06 LC 21 8664
House Resolution 1236
By: Representative Jenkins of the 8th
A RESOLUTION
Honoring the memory of Micajah Clark Dyer, self-taught inventor of the North Georgia mountains, and designating the Micajah Clark Dyer Parkway; and for other purposes.
WHEREAS, on a day in the 1880s at least 15 years before the Wright Brothers' famous flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Micajah Clark Dyer rode his "apparatus for navigating the air" — the term airplane would not be coined for decades — down a slip on Rattlesnake Mountain in Union County, Georgia, and flew low over a meadow on his farm in the Choestoe community near Blairsville; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Dyer, who was born in South Carolina on July 23, 1822, and who farmed in Union County, Georgia, to support his large family, received his only formal education in a one room school, but despite this limitation developed a reputation as a true genius because of his many inventions; and
WHEREAS, most of Mr. Dyer's inventions have been lost in the veil of time, but it is known that he equipped his house with running water, built an efficient water-powered grist mill, and invented a "perpetual motion" machine that could power devices, but his most famous invention was his flying machine, for which he was awarded a patent in September, 1874, and which he continued to improve and refine until his death on January 26, 1891; and
WHEREAS, stories of his flying machine were kept alive through Dyer family oral tradition until 2004, when, thanks to the modern invention of the Internet, family members were able to identify the 1874 patent and obtain a copy, proof that the machine had, in fact, been built and that sophisticated plans had been filed with the United States Patent Office, although the flight from Rattlesnake Mountain over the meadow remains unverified local lore; and
WHEREAS, although the flying machine invented in the remote North Georgia mountains never made it into the history books, family history indicates that Mr. Dyer's widow, Morena Owenby Dyer, sold the machine and plans to the Redwine Brothers in Atlanta, who, in turn, sold them to the Wright Brothers of Ohio, so it is probable that Micajah Clark Dyer did, indirectly, contribute to the first human flight.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA that the members of this body honor the memory of Micajah Clark Dyer, self-taught inventor and contributor to successful flight.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the portion of Georgia Highway 180 in Union County from the intersection with US Highway 129 to the Towns County line be designated the Micajah Clark Dyer Parkway.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Transportation is authorized and directed to place and maintain appropriate markers designating the Micajah Clark Dyer Parkway.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Clerk of the House of Representatives is authorized and directed to transmit an appropriate copy of this resolution to the family of Micajah Clark Dyer.