Evening Star Newspaper, April 19, 1931, Page 81

THE SUNLAY STAR, -WASHINGTON, D. C, APRIL 19, 1931, 5 ‘Remarkable Travels of Arthur Swift He Is Probably the Only Man W ho Has Been in Every One of the 3,076 Counties of the United States, and Though He Can Give You From Memory Important Statistics of Every Locality He Has Visited in His Million-Mile Travels, He Makes His Home on the 5,000-Acre Ranch in Oregon Where He Was Born. HIS Spring when you start planning for your vacation you might give a- thought to the story of Arthur Valen- tine Swift. Mr. Swift, though running a 5,000~ acre stock ranch in one of the most remote parts of Baker County, Eastern Oregon, claims to have seen more of North America than any other person. He has visited every county in every State in the Union and every province fn the Dominion of Canada. Having virtually seen everything that his native land has to offer, this rancher-gazetter's advice to all vacation travelers is to see first what Uncle Sam’s domain is like before jour- neying abroad. Although he has visited nearly every nook and cranny of the United States, each Summer finds him adding thousands of miles to his total mileage, which is now nearing the 1,000,000 mark. Last Summer he completed visiting the last of the Canadian provinces, Prince Edward Island, traveling 35,000 miles in three months’ time. And what'’s more—this American Marco Polo has not only visited all counties in the United States, but has carried away a mental picture of the rivers, industrizs and general contours of the land. No more ideal information bureau for any Chamber of Commerce could be found than Mr. Swift. . He can tell you the county seat of Hancock County, Me., and in the same breath inform you that Orange County, Fla., raised only 115,000 crates of melons last year. Hell tell you about Clearwater County, Idaho, growing a bumper potato crop last year, d declares that Sedgwick County, Kans., is gttting along fairly well with its kaffir and maize. “For eight years I was vice president of the National Farmers’' Union and served as a State delegate for many years,” he says. “I have attended many conventions of the union, and my county-traveling has always made me the object of considerable quizzing. I remember at one convention I was talking to two delegates when two others joined the group. ““Meet Mr. John Grimes of New London, Conn.’ one man said in introducing the newly arrived. ¢ “ ‘New London,” I repeated, ‘that’s in New London County. Only.eight counties in your State, Mr. Grimes. Your town is on the Thames River and opens out on Long Island Sound, doesn't it?’ y . “‘It- sure does!” he exclaimed, looking astounded - at my quick knowledge of his lo- cality. And then the fun began, and before it was finished many had fired questions at me.” Mn. SWIFT is far from being & boastful person, but he remembers only once when he was trapped. It was at a convention in Wachington & few years ago. He was giving a demonstration and submitting to a rapid-fire quiz by delegates. ¢ “What's the county seat of Haskell County, Kans?” one fired at him. ' - “Santa Fe,” Swift replied instantly. In addition to traveling, Mr. Swift finds time for politics, in which he has been active for years. This picture, taken in tha campaign of 1912, shows him (at the right) introducing Theodore Roosevelt to an audience in Baker City, Oreg. Arthur Valentine Swift, who has vis- ited every county in the United States and every province in Canada. “Wrong,” smiled his questioner. Swift looked worrizd. “When did they change it?” he asked. “November 2,” he was informed. All sorts of sorcery have been laid to the Oregon rancher, but he declares his memory of the counties has been developed through many years of study and travel. There is one incident that remains prominent in his memory. “Some years ago a friend and I were eating in a restaurant in Denver,” he says. “He had traveled some with me and was always quizzing me about different parts of the country. So to have some fun he started asking people in the restaurant where they were from and having me name the county and county seat. It all went along very nicely to the enjoyment of the guests until we came to one old lady. “+‘And where are you from?’ he asked her. “ ‘Bridgeport, Mich.,” she ansowered. “ “That's in Allegan County,’ I promptly ventured. * ‘Humph!’ she exclaimed. ‘It is very simple to understand how you know all the county seats, Some great spirit stands behind you and prompts you!' ” This, of course, turned the diners into an uproar, Swift remarks. “It may seem like a herculean task to re- member all the information about the counties,” he says, “but to me it doesn’t seem much now. You see, geography has always been my hobby, and when a man has a hobby nothing else seems to count much. I just started out to fulfill a desire I had when I first studied geography in grammar school and didn’t stop until I had visited my last county, which was Loving County, Tex. That made a total of 3,076 counties.” LARGE wall map, large enough to include every county of the 48 States, adorns the wall of Swift’s study. Each county on the map was numbered as, the sightscer entered it and the routes traced, although many times he crossed the same paths. He has kept complete data on each trip, but dates are forgotten. “I m>morized the map of the United States, which has helped me greatly in remembering about the counties,” Swift says. “It's not all The only building in Loving County, Tex. The last of the 3,076 American counties visited bv Mr. Swift. from travel, although I've visited all the coun- ties, As soon as some one mentions a county the diagram of it pcps into my mind and-I know whether it is rectangular or ‘L’ shaped or whatever shape it is, and the remainder comes easy. It is simply a case of making a memory of geography my hobby.” Swift was young when he first determined to “see America first,” and his first sight of coun- ties outside of his own State came in the 90’s when he accompanied a carload of horses to Towa. In 1906 he made his first extensive trip by train and since that time has traveled nearly 1,000,000 miles by trzin and auto. Counties are just as important and interesting to him as an anclent stamp is to a stamp col- lector or the discovery of a rib of a dinosaur is to an archeologist. “Counties,” he says, “certainly vary in the different parts of the country. The last county I visited, Loving County, Tex., hasn’t a county seat, while Bristol and Essex Counties, Mass., and Woodruff County, Ark., each have three, “In fact, there isn't much of anything in Lov- ing County. The main building when I visited there, was a little shack that was a post office, store and service station combined. And to top everything off, the fellow in charge was a cripple. Until such a county has 150 voters it is not entitled to organize. Countles of this nature generally attach themselves to a neigh- boring county for judicial purposes. “Counties with three county seats generally have them located in the populated areas and move their county court and other officials to accommodate the people. You'll find, as a rule, that in counties with more than one county seat, township government is stronger than that of the county—a marked exception to the general rule.” - ” Many counties are namesakes of former Pres- idents, Swift has found in his travels. “There are 33 Washington, 26 Jefferson, 25 Franklin, and 24 Lincoln and Jackson counties, he points out. “Delaware has the smallest num- ber of counties with three, while Texas with 254 heads the list. “The largest and smallest counties are lo- cated in the East and West coasis. San Bernar- dino County, Calif, is the largest, while New York County is the smallest. [ ABB!:VILL! COUNTY, S. C,, is first alpha< betically, and Ziebach County, 8. D, - is last. “Cle Elum County, Wash. is the farthest west; Lake of the Woods County, Minn, is northernmost; Washington County, Me, is most easterly, and Morrow County, Fla., extends farthest south.” Seven deer, a railway locomotive and an ex- cited train crew form the background for the most interesting incident of all encountered by Mr. Swift in his travels, It's an event, he says, he’ll never forget. “One Sunday, a few years ago,” he says, “I was riding on & mixed train on a new railroad in the Everglades in Florida. It was a weekly train through a newly-opened section of the State, and contained many freight cars in addi- tion to the one passenger coach. I happened to be the only passenger. “The right of way was all newly fenced, with barbed wire on the top. Suddenly the train started to slow down and when I looked ahead I saw seven deer grazing along the tracks. Six jumped and cleared the fence. But one big. antlered buck just couldn’t make it. He tried Continued on Eighteenth Page