The Delta independent., 1922-12-22
THELMA PURDY WRITES
FROM MAYER, ARIZONA
Mayor. Arizona.
Dec. 10, 1922


Dear friends of Delta County:
Some OF my friends have asked me
to write an account Of my trip, to be
printed in the Delta Independent, so
1 will do 30 this sunny December
morning.
As some OF you know, We left about
seven-thirty ON Wednesday morning.
We ate dinner that day just below
Ridgway. That afternoon we went
over Dallas Divide. Our radiators
were boiling when We reached the
top. That night we camped about
five miles above Placerville. 1t
seemed we were in room that night,
mountains on all sides, It seemed II
you would turn your head, you would
bump your nose on tall mountain
!! We made ninety miles that day, the
most we made in day since we
started.
The next day we went up Ophir
Loup. which was the longest hill we
! had climbed. We stopped twice to
let our radiators cool. That night
we camped about thirty-eight miles
below Dolores. The next morning
we started but only journeyed seven
miles, as our companion tore the
gearing out of his Ford; so we camp.
ed at Bear Creek that night, and until
noon the next day, because they had
to drive into Dolores twenty-five
miles) after repairs. The only peo-
pie living at Bear Creek were Ver-
dun's. l think Mrs. Verdun said she
was a sister of Mrs. Maupin OF Delta
whom some Of you may know.
The next day at noon We started in
a snow storm. We got about two
miles and our companion had to stop
and change his gearing, as he had
put it in backwards. We left him
and went on because we didn't want
to get covered with snow, as there
were so many little ones in our FAM
lily. We camped in four inches of
snow that night, six inches fell all
told while we were there. 1t was
very disagreeable to pitch a tent and
build a camp fire in the snow. We
dreaded very much to start the next
morning as we had a very narrow
bank to go over, and the snow had
started to melt, which made it very
| slippery. We got over the bad roads
anyway. but had hard time OF it as
we had almost run out OF gasoline
and the carburetor was not distribut-
| ing gas to the engine it wouldn't pull
good, SO we pushed it up. We made
it into Dolores that day, which was
Cnndov and
companion came in.
On Tuesday we left Dolores, passed
through Cortez and from then on we
were in the Southern Ute Reservation
The roads were terrible. The wheels
would fall in chuck holes to the axles
sometimes. The roads were a dis
grace to the state OF New Mexico
We drove that day till eight O'Clock
to get to camp where we could get
wood and water. Our car wasn't run.
ming right, our batteries we're very
low, and we drove without lights.
The next day we drove within eigh.
teen miles OF Gallup. Our car went
back on us, we had been running on
two cylinders from noon on, and this
and generator was what ran our bat.
teries down. A man came along in q
car and pulled US nine miles. to
where we could get wood and water
and there we camped without any
tent or camp stove. as our companion
had them on his car. and he had
driven in to Gallup that night. The
wind was blowing furiously across the
desert and our camping that night
wasn't much enjoyed by any OF u.s.
| never said anything about In
dams and their curious modes Of life.
Some Of them live IN wigwams, but
some of their houses look Ike they
had piled some brush up and then
two or three of those big Indians got
inside and rolled over turned around
two or three times till they made a
little moving space on the inside. I
tried to take some snapshots Of the
Indians but didn't get many, as 1
had to very careful, as Indians are
superstitious OF It,
! On Thursday morning we got our
batteries to sparkling enough to get
US into Gallup. When we got there
we found out our companion had cut
one of his tires in two on a glass or
sharp rock. so we were delayed there
till Sunday morning when we started
again and camped at the first station
in Arizona. named Barnes or .To-De-
Tide. The next day we passed thru
Holbrook, Winslow and camped in st.
Joseph. The roads were very rough
and rocky thru there and Tuesday
when We camped, we had broken
front spring. We drove into Flagg-