Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 57, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 March 1915 — Fords On Long Haul in Alaska. [ARTICLE]

Fords On Long Haul in Alaska.

To demonstrate that the Ford car is a commercial factor in the transportation of freight and passengers in the interior of Alaska, three Ford cars are operated by the Sheldon, Gibson & Ashton Stage Company on the passenger run from Fairbanks to Chitina, 320 miles away. The best time made on this trip was two and one-half days, and the average is from three and one-half to six days, depending on the weather. When it rains in Alaska, the bottom falls out of what they call roads, and the automobile becomes a submarine. The stage fare by a Ford is SIOO per passenger, and forty pounds of baggage is allowed. The fare on the horse stag Is $l3O for the same trip, but the expense enroute by horse stage will average $75 per trip for accommodations at the road houses as compared to an average of $25 road house cost when the trip is made by Ford. The saving in dollars and cents, therefore, is about SBO, and the saying in time about six to eight days. This is certainly a justification of the

use of Fords for transportation even where conditions are so difficult. Accordnig to Dr. Leonard S. Sugden, of Los Angeles, Calif., who has recently returned from extensive travel through Alaska, in one camp a Ford special laundry car has taken the place of a team of dogs, composed of Scotch Collies, which hauled a box on runners in the winter and on wheels in the summer. These dogs were kept tied when not working, and they displayed great exuberance of spirit by galloping up and down the streets, making dashes to right or left, and relieving pedestrians young and old of chunks of their anatomy or clothing. The Ford, up to the time of his leaving, had not displayed any tendency toward carnivorousness. In fact, it was doing the work in a fraction of the time and in a decorous manner, and the driver did not have to cook any food for it, much to his relief. There are two more Ford cars used at this point, running as stages to mines in the vicinity and meeting with great success operating and also financially.

Rev. David A. Rodgers, of Lakeville, came today to visit his sister, Mrs. R. A. Paridson, and to see about having a barn ‘erected on his farm occupied by Albert Duggins, just east of H. W. Jackson’s farm. Mrs. Isiah Duffey, who has been visiting her mother; Mrs. I. D. Walker, left today for her home near Wabash. Mrs. Alva Nichols, another daughter of Mrs. Walker, arrived today from New Florence, Mo. Mrs. Walker has been quite poorly this winter. R. M. Isherwood, who for several years has published The Tippecanoe County Democrat at Lafayettf, has now launched The Sunday Record in that city. The Record is “independent but not neutral” according to an announcement in the initial number. The first issue is very attractive and seems within the range of the city, which is quite essential, for it is mighty easy to overshoot with a Sunday paper.