Imperial Valley press., 1928-02-04
and the jouncing correspondingly

and the jouncing correspondingly
| increased.
Bolt heads and spikes cut the
tires to shreds and on Knights Key
trestle, seven miles long, three tires
were blown out in succession. The
car was standard in every respect
excepting the removal of the left
| front fender to give clearer view
of the edges of ties. No oil or wat
er was added and excepting tires
and one shock absorber strap there
were no requirements or adjust
ments throughout the run.
The Overseas Highway will be
opened for automobile traffic this
winter. Its completion. like that of
the railroad, completes highway
commonly described in Florida as
extending from Hoboken Ferry,
New York City, to the Havana fer
ry in Key West. 1t is another prac
teal step in advancing Florida IS
dream of the Florida playground
expanding into greater play
ground which will include a wide
area in the island d-dotted sea. 1t
also completes the southern end of
the Atlantic Coastal Highway ex-
tending from Calais, Maine, to Key
West.
I The mainland ends at Florida
, City. % miles south of Miami.
Thence for 120 miles the automo-
bile highway curves and winds over
/ keys of every shape and size to
Key West. Lesser gaps between the
keys are covered by 90 bridges vary
I ing from 100 yards to one and one
half miles in length. Eventually
there will be but two long gaps of
nine and twelve miles each which
will be covered by automobile fer
ries.
1t was for this reason that the
railroad right. of-way was selected
| by Kenneth Goodson and Claude No
Ian, so that they might drive the
4 La Sale ear directly into Key West
under its own power, and make it
! the first car 10 so enter the city.
| From Key West it is but 90
mile ferry ride to Havana, Cuba,
and from Cuba it is an even short
er water ride to Santo Domingo or
! Porto Rico. Eventually it is plan
ned that steamers will carry auto
mobiles to all of the isles of Ro-
nance in the great archipelago ex-
! tending from the Bahama Islands,
the most northerly of which is far
! ther north than Miami, to the Bar
! BADGES, the most southerly of which
/ is not far north of Venezuela,
bringing within the reach of the
/ automobile traveller the equatorial
! beauties of tropical skies and seas
and landscapes, tropical fruits and
! strange island peoples.
The two-fold purpose of driving
( the first automobile into Key West
I is to call attention to the opening
! of the railroad and highway facili-
ties for reaching the southern ISL
ands and to exploit the merits of a
standard LaSalle car.
Rails and guard rails on the road
bed are so placed that the wheels
on the west side ran between the
guard rail on that side. On the
east side, the wheels necessarily ran
within four inches of the end of the
ties.
The Overseas Railway runs on
lofty and massive concrete piers
which rise from bed rock to heights
of more than 80 feet above the tides
rushing below. The bouncing Of
the ear over the ties, the difficult
feat of steering with one wheel be-
;.~een the track rails and the other
Within a few inches of the edge,
over thousands of big iron bolts
which are death to tires. and the
fact that if the ear had got out of
control it would have been almost
certain to plunge into the tides of
the Florida Keys, made the test
hazardous and picturesque almost
beyond the imagination Of Jules
1 Verne.