In 1923 twin brothers, Eugene and Ed Hotchkiss and their friend Edgar Gordon went on a summer’s long road trip in an old Chevrolet. They were 16 years old. Their trip took them west from their home in Wisconsin to Yellowstone and back along a somewhat circular route.
During the trip the three visited friends but most of the time they camped beside the car in campgrounds or along the side of the road and took in what the west had to offer. They kept close track of their expenses along the way. The ledger for July 23rd and 24th includes: gasoline ($0.80), tires ($1.65), ice cream ($0.25), groceries ($1.27) and ice cream ($0.10). Yes, ice cream appears twice. In addition to food and gasoline, car repair shows up as a frequent expense as “tires”, “vulcanizing”, “fuses” and “valve grinding” among others. Apparently the old Chevrolet required constant attention.
Enticed by a $25 prize for the best diary the boys described their trip on pad and penciled paper. Eugene’s captures both the mundane and the highlights of their journey. Included below are three snippets of their trip as described in Eugene’s diary.
The first describes climbing to, and then descending down the backside of Estes Pass in Colorado.
From Eugene's Diary:
We went through a long gorge and started up a steep hill. Poor Chevie toiled as though she were about to die. We went for about a mile in second [gear] before we came to the top [where] we shut off the engine and started to coast down the hill. We were going down quite fast using the brake when the hill dropped down suddenly. The car gained momentum and in spite of all I could do we went rocketing down the hill. A car appeared laboring up the hill as we came down the road a little ways. I tried to slow but I couldn’t make the brakes hold. The car came closer and closer, and just as we were about the crash into them they swerved and turned out of the way. We shot by them and on down the hill. I saw a small almost level place down the hill aways. As I neared it I pumped extra hard on the brakes and turned my front wheel so we headed up the bank. We brought up scared, the brakes burnt and smoking, halfway up the hill. Moral: use 2nd or 1st [gear] and not the brakes.
Later in the trip the three bought tickets to Frontier Days in Cheyenne Wyoming. They arrived early, around 9:00 AM, found a prime parking spot, but soon learned that their ease at finding such good parking was because they had arrived four hours before the show was scheduled to start. With time on their side they decided to poke around the grounds to see what they could see. Then one of the Frontier Days staff called them over and walked them back to the parking lot. They had worked their way into the VIP parking, and apparently three scruffy teenage boys were easily spotted and connected to the old Chevrolet among the well-healed cowboys and cowgirls with their Cadillacs and Packards. The attendant directed them to another parking lot much farther from the grandstand.
After moving the car the three worked their way back into the grandstand where they ate peanuts and saw a great show with calf roping, bull riding, and bronco riding. But the highlight was steer wrestling. They marveled as cowboys rode along side a running steer, dropping from the saddle and onto the steer’s shoulders to wrestle the steer to the ground. One cowboy accidently rolled he steer onto himself and was taken away by to the hospital where he later died.
From Frontier Days in Cheyenne Wyoming the boys worked their way to Yellowstone where they camped, fished and hiked for several days. One evening the boys had a fabulous meal of boiled potatoes, biscuits and the biggest trout Edwin, Ed and Eugene had ever seen. It was a fine meal and after the long day all of the boys retired to their tent for the evening only to be awakened after a couple hours by a tremendous ruckus outside their tent. They climbed out to find a bear standing eight to ten feet tall on its hind legs, slamming their food box on the ground. With few options Ed screamed “Hey Bear, Get outta here!” and much to their surprise, the bear wandered off.
The boys soon went back to their tent but could hear the bear as it made its way through the campground. They tracked the bear hearing the loud clanging of pans and the shouts of their fellow campers. Ed went to bed with a large knife under his pillow though it is not clear what he intended to do with it had the bear returned.
The boys returned on August 14, 1923. Appropriately, for a trip with plenty of car trouble, the old Chevrolet had mechanical problems within 40 miles of home. An oil leak threatened to cease the engine. They made a field repair to the oil line and limped home at 20 miles per hour for the last 40 miles. Eugene’s diary of the trip concludes with “Here ends one to the greatest episodes in my life, which was made possible by my mother and father.”
Special thanks to Julie, Anne and Casey who provided the diary and photos behind this Snapshot. The Hotckiss brothers were Ted/Karen/Steve's grandfather (maternal) and great uncle.
Comments