El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-02-23
AUTO TRIP TO
THE BIC DAM
Ell Pasoans Return Sunday
Night-Find Road In
Good Condition.

Fourteen machines loaded with FL
Pasoans and their families, which left
Ell Paso Saturday morning, returned
to FL Paso Sunday night from Elephant
Butte dam.
The run to the dam was made in
aDproximateIy seven hours, the ma
jOrity of the caravan reaching Ele-
plant Butte by p. m. saturday
SpeedOmeters showed the distance COW
cred as 119 miles. A new record for
quick running was made by L. NJ Law
son in his Cadillac, which covered the
distance in four hours and 20 minutes,
an average of about % miles an hour.
The road to Elephant Butte IS IN
splendid shape, except for one or Two
short stretches, according to the traV-
elers. From Las Cruces to the dam,
the highway is signposted, so there IS
little chance of losing the way. A
new road is being built from Las
Cruces to the dam by way OF Fort
Selden, but is not yet completed Two
of the cars that made the journey
took this road out of Las Cruces and
had much tire trouble. 1t is still in
moor shape and travellers to the dam
are warned against it. Official an
nouncement will be made by the FL
Paso Auto club when this route Is
completed It will be about eight miles
shorter than the present route over
the mesa from Las Cruces
Has a Little Trouble.
Charles 3. Stevens was the principal
sufferer from mechanical dlIflculty
during the trip. The fan belt on his
machine broke near Las Cruces and he
was forced to run without it the rest
of the trip. Several other motorists
had tire trouble, but there was little
delay on this cause.
NAMED for the tourists to watch con-
struction work on the dam. Saturday
night the work was watched by aid of
the giant electric lights that encircle
the dam site. This was the most in
terestfng feature of the trip.
A dance for the visitors was held at
the Elephant Butte hotel Saturday
night. ONLY one bed was vacant in the
hotel when the guests retired for the
night.
Sunday morning several hours were
spent in viewing the dam one thOus-
and men are at work and the first Of
the three immense concrete sections
that will compose the dam has reached
the level of the flume that diverts the
river around the dam site. Several
of the more adventurous rode in the
overhead cables that stretch $50 feet
above the dam. These adventurers in
cIuded James W. StOckard, Fred Wood
worth, Charles Leavell, c. S. Wood
worth and z. i. Polk.
Practically all of the foundation ex-
cavatiOn has been completed and con-
ETTuGL1Ou
his guests that the dam would be
completed about September, 1915.
DOna Ana's Good Roads.
"Dona Ana county deserves great
credit for the roads she is building"
said c. B. Stevens Monday. Taken as
a whole one could hardly find a nicer
100 mile drive than the road to the
dam. There is good deal of water
in the river and it is racing through
the spillway at high speed. On a small
Ter scale, the dam is as interesting as
the Panama canal and all those who
have an opportunity should make the
trip there The ride through the upper
valley is alone worth the trip.
Best Way to Make Trip.
"I think the best plan is to leave FL
PasO in the evening and stay overnight
in Las Cruces, making the rest of the
trip to the dam early the next morn
ing Then you can spend several hours
taking in the sights and get back to
Ell PasO that same night.
Mr.. Baldwin, the engineer in charge
of construction, is always glad to see
visitors and his hospitality is well
known. He was very cordial to us
and gave US every aid in seeing the
works.
THE next tour of the Auto club will
probably be about April, when Mai
w. H. H. Llewellyn will give a barbe-
cue at his ranch near Fort Seldom"
Those in the Party.
The travellers started back to Ell Paso