| Show Grf&U Utah’s First were no highway in Utah that year In 'were no highways The shortest distance between any two points was a haphazard pair of parallel dirt ruts carved by countless wagon wheels meandering along the line of least resistance They weren’t engineered Like Topsy they Just “geowed” A team ster rolled his wagon across the trackless waste Others followed his faint signs of passage and a road was born deviating here and there where an individualist felt the going might be easier Fording creeks over boulder beds through mud holes around any obstruction it eventually took you from here to there the heavily traveled By 1911 thoroughfares had been manicured by community effort — shortened stiaightened in spots and major obstacles bridged or removed — but vestill designedfor hicles The little used roads to remote towns and scenic areas were still of ancient vintage Utah automobile owners 2000 by then stayed close to home With no road maps and no road signs only a few adventurous souls cranked up their horseless carriages and headed into the great unknown — such as Salt Lake to Heber City or Nephi or Ely or Bear Lake a foot of paved T1ERE wasn’t from Pennsylvania to California and the few daredevils who had crossed the continent by auto condemned Utah as the worst stretch of the entire trip It was not uncommon to stay stuck in a mud in sand for a day hole or or two until a farmer with a team of horses came by and hauled them out Standard equipment for these junkets included four jacks extra springs and tires a block end tackle planks sleeping bags plenty of milk cans food and two wiied on the running boards one for gasoline and the other for water They obtained directions from blacksmith shops the only dispensers of automotive fuel in those days The purchase of a can of gasoline entitled the buyer to a penciled map and verbal instructions on the loute to the next town ' The late W D (Bill) Rishel champion bicycle racer antf a dynamic man of unusual vision Utah’s growing notoi iety as Ihe mud hole ahcl fhd trap of the West Rishel sports editor of the old Salt Lake Ilerald was Utah’s foremost proponent of automobile travel and the first man to drive an automobile in Utah In July 1900 he climbed Into a Locomobile Just uncrated and assembled and piloted the puffing W P (Bffl) Rishel THERE by Bb VrifcM iron-sho- horse-draw- PROVO hub-dee- n monster six blocks down West Temple Street in Salt Lake City Awed spectators had to help push it on the return trip Rishel also formed the nation's first automobile club in 1903 The Salt Lake up its ciusade for Infermountairi road improvement in 1911 Rishel was the obvious man to spearhead the campaign Anticipating a steady increase in rlUS when took transcontinental touring paitieu-- ’ thb'San Francisco Exposi tion due in 1915 farsighted Utah civic leaders scented a bonanza of tourist dollars if the area’s scenic attractions were publicized the routes charted and improved to lure these motorists on side trips Opening gun in the campaign was fired Aug 6 1911 That Sunday morning an 8column banner in the Lake Tribune Salt proclaimed “PATHFINDER CAR MAI’S OUT lUIIIday Stalt Write UTAH AUTO ROUTES” and -- Log Shows All Turns in Road’’ The entire page was devoted to a map and detailed instructions on the auto route from Salt Lake City to Wanship Coalville and Echo a side jaunt to Evanston Wyo back to Echo Ogden and Salt Lake City THE wheel of an LidF ATStudcbaker provided by ”30" The Tribune and christened the “Pathfinder” Bill Rishel had toured the route the previous week One of the most poweiful cars then on the man ket this pioneer hotrod boasted a ' 30 binkes and hp engine high pressure tires with four-inctwo-whe- h at a breath less 25 could jar the liilings from tread which mph your teeth Setting his speedometer at zero in downtown Salt Lake City Rishel logged each road turn and feature of the country according to the speedometer reading at the time f p five-gallo- for-met- ' ROJ&io steam-powere- 4 1 d A Successor to original Tribune “Pathfinder” car is shown climbing: railroad grade to get over a wash near Thompson Utah In 1919 Ths Sal Lake Tribune HOME Mogozin - ('Vi ( ! Hi M |
