The San Francisco call., 1907-06-05
EDITED BY
R. A. SMYTH
RUN FOR
AUTOS IhPRACT|cABLE
7. w. Leavitt Declares the
Roads Are Unfit for
a Contest
By r. r. I'r1on1r,,edseu

President J. w. Leavttt of che Au-
tomobile dealers association OF CaH-
fornia returned last evening from
trip into the Yosemite valley. He was
enthusiastic over the trip, but stated
that ii would not do for an endurance
run unless the owners of cars really
wanted to try the limit of their auto
mobiles and did not care for expense
The roads were the worst that he had /;
ever travelled, although the beauties
OF the valley more than made up for
the ride.
The run in was made in a day. He
left Stockton Saturday morning and
was at the hotel by $50 p m
There are four ways of getting into
the valley at this time of the year.
two by railroad and stage and by the
Wawona and the Coulterville roads
by automobiles. The railroad trip
by way OF Merced has fourteen miles
of staging, while the road by way OF
Raymond necessitates SO miles OF
staging.
The Wawona road is the best route
for the automobile. but as those who
have control of the road do not want
the patronage of the automobilists
they have placed toll of $40 on au-
tomobiles and $40 on each passenger
both ways.
The only other way to get into the
valley is to take the road over which
Leavitt travelled. which costs 81 for
the machine and 81 a passenger over
the toll road from Bower cave to
Hazel Green, a distance OF IL miles,
Those in the valley do not like the
presence of automobiles. On one side
of the river they do not allow the auto
for fear of frightening mules. while on
the other side of the river they will
allow travel at the rate Of but four
miles an hour.
The going by Coulterville road Is
genuine cross country work Leavftt
stated that he was the first within
year to go over it beyond Bower cave
In an automobile. while only half
dozen light wagons have passed IN this
season As yet no heavy freight teams
have been in to smooth down the road.
At times he had to take to the UNDER
brush to get around fallen trees.
He went by way of Stockton through
Pennington. Knights Ferry, Chinese
Camp, Jacksonville and Priests Hill.
with three miles OF the worst kind of a
grade Thence he passed through
Groveland. At Smiths ranch a tura
was madc to the right to the Coulter
vile road After going about a mile
and half he made turn at an acute
angle to the Bower cave road, thence
over rough trail to Hazel Green.
thence to Big Meadows and then into
the valley, where il was an easy run
of six miles to the hotel
| One peculiar thing at this time of the
year is the daily freshet. The snow on
/ the mountain tops is melting rapidly
IN the hot sunshine and the Mereed
river is up to high water mark Every
evening the river rises until in the
morning. when it begins to subside un-
til the next evening. when a new SUP
ply of Ice water comes down the noun
! tain side.
In coming into the valley Leavitt
crossed nr.1e ~ffh
when he started out early next morning
\ he found il different
Crossing one ford, which the night
before was about 16 inches deep. he
and Walter Hansel went hip deep in
| the water to get across The water
was so deep that it flooded the carbu-
retter and they had to push the car a
distance of 100 feet to get across
In another place where they easily
crossed the river coming in they found
that the night before 1T had washed out
\ the roadbed and was 800 feet wide.
They went into the ice cold water and
found 1t up to their waists. 1t was
impossible 10 push the car across this
stretch. and all they could do was to
| wait for assistance Soon stage came
along and they tried to get the driver
to tow them across There was moth
the driver They seem to think that
the automobile has no right TO be in
| the valley.
| Finally a soft hearted butcher came
along. took his team out OF his rig
| and towed the REQ across. 1t was so
deep that the water ran over the foot
boards When the other side was
| reached the engine was cleared and
they had before them a grade that
tested the car 1t was about mile
and a half long. with an ascent of
almost 500 feet. The surface of the
road was covered with soft granite
sand. The engine was started and
Leavitt and Handel walked The car
did not do as well as 1t had done In the
valley. AT altitude OF 5000 feet
| the atmosphere was much lighter and
| there was less compression. Leavftt
estimated that there was loss OF fully
a quarter of the power. He heard that
some of the big cars had failed TO get
UP the grade.
| The trip was very severe on tires.
They started out with a new set and
| these were well used up when the
tourists returned The main trouble
was that the wagons used to go into
the valley had only a so inch tread.
while the automobile had a 6s inch
tread. This meant that one wheel ran
in the rut while the other was just
on the edge.
A big car will use up set OF tires
going-in and coming out Of the valley.
which means that 1t will cost 800 for
al fn re RI