NEW AMERICAN ROAD ACROSS CONTINENT

$25,000,000 Needed to Complete Proposed Rock Highway from Coast to Coast.

Special to the New York Times

INDIANAPOLIS. Ind., Sept. 14.—The proposition to build a National rock highway from New York City to San Francisco, which was launched here this week by Carl G. Fisher and James A. Allison, owners at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, has unquestionably fallen on fertile ground, and the manner in which the automobile industry has taken the matter up gives every assurance that the object will be accomplished.

Already more than $500,000 has been subscribed in the State of Indiana, and those who are pushing the venture believe that the necessary $10,000,000 needed to have the project materialize will come in sufficient time to guarantee the completion of the crushed stone highway in time for the Panama Pacific International Exposition at San Francisco in 1915.

It is the plan of those interested in the movement to ask every manufacturer of automobiles and sundries of every kind to subscribe one-third of 1 per cent. of their gross receipts for three years to be paid at the rate of one-third of 1 per cent. a year in quarterly installments, or at the rate of one-fifth of 1 per cent. a year for a. period of five years.

The plan call for a road to be built of stone, and the cost of the material will be paid from the fund to be raised according to the plans as presented. Each county through which the road will pass will be asked to do the work of construction and bear the expense thus incurred, under the direction of engineers furnished by the War Department of the United States.

The important feature of the project is that Ii has not been inaugurated to benefit any particular locality. The originators wish it understood that the movement is for the benefit of the Nation at large, and concerns every city and State in the Union. The time which has been set for the closing of subscriptions is Jan. 1, 1913, and the originators of the scheme, expect to have the road finished in time to have 25,000 automobile tourists make the trip overland to the San Francisco Fair.

Every little detail has been gone into by the originators of the plan for the great highway, and the money which is subscribed will be deposited with trust companies which shall give bond to protect the subscribers. They also state that should the plan, for any reason, prove unsuccessful, the money shall be returned with interest at 8 per cent. to all who have subscribed.

Carl Fisher is the real originator of the plan, and when he announced the gigantic proposition to half a hundred automobile and sundry manufacturers in this city at a banquet this week it appeared to awe those present, but the feasibility of the proposition as shown by the figures compiled gradually made itself felt, and those present who at first doubted became enthusiastic. Mr. Fisher stated that $10,000,000 to $12,000,000 will be raised for purchasing the material to build the road.

“This does not mean," he said, “that the road will cost only that amount. The cost of material is only from 30 to 50 per cent. of the value of a road, and when completed the new highway should represent a cost of about $25,000,000.

“The selection of a route is to be left entirely with the National Committee to be selected later. A fund of $10,000,000 will give $5,000 a mile to spend on material.”

While there has been no definite decision as to the route which will be taken, it is generally understood that it will approximate the ocean-to-ocean highway concerning which a bill is to be introduced in the next National Congress under the auspices of the National Old Trails Association. This route comprises all the famous ancient transcontinental trails, beginning with the Braddock trail in New York, coming west over the Cumberland, National, and Santa Fe routes, and winding up with the Sunset trail in California.

COAST-TO-COAST TRIP.

Volunteer Motor Cyclists to Carry Message Across Continent.

Offers to carry the special message over different parts of the country during the proposed ocean-to-ocean relay race of the Federation of American Motor Cyclists are coming in to President B. J. Patterson voluntarily from all parts of the United States. During the past week offers have come from riders in New Mexico, New Jersey, Indiana, New York, and Iowa.

Preparations outlining the route of the coast-to-coast trip will be begun soon. At present two routes have been suggested—one from New York City to San Francisco, via Buffalo, N. Y.; Cleveland, Ohio; Chicago, and Salt Lake City—to the coast. The other would be from New York to Baltimore, thence over the National Road to St. Louis, and through the southwestern part of the country to the coast.

The first week in October has been suggested as the time for the start of the relay, and as soon as the route is decided definite arrangements will be made enlisting the assistance of the many motor cycle clubs and riders who have volunteered their aid in carrying the message over part of the route from the Pacific to the Atlantic.

From: The New York Times (Sunday, 15 Sep 1912), X11.

See also:

Today in Science History event description for formation of Lincoln Highway Association on 1 July 1913
Quotations on the Lincoln Highway
'How the Lincoln Highway Project Now Stands,' - The New York Times (5 Apr 1914).
'Lincoln Highway Route Announced,' - The New York Times (14 Sep 1913).
'Lincoln Highway Entering Wedge,' - New York Times (27 Aug 1911). Article about an unrelated, earlier proposal which also chose the Lincoln Highway name. When this project failed, the name was adopted for the coast-to-coast road.

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