Arizona republican., 1913-09-03
SCENIC ROUTE BOOSTERS
 HAVE EXCITING TIME
The Pathfinders Caught in Cloud Burst But Accomplish the Ob
 ject of Their Trip

<. Sunday a party of boosters from | the boards of trade of Phoenix Mesa and Chandler spent the day ir the Maricopa mountains for the pur- 1 pose of discovering a feasible route 1 over the mountains for an automo- l bile road which should link the towns represented by them. The special object of crossing the moun- l ta;ns with a road of this kind is to l secure an elevation where the tourist and visitor to the valley generally can have a view of the immense e1n- pire that lies in the Salt River Val- ley From the top of the pass across the Maricopa mountains such view can be obtained; and it is one that will give the stranger a better in- sight into the wonderful acreage ln- cluded in the reclamation project ing over the land
 Mesa was represented by L. w. Drews, F. B. Gurley, John Dunn Of the Free Press, C. L. Diehl Of the Wilbur Realty Co, and Secretary IT, win of the Mesa Commercial Club. At the beautiful ranch home of Jchn L. Irvin south of Phoenix, the party was joined by Engineer Burge. Geo. T. Peabody, Secretary Bracllman of the Chandler Board of Trade. and Wayne, the driver of the car, repre- sentng Chandler; and Sims Ely, Lincoln Fowler and John L. Irwin, representing Phoenix.
 At 10 o'clock the entire party left the Irwin ranch drove three miles south over the Telegraph Pass road, where a halt was made. At this point, Messrs. Burdge, Gurley, Dunn. Peabody and Brackman started to walk across the range, locating a route for the proposed road. The Mesa and Chandler cars with the re- mainder of the Mesa and Chandlep party returned with the cars to the the pathfinders when they should have crossed the mountains. The Phoenix party remained with their ear and drove on through the noun tains over the Telegraph Pass road formerly used for freighting from Maricopa).
 The engineer and his party spent the greater part of the day in mak- ing the trip over the range, having found the going hard and necessitat- ing considerable labor in locating a route that would not be too expen- sive to grade and at the same time would afford q good view of the val ley from the summit of the pass.
 In the meantime the party with the grub wagon" spent the time visiting Hieroglyphic Springs, the Yaqui vil lage, and driving along the foot of the range on the lookout for the foot party At o'clock the mountain climbers had not appeared and the watchers became uneasy. A storm cloud approaching from the south augmented their anxiety, and after a. final drive along the base of the mountains the Mesa and Chandler ears hurried to Tempe and telephon ed to the Mullen ranch, near Kyrene. While MT, Irwin was telephoning, MT Burge appeared at the ranch and called up Tempe. He had brought his party safely across the mountains but at a point much farther south than had been intended, and the boys had walked to the nearest ranch house. MT. Burge had there borrow ed a horse and gone to the Mullen ranch to try and get in connection with the commissary department
 Wayne, with the Chandler car. left at once. following the road along the Maricopa railroad track, and Mr. Drevs started with his car going via
 
 coming storm, but with his powerful car forged ahead and reached the ranch; although at times his machine was ploughing through water that reached to the bed of the machine MT. DreWs encountered the same storm, and it did certainly rain. In five minutes the country was covered for two miles with a lake of water The road was wiped off the map for the time being and the shallow ar royas were filled with rushing tor rents that the machine could not cross. He was forced to turn back when within two miles of the Mullen ranch. A short time after Drew's return to Tempe, Wayne arrived with the tired and hungry pilgrims. The commissary was supplied with suffi- cient provisions for an ordinary party had feasted, there was little left for the birds. Secretary Pea 1 body declared that he had eaten swell meals at many hotels but nothing within his recollection tasted as good | as the lunch by the roadside that ! night The only serious accident of l the entire trip was the damage done | to John Dunns white cloth shoes. l These shoes were the admiration of l all the fauna of the desert and noun l tain areas traveled over, but had lost | the greater part of their pristine | glory by the time MT Dunn had | crossed the range. That the shoes | ------------.------~------- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-~ |