place of business but his house, and he happened to be entirely out
of gasoline. In two weeks the endurance run of the Automobile Club
of America would be through there; at Herkimer those in the contest
were to stop for the night,--and no gasoline.
In the entire pilgrimage of over two thousand miles through nine
States and the province of Ontario, we did not find a town or
village of any size where gasoline could not be obtained, and
frequently we found it at cross-road stores,--but not at Herkimer.
Happily there was sufficient gasoline in the tank to carry us on;
besides, we always had a gallon in reserve. At the next village we
found all we needed.
When we returned through Herkimer some weeks later nearly every
store had gasoline.
If hotels, stables, and drug stores, wherever automobiles are apt
to come, would keep a five-gallon can of gasoline on hand, time
and trouble would be saved, and drivers of automobiles would be
only too glad to pay an extra price for the convenience.
The grades of gasoline sold in this country vary from the common
so-called "stove gasoline," or sixty-eight, to seventy-four.
The country dealers are becoming wise in their generation, and all
now insist they keep only seventy-four. As a matter of fact nearly
all that is sold in both cities and country is the "stove
gasoline," because it is kept on hand principally for stoves and
torches, and they do not require higher than sixty-eight. In fact,
one is fortunate if the gasoline tests so high as that.
American machines, as a rule, get along very well with the low
grades, but many of the foreign machines require the better
grades. If a machine will not use commercial stove gasoline, the
only safe thing is to carry a supply of higher grade along, and
that is a nuisance.
It is difficult to find a genuine seventy-four even in the cities,
since it is commonly sold only in barrels. If the exhaust of a
gasoline stationary engine is heard anywhere along the road-side,
stop, for there will generally be found a barrel or two of the
high-grade, and a supply may be laid in.
The best plan, however, is to have a carburetor and motor that
will use the ordinary "stove-grade;" as a matter of fact, it
contains more carbon and more explosive energy if thoroughly
ignited, but it does not make gas so readily in cold weather and
requires a good hot spark.
All day we rode on through the valley, now far up on the
Here's a piece of wisdom on driving or cute car quote to study:
Restore human legs as a means of travel. Pedestrians rely on food for fuel and need no special parking facilities. ~Lewis Mumford
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