. Gow-Smith's cablegram read. 'As explorer for the Museum of the American Indian I have led four expeditions into territory penetrated by Fawcett and have just returned from exploration west of Xingu, where I worked for Indian Museum and American Geographical Society. Can start back immediately. Please cable details of offer care of Explorers' Club, New York.' In the opinion of Mr. Hogarth, Colonel Fawcett's failure to put in appearance after two years does not necessarily mean he is lost, for before he started on the expedition he stipulated that "no uneasiness need be felt for two years or even more." Mr. Hogarth forecasts 'a mission of inquiry alone, not of relief.' Mr. Gow-Smith said he didn't think Colonel Fawcett had died of disease. 'He may have been killed,' he said, 'or captured by Indians.' The Brazilian wilderness in back of the Araguaya River, according to Mr. Gow-Smith, is a very dangerous part of the world. The Indians are hostile. They often capture white men, hold them and make 'gods or divinities of them,' he said.
^"Fawcett Hunt to Be Renewed". The New York Times. Associated Press. February 21, 1955. ISSN0362-4331. Retrieved February 17, 2016. CARLISLE, England, Feb. 20 (AP)—Brian Fawcett said today he would leave for Brazil in April to take up the search for his explorer father and brother, Col. Percy Fawcett and Jack Fawcett, who vanished thirty years ago in the jungle.
^Grann, David (2009). The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon. Doubleday. pp. 20. ISBN978-0-385-51353-1. [S]cores of scientists, explorers, and adventurers had plunged into the wilderness, determined to recover the Fawcett party, alive or dead . . . In February 1955, the New York Times claimed that Fawcett's disappearance had set off more searches 'than those launched through the centuries to find the fabulous El Dorado.' Some parties were wiped out by starvation and disease, or retreated in despair; others were murdered by tribesmen. Then there were those adventurers who had gone to find Fawcett and, instead, disappeared along with him in the forests that travelers had long ago christened the 'green hell.' Because so many seekers went without fanfare, there are no reliable statistics on the numbers who died. One recent estimate, however, put the total as high as a hundred.
^Blank, The Adventure Girls at Happiness House, p. 164
^Blank, The Adventure Girls at Happiness House, p. 165
^Blank, The Adventure Girls at Happiness House, p. 169
^Blank, The Adventure Girls at Happiness House, p. 153
^Blank, The Adventure Girls at Happiness House, p. 241
^"BOOK PUBLISHERS MERGE; Blue Ribbon Buys Burt Company, Head of Which Is Retiring". The New York Times. March 5, 1937. ISSN0362-4331. Retrieved January 21, 2016. Robert de Graff, president of Blue Ribbon Books, Inc., which specializes in non-fiction reprints, announced yesterday the purchase of the stock and good-will of the A. L. Burt Company, a publishing organization founded in 1883. Harry P. Burt, head of the company, is retiring. 'In bringing together the lists and publishing activities of the two companies,' Mr. de Graff said, 'we feel that the lines of both houses will be materially strengthened, since the fiction list of the A. L. Burt Company and the non-fiction books issued under the Blue Ribbon imprint are supplementary rather than competitive.' Blue Ribbon Books, which has offices at 386 Fourth Avenue, was founded in 1930 by four publishing companies and purchased by Mr. de Graff in 1933.
^ abcThe Society of Phantom Friends (2006). The Girls' Series Companion. Rheem Valley, CA: SynSine Press. p. A-9. ISBN1-891388-07-X.
