Early auto trips were adventurous affairs
In 1900, S. A. Weller, a pottery manufacturer, became the first person in Muskingum County to own an automobile.
According to a Times Recorder article dated March 28, 1916, “All Zanesville gazed, wonder-eyed, at the curious vehicle that moved along without the aid of beast, and without even a sign to indicate the cause of motion, for the first automobile in Zanesville was a silent running electric.”
By 1916 more than 1,700 automobiles were registered in Muskingum County, but, for the most part, the roads, especially the rural ones, were still rutted muddy messes. That year the county engineer issued a road-building directive: “In an effort to get away from the slip-shod methods of road improvement which have been the practice in this county for years past, County Engineer Ralph H. Strait has issued the following circular which is being sent to road superintendents and township trustees for their guidance: 'Dear Sir: Whenever you expect to widen out a roadway or do ditching which will turn up sod that cannot be hauled to a narrow place in the road because of lack of funds, plow up this sod now, as soon as the ground is dry enough and let it rot till grading time late in April. Bills for any road work which leaves any live sod on the roadway will not be approved. Sod makes good pasture, but poor road material, and is an obstruction to traffic.'”
Despite such primitive conditions, some adventurous folks began taking cross-country automobile trips. For example, on July 23, 1922, subscribers to the Sunday Times Signal read about a couple who took regular long-distance vacations, thanks to the availability of the “horseless carriage.” George R. Smith and his wife made their first trip in 1907: “...when the only cross-country highways were the half-forgotten ox trails and the sage-covered routes of the pony express of the days of the pioneers.”
At the time of their first big adventure the Smiths lived in Pittsburgh. There they bought one of the early “racy roadsters,” described in the article as a “one-cylinder affair” with “low wheels.” They had no problems getting to New York (City?). The couple enjoyed this trip so much they decided to drive to the Pacific Coast.
Since George was suffering from “nervous indigestion,” he had been ordered to take an extended leave from his job. Evidently, the fresh air and sense of adventure helped his condition improve significantly.
Good roads, gasoline stations and able mechanics were in short supply, so these early adventurers had to take essential items with them: “Gasoline and water were carried in huge milk cans, for the filling stations of today were unheard of. Supplies of all kinds had to be carried even to spares, for there was never a service station for thousands of miles. For instance, the old one-cylinder motor had a single bearing that had a habit of getting seriously ill. Smith bought a dozen spare bearings at the outset, and used up seven of them before they won to the Pacific.”
The farther they traveled, the less George was bothered with health problems: “About the time they got into the real mountains and the desert, what with camping and eating whatever could be found at stores and occasional ranch houses, Smith began to forget about his nervous indigestion. They were both so mightily busy inquiring the way, getting lost (pre-GPS days), fighting back to a trail that led in the right direction, and keeping up the eternal vigilance that is the right and only hope for the pioneer, they both got fit as a fiddle and submerged in the joy of the open road.”
They discovered the advantage of a lightweight automobile: “Once while creeping through deep sand they came upon a great big car that weighed altogether too much for the engine and the type of sand trail confronting them. Experience had shown the big car man that boards laid under the car would make a temporary track.
“He carted a few of the heavy planks suited to this type of temporary road building. Placing the planks in front of the car, the engine would be started and the trip down the thirty-foot road started. Then a stop and relaying of the road in front was the process. It must have been endless work. Smith was sorry, but he turned his little one-cylinder racy roadster into the deep sand off the trail, crept through it in comfort, and went on his way.
“It was the old story that the veteran often learns. The light car with a comparatively short wheelbase is the best for the land off the trails where deep sand or narrow, twisting mountain trails abound. And always remember that wherever you read 'desert' on an American map it means a mountainous country that may have no sand at all, but it (is) sure to be filled with steep mountains, deep gulches and arroyos, and interminably grades.”
The Smiths' trip from New York to San Francisco took nine weeks. They had traveled what had been called either the Santa Fe Trail or the National Old Trails' Route. The author of the article added: “It was the route over which the great part of the travel to the far coast went. It was the route of the pony express that made the greatest history.”
Even after adding children to the family, the couple continued their yearly explorations: “That first trip in 1907 was just a beginning for them. Every year since then they have gone into the open country for a two-month or longer motor camping journey. Never since getting two-thirds across the land in that first trip has Smith had a return of his affliction, and he lays his rugged health to such journeys. As the children came along and grew up they were taken along. At first, a sort of upper Pullman berth was made for them, just under the top of the car. Later came the sedan and a trailer hitched behind for the camp equipment.”
The Smith family believed these trips were educational, fun and good for one's health: “Husky youths are the young Smiths, and if those who would like to undertake a trip hold back because of the fear that it might be too much for their nerves or health, just remember this family that swears that motor camping is better than a dozen doctors.”
Lewis LeMaster is a retired school teacher of the Zanesville area.
This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: Early auto trips were adventurous affairs
