The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-05-21
MAPPING ROUTE
WHILE On The FLY
cHAs. 5. HARRINGTON, OFFICIAL
REPRESENTATIVE or MIMI
STATE AUTOMOBILE AssocIA-
TON MAKES A RECORD BREAK
ING TRIP WHILE MAPPING OUT
THE ROUTE FOR THE LITTLE
GLIDDEN" RUN.

GLIDDEN" RUN.
Road mapping while whizzing acros.
the country at a speed Of so miles
an hour was the unique experience
of Charles s. Harrington, official rep
resentative of the Minnesota State
Automobile association, who recently
mapped out the route for the second
annual reliability run of the associa-
tionthe event which has come to be
better known as the Little Glidden,
and which is likely this year to be
the largest event In point of entries
Of any on the A. A. A. calendar.
Mr.. Harrington recently finished
his pathf1nding tour-a trip of nearly
200 miles through the famous gumbo
country of southern Minnesota and
South Dakota-and the experienced
"Dai Lewis of the northwest" Is now
compiling the information in the form
of route-book. That he has a most
effective system of charting his high
way information must be conceded
when it is known that he has had no
difficulty in deciphering data, some
of which was compiled while the E. M
F Thirty pathfnding car was mingling
the red barns and white school
houses, which form the favorite land
marks in the country known as the
worlds breadbasket," in color
scheme which, to other occupants of
the car, seemed almost a rainbow.
To those who recall the strenuous
struggle which many car has report
ed from the sticky, gummy going of
this region the speed at which it was
covered may come with shock. Be
1t known, however, that rain has been
very scarce in the northwest this
spring and the gumbo roads which
have been so much bugaboo in
some prior seasons, form as nearly as
possible the ideal highway in dry
weather. 1t is simply another case
of the little girl with the little curl,
and this time she was on her good
behavior Also, there was an array
of pilots who volunteered their serv-
ices from town to town, and we took
great delight in demonstrating to the
pathfinder the solid foundation of
their civic pride in the highways about
their own cities and villages.
These pilots were, about four flfths
of the time, the village bankers. All
of them seem to have cars. In fact,
they have been the pioneer motorists
of the region, and they have learned
to make those light touring cars which
they chiefly affect, hum like bee-hives
and fairly whistle on the level
stretches of highway.
God sportsmen and intrepid drivers
they ali seem to be and they surely
are on intimate acquaintance with the
hills and dales of the country where
they have made their fortunes. Many
of them are the second generation of
tire original Scandinavian settlers of
the region. Perhaps their Morse
blood stored when the descendants of
the Vikings saw the pathfnders and
and realized their own duty. At any
rate, the rides which the latter en-
joyed back of some of these Scan
dinayian Skidders,' as they were soon
dubbed, formed the real feature of
the trip from the point of view OF
the flve occupants of the car.
OF course it should not be imme-
diately inferred that all the trip of the
pathfinder was of this order, for there
We're plenty of stretches of highway
in which the winter ruts still remained
and where the car was sometimes
forced to the wheatfleids to evade OBJ
staeles. Road Improvement with it's
immediate result of making the high
way loose and dangerous was also en-
countered at times, though, in general,
the highway commissioners seemed
to be men of intelligence and provided
with every facility, including big
steam tractors which perform the
work usually done by teams in the
eastern parts of the country. Nor
were all the motorists met along the
route village bankers for many mer-
chants and wealthy farmers-the lat
ter term includes all the rural popu-
lation, it might be added-already own
cars and those who don't appear to be
raising one united macedonian wall
over the alleged way in which the far
tories have been shipping cars to the
big cities and sighting the northwest.
1t would have been easy for the
crew to have disposed of the path
finder score of times. for the car
seemed to about fit their ideals of the
motor vehicle best adapted to the road
conditions of the region
A novel feature of the trip was the
collection of city banners brought back
by the pathhnders. Nearly every VIII
lage along the route and all the cities
seem to keep these pennants in stock
and the stop incidental to change
In pilots was almost invariably feat
ured by the advent of man with
banner which he proceeded to wire to
the most prominent spot on the car,
which seemed available. The car fin.
ished her run bearing a markedly
gala-day appearance which, however,
was deemed only fitting in view of the
perfect mechanical score which she
made, and the fact that her ''Nobby
tread" tires had left their 7OO-mile
trail through what is generally be-
lieved the toughest touring country in.
the civilized world, without cubic
inch of atmosphere in their interior.
aside from that pumped In at the fac
tory before she was loaded on the cars
for st. Paul, where she started her
run.
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