Imperial Valley press., 1919-03-01
MR. MOTORIST,
HERE'S HOW so.
CAL. ROADS ARE

Coast Route--This route still re-
mails in excellent condition despite
the recent light rains, and offers no
difficulty in getting through. There
/ are sixty miles of dirt road in all on
the Coast route, the greater portion
of which can be classified as excel
iant-less than ten miles, in stretches
consisting of small detours around
bridge and road construction work
that call for slow driving. From
Los Angeles north to Los CruGes
via Ventura and Santa Barbara the
pavement is broken only by two
small detours-each less than one
half mile in length and located be-
tween Santa Barbara and Gaviota
station. From Los Cruises to Zaca
station excellent graded dirt road;
this stretch is just as good as pave
ment and cannot be badly affected
! oy rains. From Zaca pavement ex-
tends north to the Los Berros bridge
north of Nipomo, except for
stretch of/oiled road 3h miles long
between Orcutt and Divide. From
me Los Berros bridge fair dirt road
,nto Arroyo Grande. Thence pave
ment north to the Monterey county
line with the exception of dirt road
through the city limits of San Luis
')blspo and Paso Robes. From the
Monterey county line to a point 7.2
miles north, dirt road-thence pave
':ent to 8.2 miles north of Bradley;
thence two-tenths miles dirt road.
and pavement to the San Ardo
5rldge. 1t is still advisable to turn
left at this bridge and take the Up
Fer River road from San Lucas. This
IS good dirt road. Pavement is
complete from San Lucas to the
southern limits of King City. Ac-
cording to our speedometer reading,
The dirt road extends from the south
city limits of King City to point
3.6 miles north, thence via Salinas
and San Jose to San Francisco.
Inland Route--With the elimina-
tion of all detours on the ridge, the
Inland route is in excellent condi-
ton. There remains only eighteen
miles of dirt road on the ridge, the
greater portion of which is in ex-
cellent shape. In fact, the entire
Ridge route 81 now in better condi-
ton than it ever has been On Feb
ruary 26 some snow fell on the Ridge
..ear the summit, but nto enough to
affect the road. In rainy weather,
use chains in driving over the Ridge.
The Bouquet Canyon route from
saugus to Elizabeth Lake, thence via
Fairmont to Bailey's ranch, is also
II fair condition, although muddy
n few places in the canyon. Gangs
Il men and teams were busy the
&c H.
conditions between Elizabeth Lake
and Bailey's ranch. From the Kern
-3unty line rough oiled road to the
loot CT the Grapevine grade, thence
pavement north to Bakersfield and
Uelano; from the latter point two
routes, both paved, can be followed
,:orth-one via Upton and Tulare and
the other via Porterville to Visalia
from Visalia north to San Fran
SEQ pavement is complete.
Los Angeles to Imperial Valley
via San Diego-From San Diego to
Campo there are two routes-one via
the Potrero grade and the other via
Descanso. The former route is re-
ported to be in better condition. Use
chains on the latter. The Descanso
route was somewhat affected by the
recent rains and is muddy in the
vicinity of Buckman Springs. From
Campo east over the Mountain
%prngs grade the road is in fair
shape-paved from the foot Of that
grade into Ell Centro.. 'o'
Los Angeles to Phoenix-Mecca-
,blythe route still the best route to
'rse. @f'
National Old Trails Road-It will
be at least March Is or April be-
.icre conditions in northern Arizona
and through portions of New Mexico
will permit comfortable driving over
the Santa Fe trail. At present the
road is absolutely blocked with snow,
according to letter received from
Babbitt Bros. garage in Flagstaff,
between Ash Fork and HolbrooR, in
a number Of place. Until conditions
.lo improve in northern Arizona it
will be necessary for all cross-coun-
,ry travel to use the southern route
via Phoenix, Lordsburg and Deming
20 Sccorro, N. M. From the latter
point it is possible to use the Santa
Fe trail east to Kansas City.