Born Erwin G. Baker but nicknamed Cannonball, he discovered after buying his first motorcycle that he had exceptional stamina and endurance. Tall, lean and lanky he could outride any of the riders of his time. In 1912, Cannonball began his training for what would be the first transcontinental crossing of the North American Continent. After a tour of the southeast, he departed from Florida aboard a steamer and rode the island of Cuba. Another steamer trip landed him on the island of Jamaica, and yet another put him upon the Isthmus of Panama. He rode across Panama and boarded a ship and sailed to San Diego. With his return to the states he had ridden over 14,000 miles. He continued his training on the west coast by competing in endurance runs and road races. In 1914, his plan began to come alive. Back then, the roads were not much to speak of and could quite easly be rained out or vanish all together. Baker enlisted the help of a goverment weather clerk to help him devise a route to place him between the weather fronts. A letter writing campagin ensued to help devise a detailed map for him to find the roads, bridges and gasoline that he would require to accomplish his goal. Where gasoline could not be found, he had burros pack it in. He estimated that the cost of fuel at the remote locations would be as much as 70 cents per gallon. Then, on May 4, 1914, only 3 months before the first world war, at 9:00 am, Cannonball Baker, dressed in leather riding trousers, a short raincoat and a khaki shirt, packing a special canteen that held 1 gallon of water, put his V-twin in gear and headed east and made it all the way to Yuma, AZ with a sandstorm at his back. He used an old Indian trick to combat thirst. By placing a small dime-size stone under his tongue, he could go for great distances without requiring a stop for water. With this method, his water cache of 1 gallon lasted the entire route. On day two of his historic cross-country journey, Cannonball Baker was making good time across Arizona and after crossing the Castle Dome Mountains, he then ran into an "area made up of rocky gulchs, deep washes and great quantities of sand." Only miles outside of Agua Caliente, he ran out of gas and forced to push his bike in 119 degree desert heat. The third day of Baker's trip took him through Phoenix, where his friends laughed at the "pop-gun" pistol he had brought along and they replaced it with a Smith and Wesson .38 cal long. While riding through the Indian reservations at Fort Apache he was greeted by a pack of dogs that acted more like wolves and he was forced to "drop two of them in their tracks in order to get by." With his arivial at Albuquerque, he thought that he had covered the toughest part of his trip, crossing the great desert. But then after 86 miles of mountain climbing he found himself held back by a large mountain stream. An entire day was invested into finding a place to cross, without completely dousing his motorcycle. After pushing the bike through the water, his journey continued. Outside of Dodge City, Kansas, driving upon what he considered to be "good roads" he suffered 6 flat tires all at the hands of nails upon the road. Near Ellsworth, Kansas, a large shepherd dog persued his machine. "This dog seemed to have a great desire for my goodyear rubber of my front tire. Still Cannonball Baker's desire was stronger. "The dog took a fall out of me which put me in bad shape, as I slid along the road upon my elbows and knees. I kept the tire and the dog lost his life. At Ellsworth I had a good meal then sent for a doctor to get bandaged up, and went to bed. On the outskirts of Casey, Illinois, Baker made a significant effort to avoid the pursuing storm. "I knew that I would never get throught the mud holes the storm would bring even with a team of horses if I am caught in the heavy rain". He got wet, but his quest continued. In His Words... Indiana: "Being a native of Indiana, everyone was out to welcome me, and the message was sent along the way: Clear the road, I am a-coming." Ohio: "The boys in Columbus led me the the end of the beautiful pavements and as if chopped off by a knife, came the end of that good road. Before me lay roads that looked like newly plowed fields, and I found upon getting in them that it was mud almost knee deep." Pennsylvania: "I motored across the vast area wet from the rain and deep in mud yet covered a distance of 232.8 miles through the rain and mud." New Jersey: "I had to work for a portion of the night to repair a number of problems. After a short rest, we started for New York and it being very dark night, we were lost two or three times. Even with the (guide) rider who knew the roads. He showed me the way to Weehawken, N.J. where I took the ferry to New York City." New York: "My race with time was then ended, it had been quite a journey and my trip had taken only 11 days, 12 hours and 10 minutes. I got a good nights sleep after a nice meal and then, after talking to reporters until 2 o'clock in the morning, I turned in." The machine that took Cannonball Baker 3,379 miles across the continent represented the technical progression of motorcycle development at that time. He rode an Indian motorcycle, bone stock. This was a full blown motorcycle, not a heavy duty bicycle modified to hold a engine, this was a real motorcycle. Both the engine and frame were designed to work with each other, a complete gearbox, mounted behind the engine. A complete suspension system as well as electric powered lighting. His engine was a narrow-angle v-twin, with a engine displacment of 61 cubic inches [1000cc]. The top end featured valves located in the side pocket of the cumbustion chamber with intake overhead, exhast below, and the sparkplug between. The Indian motorcycle was one of the first manufactured bikes to provide removable heads. The engine was designed to be "decarbonized as well as re-ground with great ease " Decarbonizing and valve work had a great deal of significance in the earlys days of motorcycling. Engines had to be crafted with consideration to the quality of oil, the engine materials, carburetion and lubrication system. The engine lubrication of the Indian V-Twin was a split chore. A primary oil pump was mechanical in nature and this was kept in check with a hand pump system. The rider would pump the manual pump each time the engine was placed under load, or with the throttle wide open. It was the riders responsibilty to maintain good oil exchange or risk overheating or worse, a seized engine. Baker's machine had no peddles; it was manufactured with a fitted kickstarter, footboards, and it had a two speed gearbox. The "Cradle-Spring" frame was new to the world and although its effectiveness compared to the rigid frames of most of the other motorcycle makers designs was great, Cannonball still spent a great deal of time standing up. |
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