THE WAUPACA REPUBLICAN POST

August 24, 1916

 

WILL MAKE RECORD RUN

 

From Massachusetts Across Continent on the Yellowstone Trail

- Whipple General Manager

 

            By an arrangement between the War Department of the U.S. and the Yellowstone Trail Association an official message of the War Department will be carried across the continent, from Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts, to Seattle, Washington.  This will be for the purpose of testing the serviceability of the route and the co-operation and organization which can be perfected on short notice.

            The entire country has been divided into fourteen general relays and the total distance will be 3,489.5 miles.  The time allotted to make this run is one hundred twenty hours or an average of between twenty-nine and thirty miles per hour.  To follow that schedule the message must be on its way every moment day and night, from the time it leaves Plymouth, Mass.

            A general relay manager will have charge of each of these relays and will see to getting high power cars, arrange where the relay autos are to meet, and in fact take charge of the entire affair, his duty ending when he has delivered the message on time to the next general manager.

            Erle Whipple of this city has been appointed general manager of this, the seventh, relay and he is now arranging to get experienced drivers with high powered cars to make the run in relays from Milwaukee to Minneapolis.  He also must get police protection so there will be no arrests as the result of exceeding the speed limits.

            The tentative date for the start is September 4, although this has not been definitely settled. We hope to be able to announce definitely the time of starting and the probable time when the cars will pass through this vicinity in next week’s issue.

            Through Wisconsin the following sub-relays have been laid out and the runs will be made as nearly as possible to the following time:

            Milwaukee to Fond du Lac      67 miles          2 hours, 5 minutes

                        Fond du Lac to Fremont         52 miles          1 hour, 40 minutes

                        Fremont to Stevens Point       48 miles          1 hour, 40 minutes

            Stevens Point to Marshfield    36 miles          1 hour, 15 minutes

                        Marshfield to Stanley               58 miles          1 hour, 50 minutes

                        Stanley to Eau Claire              40 miles          1 hour, 20 minutes

                        Eau Claire to Baldwin             52 miles          1 hour, 40 minutes

                        Baldwin to Minneapolis           51 miles          1 hour, 40 minutes

            This is on an average of slightly over thirty miles per hour.