Imperial Valley press., 1919-12-18
SPECIAL REPORT
ON VALLEY ROADS

The following is a special report on
Imperial valley roads by the Automo-
bile Club of Southern California;
The following report, compiled by one
of the auto club crews, deals with
/ road conditions between 0) Los Angeles
and Mecca t2l Mecca and the Imperial
valley (Sl Imperial valley and Glamis to
Blythe "a Blythe to Mecca.
q Los Angeles to Mecca 152 miles
via Valley boulevard-El Monts. Pomo-
ma Ontaria. Riverside and the Moreno
Grade.
Starting for Beaumont from River
side follow out Eighth street and over
the Box Springs grade to the junction
of the Moreno road just north of March
Field; here turn left and follow the dirt
road over this grade TO Beaumont--in
wet weather use skid chains on this
grade as the rOadbed becomes very slip
perry. Set speedometer at zero in Beau
mont. Rough dirt road through Beau
mont to 1.1-thence pavement to Al
city limits of Banning Fair dirt road
through Banning and on to 1S.9-White
water ranch. Some portions of this
stretch are rough and chucky-then
comes pavement for / miles-then ex.
cellent dirt road for ID miles. The bal
ance of the road into Palm Springs is
oiled macadam.
Good graded dirt road is followed
from Palm Springs for IS miles then
comes oiled road for 90 miles-then >
miles of dirt road-then pavement to a
point 81 miles below Coachella. The
balance of the road into Mecca is rough,
sandy and low-but passable for any
ear.
% Mecca TO Brawley and Imperial
valley points Mecca TO Ell Centre a
miles.
The road from Mecca south along
the Salton Sea has always been a source
OF complaint-eSpecally to motorists
who are familiar with paved boulevards.
is entirely true that the road is very
rough and sandy in many places, but it
is not dangerous or impassable-nor is
it hard on a car or tires if ordinary
care is exercised in driving. At present,
the whole route can be classified as
good as the recent rains packed the
sand and settled the dust south of Nee
ca. This condition should prevail un-
til spring-or until the windy season
sets in.
Construction work is now under way
on this road below Mecca. This work
begins at point 1926 miles from Mecca
and extends for a distance of % miles.
The detour provided alongside this grad
ing and paving work is extremely poor
consisting chiefly of heavy sand, but
any car can get through. as there are
plenty of teams on the ground to as
sist those that get mired in the sand. AT
the southern end of this construction
work pavement feet wide is encoun-
tered and followed for a distance of
III miles, then comes good dirt road
the balance of the way into Brawley.
The roads from Brawley to FL Centre
and in fact all the main roads in the
Valley proper are rough and chucky-
but free from dust, due to the recent
rains.
1t is possible to cross the Mexican
border line from Calexico to Mexicali on
weed days only-no permits issued on
Sundays or holidays.
(3) Ell Centre to Blythe via INLAND
and Glamis-distance 123 miles
Leaving FL Centre go north through
Brawley 10 inland, thence south to
Glamis The entire road from INLAND to
Glamis is bad, passable for any car but
very slow. 1t is sandy. rough, winding
and chucky. and for miles runs against
the grain of many large washes. How