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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 4, 1920)
6 THE SUNDAY OREGONIAJf, PORTLAND. JANUARY ' 4, 1920. FRANKLIN 1 TRIP OF 4037 MILES Benjamin Tucker Drives Over ' Rockies in Winter. VISITING DR. TUCKER HERE tloclicstcr, X. Y. Man Made This .Long- Trip Without Carrying Even a Spare Tire Along. of the road were rough, rocky and racking for any car, my Franklin has not a rattle or squeak In it. No valves were ground nor carbon re moved and the motor is running as smooth as the day of departure. No adjustments of the brakes for wear were necessary. The splendid condi tion of the springs, chassis and body throughout were due to the flexible construction of the Franklin. "Incidentally, I gained 10 pounds on the trip.-" Benjamin Tucker of Rochester, N. Y.. who Is visiting In Portland with his uncle. Dr. Ernest F. Tucker, has achieved the unusual feat of driving across the continent and over the continental divide several weeks after this route ordinarily is closed to all automobile travci by the winter snows. Mr. Tucker left Rochester, October 29, in his Franklin sedarjj on a "take your time" pleasure tour to the coast. He reached San Francisco three weeks ago after traveling 4037 miles with no other trouble to the car than loosening a mud pan In the black gumbo mud of Iowa and a tire runctura near Barstow, Cal. On the tour he bucked mud, miles and miles of it, and plowed through snow. He overcame difficulties that a. few years ago motorists would have thought insurmountable. And yet. Ironically enough, due to mistaken information, he shipped his car north from San Francisco to Portland, sup posing he could not cross the Siski you mountains. At the time he ship ped the car there was, indeed, tjuite a. little snow on the summits of the Siskiyou. But along about that time came the warm Chinook wind and now, though wet, the mountains are entirely passable. ver I'sed Tow Rope. "My companion on the trip, Bill Clark of Rochester, and I took turns driving," eaid Mr. Tucker, "usually quitting for the day when it became dark. "We had three warm blankets for sleeping in the car, if need be, and when we set out wi put' a tow rope under the seat which I am hap py to say we did not have .to use. "Being a Franklin owner of some experience, I eet out without a spare tire and came through without one. Inasmuch as the car had been driven only 4046 miles before we set out, the tires were virtually as good as new and I knew from past experience they should be good easily for 8000 miles. So I considered that carrying an extra casing would be only adding unnecessary weight to the car. "One of our hardest day's runs was between Davenport and Iowa City, Iowa, It poured steadily for. two rights and one day at Des Moines. The road was being graded so we were in mud up to the axle. We had to run in first and second gear for IS miles, making only 62 miles that day. It was the hardest pull my Franklin had ever been called upon to. do, and I was anxious to see- if the motor would overheat. But not once did it overheat or fail to pull. We met water-cooled cars under sim ilar conditions stopping to cool off. Many Miles in tow Gear. "Next day from Iowa City to Des Moines it rained hard all day. We drove only 66 miles, mostly first and second gear work, and at that, aver aged 14.68 miles per gallon. Outside of the wonderful boulevards of Cali fornia, Kansas had by far the best roads. However, west of Dodge City we experienced something new on finding the road completely blocked with Russian thistle, compelling us, of course, to run through the pas ture fields. This stunt was very easy, inasmuch as there was no part of a fence of any kind in sight anywhere. "The deepest snow we encountered was just west of the little town of Hasty, Colo. It had drifted in places up to the axle for a quarter of a mile. "Our trip through the Garden of the Gods and Seven Falls at Colorado Springs was very pretty, but we were disappointed to learn that we could not climb Pike's Peak as the road was closed because of snow. "The scenery through Raton Pass tnto New Mexico was beautiful. It was a case of "Watch your step' while ri pHoen ft i n e T .n RfljaHn hill iuaf wpot rf Albuquerque. N. M. The hill has IS hairpin' turns in it. Among the Clouds. "We had purchased a shovel in Des Moines, but it rested quietly on the car floor until we struck the slippery red adobe mud on a newly-woaked road between Holbrook and Wins low, Ariz. The road and fields were flooded. It took us three hours to get ?6 miles. It snowed six inches at Winslow and twe feet at Flagstaff. Bo every tourist there, headed for California, was obliged to ship by rail to Needles, Cal. "It was an easy two days' run from there through the Mojave desert to I, os Angeles. While the car was wait ing to be loaded at Winslow, I took the train to the Grand Canyon of Arizona. While walking down Bright Angel trail to the river, I thought, here is one place where neither a Ford nor a Franklin can go. Looking at the mule train on the trail nearly a mile below through a pair of field lasses, it resemoled in size a string Of ants at your feet. At Summit, crossing the moun tains via Cajon Pass, we were among the clouds. Mountain shrubbery and evergreens grew as e'enly as in an immense park, covering the whole mountain. From there on we toured fin the wonderful boule-ards of Cali fornia. Travel on the Santa ,Fe trail from McPherson, Kan., to Los An - geles was greatly facilitated by ex cellent sign posts erected by the Au tomobile club of Southern California. .. "fy companion decided' to stay in ". I-os Angeles, so I ran the car alone via the coast route to San Francisco Excepting for four small detours and rording the St. Clair river, the road "In one grand boulevard all the way. We passed through a beautiful moun tain pass. 33 miles north of Santa Barbara. About 10 miles north of San Luis Obispo the road ran through an. other wonderful pass called Questa - Grade. The longer the grade the bet ter I liked It, because I knew there was no danger of my motor over- heating. "For scenic grandeur the 17-mile .." drive from the Del Monte hotel along the beach from Monterey and the drive along the mountain side through ' big tree virgin forests for about 2& miles from Santa Cruz via Big Tree over Mount Herman to Los Gatos, has anything beat on the whole . transcontinental trip. Gained Ten Founds on Trip. "From San Francisco to Portland - the. weather man beat me to It by dropping plenty of snow in the moun- - tain passes of southern Oregon, com pelling me again to ship the car to Portland. . "To San Francisco we covered in all 4654 miles and averaged 18ii miles - to the gallon. The longest day's run - was from Santa Barbara to Gonzales, ' 136 miles, also best average of 27 - pjUes Bsi houx, .Wfelle ffiapy luUes POLICE MAKE AUTO RECORD Spokane Department Traps Ma jority of Car Thieves. SPOKANE, Wash., Dec. 20. Effi ciency of Spokane's police department in recovering stolen automobiles is nearing a national record, despite claims of the Detroit department that it is making a near-perfect score. For weeks the Detroit department has been given widespread recognition as successful pursuers of automobile thieves, the latest report showing that department recovered 67 out of a to tal of 72 cars stolen in one week. Re coveries in the past in Detroit have ranged from 75 to 80 per cent. According to figures compiled by Secretary Jackson of the Spokane de partment there have been 289 cars stolen in Spokane since January 1, 1919. Of these 274 have been re- TRUCK TAKES MAIL INTO SILVER LUKE Snow Bucked for First Deliv ery in Eight Days. AND IT WAS REAL STORM After Pounding Through Blizzard to La Pine From Bend, It Per- -formed Still Another Feat. Driving a loaded motor truck through a blizzard with the ther mometer far below zero had afflicted with sinking spells isn't the ordinary man's idea of high life. The recent "big snow" was bad enough west of them at all. I had expected to be able to operate the truck with the trailer over hard packed snow, but in the condition the roads are in now it is nothing but ice holes, and impossible to operate. I have made only one trip this month." TWO-LINE FRIEND IX NEED Best of Antos Refuse to Run. at Some Time In Career. Even the very best of automobiles will at times need to be towed and at all times It is better to have a line and not need it, than to need it and not have it. There are times when cars will absolutely refuse to run when they will not go up even the slightest grade on first speed. . When the ignition goes dead ar.d the car must be towed it Is a great blessing to have a towline, even If It is only a stout piece of rope. Such a line or rope can also be used to get the car out of mud or sand by wrap ping it around the wheel, or one of the wheels, which needs "traction" to get It out of Its difficulty. The motorist may here ask, "Why be towed at all 7 Why not fir the trouble yourself?" The answer to this Is that when a distributor or other battery-ignition device gets out of order the average motorist is not expected to be able to adjust it, nor SELDEN TRUCK NOW REPRESENTED HERE Pioneer Motor Vehicle Taken by Butler Motor Car Co. TRUCK HAS LONG HISTORY NEW PAIGE GLENWOOD MODEL IS CAR OF HANDSOME LINES. EZ2DS3C S -"J " f ' - " . f.. ; ( - - 1 , .... . . . xlCXS I , ' ' ' ' P ' - ' ' 0ffli9mmmyf X f" 1 ft I - - i"- - & - ' " - - ' ' i s . Li ? tSj ' ' .... , rzcatLi IT'S VIRTUALLY A SMALLER EDITIO.V OF THE FAMOUS PAUSE LAHC1IHOXT MODEL, WHICH IS HADE FOR SEVEN PASSENGERS. , Harry Lyon, salesmanager for Cook & Gill, Paige distributors here, who is shown beside the car, is enthusiastic over this new Glenwood Paige. Its lines are copied after those of the Larchmont speedster type. It has the new Paige 6-cyllnder motor, aYid in many othe ways is an improvement over previous Paiges. Some of these refine ments include Stewart vacuum feed in rear, curtains opening with the doors, full crowd .fenders, adjustable head lights, 62-inch semi-elliptic springs which make it a remarkably easy rider, 119-inch wheel base, two Inches longer than the previous model, and Hotchkiss drive. covered. Thirty-one cars have been reported stolen in the tributary terri tory and 20 of these have been recov ered. Ten motorcycles reported stolen have all been recovered. In 1918 the department made a record of 98 per cent. Out of 348 cars reported stolen 331 were recovered and returned to owners. T SPIN YOUR WHEELS'. THAT'S WORST THING YOU CAN DO, IF CAUGHT IX MUD. Xet Result Will Be Only to Wear Out Tires and Let Car Sink Down Deeper. When you are caught in the mud or a sort place, including snow, do not slip into low gear and then give her 11 you have. This only spins the wheels and chews up the tires and digs a deeper hole for your car to sink in. T.he damage to tires is enormous and causes a loss of millions of dollars annually in shortened tire life. Start your car evenly and slowly. Do not let the wheels dig in. Don't try to force the wheels out of a bad spot in the road by applying the power suddenly. This only results in bad abrasions of the tires. Let the clutch take hold gradually in start ing the car so that the wheels do not begin to spin before the car begins to move forward. Due care in this regard will save miles on your car. The misuse of brakes by suddenly applying them Is expensive. Never use the emergency unless necessity compels, for. it costs money. Several hundred miles can be worn from a tire in this way in a second or two. Brake with your engine as much as possible. Shut down the power and let the action on tne engine slow the car down. In going down hill shift your gears to low or second and switch off the spark. This will not only serve as a very efficient brake, but it also cools off the engine. When you do use the brake apply It slowly and steadily. Bring the car to a slow stop and you will save many dollars in tire wear. CAMPERS STAY TOO LO.VG California Town Entertains Some for Weeks and Weeks. ' rORTERVILLB, Cal., Dec. 6. Auto tourists have been riding a free horse to death, says Dr: C. C. Higglns. chair man of the Porterville board of health, in a report to the city council on the free camping grounds in Luther Bur bank park. Dr. Higgins says in his repoA that in some cases families remained in the camp for weeks during the sum mer., securing free wood, water and lights. He adds that contagious dis eases were reported in one family. He recommends that the council sei. 4S hours as the limit the ground can be used, unless for some good reason. and that steps be taken to supervise the health conditions of those who use the publlcaccommodations. the mountains, but over In central Oregon, where the wind got a real sweep, and the mercury only touched zero on the way up, it was a storm to remember for a good many years to come. But a modern motor truck, piloted by a determined man, will accomplish some mightily unexpected things. What one young Bend man did with four-wheel-drive truck in the bliz zard and after it, is told in a might- i ily interesting letter received from last week by P. M. Leeston- Smith, manager of the Oregon Motor Car company, who sold him the truck. The man is Ted Povey, who oper ates a truck hauling freight from Bend to Silver Lake, by way of La Pine. Here are some extracts from the letter, dated December 26: 'Well. I am not auite lost, but al-1 most. The snow fell a little early for us this year, and lots of it 'and cold weather, too. It was 44 below zero at La Pine. So take it alto gether it has been pretty bad. Dark, and SnOYvtng Harder. "I left Bend with my truck 'with a load for La Pine and Silver Lake at 4:30 P. M., December 9. There was already 26 inches of snow. There were four other trucks In all, and the boys said they were all ready and would follow. So I started. I kept looking for them but couldn't see or hear them for snow. I knew they would have to follow me close or they were up against it. so I kept stopping and waiting till I got 18 miles out of Bend. "By this time it was dark and snowing harder all the time, and I was bucking three feet of snow. I knew by this time I was all alone on the road, so I thought I would try to make La Pine. I was.sure throw ing the snow. Before I got there I was running In second and I was sure glad to see the lights of La Fine, also sorry that I had started ahead of the rest. I waited for them up to 2 A. M., as I didn't like the idea of going alone the next 40 miles where there Isn't a house, but no trucks, so I crawled into bed. "Next morning I found out over the phone that the other trucks had only made 10 miles. I went out with my truck in four and one-half feet of snow and figured on trying to get my load In, but the snow was too wet. I could go in low all right, but it was too heavy a haul to go 60 miles that way to Silver Lake. First Moll to Silver Lake. "I was In La Pine four days be fore anyone attempted to open the road. I was going to put on a snow plow and plow my way back to Bend, when they got busy witn a tractor and cleared out the road. So I fol lowed the tractor back to Bend. ' "I had already unloaded at La Pine so, when I got to Bend I loaded again for Silver Lake. W e received word over the phone that the road was open to Summit station from Silver Lake. That left 22 miles of road In Klamath county between La Pine and Summit, which I knew would never be. opened by the county, so I went at it. "I put on the mail, as you can see by the way bill I am sending you. It took me nine and one-half hours to buck the snow that 22 miles. But I got the first mail into Silver Lake that they had had ror eignt days. I didn't do it for the mail carrier. hut for the people. "Now the Bnow has gone and we have some awful roads. Can't travel is it likely that he can do so, even If he has ambitions in this respect. The fact is that only a master elec trical expert can properly adjust a distributor that has gone awry. He will first, of course, clean the fouled contact points and then he will prob ably have to change the main adjust ment of the carburetor, giving the car a richer mixture for the time be ing because the distributor system will not always work on the lower grades of gasoline unless a richer mixture is fed. If it is found that the adjusted and cleansed distributor works better after a while the mixture can be reduced to the point where backfiring again becomes a warning that this type of ignition is not working efficiently. Consider the lowly towline. which coils itself up meekly under the back seat or elsewhere, and is humility per- soninea - until it is needed and then, behold, it is a giant in its strength and a help and comfort in time of need. WHERE LAFAYETTE MOTOR CARS WILL BE MADE. M" tX ALABAMA TO VOTE OX ROADS Legislature to Submit Proposal for $25,000,000 Bond Issue. The Alabama legislature, at' its next session, will submit to the elec torate of the state the question of issuing $25,000,000 bonds for the im provement of existing roads and the construction of new model highways n various parts of the state. Instead of leaving the road prob lem up to the various counties, as has been done with extremely unsat- itfactory results, the state will vot First Sclden Was Put on Road 19 Years 'Ago, and It Has Been. Manufactured Ever Since. Another well-known truck line is now represented in the Oregon terri tory. The Butler Motor Car com pany of Portland last week was ap pointed distributor for the Selden truck in Portland and all pf Oregon, arrangements being made through a represeniauie or 1 M. Fields, Inc., of San Francisco, Selden distributor for California. This announcement is of particu lar interest because of the fact that the Selden is one of the oldest trucks made. In fact, its manufacturer, the Selden Truck Sales company, lays claim to the honor of having built the first gasoline-propelled road wagon In the United States. This was 19 years ago, and ever since that time the Selden company has been manufacturing Selden trucks. The Selden has had no representa tive here, yet the truck is pretty well known In Portland, for all that. The Hotel Benson has a Selden truck bus, for example, that has been In service for five years. It is one of the old chain drive lU-ton models. The Afeier & Frank company have a cou ple or selden trucks, also of the ton model, that have'given long and efficient service. The Butler Motor Car company, which now will distribute the Selden in this territory, has temporary quar ters at 367 Kast Burnside street, near the bridge approach. The firm has been in business in Portland since June, chiefly as dealer in used auto mobiles. It is composed of Howard Butler, manager, and his father. J. W. Butler,, both of .whom before they en tered the automobile business in Port land operated the Bay City Storage & Fisheries company, salmon packers, at Bay City, Or. They still retain their Interests in this company. The first shipment of Selden trucks is due In Portland January 15. It will consist of 114, 2J and 3-ton models, but later some 5-ton sizes will arrive. Other shipments are due in the spring months. . The Selden is a quality, worm-drive truck, with such standard units as Red Seal Continental truck motor. 3elden-Brovn-Lipe transmission. Tim ken rear end and worm drive, Timken I-beam drop-forged front axles, and Timken bearings throughout. It Is equipped with Stromberg carburetor, has full bronze and graphited bear ings snd heavy, flexible, pressed steel radius rods. The regular equipment includes two locomotive type dash lights, mo tometer and hob odometer. No holes are bored in the top of the Selden truck frames, a special bracing sys tem of Selden factory design over coming side shear. The first power road wagon' built by Seldon 19 years ago Is said to be still in existence, and Mr. Butler has hopes of obtaining it from the fac tory for exhibition in Portland in the next Hose Festival, or if possible in time for the "truck show in February. BIG PRODUCTION IN 1920 Continued From First Pajre.) its co-operative and constructive work It sets a worthy example to other industries. The 123 makers in the National Au tomobile Chamber of Commerce have ever been ready and continue to be ready to give and take, in a manner that has helped to make the industry what it is and has been real co operation exists to an extent that is not found in any other industry. Whether It Is standardizing on tires, co-operating for foreign trade, helping In the distribution of freight cars, combatting unfair legislation, exchanging patents without payment of royalties, advocating and showing the way for more and better high ways, agreeing on car designs that will lessen the cost of fire, theft and liability insurance to be paid by own ers, standardizing on repair parts and service policies to the ultimate bene fit of the consumer, co-operating in on the bonds, and the work resulting will be distributed in all parts of ( the promotion of automobile shows. Alabama. fOFterinsr plans for the extension of Ml I f 1 W 1 to 5 Tons .VW .SV&i- This building. In which the government employed 2500 persons during the war, is the first unit- of a model Industrial layout for the LaFayette Motors company of Indianapolis. It is located on a 25-acre tract of LaFay ette property. The LaFayette company was organized recently by C. W. 'Kas&r E. McCaij JvhHe. apd. fee,, toward, ' . , r, , . ' - rssirss Assures Better Service and Bigger Business for . 1920 The business man who will increase the revenue from his business this new year will be the one who is progressive enough to invest money where ife will build his business bigger. "Better service to the customer is the one essential to building bigger business. The Customer's demand for the best service can be satisfied with a FEDERAL. It is an investment that will assure the class of service necessary to build bigger business. Traffic News" is a very interesting monthly pub lication. . Send for a copy and read it. William L. Hughson Co. 60 N. Broadway at Davis Street Phone Broadway 321 Oldest Motor Car Organization on the Pacific Coast. San Francisco, Oakland Los Angeles, San Diego Seattle, Portland r . 7C7HILE its beauty and grace appeal to V " your ,pr(ide, its reliable power con vinces ypur reason. Under its hood is the demountable head motor of 50 horsepower; under its beautiful body a perfectly balanced chassis of 119-inch wheelbase. giving riding ease over kinds of roads. Trie rugged dependability of this car will prove, itself in the most strenupus. service. Five-passenger capacity; outside and inside door Jiandles; genuine leather upholstery; improved 'windshield with bullet-shaped cowl Idmps; extension tdnneau Idmp; black walnut instrument board andsteering wheel; cord tires as standard equipment. $1785 ' f. o. !. Detroit. Oregon Motor Gar Co., Broadway at Burnside Phone Broadway -616 rural motor express, working with the representatives of the oil indus try with a view to insuring proper and plenty of gasoline, or In scores of other ways, the automobile manu facturer will continue to show that bis ideas of ro-operation are not the oretical but practical and by his sup port insure a continuance of this wonderful industry on a bigger scale than ever before. The Poor Working Man. A Wisconsin manufacturer started to build a group of houses for his em ployes, and found upon consulting said employes that seven out of ten houses would have to have agarages, Ts" seven out of ten of his employes had cars. And apartments In Chicago's workingmen's district are nearly all heinir built with basement parages. J A beautiful motor car, conservatively just-right driving position. You shift noiselessly through gears, then a gentle P"- pressure on the throttle zoom! what a PS terrific getaway faster, faster with no