New-York tribune., 1910-12-27
PLANS ROAD TO COAST
A. L. Westgard Interests Motor.
lists in National Highway.
STATISTICS OF HIS TRIP
He Makes Analysis of and Re-
port on the Various Sections
of the Long Route.

VI tuC AROu6 &SOueN'
| Most interesting statistics as to the feast
bility Of automobile touring from the At
lantic to the Pacific coast have resulted
| from the trip just completed by A. l..
/ Westgard, Of the Touring Club Of Amer
! lea, in his Premier car In the interest OF
| motorists In general and of the United
| States government the pathfinding party
kept an accurate record of experiences en-
route, attitudes, temperatures, mileage,
| cost and accommodations.
| In a table just issued new epoch in
automobile pleasure touring is predicted
| because of the interest which has arisen
concerning the construction of a national
| highway from New York to San Francisco,
| founded upon the movements started by
Mr.. Westgard while crossing the continent.
| The extremes of altitude We're encoun-
tered in the TO- 400 feet above sea level at
] Mogollon Pass. in New Mexico, and the
| 1a4 feet below sea level at the Salton Sea,
in California: the highest temperature was
| 10S degrees, on November 2S. i'm the des-
ert at Mecca. Cal, and the lowest was
"a degrees, on November Is, in the noun
tains near Fort Apache, Ariz. The total
mileage was 4,7o3.5. and the elapsed time
was exactly eight weeks. The aver
| age mileage for forty-1ve running days
was 1914: the highest price of gasoIene
was so cents gallon. at the Colorado River
on the Desert, and the lowest was Is cents
, gallon.
The longest days run, 1727 miles, was
made on October 90. from Columbus. Ohio
to Indianapolis. and the shortest was on
November 9, 24.2 miles, approaching Raton
N. NJ. Seven nights were spent in camping
with he uhi rjod
upon the Premier car. On one stretch OF
one hundred miles. the car travelled only
eight on its high gear. owing to the severe
conditions Of the roads, but no repairs of
any nature were made upon the car, and
only two tires were changed before ap-
preaching Los Angeles, 9th lasting until
the deserts of Arizona were reached.
From every point of view the journey is
one to attract the pleasure seeking motor
ist for good roads are afforded nearly all
the way, good hotel accommodations are
to be had along nearly the entire length,
while the variety and grandeur of the seen
cry lining the course are most remarkable.
1t Is probable that trunk highway from
coast to coast will be a reality in the near
future, because of the run of the Premier
car with it's party of officials. driven by
Ray Mcnamara.
Most of the Eastern highways traversed
are Of hard construction, and little could be
urged In the way of Improvement between
New York and Chicago aside from some few
short stretches. From Chicago across I'LL
nois the roads are not systematically main
tanned; from Davenport to Omaha is the
35O-mile river-to-river highway: from
Omaha to Kansas City is similar to the
Illinois strip, but Governor-elect Dahlman
Nebr3 ska has nromiSpd improvements
From Kansas City to Santa Fe is the
famous new Santa Fe trail, and the entire
distance will soon be splendid route. Over
the Ration Pass. in New Mexico. is a con-
vict built road which Is almost a boulevard;
from Ration to Las Vegas is bad, but from
Las Vegas to Santa Fe Is scenic highway
which Is superb. To Albuquerque is good
government road and on La Bajada Noun
tain is a strip where the road winds and
turns completely around twenty times or
more in making the steep descent.
From Albuquerque to the coast practi-
caly all OF the hardships were encountered,
especially in crossing the White Mountains
and upon the lava on the Mogollon Plateau.
The road through the desert to the west OF
Phoenix was found less appalling than is
usually pictured. as is true also Of the route
fro m Phoenix TO San Bernardino. The roads
along the coast are excellent.
This is the season of the year when the
automobiles that standing any length of
time in the open air have blankets put over
the hoods in order to keep the cold winds
out When It gets very cold it IS hard to
keep the water system in proper circulation
if too much cold air is allowed to blow di-
rectIy upon the engines, without the use of
alcohol or some non-freezing mixture" said
G. A. Mathews, president of the Jackson
Automobile Company. of Jackson, Mich.
Therefore the radiator and the hood should
be kept covered and the machine kept COM
Portable
Records of speedway racing in this coun-
try for 1910. compiled by c. G.. Snsabaugn
in Motor Age" conclusively reveal the
splendid record made by the Fiat car. |
Flats started in forty-three different races
run on the Los Angeles. Atlanta and In
dianapolis specially built racetracks. Prac-
tically half of these races-twenty- -one to
be exact-resulted in victories for the Ital- |
ian machine. OF the other races. in ten the |
Fiat was second, In five it was third and in |
seven it was Unplaced.
J. r. Whiteside, seventy-six years old Of |
Batavia, n. Y. has been for many years in |
the service of Uncle Sam mail carrier |
Mr.. Whiteside's years do not show in his |
actions and he attends to his business af- |
fairs with an alertness that is sometimes !
hard to find In men half his age. Two years
ago Mr.. Whiteside bought Ford roadster, |
With which to cover his long mail routes, |
and 1t has been in constant service.
Through all kinds OF roads and weather has
the car daily travelled. Recently Mr. White
side left Batavia for Wakeman Neb where
ne expects to reside in the future The
long trip was made in the Ford car. the
gentleman driving it from New York to
Nebraska alone without any trouble.