Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1915-03-12


highway route is a valuable safeguard
to travellers.
Eve a breakdown in the middle
OF b Great American desert he de-
clares, would be robbed OF its dan
gers by the certainty hat within a
few hours a motor car, a motorcycle,
a prairie schooner or a man on horse
pack would pass, going one way or
the other. Every ranch along the
southern road carries gasoline. Each
ranch has water. And where the Of
hcial route crosses the Great Ameri-
can desert, the county has put a well
midway of the 60 miles OF desert 60
ing
Furthermore, Walden claims to
have driven the 800 miles from Salt
lake City to Ely, the Lincoln high
way link OF the two mooted routes,
between q a. III. and IL D. M, a rec
ord which could not possibly have
Deen made over a road not clearly
defined and in good condition. An
other thing in favor Of the southern
route, Walden claims, is that it goes
through Ely, the best branching of
place on the Lincoln highway for Los
Angeles.
Browning Favors North Route.
IN. S. Browning, a resident and
former mayor of Ogden, testifes for
the excellence of the northern route
as follows:
THE southern route or Lincoln
highway may be the best road around
the Great Salt Lake after 1t is finished
but at the present time very little
work has been done ON this trail west
of Salt Lake City and it does not look
as if it will be in shape for safe travel
this year. On the other hand, several
hundred thousand dollars have been
spent on the road north of the lake:
Perhaps the most competent and
least prejudiced witness is the Blue
Book representative, r. A. Woodall,
who covered the two routes in Novem-
Der with a view of determining the
merits and defects OF each and to OBJ
tain authoritative data for the guild.
ance of motorists making the trip to
California this year. His testimony,
in part follows:
Il sincerely believe that the north
ern route, starting at Ogden and skirt
ing the northern edge Of the Great
American desert, is superior to the
southern or Lincoln highway route,
which goes through isolated country
where water and supplies are harder
TO gete. In Utah, the northern route
has been dragged and graded to the
state line and concrete bridges and
culverts have been built, making ii a
permanent and not n disappearing
road all the way. The road across
Nevada had been rebuilt most of the
way. the workers taking advantage of
over 100 miles of abandoned Southern
Pacific railroad grade in their labors
of reconstruction.
Road conditions on the two routes
can be summed up As follows:
Northern route-Ogden to Brig
ham, % miles, macadam; Brigham to
state line. 155 miles, good graded dirt
road; state line to Reno, 456 miles,
fairly good graded dirt road.
Southern route-Salt Lake City to
Grantsville. All miles, macadam;
Grantsville to Iosepa, 3O.1 miles, good
dirt road; Iosepa TO state line, SO
miles, poor and sandy desert road;
state line to Ely, 121 miles, good grad
ed dirt road with some sections very
fine; Ely to Austin, 157 miles, good
dirt road but with heavy grades; Aus
tin to Alpine, COS miles, good dirt
but with heavy grades; Alpine to
Wadsworth, 1873 miles, fair dirt road;
GAL. FOUR. -. E. . -. -.
Wadsworth to Reno. 1873 miles, good
natural road.
1.-The north route passes through
inhabited country, while the south
route crosses an arid region for prac.
tically the entire distance. From the
outskirts of Salt Lake City to Kear-
ney's ranch, the road for a distance
of from 60 to 20 miles passes over the
southern part of the Great American
desert. There is no place to get water
on this stretch with the exception of
Fish Springs. The soil in this region
is of a peculiar formation and after
a rain of 5 minutes duration, 1t is alb
solutely impossible for a car to pro.
coed. If the tourist Is unfortunate
enough to be caught in this stretch In
wet weather, he will be forced to re-
main in his marooned car until the
u comes out and dries up the road.
Steep Grades over Mountains.
From Ely to Reno on the south.
ern route, travel Is over n fair, natural
road, but the greatest drawback, aside
from the isolated country passed
through, Is the number of rather steep
grades. There are practically no
passes through the mountains and the
tourist must go over the top ridges.
In goma nlacps tho rad folIovo IN