The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1909-08-10
DRIVES HER CAR ACROSS THE
CONTINENT IN So DAYS
Mrs John r. Ramsey Com pletes Trip from Sacken-
sack New Jersey to San Francisco the longest trip
made by lady motor car driver


had 20 be taken for the center of the
way was high, the fine clearance of
the Maxwell being just the thing for
the paths, 1t being just high enough
to get over and not making necessary
many turns outs onto the dangerous
sands as had to be made by other
cars as was shown by the tire tracks
left along the way in hundreds OF
places.
When Salt Lake City was reached
on July 10, sightseeing trip of sew
eral days was enjoyed by the ladies
before resuming the Journey east
wards. When they did leave this city
for a five days run to Reno, Nevada,
they were escorted some distance by
q number of other motorists. among
them being ex-Mayor Thompson and
his family of Sall Lake City With
the American flag proudly fluttering
in the breeze, suspended from the
dash of the Maxwell car at the head
of the line, the run for Callao, lao
miles, was begun this being their stop
ping place for the first night. On
Sunday Mrs. Ramsey drove to Ely,
Monday to Austin and Reno wat
reached last Wednesday. In some
respects the trip to this city was the
hardest of the entire tour, for in adj
dition to the hard climbs over the
Sierra Nevada mountains, made doub-
ly hard by the rough roads and un-
dergrowth, much loose shifting sand
had to be travelled over, sand by the
way such as is only encountered In
| this section of the country. SO bad
was 1t in some places that half the
| air had to be let out of the tires
which was found toA be o.. great aid,
| in the sandy sections was when the
| tires were in this condition they did
not sink so deeply and seemed to get
VI better purchase. The climbs up
the mountain sides seemed easy en-
ough for the Maxwell 80, steep as
they were, while the equally steep de-
cents, a severe test on breaks were
made without tFouHe. While She
run between Salt Lake City and Reno
was hard there was on the way so
much of rare beauty to be seen that
the four ladies easily forgot their
few hardshlps and remembered only a
few of the beautiful pictures painted
by nature. In all truth 1t must be con-
fessed that the beauty of 1t all de-
fies description. The rugged peaks
of both ranges rising bold and erect,
in countless places, snow-capped
mountains blended themselves against
the clear blue sky into a picture which
, would require the most earnest effort
of a brilliant artist to portray, a pic
, ture once seen never forgotten and
, one to be seen properly, only from 9
: motor car.
From Reno the same natural beau'
ty of the ranges further east were
, found while making the trip to Sac
, ramento, Cal. The barrenness of tn,
{ mountains to Reno was not so notice
1 able on the trip from that point west
J. yet more snow was found on thu
: mountain tops and here too an oc
4 casional view of a scared young beal
, was had. From Reno to Sacramento
$ there were rather stiff grades TO climl
n but once in sight of San Francisco
all the difficulties of the trip wer,
G quickly and easily forgotten, the Col
I den Gate and the Golden Goal" be
= ing in sight The party was escorte'
y into the city by more than q scor
d of cars containing motorists who ha,
/ watched the progress of the fair tour
n list and the Maxwell car which ha,
( established a double record. Mrs
: Ramsey being the first woman 10 driv
u IL lIoIl NtW IoTh W San
!. cisco, and the Maxwell car for hav
r ing made the long journey withou
s one single bit OF mechanical trouble
i From the day the car left New Yorl
: until 1t reached San Francisco ther
# was not the slightest excuse for Mrs
al Ramsey so much as even looking a
o any of the mechanical parts of II
II except to adjust the carburetor "a
r ascents and decents were made, sure
! ly wonderful record considering tn
r rough roads travelled, the load car
l. ried, and the fact that streams, irri
e eating bitches and such were forde,
g many times, black heavy gumbo an
4, sand were ploughed through for hun
d dreds of miles, two ranges of noun
J. tains climbed and in fact every pos
e sible cause OF trouble met. An ex
o animation of the car failed to brin
g to light even so much as q loosene
n nut the car at the end OF 1900 mile
It of real cross-country touring in al
e kinds of weather and over all kind
h of roads still being simply perfec
b and at the end of the trip runnin
y as smoothly as at the start of It,