Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1907-12-12
SHEDDING
FOR AUTOMOBILE
DOWN THE RIO
.WESTCOTTS CAR AND ITS
OF TOLL AND TROUBLE
Denver MotoriSt Disguised
With Continuous Succession
Of Sand Hills and MudhOleS
Down the Valley,

Down the Valley,
That the public roads through Ber-
naliiio and Valencia counties are In
d-iscouraging condition Is proven by
the fact hat It too the big %Stoddard-
Dayton auto Of III. NJ. WesteOtt. oper-
ated by Arthur Norris, sever hours to
reach Los Lunas, ~. NJ. 20 miles from
this city The auto left Monday after
noon at 2 O'Clock. with Messrs. West
colt and Norris. and a Morning Jour
nal representative.
The destination Of the auto is Fort
H~uachuca. Ariz.. near Bisbee. where
Lieutenant +. l.. Gimperling. Twenty
FIRST infantry. viii be picked up. who
with the assistance of Mr.. Westcott
Will prepare a complete Typographical
map OF Arizona for the war depart
ment. The work will take several
months, IL Is estimated, and viii be
started about the first of the year.
The auto reached san Marcia last
nigh, according to word received here,
and after some minor repairs, the trip
viii be resumed. The route includes
stops AT Engle and Rincon. From
RineOn the auto viii swerve directly
west, paralleling the Silver City
branch to Deming, where the Douglas
road viii be taken. Mr.. WestcOtt ex-
poets TO reach Fort Huachuca within
two weeks. counting stops for repairs
There was found TO be hardly a
straight mile between Albuquerque
and Los Lunas where the automobile
could make average speed, or indeed.
keep moving steadily. In places the
sand was so heavy that II tool "A good
deal of manual labor to push and
work the machine through. The best
uart Of the route Is that between Al
lftgttargYlg una Tnu Da1fIIng Thu
roads from there to Belen, however.
are a disgrace and IL needs but n
trip over them in an automobile to
cOnvert one at onct to the gospel of
good roads now being preached In this
county by Professors Garcia and Tins
ley Of the experiment station. There
Is no other one thing that will do so
much 10 make the valley farmers
prosper as the building of good roads.
The Bernalillo county commissioners
have made q good start with the
funds at hand, but there is a vast and
important work vet 10 be done before
the county can boast of fairly good
roads.
The party started from the Gold
avenue garage Monday afternoon ar
2 O'Clock. reaching Los Padillas by
1870 o'clock. over the wagon road
10 tsleta from that place. the first
trouble was met. when the occupants.
with the exception Of the chauffeur.
Arthur Norris. got out and pushed
the q through several hundred feet
Of heavy sand.
Isleta was reached al 4 o'clock. and
the lard climb up the sand hills to
the Los Lunas river road was begun.
An went wen until within four miles
OF Los Lunas. when the car ran into
a mud hole. in which the front
wheels sank 10 the hubs.
win the AID nj "a ta4E appay and "A
cottonwood tree. which the chauffeur
chopped down. the auto was pulled
of the mud. and another route
found. Then the party got lost near
Lentes. an Indian acted as guide
and at 1880 o'clock supper was en-
ioyed. three miles from Los Lunas.
on the sand.
After two very long hours Of pull
ing. pushing and backing. a fairly
level piece Of road was found. which
permitted a mile Of high speed. put
Ting the ear ana party into the Va
county seat at 9 o'clock az
mig ht, very tired and hungry.
Tuesday morning at 3 o'clock the
start for Belcn was made. the car
the sand hin road. west of Los
Lunas. Six miles were made through
the sand when Chauffeur Norris an
nounced that the auto could not pull
over q very high Hill. Reluctantly
III W fHlthAl hINritN the car nttk 10
Lunas. where dinner was eaten.
afternoon at I o'clock the Jour
ney 10 Belen was resumed. but via
the old river road, southeast Of Los
Lunas.
For about seven miles very good
stretches Of roads were found. but the
remaining three miles OF the trip were
continuous mud holes. sand dunes and
rough broken ground. putting the car
the CUTOFF own IN time for
Mr. Westcott is not exactly enthus-
iastic about the roads In New Mexico.
The roads from Ration % Albu-
lueruue are pretty neal the limit" he
said. and this caps the climax. Prac-
The only first class road / have
encountered is the Scenic Highway.
now being built. between Las Vegas
and Santa Fe, This IS a splendid
.'horoughfare and more roads like il
viii 30 wonders for New Mexico.
More autos are being used all the
and land is being opencd up for
purposes. and / believe the
counties can il AFFORD 90 let the roads
gu longer as theV are If the expense
Is too great the ton road plan might
help materially An raising the money.
The farmers could bring their pro-
luce 90 market in half the time with
.olerahly decent roads.
while the automobile test O. "a more
'eVcre one d that of the average
native vehicle. Mr.. Westcott r. largely \
in his estimate of the valley
roads They need Go be fixed.
Card OF Thank.
We wish tu express our sincere