New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-06-01
''Desert Rats
Entry Shows
Trail Is Open
Trip Overland From Western
Coast Is Made Without
Fuss or Feathers by Old
Time Maxwell Car

The Desert Rat will now address
you on the subject Of transcontinental
touring, incidentally conveying the
news that it has busted the Southern
trail 20 the Pacific wide open. This
message is timely, as several thou
sand tenderfoot tourists have for some
weeks been hiding behind their maps
waiting for the roads to open them
selves. In the meantime the Desert
Kat has gone and opened the South
ern trails, and now it is out opening
the Northern 'cross-continen route
via the Yellowstone and the Bad
Lands.
Everybody who knows anything
about crossing the continent in
motor car also knows that none of
the trails is open before the middle of
June Without saying a word to any
of the experts on this matter the
Desert Rat chopped off" from Los
Angeles, Cal, March 90, and headed
East across the ella Desert. while
the mud was still hubdeep and the
cloudbursts were playing havoc along
the Mexican borders.
The seemingly impossible venture
was the result Of a dare thrown out
to Scout King Stanley and his son-in
law, James M. Drake. King Stanley is
one of those Western pioneers who
never took dare in his life. He is
now past sixty years of age. and
nearly half century ago he crossed
the continent on the back of ponv.
He prospected all over the Pacific
Slope and roamed the plains with Buff
falo Bill. Two years ago the old
scout gave up his pony and climbed
INTO a 1917 Maxwell touring car. Since
then he and his young son-in-law have
been beating up the desert, having
done 10000 miles in "Old Max" as
Mr. Stanley calls his Maxwell, but the
boys about Los Angeles, where they
live, have dubbed the car the Desert
Rat" Early this spring some Of the
old scouts cronies dare him to "go
East in the Rat" Its pretty we'll shot
to pieces, but this made no difference
to him.
"We1l just take you up on that"
sail the old scout, land we'll not only
cross the country in the Rat, but we
will bring her back"
Accordingly, on March % last the
Desert Rat YVES fitted with an extra
gasolene tank, a fve-gallon waterbag.
a piece of rope, frying pan and a
single-action Colt, which Buffalo Bill
gave Mr.. Stanley just before he left
the West. The back of the front seat
was hinged, so it would drop down and
form bed; few army blankets
were thrown into the tonneau and
away the Desert Rat went.
On one of those soft spring MORNINGS
last week bunch OF yellow mud rolled
up to the Maxwell Chalmers salesroom
IN Columbus Circle, New York. Harry
j. De Bear, the New York manager.
shifted the fact that there was some
thing interesting under the pile of clay
and rushed out to meet the travellers.
They we're indeed picture to behold
All OF that portion of the bottom of tn,
Rio Grande River which had not adj
hered to the car had stuck to the two
men in the front seat Mr. De Bear
lifted the hood, but he couldn't find the
motor The mud was thicker on the
inside than on the outside
How in the world do you ever run in
that condition ?" he asked
WELL" said the old scout, maybe
she does need bath, but we JUST
thought we would wait until We got
back to the Little Colorado River and
let her soak for few days. We did
stand her in the Mississippi as we
came across, but the water was so
dirty it only made her worse.
You see, we came through without
stopping at garage or a hotel, and
naturally she is bit dusty. Pm proud
to say, though, this towlne has not
been on her front end since we left
home.
we struck trail for Yuma on March
%. There was a cloudburst in the
desert that day, but we did not know it