“pilgrimage” from the major eastern cities to the Louisiana Purchase Centennial Exposition in St. Louis. The logistics for such an expedition at this time were formidable. There were no through routes, no reliable road maps, no way of knowing the condition of the roads in advance, no road signs or route markers. Between major cities, getting repairs for a breakdown, or even fuel, was an uncertain business. The promoters of the tour enlisted the aid of the automobile clubs along the way who agreed to select and map the best roads in their areas and mark them with confetti at the critical cross roads so the out-of-State motorists wouldn’t get lost. The trip was planned in 100-mile stages, and each entrant was provided with marked maps showing the assembly points, the selected routes, and points along the way where repairs, fuel, lodging and meals might be obtained. Finally, the promoters persuaded the American Automobile Association (AAA) to supervise the affair through a set of committees.[1]
Fifteen cars left New York City July 25, 1904. At Albany they were joined by a contingent from New England led by Charles J. Glidden, the most experienced motorist in America, who, with Mrs. Glidden, had already logged 17,782 miles in 17 countries in his English Napier. The tour continued through Buffalo, Cleveland, Toledo, South Bend and Chicago to St. Louis, losing a few machines enroute from mechanical failure, but picking up new entrants at the principal cities. Of 108 machines registered for the tour, 70 reached starting points and only 58 of these reached St. Louis. The Boston entrants covered 1,264 miles in 17 days, an average of 70 miles per day of hard driving.[2] Unlike Dr. Jackson, who had shunned publicity, the St. Louis World Fair Motor Caravan carried reporters from the Nation’s principal newspapers and was attended by enormous ballyhoo, which focused on the execrable condition of most of the roads encountered by the hardy pathfinders.
Upon arrival in St. Louis, Charles Glidden announced that he was presenting a trophy to the American Automobile Association on which would be engraved the name of the owner-driver of the car making the best record on a carefully organized long distance tour such as the one just completed. This reliability contest would be an annual affair, supervised by the AAA, which would draw up the rules for the contest and retain ownership of the trophy.
The first Glidden Tour of 34 participants left New York City July 11, 1905, on an 870-mile junket through New England. Thereafter, the Tour was held annually until 1910.[3]
The Ohio Mud Hen during a cross country trip in 1911 about to cross the Gila River in Arizona with the aid of a couple of mules.
