addition he worked as an auto mechanic and dealer for the Mutual Auto Company in Duluth. He constructed his monoplane outside working hours in a building called “Te Auditorium”, at the corner of 1st Street and 3rd Avenue East. Tis centrally located building was the property of Te L. Hammel Company and was a place for small and big meetings. It had a size of 140x80 feet and was “well adapted for conventions, mass meetings, balls, assemblies, or any occasion for the gathering of large number of people”16 . It is certain that Rosto was working on plans for an airplane during the period 1907-1911. But the construction was possibly not started until 1911. In addition, “Te Auditorium” housed a garage on the ground floor, which might be where he borrowed tools17 . Te building is no longer there, and the site now houses parking facilities. At the end of March 1912 Rosto’s monoplane was ready and he was merely waiting for a new 45hp Curtiss engine and Curtiss propeller to arrive from New York. Te partly finished monoplane had been seen by well-known aviator James “Jimmy” Ward during the fall of 1912 and Ward was very enthusiastic about it. So enthusiastic, that Ward offered to buy the airplane with a good profit for Rosto. But Rosto refused and said he wanted to fly the monoplane himself.18 It was reported that the monoplane had been at “Te Auditorium” for some time, but as soon as the weather moderated it would be taken down to the harbor for its first flight. It is not known why the engine was not mounted that winter. Rosto had uttered to the newspaper that the engine “…has already been shipped by freight from New York. It is expected within a few days”.19 Te engine probably did arrive, but the mounting would take time and might even require modifications of the airframe. Another factor may well have been the melting of the snow and ice, that would make a save take-off impossible. Regardless, no flights were made in 1912 and the engine was possibly returned. Another spring, summer and autumn passed without any flying activities for Rosto in Duluth: Others made a flight, among them John Geistman in a Curtiss Pusher from the Wade Stadium at Duluth20 and James “Jimmy” Ward on August 3 and 4 from Athletic Park, where more than 6,500 people saw him fly. Te Duluth News Tribune rerported in an article “…His flights both days were marked by the ease and evident sureness with which they were accomplished. Everything demonstrated that Mr. Ward is not only a masterly aviator, but that his machine, “Shooting Star” is of the best type”. But new ice on Lake Superior in the winter of 1912-13 was certain to come and offered new opportunities for Rosto. Meanwhile, Rosto had ordered a new type of engine from France: a 35hp Anzani V with two-bladed propeller (see below). During its day, this was a modern engine and of the same horsepower as the Blériot XI used back in France. Rosto’s first flight now seemed eminent. Te Airplane Rosto’s monoplane was in one word beautiful and it is a pity not more flying had 30
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