| Show extra salt laker makes I 1 hazardous auto trip to fish lake in just 3 days lets say it was about 25 years ag that would take us back to 1910 in the days when the motorists were first venturing afield in search of new adventure with their snorting gas buggica and one of the most adventure ous us would be claud freed he would be just the type of bellow fellow that charley who pioneered fish lake in southern utah to its present prominence would come to and suggest that he try to drive to the lake in his car and so prove that motorists could come there and stay at the camp and claud freed would be just the sort to accept this new ebal chal enge which is exactly what happened for it was back in 1910 that mr freed made the first attempt to reach this sportsmans sports mans paradise b by y moton motorcar car gowhe how he did it becomes a picturesque story as do many of the enterprises of this salt laker the first day he and his party reached nephi the second day they arrived at richfield there were in the party in addition to mr freed mrs airs freed charles freed and E C warren tho the freed arrival was highly publicized due to the efforts of mr and one of the first visitors the party had at its hotel was the editor of the weekly paper there are you he asked mr freed the aleck chos going to drive an automobile to fish lake tomorrow mr air freed looked the man over with considerable ire and replied in biting and elegant sarcasm no not me im the boy chos going to dirve a car to fish lake tomorrow twenty five years later mr freed confesses that he believes that if he been so spoken to at richfield he be might not have completed the journey but with that added challenge he give in the first portion of the journey from the sevier town to the lake was comparatively y uneventful the travel was of course slow but within four miles of the top of the divide it became becam e impossible to go farther the car just pull and no amount of pushing would help budge its awkward frame only pure stubbornness kept the party from turning back but that close to the top there was no turning back the car was rolled to a level spot in the road or rather the rough wagon trail that was called a road out of generosity alone and chains applied to all four wheels then the car was turned around wheels blocking it from sliding down the road motor racing the clutch was let in and the car started toward the summit tour miles away in reverse the progress from that point was slow and troublesome the car would make only a few feet at a time then would come the blocking of the wheels the cooling of the motor the starting again and the few feet of progress before the process began all over eventually howe however the summit was reached and the nose of the car pointed toward the lake it is perhaps two or three miles to the camp from this point and all al downhill but thel the troubles ended the trail was filled with immense boulders so large that to run the car over them was impossible detouring Detour mg was also impossible because of the heavy forestation so planks and several armfuls of hay were secured when the car reached a boulder too large to negotiate the planks were used as a runway for it the hay bay placed on the other side mr freed ran the car to the top of the rock and simply dropped it into the hay on the other side and so the trip was completed the first car had reached fish lake of course the story today is much much different the journey from salt lake to the fishing haven is a matter of a few pleasant hours of driving not three tortuous days that the freed party required on that same trip mr freed saddled a horse and rode back along the trail marking the rocks that were to be broken out so that back trail could be made without the difficulties of the up climb and the story of the first trip to fish lake by automobile salt lake tribune |
