Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-06-23
PERILOUS AUTO TRIP ENDED
Experience Of Tourists from the Atlantic
to the Pacific and Back.
NEARLY TEN MONTHS ON THE ROAD
Hardship Encountered on Mountain
and PIaiR-Good Roads and BAD
A Run Through the
American Desert.

Percy F. Megargel and David r. Fassett
completed Saturday afternoon. June s. the
first cross-continent round trip in an auto
mobile. They started from New York City
at o'clock in the morning of August 10
last year. and Saturday afternoon the
odometer on their car had registered HE
miles when the tourists were met by a well
coming party at Central bridge at 1:5O
o'clock They went to Portland Ore. then
to San Francisco. and had originally hoped
to be back in New York City for the auto
mobile show last January. but the heavy
snow encountered prevented this. Their
route led them from New York to Buffalo
and from there through Pennsylvania,
Ohio. Indiana. Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska
TO Omaha. from where they proceeded to
Portland through Wyoming, Idaho and
Oregon. From Portland they made the
journey down the Pacific coast to San
Francisco. The return trip was made
through California. Arizona. New Mexico
and Colorado back to Omaha. from whore
they retraced their way over the route
used going west.
Rains which covered fords with nine or
ten feet of water delayed the pair in wyo-
ming after they had gone that far on the
western half of their trip without serious
freighters or emigrant parties would ven
ture out and had to use shovels constantly
to make a road for their car. Once they
made bridge Of two railroad ties across
a clay canyon fifteen feet deep and Ave
feet wide when a slip OF a few inches either
way would have finished their trip then
| and there through the wrecking OF the car.
The windlass on the machine was fire.
duently used 10 haul them up the almost
perpendicular sides Of clay gulches
Through the Cascade mountains and west
ern Oregon the pair travelled over trail
that had been impossible to wagons for
weeks. For much OF the way they had
to chop a road through dense woods whore
logs had fallen across the trail and had
to build makeshrift bridges over streams
too deep with melted snow to he forded.
For one stretch OF three days they were
without food, as their provisions had been
exhausted.
Crossing the Desert.
Early In December they started to cross
the great American desert, which had here
tofore proved too severe a task for an
| automobile. When they drove into Peach
Springs, Aris., the natives gathered curl
ously around the machine, as there had
been so many unsuccessful attempts made
\ TO reach there by automobiles One Fri
day they Travelled eighty-nine miles through
| desert sandstone which was so severe
| that the sun was completely hidden at noon
| ana the plains were dark as night For
several days they were lost in the noun
tains of Arizona and finally drove into
4 Winslow, with a cowboy as guide Christ
mas day was spent in hauling the car out
OF Padre canyon the windlass being the
only means by which they could hoist It up
! the walls of lava rock. It was then that
Megargel reluctantly gave up all hope OF
| reaching New York for the automobile
show, because the snow was so deep that
progress was almost impossible. For the
last three weeks OF January the car was
buried In the aucksands of the Rio Pureco
! river. The snow on the mountains was
| melted by warm spell and the river be-
came a torrent which washed away the
| quicksands and with the aid of Navajo and
Apache Indians the was hauled to solid
! ground. indian ponies pulling II out with
ropes on January q. The motor and other
machinery were taken apart and cleaned
the journey being resumed after fresh sup
/ plies were secured.
Their car was Is horsepower REQ tour
ing car. which weighed 2750 pounds with its
two passengers and full supplies aboard
( In districts where hotels were few and far
| apart lHtN luO pounds or provisions
The car had two small signs on each side Of
the tonneau which read, New York to San
Francisco and return" and each OF the
tonneau doors bore the legend REQ Noun
taineer OF New York" Saturday the car
had a spade, a water pail, a gasoline can
and Winchester rife in a holster in add
/ ton to its regular equipment of lamps and
a big searchlight. Megargel is a member of
] the touring committee OF the American
/ Motor league, and had a motor league en-
! blem on the front OF his radiator. The
| third pair OF tires were put on the front
wheels at Chicago a few days ago and
! four pairs of tires were used on the rear
] wheels. In the sparsely settled parts Of
! the west each man carried a revolver in a
holster but they never needed either re-
1 volvers or rife 10 protect themselves
They shot twenty coyotes, and MegarEel
! got one shot at bear but didn't hurt it
much, as it was more than 500 yards away
scrambling up a mountain side
Scarcity OF Gasoline.
The largest amount OF gasoline they
ever carried was thirty-nine gallons
which was carried for the trip over
Mount Hood in oregon, which was the
| first time IL had ever been crossed bv
an automobile. Much of the trouble they
\ had was from running out OF gasoline
| They had two sealed emergency cans
under the tonneau seat, but one time
when they expected TO use these cans
/ they found them empty from very small
holes on one occasion Megargel made a
/ thirteen mile trip on a railroad hand car
for gasoline, and the man who took the
hand car back ran on the track and broke
his leg. In Burns, Ore, Megargel had TO
pay 81 gallon for fifteen gallons Of
gasoline and another time ne paid 81 ~
for the only gallon of gasoline there was
in a small village in New Mexico. Their
hardest times we're encountered in cross
ing Arizona and New Mexico, which took
more time than all the rest of the jour.
ney. Megargel said the roads In Cali
fornia and Colorado were surprisingly
. good. They did not have TO watch their
belongings except in the cities where
souvenir hunters annexed all sorts OF
/ things from gloves 10 small pieces of a
broken mud guard each man needing a
dozen pairs OF gloves on the trip The
! tonneau was fixed up for sleeping quar-
tiers, but was used only one night as II
was too cold. After that they slept be
tween logs with a IRE al one end TO keen
wolves away and in the forests they put