May 22, 1914 article in New Leaf newspaper of Effingham

May 22, 1914 issue of the New Leaf

Kansas White Way Through Effingham

Effingham was well represented at Frankfort Friday where a big auto road meeting was held. Five from this locality drove their cars: W. S. Heffelfinger, F. M. Hawk, Wm. McAdam, Homer Pittman and Wm. Channon, and with them were Mayor Wallick, T. J. Bohannon, C. A. Taliaferro, Fred Sutter, R. B. McPhilmy, Ed High, Bon Hargrove, Wm. Sutter, D. L. Richards, Rob’t Pinder, T. W. Tucker, J. E. Hitchner, J. A. Harman, J. E. McArthy and C. E. Sells. The cars made the trip to Frankfort in about three hours, a distance of 71 miles. At times the cars traveled along some? for the roads were fine. Some one asked Ed High if he was frightened when they traveled so fast and he replied, “Just once and that was all the way out and back.”
All the cars made the trip without any serious accidents and it is safe to say that every one in the crowd enjoyed the outing. Crops looked good the entire distance and the green foliage along the way furnished a scene worthy of notice. On majority of the farms men were busy with their farm work and if the weather man remembers us this season all will be happiness and prosperity along the Central Branch this fall.
The object of the meeting at Frankfort was to establish an automobile road along the Central Branch railway from Atchison to Clifton. At Clifton the road will join the Kansas White Way road, thus making a first class route from Atchison to Denver. Each county represented at the meeting selected a logging committee of five and a member of a board of directors. The organizers of the White Way idea had planned to have the road pass through every town of any size along the Central Branch, but in Atchison County a vote had to be taken to settle the matter. Fred Schurman, Wm. Critchfield, Alex and Wm. McLenon, A. J. Smith and a party from Lancaster were present and made a fight to get the logging committee to establish the route out of Atchison along the Parallel. As an Atchison man put it, “That would leave out one of the best towns on the Central Branch, Effingham. So the Effingham delegation did not lose any time in checking the scheme. John Q. Adams, Secretary of the Kansas White Way says: “No regular White Way markers should be placed where it would lead drivers off the main road. I sincerely hope that your committee has made no mistake in logging the road through your county as it is very important that the road should travel from town to town on the best and shortest routes and there should not be any personalities of people who have farms they would like to divert this ravel and send tourists on bad roads and out of the way.”
W. S. Heffelfinger, T. W. Tucker, Jas. Talbert, C. D. Brenner and A. S. Drury were selected as the logging committee for Atchison County and A. S. Drury was elected its director. The route as established will come through Monrovia, Effingham and on to Muscotah, Whiting, etc. It has already been logged and will be marked as soon as possible with a 20 inch galvanized marker painted white with a black band at the top and bottom. The auto and commercial clubs of the various towns and the county commissioners will work together in keeping up the road.