Provided by Leland Crouse

On November 3, 1939, readers of the Ada Herald received this update: "Byrd’s Snow Cruiser Resumes Eastward Trip"--after crashing in Gomer.

More than 50,000 people from northwestern Ohio, and adjoining sections of Indiana and Michigan jammed the Lincoln Highway near Gomer Sunday to view Admiral Richard E. Byrd’s 37-ton monster snow cruiser that went into Pike Run there Saturday afternoon. It was not able to proceed on its trip from the Armour Institute in Chicago to Boston until Wednesday.

The 55-foot machine will be used by Admiral Byrd on his third trip to the Antarctic continent.

The cruiser failed to negotiate a bridge striking the railing then breaking through a guard rail, finally burying its nose in the creek bank. It had a clearance of four feet in width on the bridge.

Dr. Thomas C. Poulter, designer of the machine, supervised repairs to the steering apparatus. Cribbing was placed beneath the 10-foot wheels, the cruiser being run back on the road under its own power.