A fishing outing for a few days became quite costly for Ransom B. Shelden and his family. The party left Riverside as passengers in a White Steamer automobile on Saturday morning, May 1, 1909, for a camping and fishing trip to San Antonio Canyon. The big 1908 White Steamer automobile included Shelden, his wife Cardelia, his son Ransom P., two young ladies, and the chauffeur, Fred Harver. Filling up the large auto was a hamper with food, fishing gear, a rifle, overcoats, and other needed supplies.
Rollin White, the son of the founder of White Motor Company, developed the White Steamer. Rollin created a special water-tube steam generator in which the coils were all joined at the top, allowing the water to flow only when pumped, thereby providing better control. His invention also operated a superheated unit, taking advantage of the steam’s higher temperatures. The first cars were offered to the public in April 1901. In 1907, President Teddy Roosevelt allowed his Secret Service to use a White Steamer to follow his horse-drawn carriage. The last car was built in January 1911 as the company transitioned to gas-powered vehicles.
R. B. Shelden had purchased the White Steamer eleven months before the outing and had already put 17,000 miles on it. The seven-passenger touring car with a Pullman body cost approximately $5,000. The machine performed flawlessly, without even a spring breaking.
That changed as the party traveled north of Ontario on Euclid Avenue. At the head of Euclid, at a turn in the road, the driver realized something was wrong. Steam was pouring out of the front of the vehicle. Harver alighted from the car to investigate and discovered that a pipe from the gas tank had broken, causing a leak. The turn off Euclid brought the party into the path of a wind coming off the canyon, which caused a backfire that ignited the flame. The automobile had fifty pounds of air pressure on the tank containing four gallons of gasoline and fifteen gallons of distillate. Harver attempted to shut off the fuel supply but could not and suffered burns…