Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-07-09
SCOUTS TO CONE
HOME VIA ROME
Having Inspected Road from At
lanta to Dalton and Return,
They Will Now Inspect Route
from Chattanooga, Via Hill City

Some time next week, probably around
Tuesday or Wednesday as nearly as can
be calculated, the hardy scouts of The
Atlanta Journal and the New York Her
aid will roll into Atlanta with the dust or
thousands Of miles of road ground INTO
their tanned cuticle, and with facts stored
away by the ream in their notebooks up
on conditions encountered in their search
upon more than three thousand miles
of road for q route between New York
and Atlanta that will best serve the pur-
poses of the future highway to stand
through history from Broadway to White
hall.
Atlanta Will give them a reception be-
fitting the significance Of their return.
The details Of that reception are yet to
be arranged, when the time of their prob
able arrival in Atlanta grows more def
mite.
From the Shenandoah valley southwark
the way of the scouts will lie on to the
end OF the towering Blue Ridge along the
western skirts OF it. Where the noun
tains begin to grow few and to taper on
into hills they will enter Knoxville, Tenn.
From there their route will be to Chatta-
nooga; and from Chattanooga on to At
lanta it will be very probably by way
Of Chickamauga, Lafayette, Rome,
Kingston, Gainesville and Marietta
Dalton and towns lying on that route
between Chickamauga and Kingston
have been fighting hard and effectively tor
the scouts to come their way from Chat
tanooga to Atlanta. But as the return Of
the scouts to Atlanta will mark the COM
pletion of the last of their trips before
the pathfnders go out, and as the roads
between Dalton and Atlanta were tried
out several weeks ago by The Journal
and the Herald when their scout repre-
sentatives attended the good roads con-
ventions In Gainesville and Dalton. 1t is
expected that the southbound scouts now
on their way here will avail themselves
Of this last opportunity to get notes on
the alternate route by way Of Lafayette
and Rome.
Immediately after the return Of the
scouts, or as soon. rather, as they have
time to compile their voluminous notes
and get them in shape for the pathfinders,
the official route will be selected and an
nounced from among the three big sys-
TENS, each with it's Network of alternate
local routes, that will then have been
considered.
And then, when the award has been
proclaimed, the pathfinders will get ready
for their long through trip over the big
highway. The New York Herald has al
ready announced it's selection of it's own
pathfinding car as the White steamer
from among a dozen applicants for the
honor. The Journal pathfinder is yet to
be selected.
Each pathfinder will leave from its
own end of the route and travel the great
highway clear through to the other end,
gathering final information on distance,
running time, etc, amending road notes
where new stretches of road have been
completed and old ones improved, and
getting a definite and final line on all
facts pertinent to the contamination OF
the big undertaking.
Among other things that they will do Is
one which carries consuming interest for
the cities that are candidates.. 1.-The
selection of the controls for the endur-
ance run next October. The controls are
the stopping stations in an endurance con-
test, where the runners get their lunches
or where they sup and sleep, and where
the officials of the contest take their
stand. In southern territory the candi-
dates for these places are numerous.
From among them all it is possible to
choose only a few, as two controls serve
for each days running-the noon control
and the night control.
1t is probable that the pathfnders will
make their start some time during the
first week of August. Both cars will
leave their home stations simultaneously,
will travel the official highway only, and
will meet somewhere about half way.
The crew on each will be prepared for
hard work, with stops only for food and
sleep. In fact, they will make the en-
durance run under exactly the same con-
ditions, though without penalties of
course, that the contestants will make
it southwark later in the fall and north
ward next fall