Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-05-17
OLD CAR AND OWNER
ARE BEST OF FRIENDS
COL. r. S. FENNER PLACES
FAITH IN AUTO
Runabout Travelled More Than Fifty
Thousand Miles and Is Still
Good for Many Long
Journeys

Few cars in Los Angeles have been
before the public so much as the White
steamer runabout of Col. F. S. Fenner.
His last trip was from Kingman, Ari-
iona, to Los Angeles, over some of the
hardest desert road in the southwest.
Along the railway for miles the car
was driven to avoid the deep sand
through which no machine can travel.
When it was found impossible to get
a ferry at the Colorado river, near
Needles, the big cantilever bridge of the
railway company was reSorted to.
After crossing the bridge high en-
bankment made il impossible to get the
car back to the road again, and so for
several miles the ties were bumped
over until the level of the track APP
preached that of the surrounding terri
tory.
The mining interests of Col. Fenner
necessitate the use of a motor car to
get him back and forth to his prop
critics, many of which cannot be reached
by a railway.
The mine on Old Badly, high peak
of the Sierra Madres, necessitateS many
trips, and at that point has been the
finish of more than one race, and the
trophy for the trial is now held by
Captain Ryus. who drove the White
runabout Of Col. Fenner in the fastest
OF desert and mountain.
Maintains Private Line
Col Fenner maintains a private tele-
phone line to connect the several sta
lions on the desert made necessary for
the transportation department of his
mining business, and one evening While
Captain Ryus was smoking his pipe at
one of the stations he was asked TO
answer a telephone call from the colo
mel who was asked by Captain RyuS
to come over and spend the evening.
"All right" said Fenner I'll be there
in just one hour and a half" He ar
rived to the minute, having made the
run across the smooth level desert at
the rate of thirtysiX miles an hour.
One of the things that is almost a
religion with Col. Fenner is to set a
schedule to run on, and then get there
on schedule time. His former expert
ence in the operation of a railway di-
vision set the habit of being on time
with him, and he keeps to it.
While at one Of his mines in Arizona
Fenner makes a regular Saturday af-
ternoon trip TO a point eighty miles
away to get chance for a bath, as at
the mine drinking water is at a pre-
MUM.
A house near one of the mining prop
critics had to be moved, and the SIM
pie way seemed to be to use the auto
mobile for power, and that was done.
Pumping water from one of the wells
near a mining property is another use
the car is put to; and 1t is used Tor
the transportation of all sorts of sup
plies and materials to the mines.
The ear has 10000 miles to its credit,
according to Col. Fenner, and 1T des-
tines to go thousands more, as 1t Is
operating today in a first-class manner.
The desert sand and the scorching sun
have stripped the luster from its paint,
but as a physician would say, 1T has
no organic trouble
So much confidence does Col. Fenner
repose in the efficiency and ability or
his ear that he starts on a trip never
before attempted without the least fear
of failing to get through. Many of the
trips would daunt the average motorist,
although he had a new car tuned to
concert pitch.
Long acquaintance with the car has
created a bond such as many men WELD
between themselves and a favorite
horse, and though the car is manimate,
it seems at times to be more than hui
man.
Every car has what might be termed
personality; some are cranky and
never can be depended on, while others
will go along day after day in the most
faithful manner.
Manv drivers no more neglect their
car or oVerdrive it than they would
we're it some high bred horse, and it is
doubtless such a feeling existing with
Col. Fenner that has made 1t possible
for him TO get such satisfactory service
out of his old '05 White steamer run
Al