The San Francisco call., 1910-08-29
slim MURRAY Still
BREAKING RECORDS
California Driver Lowers Pre-
viOus Mark Over the
Spokane Hard Roads
By R. r. L'HOMMEDIEU

Gordon c. Murray, better known in
automobile circles here as slim" Muir
ray, is still out after records. Recent
ly, accompanied by Paul Welch as me-
chanician, Murray attempted to lower
the record between Spokane and Occur
d'Alene and return in q 80 horse
power Buick The total running time
was 70 minutes fiat. This record has
stirred up no little discussion, on ac
count of previous records.
The Buick left Spokane at 4:25:44 in
the morning. and reached Occur d'Alene
at sos 20. elapsed time being so min
utes and 36 seconds. The car left
Occur d'Alene on the return trip at
6:0O:3O and arrived at Spokane at
6:3S:4e. elapsed time being 3S minutes
and Is seconds. This last record was
made over a course known as the
Prairie road, or the Hayden lake road,
the Post falls road. The building OF
the Milwaukee makes the latter road
impossible at this time and possibly
for all time.
that he could break the record, which
he did as stated. After the first at
tempt he wrote as follows to f. A.
Kelley of the Splitdorf ignition COM
He SAYS: y am sending you news
Papers giving an account of my at
ord. which speak for themselves.
Through a little hard luck, when made
couple of loop the loops l was unable
to make the time ! anticipated, and
am starting again in the course OF
few days. One thing sure, of I'll the
magnetos / ever had any experience
with / have vet TO find anything TO
compare with the Splitdorf I put in my
he inc W. N
there and the hard knocks it had to
stand over the roads, not only in try
outs, but on the morning of the run
adjustment of any kind whatsoever;
and to be candid with you, it is the talk
of this part of the country.
Il was naturally disappointed that l
could not use your plugs and was
forced to use a much inferior and
cheaper plug, but thanks TO your mag
neto we were not delayed even a sec
ond in any respect, and when you take
into consideration the amount of oil
shot into that car and into the cylin-
ders, and the plugs used, 1t seems phe-
nomenal that a magnetic could shoot a
spark such as to keep these plugs from
fouling AS / said before, we are going
to make another try for this thing in
few days and viii let you know the
results Immediately afterward. also
send you newspapers regarding same
Motorists who drive through Oak
land by way of Twelfth street are
availing h M
Air Pump for selves of the new
Motor owners WestinIgh9,use ag-
which has been in
stalled recently by the Studebaker
brothers. in front of their headquarters
on the corner of Jackson street. Man
ager II. L. Burchell of the Oakland
branch says that on account of the dust
from the Twelfth street electric cars,
an effort viii be made TO train the
trade to use the Jackson street side
for making tire changes.
A f. Hunter, local distributor for
the Mitchell cars, has received copy
of letter written
Good Work of the Mitchell Lewis
Mitchell Car company of Ra-
6erf 6tnf' X KrsetEer rs,; 0y A of
Chicago. The letter reads: Il am driv-
ing one of your 1910 Mitchell roadsters
and have mileage of 5000 miles since
Valparaiso to fill up with gasoline.
When we left the garage at o'clock in
the AFTERNOON the tank was full. we ar
rived at St Joe. Mich. at o'clock in
the evening. by way of Laporte, the
pin hook route, Rolling Prairie, by
way of the north pike to the Michigan
city road, Hudson lake, Buchanan. by
way OF the Chicago road and Arden
The next morning we drove to Paw
Paw lake for breakfast with a school
mate of mine. When we started from
for the return trip. [ set the speed dial
on the speedometer at zero. Before
starting l investigated the gasoline
supply and as the tank was more than
half full. / decided to drive through to
Valparaiso. We, this includes Mrs.
Kraetzer, drove back over the same
route and arrived at Valparaiso at
7:3O O'Clock in the evening. Up to this
time / had never paid any attention
to the gasoline consumption of the car.
but when we drove into the garage at
Valparaiso, / happened to look at the
speedometer and saw that the mileage
for the return trip was SO S10 miles
Then I looked at the gasoline supply
and found three inches in the tank.
I could hardly believe my eyes, and
told the garage people to fill up the
so. II took just 10 gallons to fill 1t.
1 am positive it is just as far from
VALPARAISO to Paw Paw lake as ii is
from Paw Paw lake to Valparaiso, and
as we did few miles of chasing
around in st. Joe to find sleeping quar-
ters TO avoid sleeping on the bluff,
our mileage on the 10 gallons was
gallon. This trip is picturesque, and
from Buchanan to Arden it is very
hilIv There is lot of good macadam,
a lot of good gravel, lot of bum clay
and a lot of nice deep sand. We were
not out for a record of any kind, just
one of our week end rambles. 1t took
US three hours to make Chicago from
Valparaiso, a distance of 80 miles.
night driving. We used two quarts of
oil on the same trip.
The growth OF the use of the motor
delivery wagon has become universal
- and IT is used in