The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1919-05-08
FORD DRIVER TRAILS
CHALMERS FOR MATCH

Harry T. Dewitt tells a story Of
journey to Portland the first of the
week that was filled with incidents that
bear witness TO the negotiability Of the
scenic highway. that are strong testl-
mony of mans devotion 10 Mllady
Nicotine" that cite a demonstration
Of the durability of a Ford and. with
al. that are fraught with much humor.
Ted Herlihy. representative of the
Portland Chalmers branch, was with
me-" said Mr.. Dewitt, land We were
in hurry..'for We were due in Port
land to greet friends. Welwere about
mile out of town, when Ford, ssOf a
1917 model, as we later learned, thun-
dered up behind US, as We trave led
along at clip of % miles. Th:ns ing
that the lone occupant of the Lizzie
wanted to pass. Herlihv gave our car
more speed, and we pushed right along
ahead of him.
ave took the Ruthton hill grade and
some of the other bad places at rath-
er leisurely clip. and near Viento We
heard horn footing. and there was
that Ford again. but Herhhy again
stepped on the Chalmers and We
plunged on at rate of 80 to 40 miles.
Just on the other side of Wyeth We
slowed down bit and the westbound
Oregon.W ashington limited thundered
down the gorge. But above the sound
of the rumble we heard toot, and
I'm blamed ifNthere wasn't that Ford.
coming down the road like the devil
himself was after it.
I'VE didn't wait though; We took
out in race with the locomotive.
The limited train alorg this part of
the line travels at the rate Of about 81
| miles an hour. We took the straight
of ways at about As miles, and slowed
down on curves to 20 and 25. At times
we were right along the cab and would
yell to the fireman. who was on our
side to tell his engineer to give heI
more speed. We kept up this clip al
the way into Wyeth, where the high
way and rail tracks separate. MOI. die
We slow down until after we haC
passed through Cascade Locks and hat
reached the paved part Of the road
In fact, We beat the train to tn,
Locks.
AT this point Herlihy let me TAX,
the wheel. but first he wanted to SEE
something about the engine and W,
pulled off to siding. Ted remarked
that he didn't think that Ford woul(
bother us. Yet scarcely were tn,
words out of his mouth when the littl,
car buzzed around point. The drive
slowed down and stopped about so fee
in front Of US. He crawled out of tn,
car and approached us. saying, Nv,
been trying to overhaul you fellow
ever since you left Hood River.
want a match. Found didn't have
burned one, and never wanted to smok
SO bad in my life. .
His seriousness led to an immediat
apology as we handed him handful o
matches. and then the humor of tn
situation struck me. | simply had t
howl. AS soon as | was able to gul
down my laughs..'I asked the man no,
on earth he had kept his light car 0
those sharp curves at such speed
He yseemed ito think the feat nothin
unusual. He said he had kept US j
sightopretty well all of the time.
" i was right along running nee
and neck with the observation ca
when you fellows were chasing tn
engine back there he remarked
Then he crawIed into bis Ford, wavin
for US to 30 ahead. He grunted thu
he would ENJOY his smoke and take
easy.
"ln my confusion forgot to tax
his name. I'm sorry for that fello'
is worth remembering.