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Show Fisher-Goodyear Section to Open June 24 ' 4" ' & 3 rf3 & & Big Celebration Will Characterize Event Nx.f R EAT SALT LKE DESERT Birdseye view of the ?i ON' strategic short cut '''2;" opened across the Great 'rVyfCv-rC' ' illA xXT-'i-ir'vs.-js ssS desert by new Lincoln rlff fo l T-Tm Jmk Highway contraction, RjM&xdW&&$ looking west from Salt E,ry 12? miles fe XZZZ&fSffi? Jg M, east and west and 115 9g&&&&43g&$M Mfglf ? M" . miles north and south. $mitt'i&i?&Xt&&- 3 . . . f"&M.SALT W1E CITY -SN Governor Bamberger and Members of State Road Board to Participate. PLANS are well under way by the officers and members of the Utah State Automobile association associa-tion for an elaborate ceremony in conn' ftion with the formal opening of the Fisher and Goodyear sections of the Lincoln highway July 24. The work on these cutoffs, which will brinp; Ely. Xev., fifty miles closer to Salt Lake, has been under way for several years, ami !he announcement is made by the state road commission, which has had the work in charge, that all will be u readiness for the. formal opening on Pioueer day. Governor Bamberger and members of the state road commission will participate partici-pate in the ceremony. Governor Boyle of Nevada also has been invited to it-tend it-tend and take part in the opening. The (Hirer's of the Lincoln Highway association, asso-ciation, including F. A. Seiberling, president; pres-ident; Carl G. iisher, vice president; A. F. Bement, vice president and secretary,, secre-tary,, and H. C. Ostermann, fie.Ul secretary, secre-tary, also will be present, in addition to these, it is planned to have a delegation dele-gation of several hundred good roads boosters from all cities of Utah take part in the opening, the entire delegation delega-tion to leave Salt Lake on the morning c: ,'-.:N 24. i Will Mean Saving. 1 The opening of this road west of Salt Lahe will save the motorist many hours of, hard traveling and will be a big step in the work of a good road from the east to west through Utah. The Fisher and Goodyear sections of the highway cost approximately $125,000 to construct and funds for the work wero 'applied through the officers of the Lincoln Highway association. It is estimated that it', will cost $5000 a year for five years to maintain this road, (! an additional $25,000 to meet this Kpense has been given the state road commission by the association. The k'tory of these cutoffs forms an investing in-vesting page in the road building of , west, and in an article entitled 'The Greatest Link in the Lincoln Highway," by A. F. Bement, he says: Properly to understand the great importance im-portance of this Utah road, one must i ""P for an instant to consider the to-PC'Craphy to-PC'Craphy of the country and the stra- , ftnc location of this link in eonnec- with the distribution of traffic, to i "ie entire Pacific coast. Nature her-ltf her-ltf so conformed, our western geog- ) "Pny as to narrow down the flow of western traffic north of the Graud wnyon of the Colorado and south of fc Yellowstone into those passes of He Rockies and along those traversable ""'"is of the Great desert, so that SvJ matter by what route one approaches TOQreat divide, one must follow this The marker to be erected in Tisher pass, at the eastern entrance to the Desert road, commemorating the generosity of Carl G. Fisher, o the Lincoln Highway association, who financed the building of this vital link in the great highway. old trail of the early pioneers to Salt Lake as the western gateway and on through Ely, Nev. Divides at Ely. . At Ely the traffic stream divides, a portion flowing southeast over the old Midland Trail, via the mining .camps of Tonopah and Goldfield, into California, Cali-fornia, and a portion directly west to Reno and the passes of the Sierras to the Golden Gate, dividing again at Stockton, Cal., for the north. Western travel headed for Portland or Seattle may, it is true, follow varying routes through other, passes in a northwesterly northwest-erly direction, by diverting from the main trail in Wyoming, and other traffic traf-fic headed for southern California points may, if desired, swing south from Denver, or go west from Kansas City to the old Santa Fe trail, across the Great Southwest desert, below the Colorado. But from the Grand canyon can-yon of the Colorado, which forms an impassable barrier on the south, to the southern rim of the basin Of the Columbia, Colum-bia, on the north, is a region of more than five hundred miles, where all westbound traffic, must narrow to what we may call the "neck of the bottle" across the Great Salt Lake desert. Door to Pacific. There has never been another route. This section lies on the bee-line between be-tween New York and San Francisco, 'and, without possibility of choice, was included as a soction of the Lincoln highway when that transcontinental route was laid out in 1913. The Utah section is the door to the Pacific on the central route, and upon the improvement, im-provement, of this section and upon its proper construction the Lincoln Highway High-way association has centered its constant con-stant attention and effort since its or-inmization. or-inmization. Out of three thousand miles of road, this section was the one, after a most, thorough investigation, which seemed to be the keystone ot tho Lincoln highway, arch across the t :ind where the problem -was tho greatest and the most difficult to 30 As has been remarked, the old trail remains today untouched, practically, by the hand of man, and preserving, one might almost say, the original ruts of sixtv years ago, from Lake lomt where the" trail turns south from Great Salt, Lake to the Utah-Nevada hue. This section has frequently been impassable, im-passable, it has presented a problem which local means were inadequate to remcdv. When dry, the loose desert noil was ground into deep diist, which added to the danger of broken springs and axles by filling the ruts and washes. f Sea of Mud. Ono of tho frequent torrential cloudbursts, cloud-bursts, characteristic of the region, would serve to make the vast, flats skirled bv. the road, and the road itse t, , jmpas'sablo sea of plastic, mud. The distances between habitations and water were the greatest, found anywhere any-where between the two coasts and the log trail down around the southern edge of the Great Salt desert, dotted onlv here and there, at distances of sixtv to soventv-five miles, with iso-I iso-I iale'd ranch houses, presented a situa-which situa-which has in the pas both by rep. utation and actual difficulties, kept j loisands from entering the great American playground of the vast wet and from enjoving the marvelous motor ?oads of the Pacific coast reigh I asportation over this road was out of the question at most seasons ol the vear. uncertain at all times - There was little reason for- T tab to oNpenTanv of its meajrer .roa.1 funds on J i conMnnaW Po.,.n iiSr'uornna; 'r road construction has naturally followed the trend of population on the north ard south roads in the fertile valleys. Thus Utah's most important link in the Lincoln Lin-coln highway presented what is probably the best argument for a federal highway appropriation and a national means of assistance as-sistance for the construction of important impor-tant interstate lines of. communication to be found anywhere in the union. Here was presented a section of road of absolutely no local importance whatever, what-ever, of such unimportance to the state and country jn which it was located that it was not worth while even to expend a dollar upon its maintenance, and 5'et, as has been shown, the eame section, I from a national standpoint, was the path- way of all transcontinental travel between ! the two coasts and formed a highly 'strategic link in an Jnterestate chain of transportation stretching between the meLropoli of our two coasts. . Tho Lincoln Highway association, like all other road promoting organizations, has been and is taking unto itself functions func-tions which are properly governmental, and, in the absence of any possibility of improvement by the usual local means, the attention of the Lincoln Highway association as-sociation was centered upon the elimination elimi-nation of the difficul ties of this desert region and the possibility of bringing in outside assistance to bridge this gap and open the last real barrier to transcontinental transconti-nental interstate freight transportation. Stupendous Problem. The problems of other states in which the Lincoln Highway association was endeavoring, en-deavoring, to push the route to completion comple-tion were of minor importance, in comparison com-parison with this- problem, and it was a problem stupendous from many angles. There were engineering difficulties to be considered, there were the difficulties of transportation, there were the difficulties diffi-culties of securing local interest and cooperation, co-operation, and, above all, the great financial difficulty which had to he surmounted sur-mounted in providing the funds adequate to construct a road as good for its purpose pur-pose as any other section between the two coasts. Never before had the construction of a road across such a Fubformation as the Great American desert been contemplated: contem-plated: never before had nature seemingly seem-ingly so conspired to defeat man's constructive con-structive purpose. It was not the original intention of the Lincoln Highway association to utilize its funds directly fur the construction of the route. On tho contrary, the purpose of the organization was to be more of an educational nature, it being the thou eh t of tho directors of the as.soclaf.Ion that the tremendous sums being expended for road construct ion In nearly every state of the union needed only a more truly na tional plan of expcnditiide in order to bring about the main line highways required. re-quired. High Spots Indicated. But- In 116. nt tho third annual meeting meet-ing of the board of directors of The Lincoln Lin-coln Hignway association, a report was read by Field Secretary II. C Ostermann indicating the condition of the Lincoln highway at that time, and pointing' out for the consideration of the directors the existence of certain sections whfrt:, as a result of the most careful invest ig,-i t i on , ir was found that, no matter how strong the desire nf the locality to bring about improvement, local means made it impossible. im-possible. Tho "high spots" on the Lincoln high- way fmprovoment ma.p, Tiicre nothing had been accomplished and where it appeared that no ih ins could ho accomplished, as pointed out by Mr. OsbTmunn, consisted of two sections in central Wyoming, thre short .sect ions in the .spai-sdy-populated repion of central Xevn n nd t!-,e mie Ion it Vlfih section, whi-di, hy its very dlfliciilly. coninuindpd I'lc lirst rousMeni-Lton rousMeni-Lton of those phuuiine: nn open route i'mm txnst to const for any type, of cuniinuous and lie, ivy transport. At thnt nv-etiri;; in 1 ft 1 Irc'iwnv history his-tory wns ir.;i d- T'tiore were prsrnt , nmcne: ine Mir-''tors and fonr.di'Ts of Die association, irathej-d nt the 1 'erynjt. ,-V:i-leti'" cluh. the men -who o-icinnHy mn-cfived mn-cfived and hacked the prnir-ct, and whn had f'llnwd its prn.Tpss fur thro -e;u-s with .ntf-use pcrtfinal i 1 ei-et a nd uu- in! i ns Una tie ia 1 s" : ; s' n-n as Tl.-nry P.. .Iny, pn-, :.:.- r.t "f t r i f T.:i-n!'i Fis'-i-r. vi"f prc.-id'"'"t r,f t;c a.-i-:a-rinn and the man who n:-iii'al- cnr, '. , tho ida: K. 1'. Chanin. i.-o pr.-s:d---r.t -f the association and i;.if-r c!:a;:r:,an !" tho highways tr:-,ns!"T-t cnnindilei- of the eonuc:! of natio1";!! d'-ieir-: V. A. S.-;hcr-limr. .Tnlin X. Willys. Knirrv W. Clark a!id o; iers. wh"s. ori-mal suiT'rt an confidon'-o in thru- ,1s:-in h.ui i- ''vhn i y h:d lo the hi !ir-q : r, of oiia-r imluciu,ai n-.en and companies. Policy Change Proposed. A elia-e in the Tiacoin highway P'l'ec was proynscil. The- v.- ssI'- fo- -rc'. i : -j ins: f'ir.-ls t - re!ice t'r.e s' : u,i : :.-n n: n-. n-. Tinned a s pn'utr-d oct. T'a; ('. a --:-.n-i .. : ; t hose U: m ! s r iv i in i ' ." ;r nri-imi ; uni -.n:Tnvr .1 ccr. : : : Ion, pr--s i ; ; ; .2 a hai-ri'-r nv-r wh.a-h. c..-; ;o::s, a ;, : Prf-'.ir.-.ina r f ' in-..-: : had -r - n n:.? h on tl:e .ir.'.--:n lil'l.'A.iy :o ;-, -;-. r-mancnt r-mancnt improvement. Ta -t r,r tho association, headed by H. B. Joy, had at that time made exhaustive inquiry in-quiry and exploration In the Lake Bonneville Bonne-ville region, endeavoring to discover the possibility of a shorter route across Utah and one capable of greater improvement a nd bed ter maintenance. Two years of careful investigation, continuous con-tinuous trips over the various routes through this region, consultation with the trained highway enehvers of the state I and talks with the Inhabitants who were I familiar with thc mountains and desert under a 11 weal her conch t ions a nd had ohserved them fur years, had Pnailv re-I re-I suit or in the asso'dat ion determining j tentatively upon a route which ma.de use nf the. excellent slate highway down Hush j va !!- .- t h rou irh the many towns of the j f-r'ile r-'-'-:i''ii, t!iorif:e tiirou-h a mountain j p. ss. tin nvd ir i t Oneral Jon n son. In ; ,: r.re of tin- American forces opr-ratins in ; ' in and then direct! v west ; a- r ss tl-.r- (".reat S.iit Lnke d'-s'Tt, PX a ; pohit Hhr-rr' old I.ake Rm iev i : v- had been r-Mrhled by tlie, con Torn ia i ion of the s ;;:--) n.i.i'r.i; land a.nd wivrv its re-'fscdon brid h-t'L i nt a narrow j(-e; nf the desert's surfacCi rcvi-n : e..n a1( one-iiaif miles be-l be-l een ":diores." Gravel Plentiful. Mounds of the desert material dug- by Lincoln highway nfMeinis nnd allowed to !''an1 for two years had indh-ntcd that " e drs.-.ft irs-'df w ould f irnh tiie ma-; ma-; !!?,! ir raoc up ti e roid. An lnvostii:a-!a-n rrv,,i.d l)a- pre-en e of la:i;f rjiian-c rjiian-c f-" ihe we.vt-rn s. ie near i i i J --y (im;ites had Indica'd I'h-it v'--:'d s.tvo To bridge t'ds ' re k Of the rb--t. ( ,j , n . . , a , ; I '- '"" fr'--v: r!r!"-;r south r round its low- I - r '':-, and np-n np to t;,e rnseirjc of j ..(-; c.-t-.,- ;Tu; true,:s the old Jonnson I . ss trad, v.-i: i ch fr,r yea rs had bee n --a'-i.- only ti tv.e T.;-.:: r on iiorse- .'. to li-ht. horse-dr,. wn vehi-d-s. a.d -i '-h shut or the fr.ri p,.-, v;iI I'-v f:---m sh :d va. and The . vfTt on (Top;i-)i-.i-.rl or FoiioTT-ir1 P-.?. IW TO WEST ! REM FCil OPEIIil i (Continued from Preceding Page.) ir.fi -:vf. nri forniM a. barrier wh:! end-d V.-- srate h'.si!11 a' .'it Ciov tp, Utah. Ti:t? directors tiii-jud ih'- a.'.!'. ib'.Lbility of tnd-;HvorinL,' to r:iKi this fund and the mo!;'-y r'r'i uired to imnrovo t'-io sections , in Wyoming and Nevada by o'jtsM sub-s-jrlfjUon, but th!H plan was discarded '.chen, without leaving th I'.ilr.s, t'. A. Sibtri'ns- pUdgM, in behalf of his com-Priy, com-Priy, the sum. of 7o,f,,0 for r'ri'l-'::. t:e G'.'f'it Salt lake derr, and John S. 'iii y, in behalf of his company, pledged ih? 5-Mm of :f .".-), ijoO for the V.'yoinii: con-tr'i':tion con-tr'i':tion work. This: fund was (K-emf-d F.;tiici-nK in vjotv of th-? po;l.k cooperation co-operation of the states and cuunti'.-j. More Funds Needed. Later investigation in Utah revealed ; the fact that an additional 55,000 would lie needed for the opening up of Johnson Pass in the Onaqui mountains, and Carl i';. FUher, vine presid-nt of the a.ssocia-tion, a.ssocia-tion, personally pledged tho s'im to make possible the opening of this strategic link and the bridging of the desert at a point opposite the pays. Following the assyrruice given in thee pledges, th.e association devoted its efforts ef-forts to finding contractors with sufficient suffi-cient equipment, ability and money to undertake un-dertake this unique construction and toward to-ward graining the co-operation of the Utah State Highway department. In the meantime, conditions were changing rapidly and costi" going up. On On the final inspection of the desert situation situ-ation made in August, 1917, by officers of the association, headed by Mr. Seiber-llng, Seiber-llng, it was found tiiat no le?s than $100.-000 $100.-000 would be required to do the job on the desert proper, and Mr. Seiberling himself, after lie and the party were stranded for hours in the center of the desert In an attempt to cross it at the point of proposed construction, were so impressed with the need for the road that he personally pledged an additional ?25,000. Offers Are Made. This total sum seemed adequate to solve th.e problem, but a responsible contractor con-tractor could not be found who would undertake the work, which, unique as it is. seemed to defy any possibility of exact estimation of its cost. No bids could be secured. As a result. last March Mr. Seiberling, then president of the Lincoln Highway association, in a letter to Governor Gov-ernor Bamberger of Utah, chairman of the Utah state road commission offered to place th.e entire sum of $125,000 in the hands of that commission, to be used in the construction of this most necessary piece of work. The state accepted the association's proposal, and, in the resolution passed by the Utah state highway department, said: "It is agreed that in constructing these two necessary links in the route selected, ? v '1 ihcrcb'-' e' i : ri ' r scnir, f f .- pvU- ; '.ft ! opm'. !T'3 d co" d. : v 'A" e .: U t ; ? on the i: a..:sjor. t :c-:v '1 hishvay. tho L f a h Etai-r read com mi -:c:i v. ii '. iiccom-pi.-h a work of tht great-ret benefit, r.ot ov;v to L'tah, but to the United H'.'rS, in linkiPEf up ih:s great lat' with Us re-tour-i ard its peop. to tba states or the ea-t and v. evt nd to the Atlaiui-: ard Famine coa-t. thrc-by comply!!!? v.i'h th.e r-reommeP-dauons of the co'inci! of national na-tional defense to aid hi brmpmg the Utah sfction of Mie .Lincoln lnghway into proper condition." Progress Followed. O. 1'. McGonag'.e and Ira K. Erowr.lr.g-. stato engineer and state road er.gineer, i-t;-T! recti el;. . of tne Utah stace road com-mNH:on, com-mNH:on, had for a Ion? time care full v followed the progress of the association's i!V. "estiva tion, a nd personally tr:'er'rd th.e various routes m question, and. arter a t : n I trip over the route acomr?- by Harden B-rnnion. secrLary of stt-". L'3 n B. Shi-iids. attorney general, s nd Joseph P"iir:e. state auditor; a unanimous aarreuineiu was reached and the construction construc-tion assured. Then began Lhe real difficulties presented' pre-sented' by this ancient geoiogic forniation to i he hhrhway engineers arid road-builders road-builders of the T ta h commission. 'I he work was started in May and rapid nrosress made, despite tremendous difficulties. diffi-culties. Every conceivable difficulty v.' as encountered en-countered by the engineers running the line through Fisher pass and across Desert Des-ert flat, between Granite mountain and Black point. Sand had to be avoided. The road must wind and !cop around the j high peaks of rocks in the pass, and a grade found which would be passable to the heaviest vehicles. C. V. Gardner. 1 field engineer of the Utah highwav department, de-partment, has laid a line through Fisher pass which will provide a maximum grade of 5.S per cent on the eastern ascent, the major part of the grade being be-ing about 4 per cent, and on the western descent a maximum of S per cent and an average of 6 per cent. Surveying Begun. The job of surveying a line across the Great Salt Lake desert itself was found to present unusual difficulties. At a little lit-tle distance, in the shimmering heat waves arising from the desert's surface, and under the glaring sun, an object rises from the earth, apparently, and seems to float waveringly here and there. Correctly sighting a transit is a matter fraught with great difficulty. The blinding blind-ing glare of the desert plays strange tricks on the human eye. The result was that the line of the Goodyear Memorial section across the desert was surveyed during the twilight hours by the use of signal fires. Then came the Herculean effort necessary neces-sary to transport the machinery to the west side of the desert work arid grade the desert itself and to provide the gravel surface, which in 1919 will present a boulevard across a waste until now impassable. A branch line from the "Western Pacific railroad at Wendover runs south to the little mining camp of Gold Hill, a few miles north of the western end of the Goodyear section, and from this camp a rough road was laid out to Black point, the western terminus of the transdesert highway. Over this road had bean transported trans-ported graders and elevating graders, steam shovels, rollers, motor trucks, caterpillars cat-erpillars and all of the endless supplies required by a construction camp. Completes Final Gap. The Fisher pass section is approximately approxi-mately forty-five miles from the eastern end of the Goodyear' Memorial section, and the western end of the Goodyear section sec-tion is some fifteen miles from the connection con-nection with the present Lincoln highway high-way leading into Tbapah. The state has agreed to build these sections with its own funds, thus completing the final gap and linking up a through route which will eliminate one-quarter of the total distance across the state. The saving effect of this new construction can be better stated in hours than In miles, for Salt Lake and Ely, Nev., which cuts fifty miles of th.e distance from the eastern coast to either Los Angeles or San Francisco, Fran-cisco, the saving In time is even more important and amounts to the elimination of practically sixteen hours of difficult and dangerous travel. The association's plans for improvement improve-ment in Utah' do not stop at the consideration con-sideration of these sections, but contemplate, contem-plate, in cooperation with the Lincoln highway committee of the American Institute In-stitute of Architects, the beautification of the route in a manner harmonious with the character of the country by the erection of a lighthouse and rest station sta-tion on the east side of the desert at the north point of Granite mountain for the benefit of the vastly increased volume vol-ume of traffic which this construction will stimulate, and also the adequate and permanent marking of the two sections made possible through the patriotic interest in-terest of the donors of the two funds. Rest Station Plans. Complete plans for the rest station and the memorial markers, as well as the water shelter to be placed . at the well developed at the west side of the desert, have been received by the association asso-ciation from Elmer C. Jensen, chairman of the Lincoln highway committee of the American Institute of Architects, which body has patriotically cooperated with the association since its organization. The plans prepared indicate the necessary neces-sary expenditure of about $15,000 to provide pro-vide an appropriate stopping point at the edge of the desert, where supplies, water and accommodations may be sectired. and a lighthouse on the high peak of Granfte mountain which will be visible at night from the western edge of the desert and from the summit of Fisher pass. |
