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Round Trip Excursion Rates Via Augusta, Ga.,-Via Southern Railway-Premier Carrier of the South. Account Aviation Exhibitions, Au gusta, Ga., January 10, 26, Februa ry 14, 23, March 13 and 29, 1912, by the Aviation Schools, the South ern Railway announces low round trip tickets to Augusta on the above dates, good returning the third d- 7 from, and including date of sale. For further information, call on ticket agents, or, John L. Meek, AGPA., Atlanta, Ga. Frank L Jenkins, TPA., Augusta, Ga. Mrs. Jones-No wunder she looks tired; she's up most all night with a sick baby. Mr. Jones-What's the matter with her husband? Mrs JoneB-He's busy all the time trying to get an eight-hour day for workmen. Oldi?Soldier Tortured. For ye?rs I suffered unspeakable torture from indigestion, constipa tion and liver trouble, wrote A K Smith, a war veteran at Erie, Pa., "but Dr. King's New Life Pills fixed rae all right. They're simply great." Try them for any stomach, liver or kidne}' trouble. Only 25c at Penn & Holstein's W E Lynch & Co., B Timmons. DECIDED NOT TO OPEN IT. Caller-I was thinking about open' ira drug store in this neighborhood. I J you think one is needed around here? Resident-Great idea. There's no place within ten blocks where a man can buy stamps or see the city direc tory. PUBLIC DRAY, I defire to notify the public that I am LOW runninga public dray and solicit a share of their patronat e Rates reasonable, satisfaction guar anteed. Orders can be left for me at the store of Dorn & Mims M. Abney Parks. NOT UP TO DATE Tom-You are the only girl I ever loved. Tessie-My, but you're missing a lot of fun. For Sale. House o nd adjoininglot of 3acres near public square. Orchard,garden,good well, pasture, barn, buggy house and other outbuildings. House piped for acetzlyene gas. For price and terms apply to W. A. Byrd at Edgefield or W. A. Strom, Pleasant Lane, S. C. (DILI OE(M o/r T//s QJL? o/esoo/y WAA TO BUILD an automobile road from the Missouri river to the mouth of the Columbia, follow ing the route of the o)d Ore gon Trail, ls the ambitious pro ject that has received the Indorse ment of automobile clubs, good roads associations and men prominent in state and national affairs. As yet the project is little more than a dream but lt ls of the kind of dreams that come true. Although the old Oregon Trail start ed at Independence, Mo., and proper ly terminated at The Dalles, Ore., lt ls planned to start Its successor (to be known as the Pioneer Way) at St. Louis, and to continue lt on to the south of the Columbia, a total dis tance of approximately 2,500 miles. When completed, lt will be unsur passed among the world's highways In its historic associations, and in the variety, beauty and su6llmity of the natural scenery along the way. It will traverse or enter seven states, cross the roof of the continent at an elevation of 7,450 feet, and finally de scend to sea level. It will pass through the wheat and corn fields of Kansas and Nebraska, cross the high plains of Wyoming, traverse the newly irri gated lands of Idaho, and give a glimpse of the famous "Inland Em pire" of eastern Oregon. From St. Louis, the Pioneer Way will follow the Missouri to Independ ence. Thence U win go up the Little Blue rlYer, reaching the Piatte at Grand Island. For 650 miles lt will follow the Platte and Sweetwater, to South Pass-that hardly perceptible crossing of the Rocky mountains, 7, 450 feet above the sea. For 100 miles the route lies over an almost level plateau, 7,000 feet and more in height. On this long stretch, with snowy mountains in sight for much of the way on both the north and the south, far from centers of population, in a region absolutely uninhabited and un inhabitable, the old Oregon Trail is just tho ?sanio today as it was 50 years figo, with the exception that the thou sands who then traversed it have dis appeared, and that it has relapsed into its primeval solitude. Mile after mlle of the roadbed is as distinctly outlined as ever, worn by the wheels of tens of thousands of prairie schoon ers and the hoofs of millions of draft animals and pack animals to a depth of from two to fl*tecn feet, and to a width of anywhere from twelve to one hundred feet. Then Green river is crossed, with its rocks and palisades. Farther on ls the ford of Bear river, after which that stream is followed for forty miles to Soda Springs, 1,170 miles from In dependence. Here the later Califor nia Trail turned off to the southwest. The road to Oregon continued on to the Raft river, where the old Califor nia Trail-the one followed by the forty-niners-diverged to the south. Then down the Snake river ran the road to Oregon. This will be the most picturesque and beautiful long stretch of the Pioneer Way-Just as lt waa the most difficult part of the Oregon Trail. Past American falls. Twin falls, Shoshone falls (called the Niagara of the weBt), Upper an<1 Low er Salmon falls, down Boise river, up the seemingly Impossible face of the Blue mountains, through the pleasant glades of great pine forests, across a dust-cursed desert, and and at last to the broad Columbia. Where the trail first strikes it, the Columbia ls a mlle wide; but lt soon reaches the remark able chasm known as the Dalles, where lt is pent between rock walls from 190 to 200 feet wide, and where no plummet has ever sounded ita depth. Here is literally a "river turned on edge." Pleads for the Old Tra?'. Present day Interest in the Oregon Trail is attributed solely to the ef forts of Ezra Meeker of Puyallup, Wash., who for five years has devoted himself to a unique campaign to se cure the speedy marking and ultimate boulevardlng of the old highway. He went to Oregon in 1852, when he be came a prominent figure among the pioneers, and made and lost several fortunes. On January 28, 1906, he started on what he calls his Oregon Trail Monument Expedition. As an object lesson to the '*st majority, who know prairie schooners and "bull teams" only through the medium of books and pictures, he drives a team of red oxen, hitched to an old-fash Mm? r loned prairie schooner. ?n His first expedition, he traversed every mile of the trail to Independence, then con tinged OD to New York city, and final ly to Washington, reaching the na tional capital November 29. 1907. |t was his intention to ask congress at {hat time to appropriate funds to make of the Oregon trail a national highway; but frOffl this he was dis suaded by President Roosevelt, who advised him to content himself with the comparatively modest request for an appropriation sufficient to place monuments and markers along the route. Meeker spent the winter of 1909-10 campaigning through California, in the endeavor to arouse the interest and secure the co-operation of the people of that state. He has addressed more than 100,000 school children," hundreds of public meetings in town halls, churches, schoolhouses and pub lic squares, and thousands of street corner crowds. Furthermore, he has secured the erection of 22 monuments to mark the trail, has inscribed 24 boulders and erected many wooden posts. He has ascertained that 700 monuments will be necessary to adequately mark the entire route, and that the approximate cost will be about $85,000. Through bia efforts bills were Introduced In both the Six tieth and Sixty-first congresses, pro viding for the appropriation of f50,000 for the marking of the trail; out these .bills never came up for acticr^ The Oregon and the Santa Fe Trails both started at Independence, Mo. For 41 miles they were Identical, but where the town of Gardner how Btands the Santa Fe Trail bore off to the southwest, and the newer route turned to the northwest. At the point of separation a sign board indicated the northern route, with the simple le gend, "Road to Oregon." It followed the direction of the Kansas and Little' Blue rivers to the Platte, reaching that stream near Grand Island. It fol lowed the Platte and Sweetwater for a distance of 650 miles, to South Pass -that hardly perceptible crossing of the Rockies, 950 miles from the Mis souri river. Green river was crossed, and then came Fort Bridger, 1,070 miles from Independence. Sixty miles farther on was the ford of Bear river, which was followed for 40 miles, to Soda Springs, 1,170 miles from the starting point. Here the later Caliror-' nia Trail turned off to the southwest The road to Oregon continued on to Fort Hall, 1,288 miles from Independ ence, at the first crossing of the Snake river. Forty-five miles farther west, at the Raft river, the old California Trail diverged to the south-the trail followed by the "Forty Xlners," but later abandoned in favor of the bet ter road that left the main trail at Soda Springs. Then down the Snake valley, across the Blue mountains, through the valley of the Umatilla, treked the pioneers. The distance*1 from the Missouri river to Fort Van couver was 2,020 miles, and to the mouth of the Columbia 2,134 miles. In 1849 occurred the great migra tion-the historic march of the "For ty-Niners" to the gold fields of Cali fornia. Crowds began gathering along the Misosurl early In April, and by the last of that month lt was esti mated that 20,000 people were en camped waiting for the grass to grow sufficiently to Insure pasturage for live stock. The procession started about the first of May, and by the first of June there was a straggling caravan a thousand miles long mov ing westward. Then the cholera epi demic that had broken out on the At lantic seaboard reached Independence and spread throughout the moving host. Not less than 5,000 emigrants fell victims to the plague that year and were buried on the plains, be tween the Missouri river and Fort Laramie; but 25,000 reached Califor nia over the Oregon and California Trail In spite of plague, famine and all the hardships and perils incident to the passing of so great a host through a wild, unproductive and hos tile country. Another outbreak of the plague in 1852 carried off an equal number of emigrants that year. The Oregon and California Trails constituted the principal highways be tween the east and west until the driving of the spike of gold at Pro montory Point, Utah, in 1869, marked the completion of the first Pacific railroad. $30.00 IN Fncouraged by the success of last year's corn contest and in order to give additional stimulus to the production of corn in the county, The (?Sdgejfctf ^kttf?tt will conduct another corn con test this year. FIRST PRIZE Fifteen dollars ingold will be given the Edge field county farmer who grows the greatest number of bushels of corn on i acre of land during the year 19 ii. SECOND PRIZE - Ten dollars in gold coin will be given the farmer in Edgefield county who grows the sec ond largest number of bushels of corn "on one acre during the y^?r 1 Q? 7.. THIRD PRIZE Five dollars in gold coin will be given th? Farmer in Edgerield county who grows the largest number ot bushels of corn on one acre during the year 1912. The foregoing prizes are offered unconditionally and without embarrassing or complicated restrictions. The contestants can plant their corn when they please, fertilize it as they please and cultivate by whatever system they please. ONLY ONE REQUIREMENT IS MADE: The acre must be in one continuous plot of ground and not composed of two or more rieh spots selected from differ ent parts of the farm. The area planted must NOT be less than one acre. The rules for measurement of the land and corn next fall will be more rigid than in the past contests fcnd will not only be printed on the judge's certificate, but will be published in several issues of the paper, so that everybody can read them and become familiar with them. .. --Who'll Win the Gold This Year Prizes Awarded at the County Fair fe Fir- <V w?<mm I v * >r.-M,;*.<. k,r i . :?* . tv: ' mim m y - A, ?gs y m- / 11 1 ?? rifes Going to Paint? ? 1 P??M| ~- I If it's the house, barn, fence, kitchen floor, walls or anything else, we will gladly tell you what kind to use, quantity required, the cost, and how it should be applied. We have ACMEQUALITY Paints, Enamels, Stains and Varnishes for refinishing any shabby surface-indoors or outdoors. Glad to show colors and offer advice whether you decide to paint or not. '_ ^3