Semi-weekly herald., 1916-05-01

lWlil be a date acceptable to the San
Luis valley people for the holding Of
the celebration. While the date has
not been definitely settled it is quite
likely that it will either be the 18th
or the goth of July.
| There is no end to the interest be-
ing taken in this matter and the in
terest is not local by any means. 1t
reaches as far west as Los Angeles.
All Colorado and the adjoining states
are taking interest and will have rep
resentatives on the ground. 1t is
probable that several of the central
and eastern states will haze repre-
lsentatives there. In fact. it is not so
much matter of getting a big crowd
as it is the best way to handle the
big crowd that will surely be there.
This is something novel in this
country and much time, money and
energy is being spent to make the
celebration one of national signifi-
canoe.
Mr.. jenkins, president of the Span
Ish Trail-Grand Canon Highway asso-
,aition, has written Mr.. C. f.. Nc
Stay of Los Angeles asking him to
be present at the opening. His re-
sponse to this invitation is being pub
iished. Reference to this is made in
Mr.. Jenkins letter which we publish
below.
Any one being acquainted with ary
)f the persons mentioned in this let.
ter is requested to write that person
1-ilh the idea of inducing him to be
present and join the San Juan pso-
pie in the run to the pass at thai
ume and be present at the celebra-
tcn.
Mr.. L. A. Rurak, Secretary,
Del Norte, Colo.
Dear Sir:
Referring again to your favor Of
April 15, regarding your contemplat
ed celebration, | herewith hand you
a letter from Mr.. C. +. McStay, our
director on the Pacific coast. This
letter is handed you so that you may
write him a strong letter confirming
my invitation to be present at your
celebration. feel very sure that Mr.
McStay will come, but would like
to have your people endorse the in
vitation by writing him strong let
ter signed by half dozen of your
prominent people and suggest that he
bring with him two additional per-
sons. Mr.. McStay is wealthy re-
who has taken up as his hobby good
roads. He has been director of the
Automobile Club of Southwestern
California for good many years and
of course, you know that that is the
strongest automobile club in the
world, having several thousand mem
bers, and is looked upon as one of the
most potent good road agencies thru
out the country. Last year under Mr..
McStay's direction, they marked the
Old Trails Highway from the coast
to the Missouri river and, of course,
what we want to do is to get them
to recognize, mark and boost our
highway on the coast and by having
him drive thru from the coast by way
Of Durango, he will have first hand
Information and with this and the ad-
ditional publicity that we should be
able to get, / can see no reason why
Mt least a thousand cars year should
not pass thru the San Luis valley en-
route to the coast. This is the ideal
road from Colorado to Southern Cal
ifornia and has the scenic attractions,
out as | stated in my previous letter
at your celebration is the proper time
to start this campaign for nation
wide recognition.
l am writing today to the Automo-
bile Blue Book Co., at Chicago, the
official guide book of the country,
asking them to have one of their of
ficials at your celebration. You re
member about a year and half ago
we got Mr.. Dodds, the manage Of this
publication, to attend our meeting at
Pueblo, shipping his car from Cleve-
land to the Grand Canon, but was
unable to make the trip back from
the Grand Canon as contemplated be
cause of the road conditions. The de
lay in completing the highway be rea-
son of changing the route over FL
wood Pass has made it necessary to
postpone this official log. The thing
that worries me mostly in Connection
with your celebration is your abil-
ity to properly house and take care
of a large crowd. l am satisfied
that we on the eastern end of the
route can drum up large crowd il
thought advisable. You must realize,
however, that people coming from a
long distance, will have to consider
the matter Of housing, etc. ! pre-