Pioneering a Motorized Army: The First Transcontinental Military Dispatch Car

Even today, driving across the United States is ad adventure. But in 1909, it was a thrill ride! Even today, televised images of our army rushing across desert sands in motorized vehicles can grip the nation, gluing millions of anxious people to their seats. Even though they are safe and comfortable on their living room couches, viewers of these wartime news reports somehow share the danger and excitement of a mechanized army on the move. Imagine how the public responded in 1909! But in 1909, the idea of using motorized vehicles in warfare was new and controversial. In order to prove that motorized military transport was practical, the army signal corps sent three men in a Mitchell Ranger automobile from New york City to San Francisco. This daring enterprise was closely followed in the national press, and the car was met by large crowds wherever it went. But then they hit the vast and largely untamed American West, where roads were few and bridges fewer. This is their harrowing story, as told by the original driver in 1941.