GRAVETTE — My husband Jerry bemoans the fact that so many people have passed on that could have told him about history. Their records died with them. Now we are the older generation. There’s few around to question our words about the past.
Though I think Jerry has a wealth of knowledge. He and I both remember Stokes Ballard having a Kaiser/Fraiser/Henry J dealership in Gravette, at the northwest end of Main Street. Jerry told me the company made ships during WWII. When this service was no longer needed they began making cars. After getting out of the dealership Ballard was with the Bank of Gravett for years.
That conversation brought about our viewing of an old video of when Jerry and his two brothers drove the Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinental highway that went all the way from the east to the west coast. They took that antique car tour in 1988, on the 77th anniversary of the road.
Rex had driven a Model A to California during the depression and he wanted to do it again. So, when he heard about the antique car caravan beginning in New York, Jerry, Fay and Rex hauled Rex’s Model A to Iowa where they met up with the touring cars. Jerry drove Rex’s air-conditioned pickup, pulling the trailer, while his two brothers drove the Model A. It was a hot summer.
As they drove through the country their reputation preceded them, as they were on TV and reporters would come out to take pictures and write about this momentous event. In California another brother, Vance, who lives in California, met up with them. The reporters were surprised to find four Putman brothers in Rex’s old car. When they got to San Francisco the three brothers made Jerry drive them in the Model A and he said it wasn’t easy driving those hills with mechanical brakes. They never crossed the Golden Gate Bridge but did drive over the Bay Bridge.
Symbols of President Lincoln lined the highway. Sometimes it was a statue,other times it was just the letter L on a sign. The roads were quite good; a couple of places had gravel roads. Once they drove through a cornfield. (Highways are no longer given names, but are now numbered). They often stayed in antique hotels, as this wasn’t a road that was traveled much anymore. A hotel which was especially interesting was in Medicine Bow. It had been quite elegant in its day.
Restored vintage car owners would join them for a while in their shiny and bright colored cars, then others would come in and some would leave the group. Only one couple, the lady who planned the tour, actually drove all the way from New York to San Francisco - over 3,000 miles. Most of the time the caravan numbered about ten cars, strung out on the road. Besides Rex’s twodoor 1929 Model A Sedan, there was a Model T which had to be started with a crank, a Pontiac, Olds, Studebaker. Sometimes there would be antique car shows awaiting them at a stop as they drove across Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, California.
Rex took extra parts for this car he had restored but about the only trouble he had was a loose wire on a coil. Once Rex got stopped by a state trooper for driving too slow. He was going 45 miles an hours.
Besides stopping at each town’s museum, they toured places of interest and took side trips to such places as a 65 foot high pyramid in Nebraska (most people probably don’t realize there is a pyramid in the U.S.), the abandoned Wyoming territorial prison, the Salt Lake Flats and Boys Town. They drove high elevations and passed where the Donner party wintered.
It was quite a trip. Perhaps that’s why old timers like to talk about the past. Interesting things happened back there.
Editor’s Note: Marie Putman’s early childhood was spent in rural Gravette area and she remembers events from the area in that era and later. Her words are intermingled with words of comparative wisdom which can be inspirational to hers and this generation.
Opinion, Pages 5 on 01/20/2010