The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1912-08-08
CANNON BALL TRAIL
Is Now Located Through from Leon
to Quincy, Illinois, and Trail is
Being Plainly Marked.

| 1Tall from trenton, MO-, TO quincy,
ILL.,, has been completed. The Can
non Ball Trail was organized by
Leon parties last year, and located
south distance of 55 miles to Tren-
ton, Mo-, the trail being marked with
substantial painted posts, bearing
| the official sign of the trail This
summer parties at Trenton and
Princeton, Mo-, took up the matter
of extending the trail east as far as
Quincy, ILL.,, and the project
was greeted with enthusiasm all
along the line to Quincy. A few
weeks ago the committee went to
| Trenton and travelled as far east as
| Kirksville, Mo. Last week the bal
ance of the territory from Kirks-
vile to Quincy was examined by, a
committee headed by president j.
R. Bowsher. Wherever they travel
ed the citizens and good roads
| boosters were alive to the import.
ance of the establishment of this
trail, and Quincy especially showed
they were live wires. The daily
papers of Quincy devoted many
columns to the Cannon Ball Trail,
sending representatives to Kinks
vile to accompany the locating com
mittee from Kirksville to Quincy,
| and entertaining the committee at
Quincy on an elaborate scale.
The Cannon Ball Trail is going to
be one of the main travelled auto
trails of the west, extending as it
| now does through Iowa, Missouri
and Illinois, and it will not stop at
Quincy, as it will be extended eon
east from that city, and another ex-
tension will run from Trenton to
Kansas City. Already great good
In the way of improving the roads
which this trail covers has been ac-
complished, and the work has but
just commenced. ,M ~ ..s- ~.
The Reporter editor was unable to
accompany the LOCATING committee
on the trip to Quincy, but we Sc
cured Mr.. ]. S. Parrish to represent
us and he has reported the follow
ing very interesting account Of the
trip: -. ~ ~
The Cannon Ball Trail is now an
assured route from Leon to Quincy,
Illinois. A party of five, composed
of J. R. Bowsher and George E.
Hurst, president and vice president
respectively of the Cannon Ball
Trail Association, L. M. Smith
photographer, Robert Bowsher and
J. s.. Parrish, left Monday morning
of last week at 9:45, to lay out and,
establish the route.
On a previous trip the trail had
been laid out to Kirksville, Missouri,
and the object of this excursion was
to complete the route to Quincy,
Illinois. A short stop was made at
Pleasanton and Goshen, at which lat
ter place we were met by Charles
Davis, the Manager of the Associa-
ton, with a party, who escorted us
through MOdena and into Trenton,
where we arrived about 1:45 p. m.
few minutes too late to catch the
train we had intended to take to
Kirksville.
The roads from Leon to Trenton
are uniformly good, with the excep-
tions of few stretches which need
dragging, better culverts and drain
ing, but on the whole are very much
better than roads of the same gen.
eral character that are not on the
trails.
We left Trenton by rail late in
the evening and arrived at Milap
about midnight. There we walked
up long, steep rocky hill, where
we found a pretty good hotel and
managed to get few hours sleep,
leaving there at four o'clock in the
morning and arriving at Kirksville
about six. There we were served
with a good, much needed and ap-
preciated breakfast at the Poor
Hotel, the guests of the Kirksville
Business Mems Association. Kinks
vile is good town and our recep-
ton there was most cordial, both
going and coming. There is certain
ly royal crowd of fellows there,
and they spared neither time nor
expense in making us feel at home.
We were met there by a car load
of Quincy citizens; composed of
Arthur r. Robbins, of the Quincy
Herald, Harvey G.. Riggs, President
of the Quincy Chamber of Commerce,
Judge c., F: Perry, secretary of the
Chamber of Commerce, H. NJ. Wheel
er, editor of the Quincy Journal,
M. P. schlenger, of the Quincy Whig,
and Thomas Carlan, president of the
Rushville-Quincy Trail Association,
Golden, Illinois. These, with four
cars composed of Kirksville people
and our own party, constituted the
crowd of good-roads boosters that left
about 8 o'clock in the morning for
Quincy. The first or pilot car, an E.
M. F. was driven by Clyde Carter, of
Kirksville, and carried also Harvey
G. Riggs, of Quincy, L. NJ. Smith,
photographer, and Charles D. Davis,
the general manager. In the second
car, a Doris, driven by Charles
Roribaugh, of Kirksville, rode B. H.
Stephenson, proprietor of the Poor
Hotel at Kirksville, j. r.. Bowsher,
George E. Hurst and J. S. Parrish:
The third car was the big Quincy
car, and in addition to it's driver,
carried Judge Perry and Arthur F.
Robbins, of Quincy, Thomas Carlin,
of Golden, Illinois, e. o. Parsons, a
banker of Edna, James Goodwin,
former president of the Kirksville
Business Mems Association, and our
own "Uncle Robert as he was
known to all before the trip was over,
the original promoter of the Cannon
Ball Trail. The fourth car was driv-
EN- by Louis Garges, of Kirksville,
and carried in addition tn M p.