Salt Lake Tribune | 1918-01-13 | Page 25 | War Trucks Hike over Empire State

TRUCKS II OVER Effl STATE Forty-six Big Power Wagons Wag-ons Undergoing a Rigid Army Test. Korty-six Tierce-Arrow war trucks for the tipt! of the fnitcd States government left the factcy in Huif;ilo on Xew Year's morning on ihe first lnp of a. trip that will carry them clear across the, tat5. Til is is the larpest convoy which haa yet attempted an overla nd journey to point of shipment or operation. it will furnish datu for determining the practi-oahility practi-oahility of in a kins deliveries by this method . If ceneralh' adopted, such a pi. in will release thousands of freight cars ntl.eru is necessary for the t rans-pni'tation rans-pni'tation of motor trucks to the Atlantic seahounl and other points of mobilization. I The trucks comprising this rdiivov were, driven by iccmbfrs of li'.c Twehtietii lilted States f MUMiiciTs, under command oT ( ajiiain .1. K. I e Loach and Lieuteiiant S. '. I'istman. .'ne Imndred men of this division were tie tailed for the purpose, j pud arriv'-d at the Pierre-Arrow factory j the l;i v before ( 'briU ma f jw fi-T-'T-AiT'-w officlaip y "'"f .. rp.'ed to billrl the m.M' i and here the men set up folding cots a part of their regular equipment. They were provided with meals in the dining; room' of the factory, and smoking and lounging rooms were set aside for their comfort. A course of instruction was laid out hy , the Tierce-Arrow truck engineers, in order or-der to familiarize the men with dotails of construction and operation of the. trucks. Tho standard instruction hook was augment aug-ment ed by special lectures on various points of equipment, and the course wound up with intensive driving practice under the guidance of expert instructors. Tho convoy moved in three, sections, each accompanied by a trained l-Merco-Arrow mechanic, available to the drivers in case of trouble on the road. A high-powered high-powered Pierce-Arrow passenger car headed the convoy to act as pilot, the driver being a man familiar with every mile of the- road traveled. A second passenger car bringing up the rear carried extra drivers, mechanics and observers for the Tierce-Arrow company, com-pany, and a photographer making a pictorial pic-torial record of the trip. I In case deep snow was encountered any-I any-I where along the road, the first truck of t he convoy was equipped with a snow-nlow snow-nlow to break trail fo- the vehicles fol-i fol-i lowing. Two drivers Tvrre assigned to each truck, anil couriers provided with motorcycle motor-cycle side cars kept Captain DcLoach in touch wit h tlie various sections of the convoy. The men already had a tasie of what the i Tip would mean, ij.i Thursdny, December De-cember -7, t went - three t rucks, tucking bodies, were driven by them to tho city of Dunkirk, forty-seven u iU'S from h'ui- fnlo. At Junkfr Wy.io fitted it i7 "a. .hoov. ''.'r-f'-Vsi; tt! ciy. -'Id the tmivOi, .Pjr I Vrf