The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1916-11-29
Many Parties Pass Through keohuN
Coming From All Parts Of Iowa
Enroute to Dixie
Points.
LACK OF INFORMATION
Garage Men Say That keekuk Auto
mobile Club Should Gather This
Data About Routes and
Inform Them.

All roads from Iowa &c the south
/ lead through keokUk. keokuk Is
stili the gate city of Iowa The num-
I Der of automobile tourists passing
through Keokuk this fall proves It
! Almost every day one or more FAM
| lies enroute from Iowa homes 70
| spend the winter in the south pass
| Though Keofcuk, and frequently
! they spend the night IN this city,
They carry enough luggage to en-
able them to camp out along the
! long road, IL choice OF necessity dc
tates. Some of them show mich In
genuity in packing an automooile
with a wagon load of things and stliI
eaying room enough for the family
to ride in it.
The whole family is always in the
| touring party. There are nearly al
ways some children about dozen
yea-s cid. Last night one family
stopping here mad two boys, ten and
twelve years old, and the other day
two girls of about the same age
were with their parents. Remarks
about missing school always brings
! the rejoinder from the parents that
| the trip to Florida, Louisiana or other
parts of the gulf coast and winter
| there before the return trip L. De-
! lieved to have quite as much educa
| tional value as winter in the pub
lie schools. The two little girls
had their school books with them,
mother every day.
From, all Iowa Points.
| These tourists to the southland
come from all parts of Iowa. The
| last ones were from Des Moines; the
| last previous ones were from q little
town near Iowa City; recent family
enroute live near Fort Dodge. They
come by the White Way, the River-to-
River raod, and other trails to the
! Red Ball route which they follow to
| Saint Louis. Some OF them then go
! through Nashville to Jacksonville,
Florida, and thence to Florida points;
others go from Saint Louis down
through Arkansas to Louisiana and
diyerge from New Orleans to gulf
coast points. Nearly all the automo-
biles in this / ong distance service
are Fords. Some cut the back OF the
front seat, hinge 1t at the bottom,
and at night fold it back 30 that it
| is level with the rear seat, making
an upholstered bed as the floor OF a
room with curtain sides and an cleo
| trio light from the storage battery
hanging from the top. Others carry
| tent 50 arranged that the car be-
| comes one side of the apartment,
/ lighted by the electric lights.
Lack OF Information.
| Many real tourists complain about
the lack of good information here In
Keokuk about roads and routes. Lost
are advised to detour into Illinois to
| Quincy and pick up the Red Ball route
at East Quincy-which ought to be
| interesting to Wayland and Clark
county people in connection with the
road down the Missouri bluff from
Wayland to Quincy. But when the
tourists ask which is the best route
from Saint-Louis to Florida or to
New Orleans, they say, the garage
men say that 1t is too difficult for
men say that it is to difficult for
| them, and suggest that the KeokuE
Automobile club get and maintain
an information about through routes
and keep the garages informed
about them.
It is apparent that this automobile
| tourist traffic into the south has be-
come Of real importance to KeoKuk,
and that it is worth looking after, on
account Of the money the tourists
spend here and because of the good
advertising 1t gives Keokuk. All these
tourists praise the Keokuk hotel ac-
commodations and everything here
.