1916: The Start of the First Coast-to-Coast Trip for a Commercial Truck in the United States

July 12, 1916

William Warwick, accompanied by his wife and their young daughter, departed from Seattle in a commercial truck for what would become the first transcontinental journey for that type of motor vehicle in the United States. This pioneering expedition between Seattle and New York City took place under the auspices of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce. The vehicle used for the trip was a 1½-ton (1.3-metric ton) GMC truck that General Motors had lent to the chamber. The B.F. Goodrich Company (now known as BF Goodrich) provided the tires for that truck.

As another part of the arrangements for this trip across the United States, William Warwick had on board the truck a large number of cans of evaporated milk produced by the Carnation Company. Warwick was tasked with transporting all of those cans, weighing a ton (0.9 metric ton) altogether, from a manufacturer in Washington State to one of his customers in New York City.

The San Bernardino Daily Sun reported, “The trip is in the nature of a road test, as well as a demonstration of the efficiency of the trucks and its tires and a test of the ‘keeping quality’ of the evaporated milk under the unusual conditions of the journey.” Not long after this trip began, the Warwicks’ daughter became sick when they were in the vicinity of Wenatchee, Washington. She subsequently stayed with her maternal grandmother while the parents continued their journey.

During the remainder of this cross-country trek from Seattle to New York City, the Warwicks made their way through Spokane, Washington; Butte and Miles City in Montana; Bismarck and Fargo in North Dakota; Saint Paul, Minnesota; La Crosse, Wisconsin; Chicago, Illinois; Cleveland, Ohio; and Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and Albany in New York. (The accompanying photo of William Warwick next to the truck was taken near the community of Fallon, Montana.)

For the most part, the Warwicks slept either in the truck or at campsites. One exception to this was when they stayed at a hotel in Cleveland — and that was largely because that location was a convenient gathering place for people who traveled from as far as 30 miles (48.3 kilometers) away to see the headline-grabbing truck.

While this vehicle generally performed well during much of the trip, it still ran into a few notably rough patches en route. Commercial Vehicle magazine highlighted this by recounting how, in both Washington and Idaho, the truck “met with narrow bridges, washouts and floods which tested the skill of the driver.”

The record-setting journey came to a successful end on the morning of September 19, when the Warwicks finally arrived in New York City. They had covered a total or 3,710 miles (5,970.7 kilometers) from start to finish.

Photo Credit: Commercial Vehicle magazine (1 October 1916)

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