Los Angeles herald., 1908-11-15
RACERS RETURN
FROM PHOENIX
DRIVERS RELATE EXPERIENCE
GAINED ON ROUGH TRIP
SMITH NEARLY BROWNS HIS
BULLDOG IN RIVER
All Four Cars Likely to Be Entrants
In Next Years Raees-EVent Prob
ably VIII Become Annual, as
1t Is Supreme Test

It was out in the country that God
forgot that four crews on as many
high grade motor cars had tussle
with nature that resulted In the
greatest victory that the automobile
has ever won in the west.
Leaving the land of sunshine and
flowers with all of the beauties ana
comforts that man can desire, the four
cars that left Los Angeles week ago
last night rushed away to desert OF
sand and cactus in q few hours, and
there had a struggle that not man
on the trip will ever forget.
The wonder of it is that all or the
cars and all of the men went through
to Phoenix, the end of the journey, ana
that no irreparable trouble was en-
countered, though the tales told by the
travellers on their return nome hoiu
listeners in awe Of the force that man
has created in a motor car ana the
power Of human endurance.
Andy Smith, who admits that his
right name is Andrew Jackson, must
have inherited some of the indomitablo
courage of that namesake, for II was
he alone who toiled at the wheel OF MS
Gilmore car for the whole long journey
of 455 miles. When his car rolled out
of Los Angeles it seemed in no hurry,
and the reports that drifted In from
hour to hour verified the belief that had
grown in the minds of those who saw
him leave. Hours behind the leading
car when he reached Dos Palmos, 169
miles out, he gained all of that time
back and had q lead over the winning
car of nearly two hours when his guide
lost him in a maze of willows, and a
stretch of overflow water from an trri-
eating canal.
All of the men who were on the trip
have only words of praise for those
the
winner is added to by the compliment
tary credits Of the ones who ran against
him.
1T take my hat off to Fenner," said
Smith when he got home from Phoenix.
He deserves the credit of being the
best general of all of us, and would
not say a word to diminish the credit
of his victory. He told us when we
reached the river how he had hired
men to cache water at intervals across
the desert and cut brush ready for use
in the sand holes, and at one place 1t
was his salvation to have twenty gall
Ions 100 feet from where he came to
forced stop.
"Fenner said to US: My motor stopped
pulling and when l investigated 1t L
found that n water tube had become
broken and all of my water was gone.
There were miles from human habita-
tion and a long weary walk of L don't
hole.
Water Cache Proves of BeneTit
II asked my guide how far it was to
water and he raised in the seat and
looked across the desert, first one way
and then another, shading his eyes. with
his hand. Finally he told me 1t was
lust about 100 feet to cache of twenty
gallons, and 1 tell you 1 felt mighty
glad"
IAN Of us had some hard luck" con-
tinued Smith, land it was not surprls-
ing. You have heard that the road be-
tween Mecca and Dos Palmos was a
hellhole: we'll that is like the Pasadena
boulevard compared to thirty miles be-
tween Dos Palmos and Chuckawalla
springs. Believe me it was the worst
that 1 ever saw. When Ralph Hamlin
caught UP with us at the river Monday
morning he said that he could not
understand how any man who had been
over the road would do the same foolish
thing again, and yet Hamlin. after he
got back from Phoenix, said that he
would try to be the first car to enter
for next years event over the same
course.
Hamlin considers it the supreme test
for a motor car to go from Los Angeles
to Phoenix in the time that the cars
made. ANY car that can make that
trim needs no further demonstration to
way the driver of the FRANKLIN ex-
pressed it.
That Hamlin made by far the fastest
running time of all is conceded With
out question, but by taking the road
that Tobasco took he found himself on
another track from the one his guide
knew, and it was necessary to stop
until daylight allowed them to see
where they were. Tobasco, the Kissel
Kar, had axle trouble in getting out
of a hole that was hub deep. Three
hours they were laid up there, or they
would have beaten the White to the
river by hours. On the other side of
the river the KisSel made the pest
showing of all.
The White and the Gilmore took a
northern route, while the Kissel and
the Franklin took a lower route that
was shorter by more than an hour,
but very rough. Hamlin caught the
Kissel Kar while the crew We're trying
to get out of the hole, and gave them
a shove with his car to help them
along, but when he went ahead he got
off the road and got to the river last.
Smith came near losing his car alto
gether at the river from the ferry
boat While he was disembarking the
Indians who were holding the crazy
raft with a rope allowed it to go back
from the bank as the rear wheels of
the car pushed against it for traction
to force the front of the car up the
bank. When Smith saw what was hap
pening there was two feet of water
between the raft and the bank, SO
he gave his motor all the throttle that
he could and sent the car off%the raft
with a rush, but when it dropped from
the front end it had fall of three OF
four feet, and the radiator was sprung
so that the water ran out in streams
Between Ehrensberg and Phoenix he
had to stop frequently for water, as
he could not repair the leak so that il
would stop.
Fenner Runs from Bulldog
broken spring on the White held
1t back near Quartzite until the Ell
more was within a few miles and ir
sight. When Fenner saw the Bull
dog so close he left tools and all yine
in the street where he had stopped to
buy the tongue out of farmer