Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1913-10-16

WV t"S Ao~A Ian ~ - 5ANSh T.
the worlG of motordom.
The man with the Elks' pin, the
fountain pen and the ever present per
fecto, was c. H. Lester, official father
of the Borderland route. When Mr.
Lester arrives in WATERFOWL, S. D., al
the end of his present trip, he will
have completed the second round
trip between the Canadian and the
Mexican borders in the past two anG
a half years, during which time he
has made an estimated mileage o.
$4,000.
Shipped Car First Time.
The first time Mr.. Lester came t.
FL Paso he shipped his car-an Over
land that time-for the apparently
good reason that there was not road
enough to be found between Water.
town and the alligator pool in the Ell
Paso plaza to support four inflated
auto tires. After reaching here, Mr..
Lester drove over the southwest and
studied road maps, surveys and other
data in an effort to locate a road
which he might travel the mex time
he came to the southwest. A cross
should he placed at this point in the
story, for it was at this psychological
spot that the "BOrderland bug" stung
him. Having soaked up considerable
alkali water and information about
the roads of the southwest, Mr.. Lester
started his next trip in the Imperial
the Overland.
Rough Trip to Plainview.
From Watertown to Dodge City,
over the Meridian road and the just
ly famous Santa Fe trail, was no trick
for the pathfinder. But from Dodge
| City to Plainview was where his Jour
neyman pathfinding received its Sc
verest test. He struck out overland,
taking his road map in one hand and
his life in the other. Things went
more or less smoothly Cess, he ad-
mits) until he reached Plainview, Tex
as. There he was assured that no
"critter' propelled by gasoline could
negotiate the remainder of the dis
lance into Ell Paso. He was told the
same thing at Plains, Texas. with
enough heavy shedding in between to
convince any but a Watertowner of
the truth of the Texas townspeople's
statement.
Made Trip Four Years Ago.
That was four years ago this com.
ing winter, and he could find no one
who had been over the remainder OF
the road. The Mescalero sands, which
are now being given their final touch,
We're waved in his face as proof that
the going was good only for aerial
navigation. He talked with the road
commissioner, with whom he stayed
over night in Roswell, and was wisely
Warned not to try it. The Apache in,
dams found refuge in these sands, he
said, when the cavalry got too warm
on their trail, and the Indians were
safe, for no cavalry troop could en-
ter the sands and get away with it.
Got Little Information.
Finally the pioneer pathfinder found
a mans wife who knew something OF
her husbands experience in going
west from Roswell. With this mea-
ger bit of housewifely information
and an abiding faith in his mission,
Mr.. Lester started over the hogback
of the Sacramento mountain, and soon
found himself in Alamogordo with
nothing more serious than a badly
shattered faith in the optimism of
mankind. From Ilamogordo it was
smooth running. comparatively speak
ing, into Ell Paso.
When Mr.. Lester drove up on the
shady side of the Sheldon, his car
covered with the dusts of a dozen
deserts, his tires looking like a trade
marked brand of shredded wheat bis
cult and his skin the color of an old
boot, he attarcted as much attention
as a cross section of a circus parade.
Went West From FL Psso.
From Ell Paso Mr.. Lester extended
his borderlanding efforts westward ho,
to Deming, Douglas, Tucson and Phoe-
nix. He succeeded in interesting the
people west of Ell Paso in the POSSIBLE
tiles of a transcontinental road. es-
pecially this particular road which he
had logged and which he christened
the Borderland route, for a good and
sufficient reason.
Logged California Roads.
This summer he drove to California,
where he spent the summer. Return
ing he logged the Borderland route
from Long Beach to San Diego, I'M
perial, Brawley, Yuma, Phoenix and
Tucson, and then to Deming. where
he visited With iii son, HAIRY, vino
is somewhat Of a pathfinder in the
hay making business over there.
This log from Long Beach was made
for the official Blue Book as far as
Phoenix. The Borderland is already