Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Detroit Motor News




STEAM NAVIGATION COMPANY PREPARES TO EMBARK IN TRANSPORTATION THROUGH AIR—OWEN MERGER CONFIRMED—FORD TO INVADE NEW YORK



DETROIT, Oct. 24—Anticipating the time when arial navigation will to some extent supplant the means of travel now in vogue, the Detroit & Cleveland Aerial Navigation Co., of Detroit, has been incorporated, with a nominal capital stock of $50,000. The new organization, which by the way, so far as can be learned, is the first company to be chartered for carrying passengers through the air, is made up of stockholders in
the Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Co., and is much more farreaching than the name would indicate. The company operates side-wheel passenger fleets between Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo and Mackinac and it is the intention as soon as aerial navigation has been rendered practical to supplement this service with a full line of airships for the accommodation of those desirous of traveling in that manner.

"We will not do any experimenting," says Vice-President and General Manager A. A. Schantz. "Our business is purely transporting passengers and freight. The minute airships become sufficiently practical we will add service of this nature. The capital stock mentioned in our articles of incorporation is merely nominal, and will be increased when the occasion requires. Personally I believe it will be a long time before any man succeeds in crossing the ocean in an airship of any sort. But with the rapid advancement in the development of aeroplanes there is no reason that I can see why tlights of two or three hundred miles should not be common within a few years, at the most. When that time arrives we want to be prepared for it."

Details have been completed for the taking over of the Owen Motor Car Company, of this city, by the Reo Company, of Lansing, as announced in The Horseless Age. Holders of Owen stock will receive stock in the Reo Company on an equitable basis, and some of the Owen officers will be given executive positions in Lansing. All the equipment and stock in the Detroit plant is being removed to Lansing, and the Reo will be managed on a more comprehensive scale than the rather limited manner in which affairs had been conducted since its organization.

The Ford Motor Company is to invade New York in a manufacturing way, announcement being made of the purchase of a tract of land at Jackson and Honeywell avenues, Long Island City, upon which a four-story concrete structure, 75 x 265 feet will be erected. This building will be equipped with every manufacturing facility, and will be at the disposal of dealers and subdealers in the vicinity of New York who handle Ford cars, and their customers. There will also be a fine display room and convention hall for branch managers of the Atlantic seaboard. It is the intention to have this factory ready for business by the middle of March.


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