The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1909-07-12
G[|ODEN TOUR
LEFT DETROIT
THIS MORNING
Premier Car First One Sent
Across the Starting Line
at 7::3O
ten STATES WILL Be TOUCHED
IN THE LONG 1855 MILE TRIP

Weather Conditions and the Test
Will BE the Severest the Several
Cars Have Ever Had.
Detroit, July 12.-With his pilot car
Iilled with confetti to mark the cross
roads and misleading points in the
days journey D. H. Lewis, the path
finder for the sixth annual reliability
run of the American Automobile as
sociation Glidden tour, rolled away
from the Hotel Pontchartrain at 7:3O
o'clock this morning and began the
longest and hardest run which the
association has ever undertaken. The
2 636 mile journey will take them
through Chicago, Minneapolis and
Denver to Kansas City.
Cadillac square, where the cars
have stood since they checked in to
Chairman F. B. Hover Friday and
Saturday, was crowded with specta-
tors and automobile enthusiasts from
all parts of the country. They made
the air ring with cheers when Path
finder Lewis drove away from the
starting line in front of the hotel.
The twenty non-contesting cars, which
will carry the newspaper men and
officials on the trip, stood about the
square waiting for their owners and
passengers to see the start of the
competitors at 10 o'clock. Twenty
minutes before the first car was sent
off, Chairman Hover and Charles j.
Glidden, the donor of the trophy, en-
tered the pacemaking automobile,
which none of the contestants can
pass, and followed Pathfinder Lewis
out Michigan avenue towards Kala-
mazoo. the first stop.
Starter Ferguson then took his place
at the staring line, armed with his
green flag and the drivers seated
themselves ready for the signal The
Premier car had the distinction of be-
ing the first contestant sent of on the
long journey. Then at intervals OF
one minute, the names and numbers
of the other twenty-nine drivers were
called by the starter. Each driver
was handed his time card as he went
over the line and great cloud of
dust along Michigan avenue signified
that the run had begun.
Ten states will be touched in all,
some of them being mere incident
Of the trip, while others will be cross
ed from end to end.
Starting from Detroit at z o'clock
this morning, the first days run will
be westward through Michigan to
Kalamazoo, where the night stop will
be made at the Burdick House.
On Tuesday, July 13, the run will
he long one of nearly $50 miles to
Chicago, by way of South Bend, Ind,
and the headquarters for the second
night will be at the Annex. The
tourists will enjoy less than $50
miles of the uneXcelled Indiana roads,
the best in the country.
On Wednesday another run of $50
miles will carry the travellers through
Milwaukee after scenic tour along
the west shore of Lake Michigan, and
q run through Wisconsin's dairy and
tobacco belt to Madison, the capital
of the Badger state. At about that
point the tourists will awake to the
real enjoyment of the genuine west
ern welcome, such as they never ex-
perienced in the east.
Thursday the fourth day and the
fifteenth of the month, will be occu-
pied with run to La Crosse, Wis,
something over $50 miles of the worst
going the tour will produce, and es-
pacially hard il the rains of the past
Few days continue. The soil is OF the
gumbo type, soluble in water. and
practically impossible owing to the
fact that cars sink into the mud to
point where traction is not to be
obtained. In dry weather these roads
are reasonably good-not nearly as
bad as some covered in western Penn
Bylvania, on the last two Glidden
tours.
Fridays run will be to Minneapolis,
completing the first weeks run, for a
rest of two days will be made at that
point. Much has been arranged in
he way of entertainment by the mo-
torists of both Minneapolis and St.
Paul, and Saturday and Sunday
should mark all epoch in this history
pf Glidden tours.
On Monday. July 10, the run will
be to Mankato, Mimi, and on Tuesday
bo Fort Dodge. Iowa. Considerable Of
his territory is composed of sandy
soil, easier to cover in wet weather
than in dry. but the hope will be for
dry weather, nevertheless, for the
worst is still to come.
At Fort Dodge, the tourists will be-
gin campaign of sleeping in Sleep
ing cars rather than in hotels, plan
which will be carried out almost to
the end of the Journey.
At Fort Dodge. too, will begin the
much dreaded territory which is sea
of mud when rain falls, and much
rain has fallen this summer in that
section. A week ago roads were al
most impossible for automobiles in
and around Council Bluffs, and ex-
perienced tourists agree that the tour
will come to an end suddenly If over
taken by rain In the Missouri valley
country.
Wednesday, July 21, the run will be
from Fort Dodge to Council Bluffs.