The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-07-26
ACROSS CONTINENT
IN A MOTOR CAR.
Lon. and Dangerous Trip Is Being
.kccOmr lished by -Au-
tGmobiles.
OTHER ATTEMPTS HAVE FAILED
Wonderful FcatS of MouDtain
Climbing Accomplished by
+. Tom Fetch OF
Warren, o.
REprRLfC SPECIAL.

REPUBLIC SPECIAL,
Cleveland. O.. 'uly c5.-Two automoh!lists
are now attempting the feat so often at
tempted. but never before accomplished the
crossing of the continent in Il motor car.
The men who are doing this are Z. Tom
Fetch Of Warren o. and Doctor II. Nelson
jackson of Burlington. Vt
Fetch - stin in Colorado. but as !le start
ed a long tine after the doctor and by
far more difficult route, the record he is
making s. considered most remarkable by
automobile men.
Fetch expects to reach New York City
early in September. He will pass through
Cleveland on his trip East.
TWo years ago Alexander Nir;on. acct M
panied by Charles L. Slanks. started upon
the trip. but soon came To grief in the
qucksanGs OF the Nevada Desert. Several
other expeditions since then have made the
attempt but failed.
Doctor Jackson left san Francisco on the
morning of May %. The trip to Sacramento
was made without particular incident Doc
ter Jackson decided to go northward first,
thus avoiding some Of the desert and the
rough travelling through Nevada. Titan and
Colorado. and at the same time being able
TO see the magnificent scenery OF the north
country From Sacramento the route was
directly north into Oregon. through the
Great Desert. The second day out the
camping outfit was lost. and thereafter the
travellers subsisted on cold lunches. or
sometimes on the memories of lunches they
had the day before. At one time they were
thirty-six hours without food.
FARMERS LEND ASSISTANCE
The Oregon Short Line Railroad was
reached at Ontario, Idaho. and then the
route was northeast 10 Blackfoot. and from
there TO Pocatello. From this place they
followed the line OF railroad to Granger
There We're no serious difficulties encoun
tered except sand and rocks. and these the
engine pulled them through and over Ar
Granger II was found necessary to 70 about
Sixty miles north and over the foothills to
cheyehne because OF the heavy rains. From
cheyenne the Union Pacific Railroad was
followed to Omaha. This part of the trip
was the hardest travelling because of The
rains ana washouts.
The first good travelling after HAVING
oanfornia was reached when the tourists
struck the old militpry road in the west
ern part of Nebraska. From Omaha To
Chicago the route was along the Cbiraro
and Northwestern Railroad The route
CHOSEN by the doctor was about 400 miles
Three times the doctor was Obliged To
can upon farmers with horses TO null tbe
auto out. but otherwise the motor proved
Fetch did not leave San Francisco until
S Sanso 10; The car passed through Benecia.
where lunch was taken. Dixon. D aTv,iIs.
and Woodland, going in all, forty-six miles
9ms OF r me planned route. From sacra-
attempting more direct, but far more
Glillcult road than the one followed by
Jackson. In writing home of his trip over
the Sierras by path never before COW
cred by an auto. Fetch says:
1eas ron ~, the -. summit a serpentine road
OF the Sierras TO the lake valley or Lake
Tahoe basin. descending sos feet in two
v lleS; oIh oYI data from the immediate
ure somewhat. The footing on this ser
pentine road seemed good. so il WINS de-
Slded 20 make drop record If possible
me car started from the summit at 1926
O'Clock; barometer 23.G5 inches and
reached the e0, bottom at 10:44:So o'clock:
sizzied when snat upon.
DROVE ACROSS LAKE VALLEY.
The road is SO tortuous that it may be
seen paralleling itself four times from one
point at the summit. The drive across the
sandy lake valley to Meyers Station. and
further to Lakeside Hotel. located astride
of the Ne:ada boundary until a recent
resurvey destroyed this peculiarity) was
Mneventfrl. The snow. of which but little
was seen along the road, and none within
ure of the adjacent mountains especially
OF Mount Tallac. $40 feet. After dinner
az Z:5e y. m. and row came by far the
most difficult climb of the day although
local information had not prepared tn.
party for expecting ANYTHING so difficult as
tne performance already accomplished.
"A hill one mile long of 10 to ~ per cent
Ion2h With loose stones and powders pro-
Jecting in the track. led upward to the Ne
xada side Of Lake Tahoe from 625O eleva-
ion TO 1900 again. the Nevada summit he
Ing OF the same height as that in California
Inc temperature was So degrees Fahrenheit
ana little air was stirring. From 2:20 o'clock
TO $50 we climbed the one-mile grade re-
TERED to and another but little better /,
All over 1ot9 feet in one hour and ton min
utes, practically all on the low gear Aud
now surprise followed The nature of
the descent to Caron Valley had been rem
resented as gradual and easy. Neither on
orator or observer knew that there was a
question of an almost sheer drop of 400
feet in a distance which would project ON n
horizontal plane not more than two miles
probably less. but so twisted around on the
mountain side as to measure six miles In
road length. and pitched in many places as
steep as Il per cent. according to the grad
ometer. The start down had been made at
$40 o'clock. and when the bottom was
reached al Az o'clock II seemed to have
taken more than hour. SO crowded with
impressions. not all of them comfortable
but nnne commonplace had been the brioS
fhilty-seven minutes actually elapsed of
which nearly ten minutes had been used in
cooling the brakes. The barometer had
risen IN ,.,l1o