Friday, July 18, 1919. Motor Transport Convoy, Carburetor problems. Ft. Wayne Indiana to South Bend, Indiana. 803d Pioneer Infantry boards for home. Army crossing into Mexico. Sacramental Wine survives prohibition.

On this day in 1919, it seems the gasoline problems experienced yesterday manifested themselves, perhaps in the form of carburetor problems.

Ah, it's now the case that entire leagues of drivers have never driven a vehicle with a carburetor, let alone a temperamental one, where as prior generations of drivers who started off with less than new vehicles learned the temperamental intricacies of a device that was, quite frankly, rather primitive.

I like old vehicles, but I don't miss carburetors at all.  I've noticed recently that if you look at an older truck, you'll almost never find one that features the original carburetor.  Edelbrock's seem to be the standard replacement now, probably replacing the two barrel carburetors that were so common as stock items.

The Edelbrock's are massive compared to the originals.  I wonder what these very early ones were like?

Also on this day in 1919 the 803d Pioneer Infantry Battalion boarded the USS Philippines at the French port of Brest for their return voyage to the United States.

I don't know anything about this unit and indeed had never heard of it until now, but pioneer infantry were infantry units trained in some engineering, which the name "pioneer" usually indicates. This was obviously an all black unit.

Also on this day, news hit that there'd been frequent U.S. border crossings into Mexico during the past six months.

At the same time, the Press reported that conditions were being worked out to allow for the production of sacramental wine, showing how the law of unintended results can operate in areas that weren't expected.