The Perils of the Oiled Road
A disastrously bumpy trip by local boosters to Attalia results in wrecked cars and a debate over infrastructure priorities.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
It would have tickled the people of Hover had they been stationed along the oiled road Friday morning where they could have seen the Kennewick Boosters straggling back from their assault on the Attalia larder. Seventeen cars made the assault, and the cash outlay on auto repairs came to over $5.00 per car, while the time, temper, profanity and epidermis spent by amateur machinists in overhauling their speed wagons reached a staggering total. The 'tin can detective' concluded that three autos had made the home run on the rims, one was scattering much-needed oil on that thoroughfare, a fifth was dragging a stay-rod and part of an oil pan, while the last appeared to have been dragging one section of a spring tooth harrow. Everyone voted the trip a big success, but if they had just put the amount of the repair bill into a landing across from Hover, the Hover-Attalia ferry would be a reality.
“Three autos had made the home run on the rims, one was scattering much needed oil on that thorofare... while the last, he declares, appears to have been dragging one section of a spring tooth harrow.”
This captures the dawn of the automotive era, where 'road trips' were hazardous, mechanical repairs were a constant necessity, and local boosters were constantly lobbying for better infrastructure against a backdrop of primitive road conditions.
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