Los Angeles herald., 1908-01-26
NEWS OF THE AUTOMOBILE-LOCALA AND FOREIGN
PATHFINDER PARTY
STARTS LONG TOUR
NOTED AUToMoBILISTS DELVE
INTO BIG sWAMPs
Cleveland Car Begins 36o-Mile Run at
Sunrise Through Sands, Mire and
EVergIades-Hard ltn-
erary Planned

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. Jan. 25.-
Promptly at sunrise yesterday the
cleveland Pathfinder" party, consist
ing of James Laughlin of Pittsburg at
the wheel, accompanied by DR.. Charles
G. Percival of Boston, vice president;
George F. Sebring of the Florida East
Coast Automobile association, Joe Gill
bert of the Continental Tire company
and f. Edward Spooner, photographer,
left the windsor hotel on their arduous
960-mile run to Miami through swamp,
sand and everglade.
The party, well equipped with camp
ing equipage, ropes, block and tackle,
pickaxes, shovels, crowbars and skids,
looked more like Arctic explorers than
semi-tropical automobilists, but as Maj
Arthur b. Foster, president of the
Florida East Coast Automobile associa-
ton who started the cleveland Path
finder out on what bids fair to be one
of the most important automobile ex-
porting trips, tersely put it, "They will
need every bit of that equipment be-
fore they get to Miami"
At st. Augustine lunch will be en-
joyed at the Alcazar and a few of the
sights of the town inspected and the
pathfinders will attend a brief recep-
ton rendered by the mayor of the city.
After lunch the pathfinders will
strike the Kings highway, road built
in King Georges time by his troops on
their march through Georgia and Flor
ida. This road leads clear through to
Ormond, where a stop will be made for
the night with a total mileage of 104
miles for the day.
On the morning of the second day the
tourists conhdentially expect to cover
seventy-one miles to Rockledge, over
half of which is very rough, being
merely a trail, and were it not for the
occasional ox-cart might lose their way.
Fort Pierce is the destination for the
third day, sixty-seven miles from Rock
ledge This win be the first strenuous
day of the entire route of a barren
waste with many creeks forded and an
occasional piece of bridge work to be
done, as this is a part of the United
States where the county commissioners
have never been.
Worst Part Of Road
Between Fort Pierce and Palm Beach
comes the worst part of the entire trip,
and the Cleveland pathflnders have al
ready been dubbed by the inhabitants
as sand Crabs" which is indicative of
the strenuous work they have before
them. Arrangements have been made
to take as a guide one of the neigh
at pulling on the rope and tackle. Were
it not for the 60-inch tread of the big
wheeled turpentine carts. this road
would be more passable, but owing to
the fact that the racing automobile Is
but Sc inches. part of the days run
will be riding around the side OF MILL
Upon arrival at Palm Beach the
worst part of the trip will be over, as
from here to Miami, go miles, is beau
tiful road which though extremely mar
row is built of soft limestone.
While the pathfinders are schedul-
ing themselves to do the trip in six
days it is extremely doubtful if such
a feat is possible owing to the condi-
tion of the country for nearly 100 miles
of the trip.
In many places the road is practically
impossible and the distance made must
be counted in inches rather than in
miles.
An extensive waste of barren sand,
Doggy marshes, swamps and narrow
paths through tangled vegetation ana
corduroy roads will have to be over
come, and for this reason it is hardly
probable that the trip will be made
under ten days. A novel scheme that
will be employed on this trip consists
of skids of soft pine eighteen feet long
by eight inches wide and fifteen-yard
rolls of canvas which will be laid on the
ground in sandy places, thus atfording
perfect traction for the wheels, which
would otherwise sink into the sands to
and over the hubs.
No secret is made of the fact by
the residents of Florida that the hard
road run is given for the purpose of
attracting attention to the want or
good road between the starting and
finishing points. The cars will have
good roads enthusiast as passenger,
who will be supplied with good roads
literature and especially something per-
tinent to the people of Florida in re-
gard to good roads.
c. Will Risden has an arrival OF the l9oS
Indian motorcycle with mechanical intake
valves. The mechanical intake is new de-
added