Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1897-09-16
IN CYCLEDOM.
TEST WAS A SUCCESS.
Value of the Wheel for Army Use
Clearly Proven.

value of the wheel for Army Use
Clearly Proven.
Many Chicago cyclists will remember
the trip made by Lieut.. Abercrombie and
two soldiers from Fort Omaha to Chica-
go and return last year. The report has
just been published in the Army and
Navy Journal, and is as follows:
United States soldiers made a bicy-
cle reconnaissance in june of last year.
upon which full official report has
| only just been made. 1t appears in the
Army and Navy Journal, and is as fol-
lows:
Lieut.. Abercrombie, accompanied
oy sergeant and private soldier.
each man carrying on his machine
blankets, half-shelter tents, revolver.
cartridges, rations, and spare apparat-
us. so that the weight of each machine
was brought up to As pounds. rode from
Fort Omaha to Chicago and back. The
| journey eastward was made in almost
| constant rain, over roads so flooded and
| muddy that it was necessary for part
of the way to abandon them and take
| to the railroad track. The two soldiers
were new men at the business, having
never made long bicycle journey be-
| fore.
with these and other disadvantages,
Lieut. Abercrombie and his men made
| the round trip-a distance of Jap miles
in Is DAYS of actual travel, averaging
"a miles day on the eastward trip, and
90 miles a day on the trip westward,
| when the roads were somewhat drier.
''The riders frequently had to dis
mount to lead their machines through
/ sand On ono ooca sion thew were oblioei
to fell tree to make a foot bridge
across a river,and on another they had
to cut brush and lay it down to make a
| foothold on the bottom of an eXpanse of
water, through which they waded up to
their knees, carrying their wheels
above their heads. On the first day the
detachment made Sc miles, over roads
which, Lieut. Abercrombie says, q
| horseman could not have traversed in
any length of time. On the second day
| the party were forced to take to the
| railroad track.
THE shock of bouncing from one tie
to anotherwas quite severe; and when,
| the lieutenant says, "a trestle presented
itself, new complication arose. To
dismount and walk meant to lose zine
and to cool off and stiffen up; so the
| treStleS were flOQen, aitnOuSn the vi
bration of the handlebars, where the
sleepers were more than the regulation
distance apart, was terrific. I could
| scarcely realize that such delica te-
looking machine as a bicycle could
stand such rough usage. But we aver
aged on the railroad track over nine
| miles an hour
''The party reached Gen. Merritt's
headquarters in Chicago, having made
the distance from Omaha, SIS miles, in
seven days, over roads as rough as rain
| and sun could make them.
1.-THE return was made more easily
and with less railroad track travel. AS
result of his experience, Lieut.. Aber
crombie declares that the practical
value of the bicycle as means of trans
| portation for a scout, a connecting
patrol, or an infantry screen OIL
mounted picket is demonstrated.
"'There are he says, two condi
tons, and only two, where a bicycle i:
value1ess as means of transportation
to trained rider, and those are in sand
levoid of vegetation, and in soft, un
| packed snow"