Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-22
MITCHELL RANGER
COMPLETES TOUR
LITTLE ARMY CAR STANDS
TRIP IN FINE SHAPE
Carrying Dispatches from New York
to San Francisco Demonstrating
Use of Automobile in Any
Service


After covering nearly $500 miles in
the first transcontinental trip ever util-
lied by the United States army for the
purpose of carrying dispatches from
Major General Wood to Major General
Weston at San Francisco arrived In
that city on Sunday morning.
At the wheel of the mud bespattered
car which has passed through eleven
states since leaving Governors island
August 10, was Private M. e. Parrott,
N. G. S. N. Y, who was entrusted
with the message by Major General
Wood, and who has alternated as pilot
with Frank X. Zirbies, the famous
driver. who has attracted national at
tention as a successful contestant IN
twenty-four- hour races. Accompanying
them and in charge of the party is
Lieutenant B. B. Rosenthal whose ser
vice in the signal corps during the
Snanish- war thoroughly
equipped him to overcome the wretehed
road conditions which were encoun-
tered during the strenuous Atlantlc-to-
Pacific trip, during which orldges
which had been swept away by wash
outs had to be rebuilt on several oc-
casions.
Because of Major General Wood's de-
sire to have an automobile service IN
augurated in connection with regular
and volunteer service, the trip was un-
dertaken by Private Parrott in the
Mitchell Ranger, and, after reviewing
conditions encountered by the KHAKI
clad trio and sturdy little machine IN
which they rode, it Will be seen tiiat
+he automobile has shown capaDlIlly
to rush dispatches across prairie oes1
ert and mountain under any ana All
conditions. -.
Driver Zirbies, who piloted the car
most of the way, says at times COOK
and Peary had nothing on the party III
the way of hardships.
"The run from New York to Chicago
was q. iov ride" said Zirbies, land IL
wasn't until we hit the Iowa gumpo
that we got a taste of what was aheao
of us in the Way of execrable road con-
ditions The Mitchell ranger whicn
was the first of the 1910 four-cyllnoer
models turned out by Designer baI9
at the Racine factory, had no specla'
mechanical equipment ana Welsneu eAr
actly 2200 pounds. However, Win orees Uui
military paraphernalia, axes, ropes,
nIanks, luggage and ourselves II
watched when en- route, 1850 pouhuS'
and that was some tonnage 10 pun,
narticuIarly when we were at tliilSs SS
over 1000 feet above sea level. VI
course the various attitudes mace Us
adjust our carburetor often put ouI ,.t.,
side of that we did not have 10 potlIet
I,erI, much with the machine and got
t,eI.SS,,r-I, In fine shape, Notwithstanding
the execrable conditions OF the roaus-
o1 whatever you prefer to call theIIl
Or11y for Lieutenant RosenthaI re
eo11rceftlness in building his teHlpoi
erv bridges and overcoming ulliooheu
for road obstacles we might nave
different tale to tell" D.,,,o-
Private Parrott confirmed Dsivo ~
Zirbies' story, but was, II any 'iItll9, ne
move emuhatic in deploring the ROAD
conditions. ..,.4,o., 80 the
+r,D he referred to Lieutenant Rosen-
thaI. who had charge of the party.
'-i1t1s .ay1a left New York with General
Woods message August 49, said Lieu
tenant Rosenthal land, although we
made no attempt at record preahlIs, h,lis,
we reached Chicago about torty,elgIlC gIIl
hours ahead of the time we inquired: we
r,era escorted out of Chicago by
6atacbment of mounted police, and we
bree1ed along merrily until we reached
Dixon. Ill. where we hit transform
that accompanied us all through Iowa,
oI,d want to say that liquid glue mas
,othing on Iowa gumbo. After pelns
Soaked (atmospherically, OF course) III
Iowa. we were literally trled TO
FRAGILE going over the Neprasha
prairles. We reached Julespurs' ooIoy
August 81, and from there on Worus 3,
are inadequate to describe, Iilo
tions we encountered. ao =
detour thirty miles because OF WASH
outs during which we visited the scene
Of the attack on Julesburg by the
sioux and Cheyennes some years ago
When we reached Sidney, Whlch, III
1898 was a military post Of Importance,
we struck a street fair, and the town
was so flooded from the heavy rams
that some of the tents had TO be lahen
down to let the Ranger get tnrousH 70
the Union Pacific tracks, winch VIC H"u
to use for six miles. -,,..oez
wvo. which we reached just after the
sheriff had rescued horse TIMER from
a mob bent on lynching him. Ihat
night we had to sleep in the noun
tains. Eleven miles from Cheyehne
an irrigation ditch burst and the rusn"
ing waters washed out the roads trlp-
utary to it. We reached CheyenhS5
Saturday and were visited py seEelal
officers and soldiers from Fort rus
sell, who eVinced great interest IN tle
war car. We then used the rallroad
tracks to Laramie, which is a great
mineral center, and passed lakes con
tanning enough soda to raise all the
bread in this western country Ior
wears to come. We encountered tne
worst rains in Wyoming history In thls
section, as it had been pouring con-
tinuously and heavily for five days
''We next hiked from Laramie 70
Hanna in a downpour, and SO many
bridges were washed away that we
had to hire rails from beside the ran
road tracks to make corduroy roaus'
outside of Hanna we were stuck III
the mud for three hours and had TO
commander some teams to haul us
ont. After reaching Fort Steele bridge
the site of old Fort Steele twenty
years ago-we found the approach 10
the county bridge, and the bridge IT.
self, 100 feet long, washed away, anu
we were then forced to get an order
from the Union Pacific superlntehaeht
to use the Fort Steele bridge me
next eighteen miles to RaWllhs was
along the foothills in heavy ram.
ThaVer Junction, which was our next
halt. and which is known as Death VAL
lev for automobiles, we went through
at a snail's pace, using canvas TO cover
the allxali bitches and get footing
"By this time the food we We're get
ting made hard tack ana bacon taste
like a banquet. r.,
"Coming through Rock Springs.
which is saideto be the biggest coal
mining town in the west, we were aple