The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-06
DINNER At ASHVILLE is
ENJOYED BY WHOLE PARTY
ST. Clair County Officials Offer As
sistance in Making Their Part of
Route Perfect-Met by
Gadsden Party.
BY JAMES 3. KEELING.


Gadsden, October 5.-(special.) 1.-THE two
cars composing the northern squad of
the Observation-Disclosures pathflnding ex-
pedition arrived in Gadsden shortly before
5 o'clock this afternoon. These were a
Buick car, official Age Herald car, con-
tanning George II. Brazelton secretary
of the Birmingham Motor club; A. ID.
Woods mechanic and the writer and an
Overland car containing ]. C. Turner and
d. ]. Fox. f. w. Barrett, editor of
The Age-Herald, ploted the cars to Gads-
den In his Matheson touring car, Ac-
companying him were Walter Blackman,
cartoonist of The Age-Herald; J. d. Kirk
patrick. and Mrs. Barrett Frank Smith
and A. c. Minhinnette also made the
trip in a Chalmers-Det
A good road was followed from Bir-
mingham to Springville, where stop was
made for nearly an hour by all of the
cars. From Springville the Matheson,
Buick and Chalmers-Detroit went to Ash
vile via Whitney, where dinner was
taken, and where a party of autoists from
Gadsden met the sPatIfinders The Over
land car came from SpriHgyille TO aads-
den via ST. Clair and reported finding a
splendid road.
L. A. Whitehead, in a Kissel car, which
also contained Mr.. and Mrs. Lloyd j.
Whitehead, Jr. r. Cargill of The Age
Herald and B. II. Mooney of the Bir-
mingham News, and Frank Katz and J.
r. Patterson in an Oldsmobile went to
Ashville by the Springville route. After
taking dinner there these cars cut across
country to Admission, where they joined
the southern squad tonight
At Ashville q warm welcome greeted
the pathfinders. Every one joined in a
jollification talk while Mrs. Nunnelly,
proprietor OF the Nunnelly hotel, made
a warm personal friend of every one in
the party by the splendid southern spread
she served.
Go by Ashvile.
Three cars made the trip from Gadsden
to Ashville, being two Cadillacs, and one
White Steamer. They contained j. w.
Penn, VIII Bellingeir, j. l.. Echols, c. p
Smith, former mayor of Gadsden, and
Mayor w. T. Murphy Of Gadsden. These
gentlemen took dinner at Ashville with
the Birmingham party and afterward es-
corted them to Gadsden.
Tonight the Gadsden Business Mems
club rendered the pathfnders a barbecue
and good roads were discussed with the
mingling of good fellowship. Gadsden is
very much aroused over the subject of
good roads and determined effort will
be made to have the official Birming
ham-Atlanta route brought by this place.
An odd thing occurred in connection
with the number of miles traversed by
two Of the cars. Brazelton's Buick showed
Il miles to Gadsden while Turner'S Over
land showed the same mileage. Smiths
Chalmers Detroit, which travelled the
same course as Brazelton. showed about
Y miles. Turner and Brazelton moved
over criss-cross routes. For instance
Turner went to Ashville by st. Clair, then
came back to the Alfalfa road by Steele.
Brazelton and Smith moved up to Ashville
by Whitney, came from there into Gads-
den via the Canoe Creek road This
would have been the natural route for
Turner to have followed while the Alfalfa
would have been the natural one for
Brazeton and Smith.
Condition of Roads.
The road from Birmingham to Irondale,
distance of six miles, is only fairly
good. But from Irondale to six miles be-
yond Springville there is one of the finest
roads in the country. The good road
stops at the Jefferson county line, and the
bad begins In st. Clair county. For dis
tance of six to eight miles to Whitney
the road is as bad as 1t could possibly be,
ment, which is on the corrugated style.
From Whitney to Ashville, however, there
Is a splendid road.
The Canoe Creek road from Ashyille
is sandy, but affords a 15-mile-an-hour
pace with a machine. Brazelton holdinN
from 15 to 20 miles per hour with safety.
There are number of ruts and the road
could be improved greatly. Reports of
Turner and Fox on the Alfalfa road indi-
cate that with the exception of the six
miles from the Jefferson county line to
Whitney it is fine. The officials of st.
Clair county. however, assured the path
finders at Ashville that htey would do
their best to remedy the condition of this
road. The Canoe Creek road is sandy to
the Etowah county line. where splendid
hard macadam road begins and runs to
Gadsden.
Railroad distance from Birmingham to
Gadsden is 50 miles, and road routes can
be so arranged as to be but very little
more than this.
Leave This Morning.
The pathfinders will leave Gadsden to-
morrow morning for Cedartown, being es-
corted part of the way by Gadsden peo-
pie. These people are being urged to
make the trip all the way to Atlanta.
Cedartown cars will meet the pathflnd-
ere at Cave Springs and escort them to
Cedartown. After a stay there the nath
finders will move on to Dallas, Ga. where
they will meet the southern squad and
spend the night there. Entry will be made
into Atlanta Thursday morning the At
lanta cars meeting them at Marietta