The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1914-04-08
AUTOMOBILE TOUR
GRAPHIC STORY BY H.. NJ. PENN,
PUBLISHED IN MERIDIAN
ROAD MAGAZINE.

The Meridian Road, a magazine
published at Anadarko, Okla, In its
March number, contains the follow
ing graphic story written by III. M.
Penn, describing his trip by automo-
bile from Madison to Galveston,
Tex:
As proprietor of a garage at Mad
ison, South Dakota, | have been in
touch with the Meridian Road since
1 the birth of the idea. We probably
have more and better garages at
Madison than any town of similar
| size on the entire road. We have al
ways been interested in the develop
ing the idea OF State Roads, and we
| raised a subscription of $40, 100000
to buila SO miles of the meridian
Road through our county.
| Madison is a charming little city
of from 5000 to 1000 people. and
Is a resort in the summer time that
| ATTRACTS a great number OF tourists
by automobiles. The city is situated
| between two nice lakes and Is the
home of a fine c~hautauqua, with
fishing and boating as attractions
during all the season.
Seeing the scores of dust laden
cars roll into the city from distant
points south and north. east and
west, the longing for a great trip
across the country began to grow,
And after careful planning We chose
the Great Meridian Road for a winter
| outing. Ever and anon a great tour
| ing car would come into Madison that
| seemed to breathe of cotton fields
and gulf breezes. Such a longing no
one could resist. SO on November
| 10, 1913, we set sail, as it were, for
Galveston on the Gulf. We rolled
through the finest wheat, corn, cat
tie and cotton belt in the world.
want TO write in detail something
of our trip. We followed the Off
cial Meridian Road, using the official
map as our guide. Nearly all the
| way from Dakota to Oklahoma we
found the red arrow conspicuously
displayed, rendering IL very easy for
us to follow the route to just about
Enid, Oklahoma. From that point
south the signs became scattered.
poorly put up, and for long stretches,
they were altogether missing. How
ever. we discovered signs in a great
many garages through Oklahoma and
Texas which the local committees
were preparing to have put along
| the road.
AT nearly every city, where we had
the opportunity, we made IL a point
TO call on the local Meridian Road
boosters and acquaint them with our
journey and inspire them to the
greater development of the great
| highway. Some we had to chide
about their little narrow strips they
were using for signs, some for the
lack of signs. some for the use of
| short wire fence poles, but thanks to
the great American spirit that pre-
walls along this route, we found the
heartiest and most cheerful hospital
ity at every point. One point I over
Hooked is TO call attention to the
markings through towns and cities.
There is scarcely any of the towns
| where the road is marked plain
| enough for a stranger to make his
| way out and in. As we called upon
a great many of the committeeman
| along the line we trust that this let
ter will reach all of them, and that
any general suggestions we may
make will be taken in the kindest
| spirit.
The longest stretch of level road
we encountered extends from Colum-
bus to Hebron. Nebraska. This
| stretch is well marked and is known
as the South Platte valley. Further
north in Nebraska, as you come out
of South Dakota, the country Is more
rolling. but they have a splendid
road also and the sandy spots that
used to characterize certain sections
of the road north of Columbus have
| all been clayed and well marked.
The Road in Kansas is character
istically good. with evidence of inn
provements now going on, and just
| ahead.
From enid, Oklahoma, south, a
| great deal of work has been done,
and a great deal still remains to be
done. This statement may be made
| of the road all the way through Ok
lahoma and Texas until you strike
the hard roads, and she'll roads,
about 80 miles north of Houston.
This does not e that the road is
bad through this section, but that
every few miles you strike a stretch
of good roads with a stretch of bad.
The routing OF the road has been
shortened during the season by near
~ iVV itV Out SPtChOAhttCA
showed 1920 miles from Madison to
the Gulf. Two years ago the route
was fifteen hundred miles. The larg-
est cutoff, probably, is between FIT.
| Worth and Waco; another is just
north of Pond Greek. Oklahoma.
The best work going on at present
on the Meridian Road is in Tarrant
county of which FIT. Worth is the
county seat. These people are spend
ing a great deal of money and are
building one of the finest systems
of roads in the entire country.
Down i'm Central Texas the great
est difficulty is to be overcome prob
| ably on the entire route. In many
places they have a black wax soil
| which lis very sticky in wet weather.
They are overcoming this, however.
by spreading a gravel coating. Owe
ii. All along through Central Texas.
they are working convicts and camps
were in evidence along the road at
many points as we went through.
About 100 miles north of Houston
We struck fine roads known all over
the world as shell roads. and from
that point on. u trip was very de-
lightful.
n - ~ u.