El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-10-05
Finder of BorderLand Route
Makes His Second Round Trip
C. Lester, Who Made Fl Trip Over the Route -Four
Years Ago, Will Have TT aveled $1,000 Miles When
He Completes Last Lap of This Trip to His
Home, in Waterto wn, South Dakota

4 LEAN. gray man with sun
n burned face left the plaza Satur-
\ day morning in his "old faithful
Imperial for a 1900 mile auto jaunt
over the road which he has given to
the world 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 BorderIan0 route. When Mr..
Lester arrives in WATERFOWL, ;. d, at
the end of his present trip, he viii have
completed the second round trip be-
tween the Canadian and the Mexican
borders in the past two and a half
years, during which time he has made
an estimated mileage of 10000 000
shipped Car First Time.
The first time Mr.. Lester came to
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 FL
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
he came to- the southwest A cross
should be placed at this point in the
story, for il was at this psychological
SPOT that the "BOrderland bug rstung
him. Having soaked up considerable
alkan water and information about the
roads Of the southwest. Mr. Lester
started his next trip in the Imperial
car which he had bought after selling
the Overland
Rough Trip to PIainview.
From WATERFOWL TO Dodge City. over
the Meridian road and the justly
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
Il To-.
taking his road map IN one hand and
his life in the other Things went more
or less smoothly QeSs. he admits) IN
til he reached Plainview, Texas. There
he was assured that no "critter" pro-
PEELED by gasoline could negotiate the
remainder of the distance into FL Paso.
He was told the same thing at Plains,
Texas, with enough heavy shedding IN
between to convince any but a Water
toWner Of the truth of the Texas
tOFnspeople'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.
were 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 enter
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 il going west
from Roswell. With this meager bit of
houseWifely information and an abid-
ing faith in his mission, Mr. Lester
started over the hOgback o. the Sacra-
mentO mountain. and soon found him
self in AlamOgOrdo with nothing more
serious than a badly shattered faith in
the optimism of mankind From Ala
mogordo II was smooth running, COM
paratively speaking. into FL PasO-
When Mr.. Lester drove up on the
shady side of the Sheldon. his car COW
cred with the dusts of a dozen deserts.
his tires looking like a trademarked
brand Of shredded breakfast food and
attracted as much attention as a cross
section of a circus parade
Went West From FL PasO.
From FL PasO Mr.. Lester extended
his Understanding efforts westward no,
to Deming. Douglas. Tucson and Phoe-
nix He succeeded in interesting the
people west of FL Paso in the possibil-
tiles of a tranScontinental road espe-
cially this particular road which he
had logged, and which he christened the
BOrderland route, for good and suf-
ncient 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