On April 6, 1926, Varney Air Lines pilot Leon Cuddeback, carrying one bag of mail, landed his tiny Curtis Swallow bi-plane at Elko, Nevada, completing the first scheduled air mail run in the United States. The single-engine, 90-horsepower aircraft had taken off from Pasco, Washington, stopped at Boise, Idaho, for fuel and mail, then completed the 460-mile flight to Elko. The Varney contract was awarded October 27, 1925, at a rate of eight cents an ounce. Varney sold to Boeing, which merged with United Air Lines in 1931.