The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1916-10-19
RECORD AUTO
TRIP Is MADE
CLOUD CAP REACED BY BREAKFAST
Ralph Caldwell Drives Dodge Over Steep
Road Through Diversity Of
Mountain Scenery

was mace recently Dy kaiph Caldwell,
rancher of the OdelI district, accom-
panied by Harry T. Dewitt. of the Co.
lumbia Auto & Machine Co., j. B.
Garfield and the writer. In the:last
light Of full moon just settling down
in the Columbia gorge. all except Mr..
Caldwell left Hood River, where at the
O.-W. X. & N. station the elevation is
10l feet, at $50 O'Clock. The journey
out to the ranch was made in brand
new Dodge. Mr.. Caldwell, however,
was ready with his machine, a Dodge
purchased this summer and driven,
when the Cloud Cap Inn trip was be-
gun, total distance of 3,644 miles.
At $50 o'clock to the minute the
party had arrived at Cloud Cap Inn,
making the best time that has ever
been reported for the long steep drive.
The machine had travelled % miles
horizontally and had reached an eleva-
tion of approximately 5000 feet. a
climb of more than mile in the 28.
The total climb for the last five miles
was $500 feet, and more than 1000
feet of this in the last three miles.
Except for their grades, however, the
roads are good. Mark Weygandt, guide
at Cloud Cap Inn, says that during his
IA years service in the position, he has
never seen the toll road, connecting
the hostelry with the Hood River Val
ley highways at the edge of the
National Forest. better than at the
present time. Rains fell at the high
altitude almost weekly throughout the
summer months, and now, the surface
of the road, we'll packed and free from
dust. is even and free from chuckholes.
Patches of autumntime moisture may
be seen dotting the way, and the only
objection that a motorist can advance
is the excessive grade.
| Yet the long pulls with their fire.
quent sharp curves did not trouble Mr..
Caldwell and his Dodge in the least.
Mr.. Caldwell says he was a Kansas
corngrower before he came here to
turn his attention to apple culture.
One watching him make his automo-
bile perform. may easily imagine that
he would have made successful driver
of race horses, that is, il he would
think as much of the horse as he does
of his automobile. MIR. Caldwell loves
his machine.
81 like to hear the engine respond
and talk to me on the steep grades,
he said, ''it seems that it knows just
what l want 1t to do. care for my
own machine, and think there would
be fewer accidents if every motorist
cared for his own car. and knew its
fine points and its weaknesses. 60
over my machine before and after
every trip, and know that every pin
and every nut is in just the right
place."
And it is true that his Dodge and he
seemed to have perfect understand
ing. But three stops between the
Odell ranch place and Cloud Cap Inn
we're made, and these not because of
trouble but for the purpose of securing
pictures and that MIR. Caldwell might
show how he could make his machine
perform on the 25 per cent grades.
The driver shifted his gears OH the
steep points apparently without losing
the least momentum. He came to a
dead stop on the stepest point and
started again without the least lurch-
ing and as easily as though the weight
were dragged on upward by some un-
seen force. When the car reached the
level to the south of Cloud Cap Inn
the radiator cap was removed to show
that not over a pint of water had been
consumed. The water had not got
sufficiently hot to bubble from the
overflow pipe, and the radiator was
so cool that one could rest his hand on
it. In fact the morning was clear and
crisp. Heavy frost appeared on fallen
logs and roadside vegetation. Giant
icicles were seen hanging from the
fumes of irrigation systems, and the
passengers wished that the radiator
had been little warmer and more
comfortable to their shivering bodies.
After an hour spent at the Inn. in.
specting the new home of the Portland
Snowshoe club and making photographs
of the mountain landscapes, the return
Journey was begun. A stop of 80 min.
utes was made at Mount Hood lodge.
and five minute delay took place at
Parkdale, where the party secured q
supply of chocolate to alleviate the
pangs of appetites sharpened by the
keen mountain air. The early start
had caused all to- forego the usual
hearty breakfast. The starting point
in Hood River was reached at
1910 p. m.
| A morning journey such as that
taken by the party accompanying Mr..
Caldwell forms one of the red letter
events of a mans life. And the thing
that keeps bobbing up in the mind of
the fortunate man who had been priv
ileged to see the mountains and range.
sides In their autumnal splend0r is the
wonder why resort keepers do not
make more of the asset that Nature
has so prodigally provided. The views
from mountain heights of the Cascades
are never more beautiful or appealing
than during the season OF Indian Sum-
mer. OF course the ever suspended
threat of rains and bad weather pre-
walls after September has begun. Yet
on most seasons majority of the days
of autumn are inviting in the Mid
Columbia. The air seems cleared and
ones vision becomes broader after the
frost has fallen. Overnight the great
gorge sides, lying in landscape views
of so mile lengths, magnitudes almost
beyond comprehension unless you have
seen them from such points as that at
the foot of Cooper's spur. take on q
riot of color. The dogwood trees turn
scarlet in places and at other points
seem almost royal purple. The acre
patches of vine maple form so much
space of highly colored fame. as the
early morning sun strikes them. The
brown messy growths on lava backs,
where lichens find root in the disinte.
grating masses intermingle with gray
and somber crags and predominant II
the deep green and blue stiffness oi
the many square miles Of forests.
At an elevation a mile above sei
level one rises above the smoke thaI
blurs the landscape down at city level
From the foot of Cooper's Spur, tn,
great peaks of Adams, Rainier end st