Alice Huyler Ramsey drove her way into history books in epic driving journey across the US
Today it would be considered a merry jaunt but 110 years ago when Alice Huyler Ramsey arrived in San Francisco, it had been an epic journey from New York by car
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Today a car full of women driving across the US would probably be called a “road trip” and certainly wouldn’t rate mention in the news. But 110 years ago such a trip was considered an arduous journey, over some terrible roads and when four women completed the trek they were met by cheering crowds.
At the wheel was a 22-year-old “housewife” named Alice Huyler Ramsey, making motoring history as the first woman to drive across a continent. As her Maxwell touring car drove into San Francisco on August 7, 1909, people marvelled at the durability of the automobile and the tenacity of its driver.
The trip was meant to take about 40 days but took nearly 60. The women had to endure some almost impassable roads, floods and even a manhunt for a killer,
as they drove across
the country. In the patronising way of the time the trip had been organised by men to show that even women could drive a reliable Maxwell car long distances, but the feat stands as a testament to Ramsey and her skills at navigation as well as her staying power.
She was born Alice Taylor Huyler, the daughter of a lumber dealer in
rural Hackensack, New Jersey, on November 11, 1886. An adventurous child she enjoyed riding horses on the family property.
In 1903 she went away to study at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, graduating in 1906. That same year she married a lawyer, and Republican political hopeful, from Hackensack, John Rathbone Ramsey, setting up house in their hometown. He was 24 years older than Alice but the pair had known each other for years and he seems to have been devoted to his young wife.
He indulged her passion for horse riding, but when she was nearly thrown from her horse after it was spooked by a car in 1907 he bought her a shiny new two-seater Maxwell roadster. She quickly mastered both the driving and maintenance of the vehicle, having learnt a bit about mechanics from her father.
Alice Ramsey was soon driving all over New Jersey, negotiating rough dirt roads. Within a
year she had clocked up thousands of miles behind the wheel. In 1908 she was one of only two women who took part in the 320km Montauk Point endurance race. She earnt a perfect score in the two-day event.
This led to an invitation from Carl Kelsey, the head of the Maxwell-Briscoe motor company, to take part in a publicity stunt for the company, to be the first woman to drive across the US. The route would take her over 5700km from Hell Gate in Manhattan to San Francisco in California. Hopes were that it would inspire other women to take up motoring, specifically in Maxwell cars.
Despite some of the obvious difficulties, including the fact that there were no road maps readily available for much of the territory she was going to cross, Ramsey didn’t need much convincing. So on a rainy day in June 1909 she set out in a Maxwell touring car accompanied by two sisters-in-law, Nettie Powell and Margaret Atwood, along
with a 19-year-old friend Hermine Jahns.
Even before they reached Ohio the car had a tyre blowout and an ignition coil had to be repaired by a professional mechanic. A wag saw the women waiting for the car to be repaired and yelled “Get a horse”. Somewhere still
in the Mid West they ran out of petrol. In Iowa floods turned the roads to mud, forcing the women to sleep in the car overnight.
The next day as they overworked the engine chugging through the mud in low gear, the water in the radiator boiled away. The enterprising women used small toiletry containers in their luggage to carry water from puddles to refill the radiator.
In Nebraska the crew were warned that police were on the hunt for a killer and in Nevada they stopped in fear as a group of Native Americans seemed to charge toward them, only to see that they were hunting a jack rabbit.
As the journey dragged on, Ramsey sent messages ahead to tell supporters they hoped to arrive in San Francisco on August 1. But Jahns took ill a few kilometres outside Reno and they delayed their journey for several days until she was well again. They finally arrived on August 7.
Ramsey continued her driving, making at least one coast-to-coast journey for years afterwards. But she did so without as much publicity. She went back to raising her son John and daughter Alice, publishing a book on her adventures in 1961.
She died in 1983 in California at the age of 96.
Originally published as Alice Huyler Ramsey drove her way into history books in epic driving journey across the US
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