Jasper County Democrat, Volume 23, Number 70, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 November 1920 — “MY DUIY TO TELL," SAYS L. & L. MAN [ARTICLE]

“MY DUIY TO TELL," SAYS L. & L. MAN

Feels Others Should Know How Tanlac Has Overcome His 15 Yea r s of Suffering. “While I have taken only four bottles of Tanlac, I have actually gained seventeen pqunds in weight and feel better than I have in fifteen years,” §aid John M. Williams, 204 Broadway street, Evansville, Ind., who wotks at the L. & N. railroad shops. . “For at least fifteen years I had suffered from stomach trouble and rheumatism. Nothing I ate agreed with me. After every meal I would bloat up with gas until I could hardly breathe, and have such intense pains in the pit of my stomach they nearly drew me double. There was always a bad taste in my mouth, my kidneys worried me a great deal and I was never free from pain across the small of my back. I had rheumatism just about all over my body, and could never get easy, either day or night. Why, the muscles in jny legs hurt like-they were tied in knots, and my knee joints would swell and get so stiff I could hardly walk or get up and down. In fact, I was in a mighty bad fix, and although I tried many different medicines, nothing seemed to do me a particle of good. “But I am one of those fellbws who do not believe in giving up, so I kept hunting for something that might help me, and as I had heard so much about how Tanlac was benefiting others, decided I would try it. Well, sir, I had taken only a few doses before I knew I had at last found the very thing I needed, and in a short while was feeling like my old self. I can now eat anything I want and enjoy it, for I know I will not suffer any more, and the pains have entirely gone out of my back. I never feel the slightest sign of rheumatism, and, in fact, I am a well man. I certainly feel thankful for what Tanlac has done for me, and am not only glad to recommend it, but believe it is a duty I owe to my fellowmen to tell .them about this grand medicine.” Tanlac is sold In Rensselaer by Larsh & Hopkins, and in Remington by Frank L. Peck; in Wheatfield by Simon Fendig.—Advt.

would be possible to drive through Illinois from Chicago over club route 7 even after a fairly heavy downpour. This is not true of the roads in lowa, Nebraska, New Mexico and Arizona; nor of that part of California froin Needles to Victorville, across the desert. lowa has well dragged dirt roads; they are kept in fair condition and dragged after rains. They are no better than much of the Illinois highway system, however. But while they are good when dry, they are almost impassable immediately after a rain. A day’s delay, however, is about the longest period after a downpour. Nebraska is similar. Gumbo has no bottom after a hard rain, but when dry and the drags have been over the O. L. D. route —which Is the state highway for the greater part of the stretch across the state —there is left a level road that has a face dome forty feet wide, no bad culverts to worry about and places where the maximum speed of the car is the safe limit. This applies to the eastern twothirds of the state, but west of MoCook on the O. L. D. the road is worse than any Illinois road ever dared to be. That Is why I suggested the Chicago Motor club send its members south from Oxford to Norton, Colby and Limon to Colorado Springs or Denver as desired. This is not the route I followed, however, for I went to Holyoke and Ft. Morgan and then down to Denver. Once you hit Colorado you know it by the roads, which are well graded, smooth, mostly hard and are worked all of the time. The r6ad system of that state may be called ideal. I hurried to get there because I knew rain would not seriously affect them. It must be remembered that because of the mountains, the slopes carry off the rain, whereas in Illinois, lowa and Nebraska the water is permitted to lodge in pools and keep the ground wet and soggy.

When Trinidad is left and you have gone over Raton Pass you soon find the end of the good roads; you jump into New Mexico and here is a mixture of surfaces from adobe to rock. There are some short —very short —stretches of half-way decent roads on the old national trail, but I must have had on blinders; I did not find many of them. There is fair going out of Socorro to Magdalena, but that is about all. Just as soon as you cross the New Mexico-Arizona border you know it from the improvement in the highway conditions. The good road begins, but unfortunately it diminishes as you get to the middle of the state and then it makes up for all its decency by setting down a low averof California’s wonderful roads come when the motorist approaches Needles, but he forgets he has still nearly 250 miles of more or less desert road ere he hits the boulevards out of San Bernadino. The desert is not to be feared in any way. It does have heat in the summer, as high as 120 degrees—but when I crossed it, October 8 and 9, there was none. It was warm out of Needles for twenty miles, then it clouded and was cool. To show this let me say I filled my radiator at Kingman, ran to Needles, 48 miles? and to Los Angeles without evaporating more than three pints of water. Out of Needles the motometer went to the summer heat mark for twenty miles, then dropped well below that point and never was higher. The fact is that, despite the heat while crossing lowa on September 19 worse than the heat of the desert - the overheating mark never was approached except during that hour out of Needles and that temperature was only what it should have been for efficiency. The desert road is a mixture of asphalt, sand, rock and dirt. The asphalt strip is narrow and comes in sections, but covers perhaps a quarter of the distance. It is now worn out and rough. There are some grades, but nothing worth mentioning except where they are rough they are rough in places. The sand is a comfort, for it is a relief from the bumping one receives for so many miles. West of Ludlow the road improves and west of Barstow it really becomes quite good, at least by comparison. You can hit the Tajan grade and hold it at twenty-five miles per hour or better and then, suddenly, you come to the summit and — glory be! —the beautiful, wide asphalted grade winding down Tajan Pass into San Berdoo, which is the native’s way of saying Sdn Bernadino. From there into Los Angeles, Michigan boulevard has nothing on the foothill boulevard and Huntington drive. Rain will not seriously affect the Colorado roads, but crossing New Mexico and Arizona I saw evidences of the havoc that rain can play with roads. There were ruts that must have been more than two feet deep. It rains in Arizona in the middle of the summer only. I saw no rain during the entire trip, so all I can talk about are dry weather roads. After the rains there is nothing doing across lowa, Nebraska, New Mexico and Arizona; you just wait for it to dry out. There are grades, hills and mouff tains to go up and to go down, but none that cannot be negotiated and none to fear so long as the engine is functioning and the brakes holding. Raton Pass, twenty miles out of Trinidad, is steep, very winding and requires the use of second gear with any car; likewise the engagement of second gear in descending. But the road is good and the scenery grand. Twenty miles out of Santa Fe you go down the La Bajada hill, and that is the most dangerous of all. It is narrow and rough and cars of long wheelbase must frequently back and cut to make the hairpin curves. The state, however, is now widening and improving the road, so that next year it will be in better shape. , You will find another climb at Socorro—through Blue Canyon—short* not bad, but beautiful. When you hit the Datil Canyon and cross ‘ the continental divide at 8,500 feet elevation, you will never know it because the climb has been so gradual.

If the‘motorist goes from Kingman to Needles over the “Ferry route" — but don’t do it —he will find a stiff grade up the Black Mountains to the deserted mining town of Goldroads, t»ut the .'Toad is fine, well protected and scenically wonderful. Then he will slide down to Oatman and keep going down all the way to the ferry over the Colorado river above Needles. It’s a long, long trail. From the Chicago Motor club' 4to the heart of Los Angeles a speedometer should register 2,627.6 miles if no detours are needed and no side trips are made. I made 118 extra miles one way and another, tor I covered just 2,746 miles on the trip. Here are the principal mileages, which will be of some Interest to i tourists: * Place Distance Total • 1 Between from . Places Chicago Chicago 0.0. 0.0 Davenport, la 189.6 189.6 Des Moines, la 177.2' 376.8 Omaha, Neb 152.7 529.5 Lincoln „ 66.5 596.0 Minden 141.0 '737.0 Holyoke, Colo. 220.7 957.7 Ft’. Morgan ...... 107.8 1,066.5 Denver 86.4 1,151.9 Colorado Springs .... 73.2 1,225.1 Pueblo 43.6 1,268.7 (The half-way point is about Walsenburg.) Trinidad - 91.3 1,360.0 i Las Vegas, N. M. 144.4 1,504.4 Santa Fe 74.3 1,578.7 Albuquerque ...... 65.2 1,643.9 Socorro 87.4 1,731.3 Magdaleia 24.8 1,756.1 Springerville — 134.2 1,890.3 Holbrook, Ariz. ...... 100.3 1,990.6 Winslow - 33.7 2,024.3 Flagstaff 64.2 2,088.5 Seligman 82.0 2,170.5 Kingman ~v .:.— 94.1 2,264. , 6 Needles, Cal 50.6 2,315.2 Barstow 166.2 2,481.4 San Bernadino 82.9 2,564.3 Los Angeles 63.3 2,627.6 When a traveler reaches Las Vegas or Albuquerque he may be told to go over the route through Gallup to reach Holbrook. True, he will save some 95 miles, but the best authorities do not recommend that way. It seems that ’ there are two mercantile corporations, one plugging for the Socorro-Springerville route and the other boosting the Gallup way, with the Becker a bunch the campaigners.

Average 125 Miles a Day. Traveling about 125 miles a day will consume just three weeks of time and will permit easy driving, plenty of time for sight-seeing and not make work of the trip. There are times when a little more or less will be required in order to make hotels and procure supplies. The better way is to make time in lowa, Nebraska and parts of Colorado and then slow down through New Mexico and Arizona, visiting in Colorado and the last named states. There would be, however, no difficulty in driving from Chicago to the coast in two weeks. Accommodations are Ample. The hotel and garage accommodations all fflong the route are ample; in fact, good. In every one of the towns mentioned may be found good hotels, even in the -far-away-from-the-railrcad towns of Socorro and Springerville, where new hotels have been established. Furthermore, the rates are by no means exorbitant and in addition there are good eating houses everywhere except In Winslow and Kingman. Where the Santa Fe railroad is met, which is frequent, there are the Harvey hotels and eating houses and these are known the world over. Every little burg along the route boasts a surplus of garages, tire supply houses and repair shops. Practically anything can be procured and, unless a car is somewhat exclusive, parts can be secured. Popular makes like the Dodge, Ford, Buick, Overland and such cars can be supplied with parts in almost any town on the route. _ There is ample gasoline and oil, water stations where needed even in the desert; »still it is a good practice, and is generally followed, to carry along well-filled water bottles or canteens strapped to the running board. You will need water for the radiator and to drink and when hot you need plenty of it. Gasoline averaged 37 cents from Chicago to Los Angeles. It was 60 cents at Springerville, but that town is eighty miles from a and on either side for some distance it was 45 cents. At the Pacific coast end of the trip it will be found to be 27 cents, but it is not by any means as good a grade as is served in Chicago, although made on the ground. l You can stop at hotels with comfort and no excessive cost; but there are hundreds who camp out and cook enroute, for supplies are easy to procure. Most every town has a free public camping ground with water and lights. Denver, Colorado Springs, Las Vegas, Albuquerque, Socorro, and Springerville all have good places; the worst was at Winslow, alongside a railroad yard.