The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1919-06-28
AUTOMOTTVE
SECTION
STAGE COACHING IS.
CHANGED BY AUTOS.
BY STRICKLAND GILLIAN.

No, this is not a compiled article
put together from "reminiscences
given me by people who had recent
ly been West. 1t is by my own self
and from my own recent experience.
Recently I was on a lecture tour
in Utah and other Western States.
One of the lecture dates was at st.
George, Utah, down in the southern
part of that State. the part known
as Dixie. 1t is in the part Of Utah
made famous Unpleasantly by the
Mountain Meadow Massacre of immi-
grants The mountains and the
meadows were still there when l
rode by. but the massacre was hav-
ing an afternoon off. 1t did not
show. The soprano had a sore
throat, or something.
1 drove from Lund. on the San
Pedro-Los Angeles railroad, TO this
place have referred to, in two cars.
Not all the time in two cars, under
stand. 1 could hardly have stood
the strain. One car might have gone
faster than the other and torn my
trousers. went in one car TO Cedar
City, and in the other to St George.
Stupid!
Evidences of Intelligence.
The Western auto stage driver has
begun showing evidences of human
intelligence. He does not drive al
a breakneck speed as once he did.
but usually owns his own machine,
has had a few upkeep bills to pay,
and consequently takes better care
of his car and your neck than was
once his wont He steps on her
caudal appendage occasionally, but
only when he thinks he has to make
a train for q passenger. This trip
in the two automobiles was ninety
two miles. 1t was formerly made in
four days by horse stage. Now, with
a long incoming at Cedar. City, it is
made in eight hours. That is only
one Of the simple little things the
a-few-years-ago NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
automobile has done. for various
places in this country.
The journey from Cedar City to st.
George and back is a wonder. The
foothills are skirted for several miles
Many years ago, when people were
more immodest, the naked hills just
stood there in all their obscene gran
deur, but public sentiment was
against ii, and now they are all dis
creetly skirted. 1t is perfectly pos
sible for an automobile to pant and
skirt at the same time.
One of the thrills of this trip-and
where is the Western stage trip with
out its quota of thrills2-is the jour
ney through Black Canon, where the
red road clings to a narrow ledge
that makes a serpentine trail along
the side Of a mountain, a single mis-
step or misgUide anywhere meaning
a total loss of all the passengers un-
less they have their lives insured
heavily. To cheer the patrons of the
stage line the driver takes a hand OF
the steering wheel now and then to
Ehow you where, about twenty feet
away, a Teller once lost control of his
car and killed quite a number of peo-
pie, including men, women, children,
and everything.
Situation Far Worse.
Coming back toward civilization
from 81. George, the situation was far
worse, because there had been a heavy
rain all through those sage-6ushe1
and mosquitoed and cedared and geese
wooded mountains in the intervening
night, and that red mud Cfrom which
Black Canon gets its name) was a
great deal slipper than any ice you