El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-06-28
1900 AUTOS IN
TRAILS PARADE
Great Highway Convention
Opens in Amarillo With
Thousands Present.

Amarillo. Tex, June 2S.-The Ozark
Trails convention was Officially
opened Wednesday afternoon with a
monster automobile parade in which
$500 visiting autos took part, making
2 pageant more than five miles long.
Only four Amarillo cars, carrying the
convention officials. entered the
parade. Nearly every car was decor
ated- There were nine bands in the
procession. John Mcknight. OF ANA
rillo, was marshal in chief. The mayor
of the city and commissioners. the
convention committees. the two Of
fetal Ozark Trail cars, local cavalry
men and national honor girls came
first Then the numerous cities along
the many routes came by delegations.
Hobart Okla. had three bands in
large floats, the Boy Scout band ere
ating especial interest. Chickasha had
a unique unit with % Red Cross girls
in float decorated in keeping with
the spirit of that great order.
Girls Band Is Feature.
One of the chief attractions was the
girls band OF "a pieces from Clovis.
\. NJ, on a float tastefully arranged
Caddo county, Oklahoma, had a car
with Mutt and Jeff actors BY invita-
ton the Fiske singers from the Agri-
cultural and Mechanical college for
negroes, of Oklahoma, are here and
will make the sessions lively. The
Chickasha Red Cross girls will sing
many times
A special train Of sleeping cars came
in from Oklahoma City bearing dele
cation headed by secretary Floyd
Thompson, Fl Reno, Okla. the alfalfa
belt, has a large representation Tu-
cumcari, n. NJ, has added each hour to
its number l. O. Williams, OF Las
Vegas, is lining up all towns along
the AmarillO-Las Vegas route for the
convention next year.
Ell PasO Delegation Arrives.
Wednesday 500 autos from the FL
Paso- Roswell, Portales. Clovis. Here
ford and Amarillo route came into the
tent city, piloted by a large reception
committee. Before they passed
through the city, the Chiekasha, Ho-
bart. Wellington. Clarendon and
Claude delegations, with more than
across to the white city Later the
Altus and COrdell bunch came and
then the Vega crowd from the west.
After the parade several hundred
cars were escorted to beautiful Palo
Duro canyon, the wonder Of the place.
This giant gorge is some So miles
long, 1000 feet deep and several miles
across The vegetation and soil for
nation are marvellous
Other hundreds attended the auto
speedsters of national reputation con- I
tested.
Convention Is Opened.
Last night thousands gathered IN I
der the great convention tent. Presi- /
dent ". H. Harvey officially declared .
the convention open, and turned over .
the gavel to N D. Lightfoot, OF /,
Springfield. No. who Will preside.
DR.. S NJ. Johnson. of Roswell. n. NJ.
told Of the advantages along the
Clovis, Roswell and FL Paso
route for military purposes Ralph E.
of Santa Fe, n. n, outlined
the scenic beauties OF the Amarillo.
Tucumcari. Las Vegas and Santa Fe
route Then the movies revealed some /
fine scenery and good roads in New
Mexico.
ROswell-EI PasO Route Boosted.
More than 500 automobiles in the /
parade had banners sanctioning the .
short line from Amarillo to the coast Z
BY way OF Roswell. y. NJ. and FL Paso.
The route will be designated at the
meeting of the association next year.
Hundreds Of persons attending the
are sleeping in tents and
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