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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 1918)
THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAN, PORTLAND, DECE3IBER 1, 1918. TRUCKS BIG FACTOR IN SUGAR INDUSTRY Jhree Whites Enact Role in Conservation Work. FLEET HELPS FEED ALLIES Freight-Haulers Perform Tasks of 10 Horses, SO Wagons an4 40 Able-Bodied Men. BT C. A. URQUHART. Pactrie Cout Miniftr or the Whit Com- Th work of 1S4 farm horses, and of it freighting wagons, and of 40 tenlnga on drums which are operated by means of hand wheels at the back of the driver's seat. Thus each of the sides Is In the nature of two grates opening outward for the release of the load. The unloading- process Is simplic ity Itself. The gate locks are unfas tened, the gates swing out, and by gravity the beets drop on either side into hopper bins whence endless belt conveyors lift them to a chute down which tbey pass Into the freight cars of the railroad. One man only is all the help required to operate the truck and trailer. The routine of on of these trucks Is as follows: ' A day's work for a Whits truck, as cut out for the vehicle by the equip mcnt now, and hitherto in use. Is to de liver at the railroad what three 75 horsepower tractors and three eight horse wagon trams haul to the clean ing station. The three White trucks and trailers with three men are de pended on to deliver at the railroad 360 tons to 400 tons of beets daily. In so Joins: thest trucks release for pro ductive agricultural work the energies of 160 farm horses, together with -20 horse-drawn heavy wagons, and 40 men. . EacTT truck completes its round trip every 7 minutes. Including loading time, and. when loaded only to Its rated raDacltv. It delivsrs It tons each trio. Were tractors employed on this haul J Instead of the White trucks, seven 7i- I horsepower tractors end 14 men would I be required to do the work. Such trao I ROADS SAVE FRANCE FROM TEUTON FOES Highways Permit Rapid Move ment of Troops. SCIENTIFIC METHODS USED Two Million American Soldiers Will Return to United States as Good Roads Boosters. "There, will be a con pie of million real 'road boosters' back in the United States now that the war Is over, as I think all of the men over here appreci ate how good roads ran be made in- FLEET OF WHITE TRUCKS DOES YEOMAN SERVICE IN CALIFORNIA BEET FIELDS. nTE-TOI FREIGHTERS OrERATDTO WITTT 15-TOt TRAILERS, HACl.rjfO SCGAR BEETS FOR SPBECKELS SUGAR COMPA.VV. SPREfKliS, CAL I Beets) are haded from the field In wagons of four and a half to five tans capacity, each In trains of three wagons. j j cmiirpuiw tractors, at requires xour wagonioaas io nil me Doaies oi toe trailers on the trucks. able-bodied men work that might - I tors would require three hours and 45 Jly and Innocently have been ml.di-1 minutes to make the round trip. rertea. aa-4 wasted, but was not wasted, whlc.X on the contrary, was actually conserved and turned toward the cult! vatlon of rich valley land and made to produce food for our people and for our allies that was a thing worth saving, wasn't it 7 It waa as achievement. You agree. Of course yon do. You've been ninj7 your bit In food conservation. -Food wilt win the war." the Food Ad ministration told as. Wi believed It. We raised food, and we saved it, and we won the war. This is a conservation story. It is story of what was don in a particu lar Instance by modern means and methods; it telle what a big sugar com pany did with three White motor trucks, iter in brief are the particu lar.: The Sprockets Sugar Company has a large refinery in the town of Sprockets, CaL At this place sugar Is made from beets. The requisite beets are grown In the adjacent and outlying lands of the Salinas Valla-. Vast acreage In this region is devoted to sugar beet culture, and at various distances from Its factory, the Spreckles Company it self owns and maintains extensive ranches for the growing of Its raw ma' terlal. Ranch Number 11 is 40 miles away. Transportation Problem Poser. The comparative remoteness of some of the sugar company's productive beet lands In relation to the railroad has for some time past furnished that corpora tion with a transportation problem or no trivial proportions. This problem has hitherto had its most acute angle in certain two-mile haul with a beet cleaning station at one end and a spur track of the Southern Pacific Railroal at the other, and with the Sajlnas River between the two. As a usual thing the stream bed is as dry aa a W. Hohen sollern sermon. It is empty of water except in the rainy season, but it has been known to be full of trouble the w hole year through whenever there was hauling to be done between those two points. The most persistent form which this copious trouble took was and. Strong currents of wind are in ferpetual afternoon motion -along mat hannel. and these winds are forever cooping the sand ont in grooves and ridging it up in drifts and piling- It hic-h in dunes. How to get a large tonnage of beets across these difficult two mires lying between the cleaning- station and the railroad was the question which the Spreckels companies engineers were called on to answer. Three modes of transportation suggested themselves follows: First By a tiarrow-gauga railroad with a bridge approximately 100 rods In length reaching across the river. Feeond By an aerial cable tramway. Third By motor trucks with trailers. Eagtaeera Cfceoae Trarka. After a thoroughgoing survey of the obstacles to be surmounted, the en rlneera In the sugar company employ derided upon White trucks as the most efficient means by which their task could be accomplished. Three five' ton White trucks of the Good Roads typo, with standard equipment of steel wheels all around and wttn zu.incn steel rear tires and three trailers with bodies JO feet long by 10 feet wide. were purchased for the purpose. Since their us began these trucks nave peen continuously at work without inter ruption. Preparatory to their Installation a cheap roalway was hastily laid down across the soft sand of the stream bed. This roadway waa mad of a two-foot stratum of brush with a layer of wet straw, manure and sand packed on top. Then parallel with the road, four brush barriers. 200 feet apart, and extending the width of the river, and from six to 10 feet in height, were erected as a protection against sand drifts which otherwise would soon obliterate the track. The approach to the cleaning- station Is oa an incline with a grade of per cent. Coming out of tne river Da on the railroad aide of the stream is en countered an Incline 100 feet in length with a grade of 11 to 14 per cent. Be tween these grades the road is prac tically levU. A sprinkling wagon la constantly at work laying the dust, and the broad wheel surfaces of tne trucKs In passage back and forth over the soft yielding face of the road have operated to reduc it to aa almost ideal traction condition. Lara; Trailers Aro Creed. The trailer bodies designed and built by the sugar company are constructed each with an inverted v shaped Bot tom. The sides of the bodies are di vided perpendicularly in the middle; they are hinged at the top: and they are fastened at the bottom to wire ca bles running on pulleys. - These cables pass through the false bottoih to fas- Itlllty Deriding Farter. Ia making White motor trucks their choice for the duty described, the Spreckels Company'a engineers were considerably influenced by an economic factor which was really not a part of the problem In hand. This factor was the flexible and Ul-the-year utility of motor trucks as compared with a cable tramway or with a narrow-gauge rail road. Of course, a cable tramway or a railway would mean relatively a much greater outlay of money for equipment and installation. But. be sides the. larger outlay, there had to be faced the fact that the thing got In re turn for such a big expenditure could' be .used for only a period during the beet delivery season of 70 days out of 16 J. The constant usefulness of mo tor trucks was a weight in the scale of trained judgment which was too heavy to be overcome. The trucks I've been discussing will be kept at work practically the whole year round. As soon aa the beet-haul ing season is over the steel-tired wheels will be removed and rubber tired wheels will be put In their stead, and. on rubber tires, these vehicles may be operated over the paved highways. Then then convertible all-purpose trucks will be hauling (Treat loads ev erywher for the sugar company'a fac tory and for its numerous ranches. And, by the way, these big 15-ton units turn around In a diameter of SO feet. R0I10 BOOSTERS TO MEET HIGHWAY COXGRKSS WILL CON' TEXE IX CHICAGO. Government, State) and Association Leaders Will Map Ont Devel opment Programme. The forthcoming highway congress, to be held in Chicago, December 4 and & promises to be one of the most notable gatherings of Ita kind ever assembled. In addition" to the officials of the varl out atate highway departments and the representatives of the United States Government, the following- organisa tions will be officially represented: The Lincoln Highway Association, the Lincoln-American Automobile Associa tion, the National Highway Association, the National Old Trails Road Associa tion, the American Road Builders' As sociation, the Pacific Coast Defense League, the Dixie Highway Association, tha Jefferson Highway Association, the Yellowstone Trail Association, the Pikes Peak Ocean to Ocean Highway Association and the Old Spanish Trail. The programme of the convention will be devoted to the most Important phases of highway delopment, both National and state, covering such sub jects as: The development of the motor parcel post routes and the great possibilities of their future usefulness; the neglect of the highways during the 'war; a ug gested National highway policy and plan; highway transportation, present and future; the underlying principles of laying out. marking and maintaining state trunk highway system: proper license fees for motor vehicles and driv ers; motor trucks and trailers transpor tation essentials: regulation of speed. weight, width and height necessary; American highways for tomorrow. Many other Important subjects will be discussed. These subjects will touch every phase of highway transportation, construction and maintenance. HIGHWAY CLEARED OP GLASS Automobile Clnb Collects 186 Pounds on Los Angeles Streets. LOS ANGELES. CaL, Nov. 30. The "anti-glass .week" observed by the Automobile Club of Southern California in Los Angeles resulted in the collec tion of ISC pounds of bits of glass on the streets, each piece of which was a constant menace to motorists. An average of 11 bad smears of tire- destroying substance were removed each day during the week of the cam paign. Broken milk bottles, wind shields and lamps were the chief con tributors to the menace to automobiles. Although the anti-glass campaign lasted but one week, the Automobile Club has announced that the club will clean glass from the roads anywhere In Southern California, upon a tele phone request. valuable. In my mind there is no doubt that the good roads of France saved her In two Instances." Colonel Robert H. Tyndall. of the isotn Field Artillery, thus writes from "over there" to a fellow Hoosier, Chairman Carl G. Fisher, of the A. A. A. touring board. It will be remembered that these two were closely associated several years asro in the transconti nental tour from Indianapolis to San Francisco, when much of the route of the Lincoln Highway was decided UDon. Colonel Tyndall Is an inveterate rvad driver and has covered thousands of miles of good, bad and indifferent American highways. In . his letter home," he goes on to say: "I have seen movements of troops made In the dark which would have been Impossible In any other country than France. Here the roadmakers have scientifically planted trees that absorb drainage on the side and at the same time shelter the highways so as to keep them just moist enough. In some Instances you will find a tall poplar standing- higher than the rest of the trees bordering the road, at every kilo meter, so that you can readily meas ure distances with the eye. - "One of the great things they ' do here Is to repair a road and even make an entirely new surface without in terfering with the stream of traffic. In one campaign we were in, over a thousand trucks paved my regiment. each drying 21 soldiers. This was for reinforcement on the flank and was done wjthout the slightest confusion. One does not find here the little holes that cause so much trouble, remaining in a road. The potted places are Im mediately filled and drained, right up to the front line, almost. "As far as being able to Orient one's self. I think from now on I can drive blindfolded any place in the United States, as most of my driving on the front has been at night, and the roads wind around considerably over here. I don't have lights and neither do the trucks and other vehicles coming in opposite directions. We are not al lowed to use the klaxon horn, as this is the method employed for a gas alarm. Soms times I really wonder how we get through with It all. but U shows how a person can become accustomed to most anything, and we train ourselves to sse in the dark." That a big road plan is near at hand in this country Is the opinion, of many leading highway advocates. Chairman George C Diehl, of the A. A. A. good roads board, summarises the idea In this manner: "One hundred million dollars a year appropriated by the Federal Govern ment on a definite, tangible national highway system will work wonders tn the form of from five to 10 thousand miles of splendid highway,, made up partly of sections already sufficient in quality, partly in sections to repair, partly of sections rebuilt, and partly of entirely new construction. State and local appropriations will be en couraged, and these subdivisions, largely because of Federal roads, will enormously Increase road expend! turea," PELICAN CITY ROAD SURFACED Basalt From Odessa District Proves Good Highway Covering;. KLAMATH FALLS, Or.. Nov. SO. (Special.) The new cinders which are being- brought down from the Odessa Upper (yieeroElGm EMENT Government restrictions removed: Prices reduced $300:. Production. increased 100 (J Effectiveat "once the pricesofI Cole AeroVEight models will be-reduced 300. We. have been able to double our' production and can make im-' mediate deHveries at the'mforo prices. While our production was curtailed by Government order, we were able to supply less than 50 of jhe con stantly increasing demand, for our l cars. JThe readjustment in our sales and production'program for 1918-1919 will make it .'possible to meet the re quirements - of. our ' patrons with , greater ' certainty. NORTHWEST AUTO CO. Alder at Chapman -Broadway 1460 A 2336 COLE MOTOR CAR COM PANY, Indian'apoIis.U.S.'A. thus far used In this locality, in the opinion of County Road Supervisor Dixon, who has rolled a short stretch as an experiment and is delighted with the way it packs and wears. The cin ders are of a lava formation, reddish colored. There is av mountain composed of this material near Odessa. The work on the Pelican City road. which will give the employes of the big sawmill there opportunity to get back and forth during the wet weather, is being rushed with all possible speed in order that the big payroll may have access to town this Winter. NEW WAY TO START EXGKVE With Rear AVheels Jacked Up, Put Gears in High. It sometimes happens that the starter fails to work and the hand crank has been left at home or mislaid. The first thought of most motorists on such oc casions is to look around for another car to start the engine by towing the car with the gears engaged. Usually this means more or less delay in wait ing for the car to appear, arranging for hitching up, etc. The situation Is doubly difficult if the car refuses to start when in the garage and the hand crank Is not available. There is an easy way to get the engine going, how ever, which any motorist can employ without assistance. By jacking up one of the rear wheels securely, putting the gears in high and turning the uplifted wheel in the di rection in which it revolves when driv ing the car forward, you will find that a few turns will start the engine. Be sure to place your gearshift lever In neutral, however, before letting dow.n the Jacked-up wheel, or the car will plunge forward, with the resultant damage, and you will have the work to do all over again. For the same rea son you must be sure that the vibration of the running motor will not upset the jack. Properly done, the operation of stift-ting the engine In this way takes only a few moments. Don't race the engine when it is not drawing the car. There is no worse abuse. . district on the west side of Kinmaui una ror surfacing the new county road to Pelican City, near here. are going to prove the best material UIGKi I EXPERTS! BUICK REPAIRS EXCLUSIVELY 32,000 sq. ft. floor space. 5 Live or dead storage. Cheap rates. 5 PARTS N SUPPLIES 5 PORTLAND BUICK 5 i REPAIR CO. N. W. Cor. Sixteenth and Jefferson St. 5 Z Portland, Or. Main 3419 m JtUIBlllRIBllllIIlII THE HOLMES CAR coed '-'V .-" i"-' '. SEVEN passenger; full elliptic springs; higher mileage from gasoline and tires; unit power plant; smart design and superior body (work. f f f, '. : ' '. 'i-v. ;, I : : K hJ&3& h 9 fatfY DESIGNED and built by Arthur Holmes, President of the Holmes Automo bile Company, Canton, Ohio, an organization . of men with long expert training in air cooled motor cars. Mr. Holmes was formerly Vice-President and for seven years Chief Engineer of the Franklin Auto mobile Company. 1 4 McNeff Tractor & Auto Company, (Inc.) 225 Pittock Block Northwest Distributors Portland, Oregon