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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (April 9, 1916)
7 PIONEER JOURNEY IS RETRACED III AUTO npomlneffE X T -T TA . --s?sSla JSJt 4Wf A , Motor w no t .si jf ? N W. A. Cates, of Vancouver, Who Came West 50 Years Ago by Team, Tells Story. 4 ?? : 4U v LAST 'TRIP IN 14 DAYS Poptlandeps fPSSM- l.i 1 t iiT . 3 or - . . AW , . - l:H p i 1 1 Trrf:r . - a 1 4 - s Early-Day, Kesident Finds Many of Old Camping: Grounds Along Uouto Taken From Wichita, Kansas -Do Companion. (The followlnp' entertaining story Is told ' y Mr. Cate. who Is a resident of Van couver. Wash., in hl own words. Fifty years apro. as a- 13-year-old boyt he came across the plains to Oregon on a 64-wagon train in six months. Recently, on the semi centennial of his original trip and with his little dos Tip" as companion, Mr. Oates covered the same ground in a new Reo automobile in 1-1 days.) BY W. A. CATES. In 1865, at the age of 15, I crossed the plains in a wagon train of 64 wagons, with 1Q0 armed men for de fense agajnst Indians, most of the men having families and a stock of pro visions sufficient for a Journey of six months. Then the border settlements north of Kansas City extended only a J lew miles west or the Missouri River. Old Fort Kearney, on th Platte, was a military post out on the frontier. All west of that was a vast expanse of nature's own. - - There was not a human habitation along our route, except overland stage stations, until we reached Montpelier, on Bear River, Idaho. There was a email settlement also at Soda Springs: then Boise City: then the embryo town of Baker. The next towns in their or der to the Columbia River were Union, La Grande and Umatilla. Pendleton did not exist. And -The Dalles well, no man can retnember when The Dalles did not exist. Portland had less than 8000 popula tion, and all of the Peninsula, from the Kast Side to the Columbia, was a dense forest of fir. Trl Taken In Automobile. Fifty years have passed, and the Spring of 1915 found me in Wichita, Kan., preparing for another trip across the plains, in an auto, to celebrate the semi-centennial of that first trip. From the Wichita Auto Company 1 boujfhua new 1914 model Reo the Fifth. I inspected every make of car I could find in Wichita and concluded I could Fee more good points combined with strength in the Reo for such a trip than in any other. I determined that this trip should be as far different as possible from my first trip. I would have no stock to herd, no guard duty- to perform, no campfires to build, no organized com pany oi armed men for protection; in short. I would have no company at all. I. would drive my own car. and . make the entire trip alone, unarmed. I would prove to Mr. Osier that I was not yet ready for chloroform. I left Kingman, Kan., 4o mifes w'est of Wichita, on August 4 at !:30 A. M... and reached Baker, Or., on the 19th at 3:30 P. M., li days, but lost one day's travel to have my tire casings vul canized, making really 14 days. Speedometer IteelKters 1738 Miles. At the front of the Antlers Hotel, Baker, the speedometer registered from Kingman, Kan., 1736 miles. I IT MAY BE TOCIt TCRY KEXT. When meeting fellow motorists in trouble along a rural highway, etop and offer assistance. Your turn may be next, and the parties in trouble later may catch up with you as you fret by the road side. Upom signal from another driver approaching from the rear pull to the right and allow him to pass if he is in more of a hurry than you happen to be. The law may not always compel this step, but courtesy certainly requires it. When you "hog" the road to prevent the man behind from getting by, you are sure to over take a few miles further on an other "hog" who delights in trip ping his fellow motorists and throwing dust in their eyes. burned 119 gallons of gasoline and used three and one-half gallons of lubricant. The cost of gasoline for the trip was l.3i, of lubricant J2.60, vul canizing $i.75. For two days in Southern Idaho T burned a gallon of gasoline in nine to ten miles and could make only six to seven miles an hour. It was dry and hot. deep dust, full of chuckholes and lava rock. My route with the auto was north to Kllsworth. Kan., to reach the Golden Belt Highway, thence west via Colby and Lyman to Colorado Springs, north to Denver and Cheyenne, west on the general line of the Union Pacific Rail road to Granger. Here I left the Lin coln Highway, which I had traveled from Denver, and entered upon what proved to be the hardest traveling on the entire trip. There is not at present a good practical highway from Ogden or Granger to the Columbia River, nence most of the tourists to the Coast are deflected to California. To my mind the most interesting part of the trip is via the Oregon fr-hort Line from Granger to Portland, but until there is a better highway provided I would not advise anyone to take that route. June Bent Time to Tour. The most desirable time to tour the Inter-inountain country is from the middle of June to September. Karlier than that the Spring freshets are too ihigh. and later than September the weather becomes too bleak. After spending two weeks at Baker and La Grande I drove my car on to The Dalles, and as the Columbia High way was not then onened to traffic I sh'.jped by steamer down the Columbia. i-uring this entire trip I did not pay "out a dollar for repairs on the car ex cept for tire punctures. It has now run more than 5000 miles same result. My greatest mileage was 1 1 0. my lowest 71 in a day; did not sleep in a house or put the'Niuto in a garage a night on the trip; ate in restaurants wnen' convenient, when not. had my lunch. I did not cook a meal or build a campfire on the trip. ' 1 slept in the uto. so did mv dog. Tip. I traveled many miles in wagon tracks of 186 and saw many old camp grounds. Xctv State Highway Proposed. "VALK, Or.. April 8. (Special.) Mal neur County has taken the initiative to ward the' construction of a State High way from Ontario via Vale. Jamieson, Brogan, Ironside to Unity and thence down the John Day River to some point on the Columbia Highway. A petition with ' 377 names of business men of Malheur County requesting the County Court to take immediate action has been presented to the court. ' y , . . Ira Fx- -S U -.--K 3 s , w J CS-M - ... : , , : 4 XNt VJX ' , - 1 ' " "1 V HURST PARK in- W I VXi , . x Jl-;,l,,- J ' variably express such 5. V . ' -. & " " w-- , rf, , j- jf A i Interest and admiration ! t Xjf f Sr - f ' " , - - - j- " J that we wlrtli to extend a x ; ' 7 ' ' ' ' " . ' J . Xt ' ' hearty Invitation to ti " w 4 - , , . - " ' f 1 jr " :. --, y i every resident of Tort- r Vr ' ' ,:: ' - , SSX i iiUP.ST today. LAUIlEL" . . C.rx jv - . " 5 - - fit f4Yl J I i , . . : " v J -e I P-al C. Mnrpl.y 1, V X ' r"" " , - I SiUlif,' .it Sales Agent r. - ' ' ' V1' t 270V6 Starlt St. x , ' s'QrE'V v J f Main 1700, A 1513 ' .i llhJWWlittiMB-thM : t' '. ' -! V '-Vis. . y ..... ..-... ,.t T:V .F jtW i N B ft-LaBriji,iwipi xjwvyfec " m0r . S-T" ' J I (PI l1 Pfl PJ -JfT t5 ' P a rj fTT f3 F71 M s IN'CE the year 1907 Oliver K. Jef fery, president of the Oregon Home Builders and director of the floral parade for the coming Rose Festival, has owned a total of r.ine automobiles, each of which has been driven a con siderable distance in the pursuit of AUTO CLUB ELECTS Directors Are Named by Unan imous Vote. ANNUAL REPORT RENDERED Flourishing Condition of Organiza tion Shown Co-operation .With Sheriff in Policing High way Is "Urged. Reports of officers and committee chairmen, read at the annual meeting of the Portland Automobile Club in the Oregon building last Wednesday night, siiowed that the club was in prosperous condition, having a net worth of $34, 331.10, being $1587.50 better off than it was last year and having 604 members, 44 of whom hold life memberships. C. F. Wright, chairman of the mem bership committee, reported that 1'45 new members were added during the past year, and that the committee hopes within the coming year to reach the membership limit of 1000 members and the life membership limit of 50. During the course of the mee'ting various suggestions were made on the necessity of assisting traffic officers IN NEW AUTO OREGON PIONEER TRAVERSES PLAINS CROSSED HALF CENTURY BEFORE IN OX-TRAIN. -x T I. 3 x W. A. Cates, of Vnnconver, AYash., stnd His Dog, Tip, Who Rode in Reo Car Kron Hvichita, Ivan., to Portland. isct.-i s7jr r j ill i iii tii in -l r-i i. business ana . venicie of recreation. His first car was a Mitchell, then he bought a Stoddard-Dayton and then two -Stearns" cars, the last one being of the 90-horsepower type, said to have been the highest powered touring car ever sent into this district. During the past few years Mr. Jeffery has had in controlling traffic along the Colum bia River Highway and congested county roads where the county patrol men have had extreme difficulty re cently in preventing speeding. Co-operation Is I rged. C. C. Overmire. president of the club, urged the importance of co-operating in every way with the Sheriff in the regulation of traffic and policing the highways, and Public Safety Commis sioner Coffin urged the same point. It is possible that 100 members of the Au tomobile Club will be designated soon to assist the county officers, particu larly on days tsuch as last Sunday, when perhaps 4000 machines were bunched xon the Columbia Highway. Mr.- Coffin reported that the special traffic officers now in power were not entirely successful in accomplishing their avowed purposes. President Overmire reported that he knew of seven automobile parties who were coming to the Pacific Coast this year from Minneapolis as a direct re sult of the showing of the Berger-Jone3 color pictures in Minneapolis recently. Directors Are Xnmed. By unanimous vote of the club mem bers present the directors selected by the nominating committee were elected. Accordingly, W. J. Clemens, Charles F. Wright and W. B. Fechheimer succeed themselves, and F. A. Nitchey succeeds A. L. Fish. It is probable that the ex ecutive officers of the club will- be chosen at a meeting of the directors this week. The report of the club treasurer, Walter M. Cook, shows receipts of $21, 605.88 and disbursements of $21,465.49. The secretary's report shows the fol lowing assets and liabilities; A ssets ' R.?al estate ... Building- Water system . Pumping plant lee plant Linen .$20,000.00 . lu.r.no.no 8011.00 aon.oti Tott.oo 1100.00 HE 0 -SCO,-. i -5 v r uuce Cadillacs ana a Pierce-Arrow and he still maintains one car of each of these makes. Mr. Jeffery's hobby used to be win ning the first prize for entering the prettiest decorated automobile in the Rose Festival floral parade, but recent ly he has been an official of this Crockery and glassware Silverware Clubhouse furniture .... Tools and implements Office furniture Automobile Kitchen equipment Accounts receivable Unpaid dues ............ .Tntal Liabilities . 31. TOO Kill.CMI . N'l.OO lll-Ti.ml nso.dO 1.07.T7." 2.HS1.00 . .. .$ii,uai.T BiUs payable $ B.722.00 Accounta payable ................ 1.S7S.05 Total .$ 7,i Or, . 34,331.10 Net worth April 1, 1910 Automobile Show at Tncoina Planned A number of Tacoma's representa tive automobile dealers met with Pres- dent'F. G. Fisher and directors of the Tacoma Speedway Association recently to discuss the holding of an automo bile exhibit at the speedway in con nection with the Memorial day racing events. . The sentiment of the dealers was unanimous in favor of the show. The association plans to give the deal ers all the space they want free of charge, let them fix up their booths as they desire and exhibit their car mod els on the track. AUTO THEFTS INCREASE CITIZENS OF SPOKANE HOLD BIG MASS MEETING. Organ! mat Ion In Formed to Fnt a Halt to Stealing: Cara and to Deal , Harshly With Offenders. "Spokane is suffering at present at the hands of auto thieves, and the con dition is so serious that more than 2000 citizens of that city held a mass meeting last week to protest against the lukewarm way in which prosecu tions were made and to offer sugges tions" to put a stop to' robberies of this character," says Lawrence G. Nicolai. Pacific Coast advertising manager for Overland and Willys-Knight motorcars. who arrived in Portland late last week and is now a visitor at the local branch of J. XV. Leavitt & Co. "The Spokane newspapers are waging strong' battle in behalf of motorists. The press got behind the mass-meeting idea, and every city official who had any jurisdiction over cases of this na ture was invited to attend - and talk things over. "Prosecutor Cleland. who was one of the speakers at the meeting, said that he was willing to enforce the law, but the people didn't seem to want it en forced and generally dropped the case as soon as their property was returned and before a conviction was made. At this meeting it was decided to organize a protective organization, a pledge being circulated, the signing of which was a promise to stand behind the po lice and City Prosecutor in helping to punish auto thieves. "One reason why there are not more convictions in Spokane (and this is probably true in Portland) is due to the fact that boys are the thieves in the majority of cases and they are per mitted to beg off when brought to the bar of justice. Several ministers at tending the meeting offered a plea for leniency in the case of minors, but the number of stolen machines attributed to them is reaching such huge propor tions that a special law and punishment is being planned to cover this and to put fear into the hearts of mischievous youngsters. "'They used to hang men for steal ing $100 horses in this section of the country and now they steal autos worth $500 and up and nothing is done about it,' said one speaker. "Mayor Fleming suggested a protec tive association similar to those pro tecting, banks, which would have a brass plate on autos of members set ting forth the fact that the car was protected and that thieves would be prosecuted. This could be adopted in Portland and would probably do much to stop the theft of machines. It could also be worked out in an inter-city way." - parade and has stepped aside to gi other Portlanders a chance. Mr. Jeffery is one of those rare mo torists who finds delight in touring over any gld sort of road and has mo tored over all the highways and by ways of the state. His favorite trip is the famous Crater Lake run. NEW .; AGENCY 15 TAKEN WRIGHT TRICK ATTACHMENTS TO DE HANDLED HERE. W. C. Garbe, of Oregon Motor Car Company, Announces Addition of BnslncM Here. XV. C. Garbe, secretary-treasurer of the. Oregon Motor Car Company, Stude baker ' retail dealers, announced last week that his company has taken the Oregon state agency for the Wright truck attachment and that he expects to make a great feature of the newly introduced line. The Wright Company, which is a Se- lattle concern, says its new model "C" is final. It is the original manufac turer of a particular type of attach ment for changing Ford and Maxwell cars into one-ton trucks. The company has decided that this attachment is a permanent article of increasing demand, and consequently has discontinued its first system of building trucks, and is now manufac turing them; that is, the material is purchased in large quantities and they are manufacturing in lots instead of one at a time, and made up complete to jigs, which make all parts inter changeable. One of the Improvements in the new design is the use of Timken bearings, of an extremely large size, which was approved as to their design by the Tim ken Roller-Bearing Company of Can ton, Ohio, for a load of 2200 pounds per wheel, which is more than would be necessary even in case of extreme overload conditions. Shock Absorber Ford Cars "Recognized as the Best" Soft and Rfliont action dmtnward THREE EXCLUSIVE EVENTED FEATURES EASY STEERING SAFE DRIVING 100,000 Ford owners testify to tlie superiority of the HASSLE It. $15 Per set of Four Fully Guaranteed Hundreds of corporations, firms and municipalities are using five to fifty sets each on their entire fleets of Ford cars. Ask For a Demonstration PACIFIC HIGHWAY OARAGE. INC. Twelfth and Main Stsv, Oregon City; Or. Dintribatora In Orejcron for CiatMOp. Columbia, tills, nook, WsNhiiigtou, Multno mah, Yamhill and Clack. ma Conntiea. Special Proposition ' to Dealer. j 1 ' jfH?V Sloponlover I lsgTV ..Vsy J prevent; upthny iff I tmmMtm j I. -..1 t a Mo st Wonderful low price Gar on the American market i Here Roadster or The Pacific KisselKar Branch trlscTe Dl-trlb-t.. T-w-r ""ihird Street. Temporary ii-Jrra nrsnnGODO B'B1D lie - Indian Savage" on tire high quality and a low price maxi mum service and an easy riding car. Savage Tires and Gra- finite 1 ubes areashon est as 1 he Indian Sign. TIRES Call on our employed distributor and save the middleman's prof it. Mail or phone your order if more convenient. Ask for Tire Book The Savage Tire Co. Factory Distributor JOHN A. WALTERS CO. (Inc.) ' Broadway at Ankeny St. Portland r 4 Here 5-Pass. Tourinj Min Kll. San Krancltjco, Onklantl. I,ob Angeles, Snn Blego, 1'jiMadcna. or tube stands for jtf--.-.-::!y rerT 1)41 WWrWIri?-. yt . . -,- JiW ijW"Pl