The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1910-05-29
GUMBO ROUTE IN
The BREAD BASKET
MinneSotan Succeeds in Chart
ing Territory Heretofore
Strange to AutOiStS.
VILLAGE BANKERS PILOTS
ALL HAVE CARS AND ARE
EAGER TO SHOW THE WAY.

Road-mapping while whizzing across
the country at a speed Of so miles an
hour was the unique experience of
Charles s. Harrington, official repre-
sentative of the Minnesota State Auto
mobile association, who recently
mapped out the route fer the second an
nual reliability run OF the association
the event which has come to be bet
ter known as the Little Glidden," and
which is likely this year to be the larg-
est event in point of entries Of any on
the A A. A calendar.
Mr. Harrington recently finished his
pathfinding tour-a trip of nearly 700
miles through the famous gumbo coun-
try Of southern Minnesota and South
DakOta-and the experienced "Dai
Lewis of the Northwest" is now com
Diling the information in the form of
a routebook. That he has a most eff
fective 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 EMF
thirty pathfinding car was mingling
the red barns and white school houses.
which form the favorite landmarks IN
the country known as the worlds
breadbasket," in a color scheme which
10 othe~ occupants of the car. seemed
almost q rainbow.
To those who recall the strenuous
struggle which many a car has report
ed from the sticky, gummy going of
this region, the speed at which II was
covered by the EMF may come with
a shocK. Be it known. however, that
rain has been very scarce in the north
west this spring. and the gumbo roads
which have been so much of a 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 be
havfor. Also, there was an array of
pilots who volunteered their services
from town to town, and who took great
delight in demonstrating to the path
finder the solid foundation of their
civic pride In the highways about their
own cities and villages.
Village Bankers Pilots.
These pilots were, about four-fifths
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 10 make
those light touring cars which they
chiefly affect, hum like beehives and
highway.
Good sportsmen and intrepid drivers,
they all seem to be, and they surely
have an intimate acquaintance with
where they have made their fortunes.
Many of them are the second genera
ton Of the original Scandinavian set
tiers Of the region Perhaps their
Morse blood stirred when the descend
ants OF the vikings saw the pathfind-
ers and realized their own duty. At
Joyed back of some of these ''Scandi-
naEian skidders," as they were soon
dubbed, formed the real feature of the
trip from the point of view of the five
occupants of the EMF.
OF course, Ii should not be imme-
diately inferred that all the trip of
the pathfinder was of this order, for
there were plenty of stretches of high
way In which the winter ruts still re
NAMED and where the car was some
times forced to the wheatfields TO
evade obstacles Road Improvement
with its immediate result of making the
highway loose and dangerous was also
encountered at times, though. in gen.
eral. the highway commissioners
seemed to be men of intelligence and
provided with every facility, including
big steam traction machines, which per-
form the work usually done by teams in
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 pOpula-
ton, II 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 fac
tories have been shipping cars to the
big cities and sighting the northwest.
Collection of Banners.
I: would have been easy for the crew
TO have disposed of the pathfinder a
score of times. for the car seemed to
hicle best adapted to the road condi- !
lions of the region.
A novel feature of the trip was the
collection OF town banners brought |
back by the pathfinders- Nearly every
village along the route and all the cities |