History > Trip Highlights
Alice's 59-day trip began on June 9, 1909 from the Mawell salesroom at 1930 Broadway in New York City. A rainy day, they posed for pictures in the Maxwell holding soggy pink carnations. Alice and her companions traveled north through Yonkers and Tarrytown to Albany. As they drove toward Amsterdam, New York, they nearly slid off a bridge across a creek, despite
their tire chains.
By June 15, Alice made it to Ohio, where they began to have trouble with the Blue Book, a driving handbook that offered written directions, but no maps or drawings. On the way to Cleveland, the women got lost. The directions in the Blue Book said, "At 11.6 miles, yellow house and barn rt. Turn left." After asking some locals, they learned that the farmer decided to paint his house green to confuse motorists.
On June 18, the women arrived in Chicago, where Alice made her friends get up at 3:00 a.m. to watch the Cobe Cup stockcar races at Crown Point. On June 23, Alice got her first flat tire of the trip. She repaired the tire, explaining each step of the process to the newspapermen who were following them. When she was done, the newspapermen took turns using the pump to fill the tire with air.
On June 26, the group traveled just 28 miles. The car often became stuck in the mud and the women were forced to use the rails from roadside fences under the wheels. They stopped to hammer all the fence rails back together when they were done. In Weasel Creek, Iowa, they learned the road was flooded. After wading in, Alice determined it was too deep to pass and the
women spent the night in the car.
On June 28, Alice and her friends parted company for the first time. Locals told her that their load was too heavy to travel up Danger Hill, a hill with a 90- degree turn at the bottom. The three companions traveled by train to Omaha, where they rejoined Alice. Traveling with J.D. Murphy, a newspaper editor from the Boston Herald, Alice encountered another car in trouble as she began to climb Danger Hill. Alice gave the other car a rope, told the driver to put it in low gear and towed the car up the hill. The bad weather continued with more rain and even hailstorms. On July 10, near Grand Island, Nebraska the right half of the rear axle broke. After making repairs, they continued through Nebraska, roughly following the Overland Stage route. On July 12, a sheriff's posse stopped them and kept them waiting for two hours. It seems that there had been a murder and the posse wanted to make sure the women weren't involved.
On July 13, a pilot car met them in Cheyenne, Wyoming to act as a guide through the Rocky Mountains to California. As soon as the two vehicles started climbing the foothills, the guide car became stuck in an irrigation ditch and Alice pulled it out with her Maxwell. Three days later during the slow climb toward the Continental Divide, the guide car was forced to turn around
because of a weak axle.
By July 24, the women were in Utah, where they contended with numerous prairie dog holes. After many hours of careful driving, Alice hit a hole and a bolt came out of the tie rod, collapsing the front of the Maxwell. A few days later, the Maxwell lost another axle while crossing a wash. A local blacksmith made a copy of the axle so she could continue. On July 31, they encountered a dozen Indians on horseback with drawn bows and arrows. There was momentary terror until the women realized they were chasing a jackrabbit. After spending a night in Reno, they began to climb through the Sierra Nevadas. It took them eight hours to travel 70 miles.
On August 5, they stopped in Hayward, California for the night. The next day, they drove 20 more miles and put the car on the Oakland ferry to San Francisco. As they drove down Market Street, a cheering crowd lined the street to celebrate their adventure.
Adapted with permission from "Coast to Coast with Alice," by Patricia Rusch Hyatt; Carolrhoda
Books, Inc., Minneapolis, © 1995