The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-02-25

camping grounds for the motor tour
lists. At first it was a bit of ground
grudgingly set aside where the tram
sients might pitch their tents and look
after themselves as best they might
concentrated Is Iuch in order to
make it ea@J to supervise and watch
them, as for any other purpose.
Then the cities discovered that mo-
tor tourists spend money They buy,
as they go-groceries. automobile sup
plies, clothing-any one who has ever
made a motor trip Rows that motor
tourists spend money.
That altered the entire aspect of
the case. Motor tourists Immediately
became eminently Desirable as guests
of every city. The concentration
camps" were modified and improved.
They were made beautiful and con-
venient, so that the tourists might
perchance stay more than over night
and spend more money.
Now every city along the recognized
motor routes has its free camp
ground, and the index OF the progress
siveneSs of the city is in the condition
of its camp ground, and the number
of conveniences-some of them lux
uries-which are supplied.
Many Entertained Here.
During the touring season of 1921.
the city of Topeka played host to
1,4e0 parties of motor tourists to-
tai of 400 persons. They were ac
commodated in the camp grounds
which have been established in two
of the city parks-Garfield park in
North Topeka. and Gage park, three
miles west of Kansas avenue.
Here they have found free water,
electrically lighted camps, wooden
floors already in place on which to
pitch their tents, camp ST. YES already
built and free fire wood cut and ready
to burn therein.
The records which have been kept
by the park department of the city
on these tourists show that they have
stayed, on an average, more than
twenty-four hours in the city of To-
peka. The motor touring experts of
California estimate that a party of
five persons in a motor car spend
$40 every day that they are located
in any city. On this basis, the tour
lists who stopped in Topeka left $685.,
900 here, during the season.
Caspar, Wyo., maintains camping
grounds witch are among the most
convenient and commodious in the
United States. Caspar furnishes
hikes the tie with. shower baths and
laundry facilities. And Caspar says
that the tourists left an even million
dollars there last year.
A Good Investment.
"a good automobile camp ground,
convenient, and well furnished IS one
of the best immediate investments,
and one of the best advertisements,
that it is possible for a city to have"
George w. Stansfield. president of the
Victory Highway association, declares.
StansfieN is also president of the
Topeka Cooperative club, and he has
got the Cooperative club to working
on the proposition of more automobile
camp grounds in Topeka.
cnT11r1itfaa Of haeO
appointed, consisting of A. A. Rod
gers, county commissioner; Robert D.
McGiffert city commissioner of
parks; Dean Rogers, L. c. Bailey and
A. V. Lindell, to work on the PROPOSE
ton.
Not only improvement of the pres
ent parks, but the addition of new ia
cihties, is in Stansfield's mind.
Garfield park will take care of the
tourists who come in from the west,
going east, on the Victory Highway
and the Golden Belt" Stansfield SAYS
Gage park is there for the accommo-
dationNof the west bound tourists from
the east, on the Victory Highway, the
Golden Belt, the Midland Trail, and
the Union Pacific Highway. Garfield
park will also look after the traffic
on the Capital Route, and the South
west trail, north and south. But we
are sadly in need of another camp
ground on the south side of the city
on the Free Fair grounds south of
the creek, to be specific.
"a camp ground there would look
after the tourists who are going out
or coming in on the Southwest Trail,
or the Capitol Route, either one"
Establish Provisional Route.
"a provisional routing of the Ma
tional Old Trail from Kansas City to
Topeka, over the Victory Highway,
has already been established. 1T is
possible that the National Old Trail
will follow the southwest trail out
thru Dover and Keene. On the other
hand it may follow straight south on
Topeka boulevard. In either case, a
camp ground would be logically 10
Gated on the south side of the Free
Fair grounds to take care of the tour
lists who follow those three routes"
Stansfield is strong believer in the
providing of free laundry facilities
for the tourists. IF they find a good
place to stop and wash their clothes,
they are going to do it. That means
that they will not only wait while the
clothes are being washed. but that
they will stay in town while they are
drying And while the clothes are
drying, the members of the family
are up town shopping. he says.
1T isn't only the immediate return
you get on the investment. The tour
lists constitute a fraternity among
themselves. 1t is wonderful how in
formation is disseminated and scat
tered among them. This man tells
the next fellow he meets. about the
fine camp ground or the rotten camp
ground, that he encountered in such
and such a city. And by the end of
the tourist season, that city is known
to motorists in every state of the
Union by the camp grounds it sup
plies. Adequate camping facilities.
with conven:ences such as shower
baths and laundries. added to the wa
ter, light and fire places already sup
piled, would be the biggest advertise
ment that Topeka could possibly
have"
Stansfield declares that two factors
first, the completion of much hard
surfaced roadway between Topeka
and Kansas City on the east. and
along the line of the Victory Highway
to the west; second, the marking of
the Victory Highway from San Fran
cisco to Kansas City, with its estab-
lishment on all the highway maps is
sued for 1922 will irorea Ga tho mum,