Colonel Ed Fletcher’s National Record Chamber of Commerce Run Across the Continent" to Savannah, Ga. By Colonel Ed Fletcher

The object o f the run was to demonstrate the feasibility o f the o f the O ld Spanish T ra il and the D ixie Overland highway, at route over the D ixie Overland highway, San Diego to Savannah, 4 :5 5 a. m., approxim ately 1000 miles from San Diego. , and returning via the Old Spanish Trail, St. Augustine, We struck muddy roads Thursday m orning through , had Florida, to San Diego, also to report conditions, create renewed in ­ bad detours, stopped an hour to repair tw o punctures, picked up terest, and encourage the early com pletion o f the missing links, that our guide again at M idland. Texas, and in the early evening passed we may have all-year national highways from the Atlantic to the through Mineral Wells. Pacific completed at an early date. Five miles out of Fort Worth, city officials were kind enough to By telegraph before leaving, we arranged for permission from meet us. A fte r a “ how dy” , three m otor cops showed us through state, county and city officials wherever possible to make the run. F o rt W o rth at 55 miles an hour w ith o u t accident. The noise of On the afternoon of Tuesday, October 19th, the day before we the sirens we w ill never forget, but the traffic sure gave us the right FOREWORD started, our friend, Dean Blake, U . S. Weather Bureau, reported o f way. that a cyclone was developing around Porto Rico and would strike Entering , m otor cops again led the way. and we arrived Savannah. Georgia, by Saturday noon, the 23rd; that we would at o u r destination fo r gas and o il at 6 :3 0 p. m. Thursday, Pacific W ith our all-year national highway from the Atlantic to the get a slight touch of rain in from a storm working lime. T he crowds were enormous. M any “ darkies" grabbed our Pacific nearing com pletion, we believe the reader w ill find Colonel south from British Columbia on Wednesday afternoon, but that car fo r re-fueling, and three o f them rushed us up an elevator fo r Fletcher's narrative of the building of this gfcat highway, and otherwise the weather w ould be clear. a shower bath and rub-down. A wonderful dinner awaited us be­ his record-breaking run across the continent, interesting reading M y son. Ed Fletcher, Jr., had dared me to make the race, and low, and after a stop of forty minutes, we were again on our way “ the old man” had to call him. We made the trip in our family for Shreveport, . T h is remarkable trip was made in his fam ily Cadillac Sedan, car. a Cadillac sedan, which had been run 17.000 miles. One o f our It was a wonderful moonlight night and a delightful run through San Diego to Savannah, including all stops, in tw o days, tw enty- boys. M ilto n Jackson, was to drive the car to Tucson, and Ed the forests. Speed cops picked us up a few miles out o f Shreveport three hours and fifteen minutes, October. 1926, and breaking Fletcher, Jr., and La Vern Kingsbury from there to Savannah. and showed us the way in. our arrival being at 1:15 a. m. To the fastest national record across the continent by eleven hours We le ft the Western U nion telegraph office at fo u r a. m. October our utter amazement, 300 people were aw aiting us. Another de­ 20. 1926, certified time. We had red spotlights on our left fo r lig h tfu l dinner, our car re-fueled, and in 20 minutes we were off and fifty -s ix minutes. O nly an airplane has ever made faster signalling at night, and white spotlights on our right. Every ar­ again guided by a captain of the police patrol of the Louisiana time, and the C olonel's record breaks that o f the fastest passenger rangement was made in advance by telegraph as to where we were to Highw ay commission— a dead-game sport. train by 28 hours. pick up our different guides, and replenish our supply o f gas and Never w ill we forget that 205 mile ride which we made in four oil, as well as food. hours and twenty minutes through the swamps of Louisiana to T he San Diego Chamber o f Commerce has had fo r fifteen The remarkable thing about the trip was that every man was in Vicksburg— the m orning sunrise, the lights and shadows. Lagoons, years as its chairman o f N ational Highways, Colonel Ed Fletcher, his place across the continent, and our only delay was five minutes at the forests and waving moss, and above it all. a th rill that cannot w ho has given much o f his time and money in furthering the Vicksburg waiting for a ferry to cross the river. be put in words as we raced toward victory. W c arrived at Vicksburg at 7:5 5 o’clock, central time, and were national highway aspirations of San Diego and Southern Cali­ T he first tw o hours through darkness, we crossed a m ountain range fo u r thousand feet elevation and reached the Colorado desert. only delayed five minutes by the ferry which took us across the fornia. In this pamphlet is furnished a partial report of the T he police patrol met us at D ixie and paced us through E l Centro Mississippi river. A few moments’ stop at Jackson, a new guide, activities of Colonel Fletcher's committee, that we believe w ill be and the renowned Imperial Valley to Yuma at a mile a minute. and we were off fo r M ontgom ery, . o f interest to the traveling public. The Sand Hills in the early morning sun were a thing of beauty I t was a hard grind the second day. The boys driving were very never to be forgotten. tired, but eternal hope o f a national record spurred them on. A Colonel Fletcher, as president of the Dixie-Overland Highway. tSif® 1—- O ' ' - W e reached Yuma. A rizona, at 7:5 5 o'clock, three hours and western T-bone steak at M eridian, where we stopped fo r an hour, San Diego to Savannah, vice-president o f the Lee H ighw ay. San 55 minutes from San Diego. A m otor cop showed us through put new life into us all. Diego to Washington, as well as the Old Spanish Trail, San Yuma, and we were off for Phoenix up the Gila Valley. There is We arrived at Montgomery. Alabama, at 6:25 p. in. Friday. Pacific time. We got immediate service, and a new guide showed Diego to St. Augustine. Florida, we feel has rendered d istin ­ nothing more thrilling than a drive across on a cool Fall day, w ith its variety o f desert grow th, gigantic cacti, marvelous us the way, in tw o hours and tw enty minutes— 93 miles— to guished service to Southern C alifornia and the entire country colored m ountain peaks and wide expanse o f irrigated and desert Columbus, Georgia, where a mob o f several hundred people w ith w hich these highways traverse. San Diego owes a lasting debt land We forded the river at Gillespie dam w ith o u t trouble, where tremendous enthusiasm, welcomed our arrival. We still had 278 of gratitude to him. the last bridge between Yum a and Phoenix is now being b u ilt, and miles to go— the last leg o f our trip . Another good dinner, an­ soon were in the Salt River valley at Hassayampa where speed cops other guide, and we were off fo r our destination— Savannah. T h is gives the reader some idea o f the conditions and possibil­ met us and showed the way through forty miles of marvelously As predicted by the weather bureau, the clouds had gathered, and ities of our Southern All-Y'ear Highway for future transcon­ irrigated land in to Phoenix. We averaged over 50 miles an hour, everything indicated rain. We had wonderful d irt roads all the tinental travel. For further information, write San Diego Cham­ including all stops, San Diego to Phoenix, making the run in eight way to Savannah, but if the rain came our situation would have ber o f Commerce. hours and tw o minutes— 405 miles. A large crowd met us. but been hopeless fo r fast driving. La Vern Kingsbury was at the in ten minutes we were off fo r Tucson. 136 miles away. wheel. W ith in 50 miles he collapsed. Ed Jr., took the wheel, Howard F. Worth. President The Tucson speed cops were ready to show us the way in. but and also had to give it up at another 50 miles. We had had prac­ San Diego Chamber o f Commerce / one of them in making a turn in the road at a mile a minute, tically no sleep since we left San Diego. We all saw things that missed, and our last glimpse o f him was as he went through the were not, and vice versa. Yet the boys, w ith marvelous determina­ sagebrush. Picking up our guide at Tucson, we were forced to go tion, stuck to it. We drove for 50 miles through a dense fog at by way o f Benson and W ilcox to Lordsburg on account o f bridges a mile a minute, seemingly cutting off the tail o f one pig in the o u t (n o w rebuilt) from recent storms on the Bisbcc-Douglas road. darkness and the snout o f another. We also ran around a Ford We forded the San Pedro River w ith o u t help. truck w ith o u t lights. Fifteen miles out o f Savannah. Georgia, we We arrived at Lordsburg. New Mexico, at 7 p. m., filled up were stopped by the city officials o f Savannah, and m otor cops w ith gas and o il. and headed fo r our next destination. E l Paso, again showed us the way in. O nly one, however, could keep picking up a guide at Denting. True to prediction we ran across up with us, and wc lost him two miles out of Savannah as he some bad weather and muddy roads which slowed us up a little, rounded a turn. A newsboy showed us the way to the Western but at last we reached the paved highw ay, a straight stretch seven­ U nion telegraph office, where wc went fo r our registered time. We teen miles into El Paso. Ten miles away we received the signal had made the last 278 miles in five hours and 25 minutes, o r an from the El Paso m otor cops and gave a welcoming answer that average o f 50 miles per hour, completing the distance across the we were on our way. It was with a thrill of delight that we pulled continent, including all stops— 2535 miles— in 71 hours and 15 in to El Paso three hours and fifteen minutes ahead o f our schedule, minutes, breaking the national record, ocean to ocean, by eleven arriving there at 12:05 a. m. Thursday morning, twenty hours hours and 56 minutes. Wc had made the run in less than three and fifteen minutes from San Diego— 832 miles away— averaging days, had beaten the fastest passenger train by 28 hours, and only nearly 43 miles per hour, including all stops. an airplane has to date beaten us across the continent. W ith everything in readiness, our car was soon re-fueled. We W ith in fo u r hours from the time wc arrived at Savannah. had a wonderful dinner, and in forty-five minutes were on our Georgia, it commenced to. rain, and in 24 hours thereafter, rained way over the Sierra Blanca range o f mountains, headed fo r Fort 3.14 inches. The Fates were w ith us! Worth with a new guide. We arrived at Kent. Texas, the junction I cannot thank enough the chambers o f commerce, as well as the