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A major problem was the lightly built bridges of the time. They were made for horses and buggies and not the weight of the trucks. In the 3710 miles between Seattle and New York they broke through 43 bridges and culverts.
Although the journey was said to take only 31 days, that was only actual "driving time". The actual calendar length from Seattle to New York was exactly 10 weeks
The 1-1/2-ton model was on the road a total of 21 weeks and went more than 9,500 miles.
Warwick had never operated a motor vehicle before, but not many people had at this time.
He made the trip with his wife and 4 year old daughter, but his daughter became ill early on and was left with relatives in Idaho (or North Dakota, depending upon which account you read).
One of the unusual stipulations of this journey was that Warwick could not accept ANY outside help to repair his truck or get it unstuck.
No tows from other vehicles, horses, mules, or anything were allowed.
As you can see in these photos, in several instances it is almost unbelievable he was able to extricate the GMC by himself, especially considering the truck was underpowered and had slick, hard rubber tires.
The last few hundred miles of the return trip were the worst, taking one month to get through Douglas County, Oregon. Here, due to the terrible mud, he was only able to travel one to two miles per day, at one point taking four days to move a mile.
I found that California newspapers like the San Bernadino Daily Sun, are available on the California Digital Newspaper Collection website, for free. No paywall!
The feat of Mr. and Mrs. William Warwick was documented in the 47-page "The Story of a Double Transcontinental Trip Made by Mr. and Mrs. William Warwick in a GMC Truck"
In 1966 on the 50th anniversary, GMC and Carnation recreated the trip using a new GMC Golden Pacemaker truck hauling 17 tons of Carnation products. Four of Carnation's top drivers made the trip in six days.
GMC commemorated the 100-year anniversary of that road trip by recreating it in a 2017 GMC Acadia. They made a daily video, and the series is on You tube https://www.youtube.com/c/gmc/search?query=path%20to%20precision
and on the Teamsters website, http://www.ainsleyshea-development.com/638/Continental-Delivery they claim to have assisted the Warwicks:
In 1916, as motor trucks and technology improved, Teamsters once again made news by participating in a cross-country delivery for Carnation Milk.
But the teamsters site states that the return trip from New York to Seattle took 30 days. Of course, it didn't.
"Relics of the Road #1:
GMC Gems" by Gini Rice has about 30 pages devoted to this trip.
All Wikipedia seems to have to say is:
In 1916, a GMC Truck crossed the country from Seattle to New York City in thirty days, and in 1926, a 2-ton GMC truck was driven from New York to San Francisco in five days and 30 minutes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GMC_(automobile)
What a story. I wonder why Mr. and Mrs. Warwick were not allowed to engage anyone to repair the truck or anyone to move the truck when it got stuck? Did they receive a handsome remuneration for this gallant trip?
ReplyDeleteI want to know too, I got curious about that... but there just isn't much online about them, and that book that GM has, isn't scanned online. I spent about 2 hours looking around yesterday, and this was all I could find.
DeleteI emailed Carnation, and they haven't replied