In August 2007, amidst hourly updates on the fate of six coal
miners trapped by a Utah mine collapse, word of another mine
accident emerged—this time from the Hoosier State. Three workers
in the Gibson Mine descending into an air shaft they were
building fell more than 500 feet to their death when the bucket
lowering them was somehow upset. The year after Charles
Lindbergh made the first flight across the Atlantic, Amelia
Earhart followed suit. Although she’d had a pilot’s license for
five years by 1928, Earhart lacked the training necessary to fly
the plane herself during that maiden voyage; but made history
nonetheless as the first woman to fly across the Atlantic as a
passenger. When reflecting on Indiana history, we most often
consider the last two centuries—only occasionally delving into
the century or two prior to that. In 2003, however, Indiana
distinguished itself as a preeminent location for the study of
pre -history. When considering people with Indiana ties who hold
a record for having crossed a bo