The Portland daily press., 1892-12-30
Two American Wheelmen Celebrated
the Glorious Fourth.
YOUNG YANKEES ENCIRCLE THE
GLOBE ON BICYCLES.
They Wheeled Through Europe and Asia,
stopped to study Russian and Saw tl,e
Sights in the F1owery Kingdom-Their
Peaceful Progress Through China As
tonished the Diplomats-B Bicycling
Along Camel Paths and Through Des-

SAN FRANCISCO, December 2o.-W. L.
Sachteleben of Alton, ILL.,, and Thomas
G. Allen Of Ferguson, Mo-, have arrived
here from Vancouver, B. c., after MAX
ing tour of the world ON bicycles. On
May 30, 1890, they finished their course
of study at Washington University, st.
Louis, and then started out to make the
trip. The visited Washington, D. c.,
and on june 23 sailed from New York,
landing in Liverpool on July 4. Their
bicycles were purchased and tour made
of the British Isles, thence to France.
Their route took them through Rouen,
Paris, Chartres, Poitiers, Bordeaux and
Marseilles. The Riviera route along the
shores of the Mediterranean was fol-
lowed. and Genoa, Rome and Milan in
Italy were visited. At Athens the first
long halt was made. To Constantinople
was the next jaunt, and there prepara-
tions for the invasion of Asia were be.
gun.
''Our first exploit, of which we are a
little proud" said Sachteleben yestea-
day, "was the scaling of Mount Ararat.
We were the first Am4Aicans that
reached the top, and the natives could
hardly believe we had succeeded. We
started on July 2 and reached the sum-
NIT July A. There we celebrated the
American holiday by waving the Amer
ican' flag and firing shots from our re-
volvers. On our return the Governor of
Bavazid gave dinner in our honor.
Trrrly in Asia y.r.Ha
then through Persia, visiting Teheran on
our way. Our journeying was along
camel paths, there being no other
roads,
At Tashkand we remained from Nov.
s, 1891, to May 7, 1892, and spent good
deal of the time in studying the Russian
language. We often had occasion to no
tice the eager attitude of Russian senti-
ment regarding the advance upon
British Afghanistan. The Russians are
very friendly to Americans, and on this
account we received many courtesies.
Our last stopping-place in Russian ter
ritory was at Vernoe, and here the peo-
pie tried to dissuade us from making til,
attempt to go to China, but relying ON
special passport which had been givs
US by the Chinese Minister in London,
we determined on trying to get through.
After leaving Kuldja the route taken
was by way of Urmpse to the border of
the. Gobu Desert at Hami, and we were
agreeably surprised at the character of
the roads In some places the desert has
hard bed, and thus enabled the ma
chimes to make moderately good progress
during the IL days it took us to cross
Pushing ou to Luncahua, the western
end Of the Great Wall was reached, lead
ing on to Lanchow. Then we proceeded
to Singan Pingyan, Tayuan and Poting-
Flu, arriving at the latter place on Octo-
ber 20, whence we rode to Picking. The
fact that we had actually traversed
China without personal inconvenience
astonished all the diplomatic represen-
tatiyes there. After resting there we
went to Shanghai, where the machines
were repaired. Thence we went to Yo-
kohama, whence we sailed Dec. 8 last.
Sachteleben stated that while the trip
in many respects had been a hard one,
they enjoyed it greatly. They met
with no annoyances from the natives in
any of the countries passed through ex-
cepting China