Page:Motoring Magazine and Motor Life November 1913.djvu/13

 NOVEMBEF*, 1913.

��MOTORING MAGAZINE AND MOTOR LIFE

��11

��ders and his many able assistants. These were given with a vim. Mr. Scofield said:

"Gentlemen, we have just started a work which will prove an epoch in the history of Whittier. With the comple- tion of this short piece of road, many new things will come to Whittier. We are going to open our city to the automo- bile travel of Southern California. We are opening the way for something which will call for vast improvements within our city. Paved streets must follow the great influx of travel which will be in- vited here by this beautiful canyon road. Let's all get behind the Supervisors, who have made this work possible, and follow the work right through the canyon. Let us stay behind the men who are cutting out the road, and the men who are boost- ing it, and we will experience a greater growth within the next few years in

��Whittier than has been our lot during the past twenty-five."

Dr. Flanders was congratulated for his persistent efforts in behalf of the road, and in his modest reply he transferred the credit to others, and incidentally coined the phrase, "The Panama of the Puente Hills." This struck a popular note, and three cheers were given for Whittier's canal through the hills.

The new road will be 16 feet wide, with a right-of-way 50 feet in width. It will be made in the same manner as are all of the county roads. The cost has been estimated at $20,000, but it is doubtful if this covers the entire expense. The Supervisors have agreed to expend at least $10,000 on the road this year, and that means work for every man and team available. The Turnbull Canyon road will present a busy scene for the next year.

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��Contracts for the construction of the $1UU,0U0 two-mile automobile racing course to be built by the Seattle Motor Speedway Corporation near Renton Junc- tion, eleven miles south of this city, were awarded recently. Grading is to begin within the next two weeks, and the track will be in readiness in ample time for the holding of the first big speed meeting on July 14th and 15th, when the pick of the world's fastest cars and premier pilots will clash for prizes amounting to $30,000. This represents the richest purse offered on any track with the exception of the brick speedway in Indianapolis.

The topography of the 160-acre tract upon which the racing course is to be built is such that grading will be an easy task, and can be done without heavy ex- pense. The ground will be plowed up and rolled, and then permitted to settle during the winter months. In the spring it will be packed down thoroughly by a fleet of heavy steam rollers, after which will be applied a surfacing of asphaltic oil solution that will provide a smooth, hard track capable of withstanding the terrific pounding of the powerful steel monsters.

The grand-stands and boxes, with a combined seating capacity for 34,000 per- sons, and the pagoda for the judges, offi- cials and press, will be ready at least a month before the date of the races. Space for additional stands will be reserved in the event that the predicted attendance

��of between 75,000 and 100,000 persons is realized.

Directly across from the grand-stands and on the inside of the course at the turns there will be reserved parking space for 2,500 automobiles, while on the back stretch free room for upward of 8,000 au- tomobiles is available. This space will conveniently take care of the huge fleet of motor cars that is expected to bring thousands of speed enthusiasts from all parts of the Northwest and Pacific Coast. Numerous approaches have been pro- vided to obviate any congestion of traffic.

Engineers have been working for months on the plans for the track to make it not only the swiftest racing course in the world, but the safest. The best fea- tures of the famous ovals at Indianapolis and at Brooklands, England, are to be in- corporated in the Seattle project. The straightaways will be three-quarters of a mile long, while the " curves, wide, highly-banked and scientifically con- structed, will reach a quarter of a mile. Speed of from 100 to 110 miles an hour will be possible on the turns, say the engineers, and it is hoped to dedicate it to the speed realm to the accompaniment of a world's record or two.

An elaborate electric lighting system is to be installed, which will make possible the holding of twenty-four hour auto- mobile races and night speed events.

The Seattle motor speedway is ideally situated, for it covers loO acres of prac- tically level ground in the Black River

��Valley, and is reached by two trunk roads the Pacific Highway and the Sunset Highway — four transcontinental rail- roads and an electric interurban system, offering unexcelled advantages for han- dling the enormous crowds that are ex- pected to witness the thrilling battle of cylinders."

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��Pacific County, in the extreme south- western part of the State of Washington, has recently inaugurated a system of road patrol under the supervision of the County Engineer's office, which covers 173 miles of highway, and is using 65 men. The implements used are a King drag and a ditch cleaner, in addition to pick and shovel. This system was put in force under the immediate supervision of S. P. Davis, who has devoted several years to the study of the King drag and its operation. The average cost per mile is fifteen to seventeen dollars.

The duties of these patrolmen are to keep ruts filled, ditches and cross-roads cleaned out, cut away obnoxious weeds and do any ordinary work that can be accomplished by one man to good ad- vantage. The added advantage of this is that the patrolman becomes responsi- ble for his section of road, and any other repairs that are needed which require a bigger crew are immediately reported to the Supervisors in charge of the district, and the work is done when it is most needed, which results in a saving of more than enough to pay for the work of the patrolmen.

It is easy to see that it is to the interest of each patrolman to have big repairs made at once, instead of letting the road go on until it is impassable.

Pacific County has the honor of be- ing the first section to put in this system of road patrols on anything like a defin- ite working basis. Other sections have attempted spasmodic efforts to gain the same results, but no regular line of ac- tion has been planned or carried out.

��-A small leak in a gasoline feed

��pipe may not be noticed, especially in summer, when the gasoline evaporates quite rapidly. This may not only be the reason for small mileage per gallon of fuel used, but it may be a dangerous source of fire.

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