The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-06-30
TRANSPORT TRAIN
THREE MILES LONG
War Department to Test Efficiency Of
Service In Trip From Washington
to san Francisco.

By order of the war department a
motor transport train, three miles
long, will leave Washington on July
fic coast. reaching San Francisco
over the Lincoln highway.
This long journey is to be made in
sixty days. 1t will serve as test
OF the efficiency of the army's trans
port service. but what is consider ed
more effective will demonstrate to the
nation the inestimabie value of sys-
| TEN Of national highways.
The plans for the adventure have
been completed by the war depart
| Inent. All equipment has been assem-
bled and the personnel detail assigned.
! This transport train will be the heavi-
est in the history of any army. 1t will
7 he even heavier than any single uni,
/ of the huge transport service used 10
| keep the armies Of the allies supplied
| along the French front. No motor
| transport train OF any nation has ever
| before attempted a continuous jour
ney OF 1000 miles in sixty days with
i full war equipment. The motor trucks
Will carry not only their own supplies
| to last the entire journey, but will
carry supply and repair units, as wei
! as full implements of men and Off
/, GERS. The marching orders cal for ar
| average of seventy-fve miles day
This schedule necessitates a speed o
fifteen miles an hour all the way from
| Washington to the coast. no matter
how unfavorable the weather or geo
! graphical conditions.
The war department. through tn,
| chief of The motor transport corps
! Brigadier-General Drake, has official
ly notified the War Camp communit,
service of the departure of the trans
| port train and requested 1t to car,
| for the men all the way from Wash
| ington to San Francisco, sending tn
| itinerary Of the line Of march. TIL
| War Camp community service has bee,
authorized to make official announce
ment of the event for the war depa TT
ment, and has already dispatched spe
cia-l letters with instructions to al
Of its organizers and field worker
along the line of march. Plans 70
/ the mems care and recreation durin,
| their brief evenings In each communi
~ have already been perfected.
The decision to send three miles o
army motor trucks across the countr,
| was reached several days ago II
| washington after consultation be
tween General Drake in command o
the transport service. Colonel OweI
Seaman and Lieutenant Colonel j M
Richie working in close collaborat iol
| with the Lincoln highway association
The most picturesque features o
the long journey will be the mamie
| in which the long snake-like train o
motor vehicles will wind Its heavy
! humping way over the Rocky noun
| tains. 1t will cross by way OF tn
Continental Divide. The engineering
| staff af tho a t5c
ured out the journey 80 that no me
chanical or engineering obstacle
| stand in the way of it's success
The start In to be made on tn
morning of July from Lafayett
square in front of the White House
The van of the train will immediatel,
leave the capitol. heading for Pitts
! burgh. The course then followed will
take the soldiers trucks through
/ Ohio Indiana, Illinois, Iowa. Nebraska
Wyoming. Utah. and Nevada. TIL
transport trucks will finally drop dow
the western slope OF the Sierra Nevada
range To Sacramento. California, an,
! then on 10 San Francisco.
/ For many years the Lincoln high
| way association has endeavored to Sc
cure the backing of the government
! in it's project 10 build thorough,
/ sound ocean TO ocean highway. TIL
! proposed journey Of the three mile
of motor transports lis the first Off
cial assistance that II has received II
it's project. In many states good road,
have been campaign slogans and many
governors and mayors have been made
or unmade according to their ideas
on this public question. The war de
partment in its official statement t
the war camp community service
called attention to the political i'm
portance OF good roads throughout The
country.
1t is planned to establish a goot
roads day in the various states or
the days the transport convoy is pass
ing through them. The schools vii
be closed as on n holiday and the trair
will be welcomed along the route BY
various civic organizations.
Because Of the importance OF goot
roads the cross continent journey OF
the motor transport convoy will not
only interest the nation as a spectacle
Of military efficiency and prepared.