The Sunday Oregonian., July 13, 1913, SECTION FOUR, Page 6, Image 50

i
G
THE SUNDAY OREGO XI AX, PORTLAND, JULY 13, 1913.
L
TACOMA AUTOMOBILE RACES MEET
DRAWS OUT A HEAVY ATTENDANCE
Small Cars Show Well Several Remarkable Performances by Individual Drivers Are RecordedMeet Suggested
for Portland During Festival
TOGETHER ON
ROAD
Army of 5000 Michiganders
Build 250 Miles of High
way in One Day.
"35-Slx" FlT-Passcicec Torpedo 4J0Q
WOMEN ALSO LEND A HAND
B1GHAND PQQRTQI
Aged Men ami Lisping Children
Help Chang Corduroy Route
Through Swamp From Impass
able Ijane to Thoroughfare.
Two hundred and fifty miles of good
: road built In a day Is the record made
by 6000 Michigan men from many walks
of life. Women of the northwestern
part of the state, through which the
j new highway runs, also are entitled to
J much credit, for, while the men worked
on their road, the women cooked for
S "the crews.' Following: Is the story of
. tne work as puoiished in the washing
ton Herald.
"As a result of the labors of these
Michigan people, on Monday, May 9,
there now Is an unbroken line of grav-
4 eled highway for over 260 miles from
; Bay City, to Mackinaw City, where two
': days before there was mile after mile
; of corduroy road, sand holes, and
s swamp lands.
"MayoTs of cities and towns, state of
' flclals, millionaire lumbermen and mill
men slaved In the hot sun, hewing with
' picks and axes at corduroy road slabs,
throwing stones, Bhovellng sand and
gravel, leading plow horses or perform-
Jng other of the innumerable tasks
which form part of the work of road
, building. In this picture you have an
Idea of the spirit which animates
Northeastern Michigan.
Early Arrival Noted.
'. "T. O. Daf oe. Mayor of Alpena, went
r without his breakfast that he might
board the car to which as leader of his
'gang' he had been assigned for the day.
"Willlab A. Comstock, regent of the
TJniverslty of Michigan, left his home
at 4 o'clock in the -morning. The
Fletchers, Gilchrists, Rlchardsons,
Johnsons, Churchllls all names which
stand for millions in wealth and vastly
1 more in prominence and prestige in
Northeastern Michigan had family
V representation of at least one and in
most cases more on the bee. They
"I sweated side by side with the lowliest
- farmers and laborers of the district.
"They did what seemed well-nigh im-
possible In the big swamp In Pulaski
p, township, Presque Isle County, Just over
;v the Alpena line. Corduroy which was
i: laid a generation or more ago, and had
.: long been the terror of motorists, has
i? been removed or so completely covered
't with a foundation of stones and earth,
-.. graveled on top, that it will never again
Jar the backbone of the good-roads en--5
thuslast.
;? "It Is difficult to tell the story of the
Tf. Huron highway bee day in a single
breath. It's too big. Nothing has yet
' been said of the women who walked
: over country roads, all the family
horses being at work on the bee, to
prepare meals for their men at noon
,'r time and serve them on large tables or
carry the food to them as they worked.
f . All Take Pnrt.
"Old men who could hardly have 11ft
ed' a shovelful doddered at piles of
gravel or led horses pulling plows.
They had to take part in the enthusi
asm of the day in some way. Little
, boys and little girls who -couldn't talk
' plainly, some couldn't speak English at
all, followed their daddies and big
. brothers with pails of water. The
water-carriers were as numerous as
" the workers in some cases.
"Men of Northeastern Michigan that
" night plodded their " weary ways home
f'and sank to contented repose on bunks
of high and low degree, thoroughly sat
lsfled with the accomplishment of what
" they had been dreaming of for months.
"The importance of this Michigan
;'; spirit to the automobile world cannot
; be magnified. It is the Individual dem
' f onstratlon of the age of progress which
. hes prompted scores of the biggest mo-
tor car manufacturers in the country
'. to-donate a share of their earnings to
; the fund for building a cross-continent
rj "highway that will be unequaled even
in Europe, the "home of good roads.'
T - "With a display of even a part of
this spirit in other states, our country
t would soon be criss-crossed wiffi a net
;. work of highways that would bring un--,
bounded Joy to those fortunate enough
; to possess an automobile, increased
;. prosperity of the 'backbone of our Na
i tion,' the farmer, and lower cost of liv
): ing and better conditions to every cit-'-
iaen."
What the Row's About
LA.WSON, who sells Studebakers,
seems to have all ordinary Jonah
j men beaten off the face of the earth.
'He lost a $65 diamond ring not very
.long ago and quite a small bunch of
simoleons with It. A short while af
terwards he lost his watch and then
'later still lost his watch fob. One of
the first things he did was to go and
have another one made, one of those
gold initial -watch fobs that cost a fair
amount of cash, and the humorous side
of it, from the other fellow's point of
view. Is that no sooner had he paid
tor the darned thing than an Indi
vidual found his old one and he had to
"slip him a buck" to get it back.
Just as an Instance of the fact that
there are some automobile men making
good money, V. A. Wildrick, the Mich
igan Wolverine, owns a lot. (No need
for all you others to get jealous.) But
the trouble he's having with this lot is
substantial, in fact It's weighing on
his mind. One of the numerous offi
cials sent him word the other day that
It must be mowed and generally put in
good condition. Wildrick wanted it to
grow out of sight so, that no one
should know how valuable It was. He
offered the Job to his salesmen at a
high rate of pay, but they all turned it
own as not being so advantageous as
colling Michigans; so then he had the
nerve to offer it to the automobile ed
itor as a nice opportunity for-a Sum
mer vacation. Recent reports indi
cate that he has followed the advice
of Jeter Fogg and that his son's doing
v Mann and Jagger are now in to
gether at the Nob Hill garage, and
when their new" place is ready, in addi
tion to present quarters, they will have
the biggest garage in the city. They
also have a line line of Stuff, Stutz,
American and Henderson pleasure cars
and the Llppard Stewart truck. Some
combination! The Moore boys are
lucky to have obtained Mann's old
quarters up on Twenty-third street,
just oft Washington, as they will have
plenty of space to show off the lines of
the Stearns-Knight.
McCarthy, more commonly known as
Mac, has got the Paige headquarters
fitted up in fine shape. The offices are
extensive and at the back the walls
are tastefully paneled in mahogany
finish, with mahogany furniture and
with a Paige car in the window. As
Mac says, "What more can you want?"
lift Jvwi wtA )s :L X
I . - -i'r - ii
I
I r . 1 )oe c??7,esc
l!Mfi:' ' te smut WSii t
1 1 TS'm'sJiWA
BY WALTER GIFPABD.
ALL, the world and his wife seemed
to be at Tacoma during the races
lust WaaV Th.t nl.,-. t - nnA
.. a. - 1. uiuun ivco a u w vj
for thought, especially when one stops
to consider how much the Carnival As
sociation literally raked in in the way
of pront. . On tne first day's racing
alone, over $20,000 went into the cof
fers, and that at a conservative esti
mate, for all the returns were not In on
tbe credit side.
Had there been a fine day on Sunday
and less confusion, it is difficult to pre
dict just what the crowd's proportions
would nave reached. People from Seat
tle had come over In shoals, by boat, by
train, by car, people had come In from
nearby villages and hamlets, and from
towns and cities along the railroads,
while one met crowds from Portland.
The trouble lay In the fact that two
factors were at work on the question of
holding the races or postponing them.
One was the Carnival Association, the
other the racing committee. Between
them confusion became worse con
founded because the races were flrsit
called off, then postponed, and then at
3:30 a half-hearted and hurried at
tempt was made to get all the drivers
together for a start at 4 o'clock.
Monday Crowd Numbers 15.0OO.
The-crowd had been waiting patiently
in the rain and by the time some of the
machines went round the course to test
it out there must have - been 12,000
present. When the races were declared
off, large numbers went back to the
station and back to their home tow"n
because Monday was not a holiday. Yet
In spite of all these drawbacks the
crowd on Monday numbered at least
15,000. All of which goes to prove how
the man in the streets likes these con
tests between big racing cars.
, This again started all the Portland
people who were there saying "Why
not something like this In Portland
during the Rose Festival?" '. There
would seem to be but little doubt that
good well known racing men are avail
able at this time of the year on the
Paciflo Coast, for the prizes at the Ta
coma Festival were not large, the high
est being some $3000. Increase that to
$5000 and make the second, third and
fourth prizes in proportion and the
probability is that there would be as
many good drivers assemble as would
gather at any other season of the year
in larger cities for much larger prizes.
They like the racing on the cooler
Coast. What Is more Portland is right
In line for them as they come West,
while it should not be difficult to find
a 3 -mile course as good as the Taco
ma one, which was nothing out of the
way.
At any rate it is offered as a sug
gestion to the powers that be for their
careful consideration.
Little Can Kindly Treated.
TUiere were . all kinds of human
touches about the races. - Perhaps the
best of all was the hearty treatment
given the drivers of the Wttle cars. The
blase race-goer Is so apt "to laugh at
the steady If somewhat monotonous
plodding along of ' the smaller cars
which rely on absence- of time wasted
through tire changes and engine
trouble, gasoline and oil renewals and
such like to bring them well up in the
races. Even the big drivers commented
on the enthusiasm which greeted .tbe
appearance of the midgets.
In the Inter-City race, there was the
little Buick, going round after . round
without stopping, never showing any
extraordinary burst of speed, yet al
ways on the Job. Its entry. In itself.
Is a great tribute to the enthusiasm
of the inhabitants of the little place
Elraa, Wash. : Practically the entire
village was up to see the car perform,
and its entry had only been secured
through a number' of the . Inhabitants
sharing to defray the entry cost ,eif
$100. On both seats was painted tbe
word "Elma," and each time it made
the turn there was an outburst r-f
cheering. . . .
Dog Canaei Loss of Place.
Then there was the performance of
the Hudson and the Studebaker. The
former was a real veteran, having been
used as a delivery wagon for the laiit
two years. Th6 Studebaker, which lout
third place through running over a
dog, also met with great sympathy
when finally towed back with a broken
axle.
When Hughie Hughes, dean of rac
ers, "burned out his bearings on Satut
day, he made no attempt to . get the
car In shape for the following day,
but as soon -as the races were .post
poned until Monday he set to work to
repair his machine, and Brawley, the
Seattle agent for the - Stutz, did the
generous thing in stripping down a
Stutz Bearcat so that he could use any
parts he wanted. Hughes worked all
night and arrived on the course about
three minutes before the race was due
to start.
. Then there was Endicott. ' who
had
a little Endicott SDecial of his
He lost the whole top of his radiator
in the Potlatch, and had to stop for
water every three times round, but this
he repaired, and the next day the car
ran most consistently. Endicott will
have two similar machines, only " of
larger bore, next year and says they
will open people's eyes.
Kennedy Performs Well.
Another good performance -was that
of Ed Kennedy, one of Moross' drivers,
1 , iruru'"'a meet, out aia
not drive here. Moross, who had pro--
viousy orrered hie Kaeton parts to
flushes to use If he liked, loaned Ken
nedy to the National driver, Taaf r,
whose shoulder had been too badly
sprained In the accident on Sunday to
permit him to drive. The National was
only a patched up car, her front wheels
badly out of alignment and one or two
things about her loose. She was
flagged three times for repairs, and It
was hard work to keep her on a
straight course, but Kennedy never
gave up, and took the turns with reck
less' abandon.
Much already has been written of
Cooper's steady consistent driving and.
me ciocKwork Tunning or the Stutz,
but there is one little thing which
shows the spirit of the big men.
KO.VD CONDITIONS EN ROUTE TO
TACOMA.
Until recently motorists, have been
advised to -ship to Kalamo, but all
accounts now agree that this Is un
necessary, and that the roads are in
a good to a very fair condition.
Rain soon makes them muddy, with
pools of water, but the recent fine,
weather has dried them up until now
what trouble there t Is arises more
from dust than anything else. In
places they are bumpy, especially be
tween this city and Kelso.
It -would seem that the best way
to take the trip is to cross to Van
couver, leaving Portland soon after
mid-day and take it easy to Kelso,
patting up there for the night. From
Portland via La Center, where one
turns to the left. Woodland is a 31 H
milea route, and from Woodland to .
Kelso la another 22 H miles., the road
following the railway a great deal
of the time.
By starting out the following
morning early the trip to Tacoma can
be made comfortably, as Chehalls,
46.5 miles away, can be reached In
time for an early lunch, and the trip
from there to Tacoma made com- -f
ortably afterward, the distance from ,
Chehalis being 63 miles. Do not
take the left-hand road at Tenlno,
which leads to Olympla, but con
tinue on to the right toward Yelm,
as the road has been Improved re
cently and ' follows the railroad
practically all the way In. It Is also
considerably shorter.
Tetzlaff, out of both races through
his furious driving, was seated non
chalantly on a gas tank, praising his
driving, while Bob Burman, after the
races were all over, said "Earl deserved
to win, for he drove a great race all
through." What's more Bob meant
every word he said, and when com
miserated with on his own bad luck.
Just smiled a "That's all In the luck of
the game. Some day soon we'll go
through without trouble.".
Bnrman'-a Work Praised. '
Burman's performance of running
over 110 miles on three cylinders for
second place in the Potlatch was, in
Starter Herbert Wilson's opinion, the
best performance of all, and Wilson
should know as he Is an old driver
with a good record behind him, and an
unusually capable starter. Benedict,
who acted -a? Burman's mechanician,
had his eyebrows singed by the fire
of the car and the boy was almost in
tearSf a they drove back to the hotel.
Tony' Janette, who drove the other big
Benz, was as phlegmatic as usual and
had but little to say when he went out.
Jim Parsons, who won the Inter-city
race, set up nearly as good time as the
more experienced men in the big races
and this was his first attempt on a
race course. He seemed guilty of an
error of judgment when with only two
laps to go and a lead of two laps over
another Stutz he let the car right out
Just to pass it on the curve.
When I asked him why he did this,
he Just smiled and then remarked "It's
a physical impossibility for me not to
pass a car when it's just ahead of me.
"Yet that's Just what Parsons will
have to learn for in a big race some
pacemaker will just go on egging him
on until he goes out through over
heating. From a standpoint of parts, the races
were triumphs for the Wisconsin motor
and Firestone tires. There were Wis
consin motors in the first and , second
cars in-the first two races and in the
first and third in the big race. The
Keeton and the Tulsa were both fitted
with these engines, while the other
three were the Stutz. There were re
markably few tire changes and as the
majority were fitted with Firestones
this must be taken as a great tribute
to their lasting powers.
PEERXJGSS TRUCK SPREAD'S OIL
Iios Angeles County Trick Turned
' - ; With One Man.
To spread oil on roads for a distance
of 20 miles or more from the starting
point and to spread it at a heat of 200
degrees or more would seem to be an
extremely difficult undertaking, requir
ing a lot of apparatus and a lot of men.
But by the lngeniuos use of a Peerless
five-ton truck the Road Commissioners
of Los Angeles County accomplished
it with one man and one rjieca of
mecnanism.
The truck is fitted with a 1000-gaIlon
oil tank, and this tank is covered with
a coating of asbetos 2 inches thick to
retain heat. Oil is run into the tank
at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Thanks to
the asbestos protection and the speed
the truck can make, it .is possible to
make a trip of 35 to 40 miles before the
oil gets too cold for use. -
Air pressure of 60 pounds to the
square inch is maintained inside the
tank by an air compressor, operated by
the same mechanism used to actuate
a dumping body for sand and gravel.
Heat from the motor exhaust is used
to. keep the oil spreader warm so that
the stuff will not thicken and clog up
there. The truck travels 50 miles a
day and the driver says that In 2000
miles only two Involuntary stops were
necessary on the road, both caused by
dirty gasoline stopping up the fuel llne.i
5
13
RUN BY NOVICE FINE
New Car Taken From San
Francisco to Butte.
NO EXPERIENCE IS HAD
Arthur S. Tullock Says Entire Se
cret of Driving Auto Is to Get
In and Drive Trip Is Made
Without Mishap.
Fbr the benefit of those, who,
through lack of experience, may be de
terred rrom owning and driving- motor
cars; Arthur S. Tullock, of Butte, Mont..
comes forward with a unique experi
ence. "The way to learn driving; and car
ing: for an automobile Is to drive one
and take care of it," maintains Mr. Tul
lock, who has liixr niirad n 1.1. .
a. novice trip which is probably unique
... iiiuLuuij aunais.
Mr. Tullock was In San Francisco
wnen he decided to buy a Studebaker
car and drive it overland to his home.
Up to that time he had never sat at
the wheel of a motor car. With
TUT
Victor in Every Race at Tacoma
Montamara July 4, 5 and 6
This famous car is now sold by THE NOB HILL GARAGE &
AUTO CO., 690-706 Kearney Street, who are also agents for the
popular AMERICAN UNDERSLUNG (1914 models now here
and the LIPPARD-STEWART COMMERCIAL CAR.
These Three Are Always the Win
ners in Their Respective Classes
With our added facilities of 20,000 square feet of space we are
in a position to render the best service in the city. Why not get
the best? It is the most satisfying in the end?
Nob Hill
Phones: Main 299, A 2411
THE PEERLESS
AND THE MICROSCOPE
PROPER heat treatment will make a fiveinch
plate of armor strong enough to resist an impact
that would penetrate an untreated plate of the same
steel a foot thick. Both plates look alike except
under the microscope.
The microscope fa, the aai ety rsre In the Peerteu factory.
Every vitaf, steel part of a Peerless Is erven the precise heat
treatment that will develop Its latent power and raise it to the
v highest specific efficiency in hardness toughness, strength or
elasticity. The composition of stec! is important but heat treat
ment is vital. In the Peerless factory it excels the resources of.
tbe universities and of the best steel mills. It establishes the
Peerless Sixes as the safest cars in the. world.
Pwrfus Nw Modd. va .atthlt In thru sewera B81a." S-Sls satf "O-Stx.' nan
ear or mature! oVtaU. EUctHc StarKns and I ichttna. lirvilhl atrtne; W. Spctllc hut
treatment ol all steel parte. Riy;raua eel ret ion 4nd tnapecttoat at all materials. Maatmura aeitv
camian and beauty. Seven W trpea. Pffcea $-4300 a S7200.
H. L. KEATS AUTO COMPANY
Broadway and Bvirnaida Street
Deal en alee, ka fsarlaes Trucks
friend whose motoring; experience was
similarly limited, he started, taking:
along a mechanic and a Studebaker In
struction Book for purposes of Insur
ance. But he found the operation of
the car- so smooth and the work of
driving- so simple that the helper was
sent back after the first day's run.
Over three mountain, ranges to Los
Angeles a more direct course was im
practical on account of the snow In the
mountains ran the route;- then across
the Mojave desert, the car carrying- re
serve supplies of water and gasoline.
From Big Pine, Cal., to Goldfleld,
Nov., the road -Jumps a matter of 7000
feet, but novice Tullock never paused.
Between Ooldfield and Ely but one
other car was met, another Studebaker
which, like Tullock's, was merrily
bowling:' along the mountainous, desert
road.
Crossing the Continental Divide. Tul
lock and his comrade had to shovel
their way for hundreds of feet through
deep snow, but they kept coming. It
rained and snowed alternately, but they
put on chains and plugged through.
A party or Tullock's friends motored
THE MIGHTY MICHIGAN
The car that answers every demand you can make
of an automobile.
Michigan Auto & Buggy Co.
Northwestern Branch
Phones: Main 3966, A 5626 16th and Alder
Garag
e &
out from Butte to meet him. He came
sliding along through the alkali mud
as debonair a tourist as one could ever
hope to see, with every detail of his
car in perfect order, after a journey
which many an experienced motorist
would view with apprehension, even
with the most favorable road conditions.
This Practice Dangerous.
Though the habit of starting a motor
with a sudden roar and then rushing
back to the throttle lever to alow down
is quite common. It Is by no means
good practice, either from the point of
view of the motor itself or of the per
sons who are forced to listen to the
racket. If the motor refuses to start
easily with the throttle only partly open,
the difficulty can be surmounted by
giving the crank a turn or two with the
switched off and then .cranking with
the throttle partly closed and the ig
nition on. The idea is simply that the
first turn fills the cylinders with good,
rich gas and leaves the motor ready to
start readily when the spark passes the
gap.
WIN
Auto - Co.
690-706 Kearney Street