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A Utah man was the first to fly across the country in a single day. Now a USU grad student plans to retrace the journey, exactly 100 years later

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A Utah man was the first to fly across the country in a single day. Now a USU grad student plans to retrace the journey, exactly 100 years later


SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — On June 23, 1924, Russell L. Maughan, of Logan, Utah, became the first person to fly from one coast of the country to the other in a single day.

The pioneering flight — from New York City to San Francisco, with several refueling stops in between — took more than 21 hours.

Now, a century later, 26-year-old Nathan Hoch, who currently lives in Logan, is planning to retrace Maughan’s flight path, paying tribute to one of his personal heroes.

“Not many people plan these wild, disjointed trips just for some historic sake,” he said, describing the plan as a “hare-brained idea” he thought up a few months ago.

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Yet, he committed to the trip when he found a flight for the last leg of the journey that lands in San Francisco within minutes of when Maughan completed his historic flight.

“I found a commercial flight that lands at 9:50 p.m., which is exactly 100 years after he landed in San Francisco,” Hoch said.

Russell L. Maughan with his family in 1923. (credit: Smithsonian Institution)

Maughan’s flight was a dawn-to-dusk venture. Per the National Museum of the United States Air Force, he took off in a PW-8 plane at first light and “raced the sun” across the country.

Maughan stopped five times to refuel. The total journey took 21 hours and 48 and-a-half minutes.

For Hoch, his journey will not be in one day. He plans to leave on June 19 and complete it on June 23.

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Hoch is retracing the flight path through a mix of commercial flights and interstate drives, as some locations in the middle of the country are “hard to get to with commercial aviation.”

The first flight will bring Hoch to Dayton, Ohio. The next lands him in Kansas City, Missouri. After that, it’s a drive to North Platte, Nebraska, followed by another drive to Cheyenne, Wyoming.

After that, he’ll roll into Denver and fly to Salt Lake City, where his wife will drive him to Utah’s West Desert, which was one of Maughan’s more remote refueling stops.

“There’s nothing there,” Hoch said. “They just picked it because it’s flat, featureless terrain. An easy place to land.”

Russell L. Maughan lands to refuel in Utah’s West Desert on his historic dawn-to-dusk flight. (credit: Smithsonian Institution)

The last leg of Hoch’s trip will take him from Salt Lake to San Francisco on June 23, where he’ll land within moments of the 100-year anniversary of his hero’s history-making accomplishment.

While Hoch has long been interested in aviation history, he only learned about Maughan a few years ago while doing his undergraduate studies at USU. On campus, there is a monument to Maughan, who is in the Utah Aviation Hall of Fame.

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Along with making the first single-day cross-country flight across America, Maughan also served with distinction in WWI.

“He was a fighter pilot and shot down four enemy aircraft, so that’s one shy of being an ace,” Hoch said.

When he was a student at USU, Hoch showed his then-girlfriend the monument to Maughan. She wasn’t turned off by his enthusiasm for the Utah pilot, who died 66 years ago.

“She’s now my wife,” Hoch said, adding that she was a bit unsure about his trip at first. “So it’s going to be a Father’s Day gift for me.”

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Keller wins it in OT, Mammoth recover from Jets’ late rally | NHL.com

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Keller wins it in OT, Mammoth recover from Jets’ late rally | NHL.com


The goal was Connor’s 300th in the NHL. He is the third player in Jets/Atlanta Thrashers history to hit the mark, behind Scheifele (353) and Ilya Kovalchuk (328).

“Just a pretty cool milestone,” Connor said. “Once you look back on your career, that’s kind of the stuff you’ll remember. But right now it’s focusing on winning, trying to be the best player I can, and helping out.”

Connor scored his second goal at 15:23 of the third period, beating Vejmelka blocker side with a one-timer to cut the lead to 3-2.

“I think we just knew that we needed to be better,” Connor said of the comeback. “I think we were on our toes more, jumping and making plays and hemming them in.”

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Barron scored just 25 seconds later, beating Vejmelka glove side with a snap shot tie it 3-3.

“That first period was ugly. It was really ugly,” Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel said. “We got better in the second, certainly dominated in the third, but at the end of the day, you can’t play two periods in this league and look to have success.”

Crouse gave the Mammoth a 1-0 lead at 5:20 of the first period. Guenther skated in from the blue line and shot through the legs of Jets defenseman Logan Stanley to put the puck on Hellebuyck. The rebound of his shot then found Crouse in front, where he scored blocker side with a slap shot.

“We made it interesting on ourselves,” Crouse said. “Definitely not the way we wanted the third period to go, but credit to our group, that’s not easy. They scored two right away and then we went right into OT pretty much, so credit to the group for having the right mindset and being able to get the win.”

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Utah man with autism found after 10-day search

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Utah man with autism found after 10-day search


SALT LAKE CITY — August Beckwith, a 29-year-old Utah man with autism, has been found safe after disappearing for a second time in a matter of weeks.

“We are overjoyed and deeply grateful,” Lori Beckwith, August Beckwith’s mother, said in a post on Facebook Sunday. “Thank you to the many remarkable people who helped with compassion and kindness throughout. Wishing everyone a loving and peaceful Christmas.”

Beckwith had been missing for 24 days after disappearing from the University of Utah campus on Nov. 17. Lori Beckwith, August’s mother, had taken to Facebook to report when he had first been found.

The Beckwith family wishes for privacy at this time.

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UDOT celebrates early opening of Mountain View Corridor connection to Utah County

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UDOT celebrates early opening of Mountain View Corridor connection to Utah County


The Mountain View Corridor project connecting Salt Lake and Utah Counties was completed early, opening just in time for holiday travel.

The Utah Department of Transportation celebrated the early completion of the years-long project in a Friday event, with attendees able to walk the new road and take photos with Santa. The road and trails were opened to traffic after the event.

UDOT officials posted a video of the celebration, with the caption reading, in part, “This road and these trails are now yours.”

Commenters praised their work on the project—and the video itself—with some saying they’ve already driven on the new road.

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“I almost cried when I went on the corridor today! It was done sooner than I thought so thank you!” one commenter wrote.

Another user called it the “best Christmas gift EVER!”

MORE | Mountain View Corridor:

Some Utahns were less pleased, bringing up concerns about the lights not operating correctly on the north end or complaints about future construction.

However, the video itself addressed the negative comments UDOT receives, specifically complaints about constant construction.

“The truth is, if you want a DOT that never does anything and therefore never inconveniences you…Well, that just ain’t us,” the post read. “We don’t do construction to you, we do it FOR you, because we ARE you. We all live here too.”

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The Mountain View Corridor project, also known as the 2100 North Freeway Project, was designed to improve east-to-west traffic flow between I-15 and Redwood Road in Lehi. It also included “shared-use-paths” for pedestrians and cyclists.

UDOT officials said Redwood Road is one of the most congested roads in Utah County, following Interstate 15 and Pioneer Crossing.

Officials expect this could reduce Redwood Road delays by 75% and also help alleviate I-15 traffic in the area.

The project began in Spring 2024, with construction expected to finish in Spring 2026. UDOT officials said the project was completed four months ahead of schedule.

In order to complete the road and trails, crews moved 1.5 million tons of dirt and paved more than 350,000 square yards of concrete and asphalt.

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“This new stretch of Mountain View Corridor provides meaningful relief for drivers in fast-growing Utah County,” said Carlos Braceras, UDOT Executive Director. “Opening this stretch ahead of schedule improves regional connectivity and provides drivers with safer, more dependable travel options as the area continues to grow.”

While the new extension is complete, UDOT officials plan to continue to extend the Mountain View Corridor in the future. They said the goal is for it to be a 35-mile freeway connecting Interstate 80 in Salt Lake County to State Route 73 in Utah County.

The next phase of the project is planned to begin in 2027 and will address the stretch from Porter Rockwell Boulevard in Herriman to Old Bingham Highway in West Jordan.

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