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Speed Merchants: The History of Professional Cycling in Salt Lake City, 1898-1914
Speed Merchants: The History of Professional Cycling in Salt Lake City,
1898-1914
By TED MOORE
By the end of the nineteenth century, the bicycle had become one of America’s more important technological advances. The bicycle was one of the primary reasons that municipalities began to pave their streets, it provided personal freedom for individuals to travel from place to place on their own timetable, and it was an important manufactured product as the nation became more industrialized. The bicycle’s influence, as a means of transportation, was felt throughout the nation and especially in Salt Lake City. By 1900 almost half the city’s population owned a set of “wheels,” and it is fairly likely that almost every family owned at least one bicycle. Despite the fact that in 1900 a new bicycle cost between $50 and $150 dollars and the average annual wage hovered around $500 dollars, local dealers were selling over six thousand new bicycles annually.1
With bicycling mania continuing to increase, professional track cycling followed pace and became one of the nation’s most popular sports. Perhaps surprisingly, Salt Lake City, a moderate-sized community of 53,531 located in the middle of the “Great American Desert,” became the center of professional track cycling by 1900 (along with Newark, New Jersey), and remained so through 1912. The majority of America’s best professional riders were lured to Salt Lake City every summer to race on one of the fastest, if not the fastest, tracks in the world. Additionally, local businesses doled out thousands of dollars in cash as prize money that also attracted some of the best riders from Europe and Australia.
Two bicycle racers at Saltair about 1910.
SHIPLER COLLECTION, UTAH STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
All of this occurred at a time when Salt Lakers and their city were in a transitional phase economically, socially, and culturally as leading citizens worked to better incorporate the state into the broader economy by trying to attract non-Utah investors. This little known history of bicycle racing in Utah deserves further attention for what it adds to the history of professional cycling in the United States generally, and as it helps to illuminate the important role commercialized leisure played in the city’s economic and cultural integration into the broader national economy.2
By the 1890s sports and commercialized leisure were gaining in popularity throughout the country and bicycle racing became one of the most popular forms of recreation and entertainment. The attention and esteem lavished on professional cyclists rivaled that given to any of the early twenty-first century professional baseball, basketball, and football stars. The riders’ images and their feats of triumph were routinely splashed across the pages of newspapers nationwide. Cyclists, even those who were only nominally successful, could make more than four times the average working man’s annual salary, and some of the best cyclists made in excess of ten thousand dollars a year. The potential promise of a good living attracted scores of determined and talented men to try their luck at the sport.3
Bicycle races also attracted large numbers of gamblers. As a result, by the mid 1890s the sport’s reputation for integrity began to wane in the fans’ eyes. Rumors abounded of fixed races and this, coupled with hard evidence of collusion among riders and promoters, caused some spectators to lose interest in the sport. Despite these problems, however, cycling’s popularity remained high at least through World War I when it declined rather quickly. It then made a comeback during the Depression before the sport drifted into relative obscurity after World War II. For its part, Salt Lake City became the center of this international craze by 1900, when interest in the sport may have been at its highest.4
Some key factors that helped to keep track cycling popular included: new racing formats or “disciplines,” the creation of a new governing body that restructured the sport by giving the cyclists greater autonomy, redesigned tracks that were more sharply banked and allowed cyclists to race at greater speeds, and the use of a new technology— the motorcycle. Track cycling had several “disciplines” or events. By the early twentieth century “French-style” races were becoming the most popular. This format involved two riders racing head-to-head around the track for a specified distance. The rider’s strategy was to “sit-on” or follow the slipstream of his competitor, who did all the work setting the pace and blocking the wind, thereby conserving the second competitor’s energy. This would continue until the trailing rider decided to “jump” or try to go around the lead rider by using the accumulated momentum to “slingshot” himself into the lead, much like American stock car racers do on the NASCAR circuit. Sometimes the lead rider would go as slow as possible and even come to a dead stop while balancing his motionless bike in an effort to force his opponent to take the lead. If this failed the leader might try to surprise his opponent and bolt away, thus creating a large enough gap that his opponent would lose any sort of drafting advantage. The crowds loved the cat and mouse strategy and were especially keen to attend races in which the opposing riders were intense rivals.5
This new racing format helped to re-energize and re-legitimize the sport. In some of the older disciplines like the un-paced mile and the mile handicap, the riders did not always give an honest effort. For example, in the un-paced mile four riders were evenly spaced about 110 yards from each other around the track and the object was for each one to try to catch the rider in front of him, and, by doing so, eliminate that rider. This continued until only one racer was left. Occasionally, races like this were rigged, as riders made deals to pace each other or b lock uncooperative racers in 5 exchange for a share of the purse. This new discipline required each rider to race to win or lose without the aid or collusion of other participants and this helped to restore the sport’s reputation.6
The bicycle race track at the Salt Palace.
UTAH STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Other racing formats such as the twentyfour hour race and the six-day race also gained appeal as the nineteenth century came to a close. In the twenty-four hour event the winner was the rider who completed the most laps in a twenty-four hour period. The prizes for this contest usually ranged from 175 to 500 dollars for the victor. Finally, the most difficult test of a cyclist’s endurance was the six-day race. Like the twenty-four hour event, this contest awarded the rider who completed the most laps over the course of six continuous days. During these contests riders often became delirious from lack of sleep and would have to rest for a few hours before continuing. Promoters liked this format because spectators could purchase tickets to watch portions of the contest, which meant higher gate and concessions revenues as spectators came and went throughout the event. Due in part to concerns over the riders’ health and safety, however, the six-day races evolved into a two-man team event wherein two riders alternated between racing and sleeping.7
In Salt Lake City, track racing began at least as early as 1881. A young man named William Wood along with twenty-four others organized the first bicycle club in the city and they constructed a one-eighth-mile track at Calder’s Farm (present-day Nibley Park). A second track was soon built at Washington Square (present-day city/county building block), and it is on this track that Wood won the state cycling championship in 1885.8 It is also on this same track that professionals from California, Otto Ziegler, the first American Champion, and others raced in 1894. Ziegler and other cyclists often spent a few days racing in Salt Lake City to stay in shape and earn a few extra dollars as they traveled back and forth between the two coasts.9
John “The Terrible Swede” Lawson, a Utah bicycle racer.
UTAH STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
These first tracks were flat, and consisted of compacted dirt that was rolled smooth, and were usually ringed with ropes around the perimeter in an attempt to contain the throngs of spectators from interfering with the races and eventually Calder Park came to be the most popular place to watch these events until a new track was built at the Salt Palace.10
As commercialized recreation generally, and cycling specifically, became more profitable, two local men, Frederick Heath and J.R. Walker, decided that a racing oval would place the city in the national sporting spotlight. The two entrepreneurs owned a piece of land on south Main Street on the outskirts of Salt Lake City’s commercial district and they with some other Salt Lake City businessmen organized a joint-stock company for the purpose of constructing an exhibition hall and recreational area that would permanently showcase the state’s manufactured goods in a world’s fair/Coney Island type of exposition. Their vision was part of broader local efforts to boost the city and the state, and to better integrate its economy into that of the nation. The resort that Heath and Walker built in 1899 was known as the Salt Palace.
The Salt Palace board members represented a mix of successful Mormon and “gentile,” or non-Mormon businessmen. Some of these men included W.A. Neldon, who was the founder and president of the Neldon- Judson Wholesale Drug Company and one-time president of the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce. J.W. Dittman and Jacob Moritz, both immigrants from Germany, were involved in the liquor trade—Dittman was a wholesaler and retailer of spirits and Moritz was the vice-president of the Salt Lake Brewing Company. S.W. Morrison owned a profitable lumber company. These men, along with the other board members were all heavily involved in boosting the city and successfully attracted eastern capital into the region.11
The Salt Palace management envisioned their venture as more than just an exhibition hall, but as a center for leisure and recreation. As such, part of the Salt Palace grounds contained an amusement park, and a velodrome. The main building was to be fashioned out of blocks of salt and the grounds quickly became a popular center for amusements and recreation. Richard Kletting, a well-known local architect, was hired to design the track’s façade, while “Captain” Thomas O. Angell was tasked with overseeing the design and construction of the track. Angell was a bicycle enthusiast and was the president of an influential local cycling club. He also had some experience supervising the construction of other tracks in the west. It is not clear where Angell got the inspiration, but the Saucer, as it came to be called, was a departure from other tracks and it would set the standard for other velodromes around the world.12
The architects of the new Salt Lake Palace Saucer designed the one-eighth mile oval track banking the curves at forty-three degrees which enabled cyclists to hold their speed around the entire track. The racing surface was wooden planks laid length-wise rather than cross-wise making the track faster. It only took a month to complete the track’s construction, yet its design was so new and radically different that its steep inclines intimidated many of the local riders. Many of them believed that they would simply tip-over or slide off the track. The Saucer initially accommodated 3,500 spectators and was lit with electric lights for night-time racing (all the races were held in the evenings). Initial building costs for the new track were around four thousand dollars, and to help fund its construction and better assure its success, track owners sold five and ten dollar shares in the venture.13
While cycling would become the main attraction at the Salt Palace, it was not the only form of entertainment. The palace management capitalized on the public’s desire for amusement and leisure by also building a midway-style carnival on the Salt Palace grounds. They promoted their establishment as a “Western Coney Island.” The amusement park included several rides and attractions such as the “Balloon Ascension,” “Parachute Jump,” “Slide For Life,” “Serial Wizard,” “Old Mill,” “Ocean Wave,” and “Hale’s Tour.” There was also a miniature railway and a “freak show” exhibit that was billed as “nature’s monstrosity.” Admission to the grounds was free, but to see the attractions, ride the rides, or witness the races cost money. A night of bicycle racing was only twenty-five cents for general seating and fifty cents for a reserved seat.14
Palace management also constructed an amphitheater and an indoor theater called the “Streets of Cairo.” The amphitheater staged light operas and plays while the “Streets of Cairo” held vaudeville-like performances on the nights that races were not held. To try to entice people off the streets to view the shows and exhibits Palace management had “middle-easternlooking” men walk through the city’s streets and on the amusement grounds playing instruments. The Palace owners also had a small lake excavated on the grounds where people could go on boat rides. Ownership also held special promotional days and events such as a kids’ day that allowed all school-aged children to see the exhibits for free and “give-away” days when a twenty five dollar gold watch was awarded to “the most popular lady on the grounds.”15
Additionally, management had some of the Midway performers entertain the crowds in between the cycling races hoping to lure the spectators into visiting the other attractions. Held’s band would routinely liven-up the spectators with several tunes in between races, and on at least one occasion a recordbreaking crowd witnessed a “Professor” Austin ascend 5,100 feet in a balloon and then parachute back to earth.16
Frederick Heath.
UTAH STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Cycling was the real draw at the Salt Palace, and when the Saucer opened to a packed house on July 4, 1899, it was evident to all in attendance that it was a special track. Cycling fans quickly realized that it was one of the fastest tracks in the world, and by the end of the first month of racing many world records were broken by riders who the local press admitted, “could not hold their own on other tracks.” With speed records being shattered under the lights, the Saucer quickly became the place to be. The demand to see the races was so great that several hundred spectators routinely had to be turned away due to a lack of seating, which prompted track management, after only two months of racing, to expand the track’s seating capacity from 3,500 to 5,000. This decision proved quite prudent as virtually every race night for the next decade was at or near a capacity crowd.17
In mid-July of 1899, shortly after the Saucer began operations, two professional cyclists who had been in Seattle and were on their way to race in the east, stopped in Salt Lake City and decided to spend a couple of weeks racing on the new track. The two men were Frank Cotter, known as the “Western Whirlwind,” and John M. Chapman who hailed from Atlanta, Georgia. Chapman became a regular racer in Salt Lake City thereafter and was partially responsible for convincing other big-name professionals to come and race in the city during the spring and summer months. 18 According to newspaper reports, however, Chapman, although acknowledged as the best rider in the city, for some reason was not well liked by most of the other competitors or spectators. For example, during one night of racing the crowd hissed at him so violently that the race directors considered barring him from the track for his own safety. They ultimately allowed him to compete at the last minute, however, and he ended up winning that night to the dismay of many on-lookers.19
In the fall of 1899, other riders of national acclaim also began stopping in the city to race. One such rider was Floyd A. McFarland, who was one of the fastest and most successful American cyclists of his time. McFarland first raced on the track on his way home to California that fall. McFarland grew up in San Jose, California, the hometown of the first official American champion, Otto Ziegler, and McFarland dreamt of becoming the fastest and most successful cyclist in the world. This desire drove him at times to be a ruthless and unscrupulous competitor both on and off the track. On one occasion he beat Ziegler by running him into a barrier and in a different race McFarland caused another rider to crash by leaning into the other racer’s path and throwing his elbow into the opponent’s tucked head. On another occasion, McFarland was suspended for a year for his part in fixing a race in Australia that had a winner’s purse of five thousand dollars.20
There were a few professional riders who ultimately decided to make Salt Lake City their permanent home and the most popular of these riders was an immigrant named John “The Terrible Swede” Lawson. Lawson purportedly got this sobriquet early in his racing career at a road race in Chicago. There, during the twenty-five mile event, he crashed and bent his front wheel. While he was attempting to bend it back into shape and with the other competitors almost ready to pass him, Lawson hopped on his bike and veered across the pack of racers, causing many of them to crash. Lawson then grabbed one of the other rider’s bikes and rode away with the other cyclists yelling “blessings” at him.21 His popularity was such that he was often invited to take the lead part in local plays and on numerous occasions he was also challenged to demonstrate his speed and power, such as when he was paid to race against a team of horses.22
The Wandamere Resort bicycle track, October 1913.
SHIPLER COLLECTION, UTAH STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Lawson’s popularity on the race track can be attributed in part to the large Swedish population in the city. He was a world champion and record holder in the six-day and the twenty-four hour disciplines. According to the 1910 census, a little over seventeen thousand residents in Utah were either native-born Swedes or first-generation Swedish-American. Swedes comprised a little over 4.5 percent of the state’s total population and 5.2 percent of Salt Lake County’s population. By the 1880s, there was also a sizeable neighborhood in North Salt Lake known as “Swede Town.” Iver and Gussie, his two younger brothers, also raced in Salt Lake City in the early twentieth century, and they too, were each nicknamed the “Terrible Swede.” Iver also became quite popular in Salt Lake City and, like his brother John, set down roots in the city, eventually starting a bicycle and motorcycle shop. Iver also became a highly successful cyclist in his own right, winning several world titles and setting a number of world records.23
The early financial success of the Saucer, coupled with several world records that had been broken at the Saucer, including the coveted record for the one-mile, prompted the owners of the Calder Park track to make improvements. They decided to re-surface their track by “scientifically” baking it in clay, and banking the entire track to thirty degrees in the hopes of again re-attracting racers and crowds. It also inspired other entrepreneurs to build additional velodromes along the Wasatch Front.
The owners of the popular lakeside resort Saltair also considered building a track of their own as early as the end of the 1899 racing season, but postponed building the track until 1908. Their plans capitalized on the public’s interest to swim, dance, and participate in other activities on the weekends as well as watch competitive bicycle races. The newly constructed racing track was banked at forty-seven degrees and was a tenth of a mile compared to the longer eighth of a mile track at the Salt Palace. It was partially roofed and accommodated seven thousand spectators. It included a tunnel from the entrance under the track to the seats, Captain Angell, the architect of the Saucer, also designed and oversaw construction of the Saltair track. It was completed in mid-June at the reported cost of fortyfive thousand dollars.24
A group of Ogden businessmen decided in 1900 to secure funds to build a velodrome in Ogden. The Ogden velodrome was constructed at Glenwood Park. With this race track, there was talk of creating a circuit of races that would have been held between Provo, Salt Lake, Ogden, and Logan, although this never came to fruition.25
The sheer excitement of the sport coupled with its lucrative nature enticed many locals to begin racing. As the 1900 racing season approached, over one hundred amateurs were numbered among those training in the city. The newspapers reported large groups of cyclists riding on the cycle path in Liberty Park and on city roads in preparation for the upcoming season.26 The thrill of greater speeds and the opportunity for fame were not the only attractions to the amateur cyclists. The professionals could make much more money riding in Salt Lake City than they could in the east or even in Europe and the lure of big money induced many local amateurs to leave good paying jobs and pursue cycling full-time.27
Both professional and amateur cyclists, if they were successful at their trade, enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle. While it is difficult to estimate how much individual cyclists did earn—in part because the professionals had corporate sponsors—the average winnings for a race were anywhere from $50 to $100 for first place, $25 to $75 for second, and $10 to $50 for a third-place finish. In 1900, one of the organizations responsible for governing professional races reported that the 167 registered professionals it oversaw had collectively won $59,477 a year earlier. This did not include their contract salaries for racing at specific venues, nor did it include the money they were paid to endorse cycling and other products.28 For many racers, cycling also opened doors to other opportunities. A study done in 1916 of 353 former professional cyclists from the U.S. and Europe revealed that over 50 percent had become factory owners, small business owners, or managers of bicycle and or automobile factories.29
As noted earlier, in the U.S. an average professional cyclist in 1900 could expect to earn at least two thousand dollars a year, which was about four times the average annual salary of most American workers; some world champions such as Marshall “Major” Taylor could expect to receive as much as five thousand dollars just as an appearance fee. In 1899 John Chapman claims to have won over 1,500 dollars racing for two months in the Northwest, and in 1901 Iver Lawson won over two thousand dollars racing for a couple of months in Australia. In an interview done in the late 1960s with a former local professional rider Fred Whittler, who had nominal success, claimed that he annually signed a three-month contract to race at the Saucer for between 1,800 and 2,000 dollars and that placing in the top three in races netted a sizable amount of bonus money.30
Amateurs, although not awarded cash for victories, often received valuable prizes. Amateur riders who were registered with the National Cycling Association, for example, won over twenty thousand dollars worth of prizes in 1899. A growing number of them sold their winnings for cash, which caused the N.C.A. to force many amateurs to race with the professionals. Salt Lake amateur champion Eddie Smith was forced to compete with the professional riders, following a number of complaints from other true amateurs in 1899.31
The large sums of prize money, as well as the chance for international fame, precipitated the spread of the reputation of the Saucer and Salt Lake City to cyclists in the East. Each summer between 1900 and 1912, Salt Lake City hosted most of the best professional riders in the nation. As the 1900 racing season approached, at least twenty professionals from across the country committed to race in the city for the summer and many more riders expressed an interest in coming west.32
Bicycle riders and support staff at the Salt Palace Bicycle Race Track.
UTAH STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
With the three tracks, race promoters were concerned that the population base might not be able to support that much racing and that the three tracks would drive each other out of business. Harry Heagren, the manager of the Ogden track, brokered a deal with the Saucer management to permit racers in Salt Lake City to race once a week to compete on the Ogden track. Under this arrangement, cyclists could race at both tracks and ensure competitive and entertaining race cards for the spectators without the tracks competing in a costly bidding war to attract cycling talent. In 1908, local race promoters and the track managers boasted that over forty thousand dollars in prize money was awarded during the racing season. With two nights of racing at the Saucer, one in Ogden, and two at Saltair, races were held five nights a week among the three tracks and everyone believed that they would rake in record profits.33
The popularity of cycling remained high among Salt Lakers, despite the many other recreational venues and other commercialized spectator sports events: horse racing, professional wrestling, baseball, boxing exhibitions, and soon to be popular, motorcycle racing. Local amusement parks such as Lagoon also drew sizeable crowds, yet residents along the Wasatch Front continued to support cycling in large numbers.34
As the 1908 racing season approached, cables from champion riders around the country, lured by the large sums of prize money flooded the city’s telegraph offices. Some of the best international professionals, including the Australian champion, A.J. Clarke, and the German champion Henry Mayer, who won the Grand Prix of Paris in 1905 and finished second to Iver Lawson in the world championships that same year, signed contracts to race at Saltair.35
In addition to Clarke and Mayer, the Saltair track also boasted one of the more colorful cyclists, a Russian nationalist and winner of the African cycling championships Theodore Devonevitch. Devonevitch sported a long flowing beard that he claimed gave him good luck and this quickly earned him the nickname, “Whiskers.” Newspaper accounts suggest that the beard made him look like a man in his forties despite only being in his early twenties. Before making his way to Salt Lake City, Devonevitch claimed that he had fought, and was subsequently captured, by the British in the Boer War where he was serving as a messenger rider, riding his bicycle instead of a horse.36
Devonevitch initially tried to compete as an amateur, but many of the other riders filed protests, which forced him to race with the other professionals. As a result, early on Devonevitch was described as being “a joke” by the fans because he often finished last. On one occasion when he entered the track, someone yelled out to him “Hey, Rip Van Winkle.” Despite the ridicule, his smile and his flowing beard eventually endeared him to a portion of the fan base and as he improved his racing strategy and got into better shape he soon became a crowd favorite. On the night that he won his first race, “the people yelled themselves hoarse when the Russian took the lead, and when it was seen that he would win shout after shout rent the air.”37
Marshall “Major” Taylor, at the Salt Palace Bicycle Race Track on July 21, 1910.
SHIPLER COLLECTION, UTAH STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Perhaps the most internationally famous cyclist to race in Salt Lake City was Marshal “Major” Taylor. Taylor, a world champion and one of only a few African American professionals in the sport, was the highest paid cyclist in the world and agreed to come to Salt Lake City in 1910 to cycle in three races for 1,500 dollars plus traveling and lodging expenses.38 Although past his racing prime, he, nevertheless, attracted large crowds, and was still good enough to challenge the world’s best. He arrived in Salt Lake City in July and spent a couple of weeks training and riding into shape. Ultimately he was beaten in all the races in which he rode, but they were all highly competitive and attracted some of the largest crowds in the Saucer’s history.39
The motivation by the cyclists to win races was not exclusively monetary in nature. Both professionals and amateurs had separate leagues that went from the end of May through the beginning of September, and each cyclist was awarded points for placing in the top four in a race. The rider who amassed the most points by the end of the racing season was crowned the Western champion, earning the right to race the top point getter from the east for the title of U.S. champion.40
The West-East rivalry was played-up in the papers, in part to sell tickets, but the cyclists did have a highly competitive nature as well. A good illustration of this is the story of A.J. “Jackie” Clarke. Clarke rode his first bike race in Melbourne in 1903 and quickly rose through the ranks to become Australia’s champion by 1906. In that year, Clarke came to the U.S. where he competed in Salt Lake City and at several eastern venues. In 1908, he won over twenty-five races at the Saltair Hippodrome track and became the number one rival to the long-time American champion Frank Kramer. Kramer won his first of a record eighteen national titles in 1901, as he rode almost exclusively in the east and made his home in New Jersey. In 1909, Clarke had tied Kramer on points for the American Championship and the National Cycling Association required that the two men race the five “standard” distances to settle the matter. With each of the riders having won two races, the N.C.A. then changed the racing distance of the final match at the last minute, and Clarke refused to ride, forfeiting the race and the title. The rivalry between the two from then on became much more intense. Clarke’s manager, Floyd MacFarland, challenged Kramer to come and race in Salt Lake City to determine the true champion. MacFarland boasted that Clarke was the current record holder in several disciplines and distances and had recently won the New York and Berlin Six-Day races, while Kramer “continued to compete against inferior talent.”41
With Kramer and his manager doing their best to brush Clarke aside, MacFarland publicly challenged both the Kramer camp and the N.C.A:
While these cross-country rivalries stirred even more public interest, cyclists’ need for speed, coupled with the public’s desire for more excitement, led to the dangerous discipline of motorpacing. Early in the development of the sport, cyclists discovered the science of drafting. Namely that a person could ride faster, further, while using as much as 30 percent less energy, if there was someone or something that blocked the wind. Cyclists used this to their advantage in the “French Style” races, trying to force their opponents to take the lead, set the pace, and expend more energy until the final lap when the trailing racer would try to “slingshot” past his competitor to victory. In longer distance races, cyclists would often use teammates to set a steady pace as long as they could before launching themselves to go it alone for the final few laps.
As records continued to fall and cyclists searched for more speed, they realized that what they needed was a pacing device that did not fatigue and could consistently go fast. Ultimately, the idea of slapping an engine on a bike and using this new machine to pace riders caught on. John Lawson was the first recorded cyclist in Salt Lake City to try motor-pacing on the Saucer. In September of 1899, Lawson created quite a stir when he announced that he would begin training and practicing behind a motorcycle (supposedly the first one west of the Mississippi). At that time, the machine could travel a mile in about a minute and thirty seconds, and Lawson was confident that he could break all records pacing behind it.43
Cyclist demonstrating motor pacing at the Salt Palace, July 16, 1906.
SHIPLER COLLECTION, UTAH STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Motor-pacing became its own discipline and eventually Hardy Downing was the master. In one successful record-breaking ride Downing stayed so close to the motorcycle that, “[he] seemed to be tied to the rear wheel of the pacing machine and he appeared more like a piece of machinery than a human being.” 44 In motor-pacing the two men riding the motorcycle would often stuff newspapers or cardboard around their legs to create a vacuum, which would help pull the bike along. The rider still had to remain less than a foot behind the motor, or he would lose the full advantage of the draft. The motorcycles, therefore, were equipped with a roller that extended off the rear wheels so that if the bike got too close, the roller would just spin, thus reducing the odds of a crash.45
As one can imagine, this type of racing was very dangerous to riders, but was very popular with the crowds. One such motor-paced event held on June 10, 1908, threatened both the spectators and racers when a race almost turned fatal. One of the motorcyclists lost control of his machine, causing the other motorcyclist to swerve hard to avoid a collision when the driver fell off the motor-bike, sending the machine flying up the bank toward the crowd. Only a light- pole saved several dozen spectators from serious injury and possible death. With no one injured, the crowd, after having absorbed what had happened, erupted into a loud roar. It is also worth noting that at the next night of racing after this incident the Saucer experienced a record attendance.46
From motor- pacing, it did not take long for motorcycling to become its own form of entertainment, and Salt Lakers flocked to the motorcycle races too. The city became a popular venue that also attracted “motorheads” from across the country. The first night that the Wandamere track (formerly Calder’s Park) opened in the summer of 1910, over ten thousand paid attendants watched the two and a half hour racing spectacle. A reporter from the Deseret News commented that,
Those who raced motorbikes also belonged to a competitive circuit that awarded points. Many racers spent a few months each summer in Salt Lake City as part of a larger West Coast circuit that included Los Angeles, Portland, and Seattle. However, motorcycle racing failed to consistently draw as large crowds as cycling, and the newspapers usually devoted more space to cycling and relegated motorcycling news to the second page of the sporting section.48
With the inclusion of motorcycles in cycling events, questions over associational jurisdictions soon arose. Motorcyclists were governed by the Federation of American Motorcyclists, which had an agreement with the N.C.A. that any motor-paced events needed the approval of an F.A.M. official. On occasion the formalities of seeking such approval were not followed and the local F.A.M. official would lodge a formal complaint resulting in the motorcycle drivers being temporarily suspended. The two organizations worked to avoid a bidding war for talent, but occasionally conflicts did occur.49
The Hippodrome at the Saltair Resort on the Great Salt Lake.
SHIPLER COLLECTION, UTAH STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Cyclists not only had to deal with potential jurisdictional controls from the F.A.M, they also had to contend with their own governing bodies. When the Saucer track opened in 1899, it did so under the umbrella of the League of American Wheelmen, which had governed most races in the U.S. until 1898. In October of that year, led by Floyd McFarland, the top riders voted to leave the L.A.W. and start their own league, one that they would control, called the National Cycling Association or N.C.A.50
The L.A.W. did not like professional cyclists in its organization because of the gambling element and the reality of fixed races. Their controls and restrictions on cyclists were quite autocratic at times as the L.A.W. attempted to force order and discipline on the cyclists in the name of efficiency. L.A.W. guidelines required cyclists to compete at specific venues or face suspension and race at a minimum speed and abide by a specific code of conduct.51 The L.A.W. also placed a cap on race purses that the N.C.A. lifted. Additionally, under L.A.W. regulations riders were forced to compete at certain locales and even race when sick or injured or face stiff penalties and fines. Under the N.C.A. these regulations were abolished and riders were free to race where and when they chose and perhaps more significantly, the prize cap was also removed. McFarland successfully convinced thirty-seven of the top prize-winners to join and he also secured agreements with tracks in the west and the south for the new organization. The removal of the race purse cap and the greater freedom and control that the riders enjoyed helped restore some legitimacy to the sport, as riders no longer felt as compelled to fix races or perform on demand.52
The tracks in Salt Lake City abandoned their affiliation with the L.A.W. in 1899 and switched first to the California Association of Cycling Clubs, and then to the N.C.A. Even under the C.A.C.C., however, local riders continued to face some of the same autocratic demands and enforcement that they had endured under the L.A.W. For example, on one occasion a local C.A.C.C. official ordered some sick and injured cyclists to race. The two cyclists tried to persuade the official to allow a couple of other riders to take their places, but to no avail. Their attempts to “fake it” were easily detected by the spectators and they finished the race amidst a throng of hisses and boos from the crowd.53
There were some who believed that cyclists, through research and technology, would eventually be able to race without fatiguing. Wilbur Atwater at Wesleyan University in Connecticut attempted in his efficiency studies to transform cyclists into machines. He conducted scientific experiments having cyclists ride for many hours on a contraption that determined the caloric value of food in the hopes of finding the perfect diet for a cyclist. He, like many others, believed that with the right diet and aerodynamic setup of a bicycle and rider, cyclists could race without ever tiring.54 Despite the best scientific knowledge, cyclists remained human. Competitive cycling continued to be a dangerous sport, which fostered a degree of camaraderie. Some of the more successful riders created a fund to aid fellow cyclists who were seriously injured in races. Cyclists who suffered severe injuries often lost the means to earn an income and perhaps became debilitated for life. To lighten the financial strain on riders and their families, McFarland, Clarke, Major Taylor, and a few others routinely participated in charity races to raise money for their fellow cyclists.55 In an interview conducted in the late 1960s, Art Gardiner, who was a teen-age concessionaire at the Salt Palace in the early 1900s, noted: “Those bike riders were the most colorful group of athletes I ever knew. They’d risk their necks night after night, and there were feuds and fist fights among them, but they were quick to come to the aid of a buddy who was down on his luck and they never failed to put on a great show.”56
Construction of the Saltair Bicycle Track, June 15, 1908.
SHIPLER COLLECTION, UTAH STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The last “great” year of track cycling in the city was 1912. That year Floyd McFarland, who earlier had become track manager, took the best riders and left to ride on a permanent basis on eastern tracks. Despite this, the Saucer was still able to attract some of the better, although aging professionals for the 1913 racing season. That same year, the Salt Palace changed its name to the Majestic and in 1914 with the outbreak of World War I in Europe the track exclusively hosted amateur racers. The war and the growing use of the automobile took their toll on the sport of bicycle racing, especially in Salt Lake City. With the decline of bicycle racing, and the Salt Palace building burning down in 1910, the Saucer was torn down and the space was used for a dancehall, later as an arena for boxing and wrestling exhibitions, and in the 1930s, on the north end of the block, Maurice Warshaw built Grand Central store, which became a chain of supermarkets in Utah. Today, the area is a new and used automobile dealership. As city and country roads slowly improved, more cyclists took to road cycling, which contributed to waning local interest in the once popular sport of track racing.57
The Saltair Bicycle Track.
UTAH STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
A stage with seating on the infield of the bicycle track inside the Saltair Hippodrome, January 16, 1910.
SHIPLER COLLECTION, UTAH STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Professional track cycling in Salt Lake City in the early 1900s was an important contributor to and indicator of the emerging culture of commercialized outdoor leisure that was developing in the city. The commercialized leisure was part of a broader effort by municipal leaders to market Salt Lake City and the Salt Palace Saucer to the rest of the nation and professional cycling as an important venue thereby boosting the city’s reputation generally. Cyclists like John and Iver Lawson, who made Salt Lake City their home, and A.J. Clarke, who ended up marrying a local girl, became some of the noted “speed merchants” as they helped to spread the reputation of the Saucer and the city as they traveled to venues around the world. Competitive track racing also played a role in integrating the city and state into the national economy.58
NOTES
Moore received his Ph.D. in environmental/urban history from Michigan State University and is currently an Assistant Professor of History at Salt Lake Community College.
1 “Cyclists Are Willing,” Salt Lake Herald, May 23, 1900, and “With The Wheelmen,” Salt Lake Tribune, May 27, 1900.
2 For a more thorough discussion on the economic and social dynamics in Utah and Salt Lake City see Leonard J. Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom: An Economic History of the Latter-Day Saints, 1830-1900 (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1958), and Thomas G. Alexander and James B. Allen, Mormons and Gentiles: A History ofSalt Lake City (Boulder, CO.: Pruett Publishing Co., 1984).
3 Todd Balf, Major: A Black Athlete, A White Era, and the Fight to be the World’s Fastest Human Being (New York: CrownPublishers, 2008), 76; “Iver Coming Home,” Deseret News, March 22, 1901; and John Lund, “The Old Salt Palace,” Bicycling Magazine (August 1969): 11.
4 Balf, Major
5 “Cycling in the News,” Salt Lake Tribune, June 11, 1899.
6 Ibid.
7 “Cycling in the News,” Salt Lake Tribune, June 18, 1899; “With Bike Riders At Saucer Track,” Deseret News, July 29, 1907; and Balf, Major: A Black Athlete.
8 “Champion Recalls Old Bicycle Races,” Deseret News, July 18, 1945.
9 “Glory Enough For Once, A World Record for Salt Lake City,” Salt Lake Tribune, August 24, 1894; “Cycling in the News,” Salt Lake Tribune, June 11, 1899; and “C.R. Coulter Dead,” Salt Lake Herald, February 19, 1901.
10 “Cycling in the News,” Salt Lake Tribune, June 11, 1899.
11 C.W. Bouton, “Utah’s Salt Palace: Official Souvenir,” (Salt Lake City : Utah Litho. Co. Printers), Utah State Historical Society, PAM 6102, and “Fierce Flames Attack Salt Palace Property,” Salt Lake Tribune, August 29, 1910.
12 “Cycling in the News,” Salt Lake Tribune , June 18,1899, and “Fierce Flames Attack Salt Palace Property,” Salt Lake Tribune, August 29,1910.
13 “Cycling in the News,” Salt Lake Tribune, June 11, and June 18, 1899; and “With The Wheelmen,” June 30, 1899.
14 “Big Crowd Attends the Bicycle Races,” Salt Lake Tribune, May 31, 1908, and June 1, 1908, (Salt Palace Advertisement).
15 “Big Amusement Enterprise,” Deseret News, April 13, 1900; “Salt Palace News,” Deseret News, June 8, 1900; “Salt Palace Attractions,” Deseret News, July 9, 1900; Olive W. Burt, ed, “Bicycle Racing and the Salt Palace: Two Letters,” Utah Historical Quarterly 50 (Spring 1982): 167.
16 “Record-Breaking Crowd At Races,” Salt Lake Tribune, June 13, 1908.
17 “Cycling in the News,” Salt Lake Tribune, July 16, 1899, and “People Turned Away, Big Throng At Salt Palace Wheel Races,” Salt Lake Tribune, August 11, 1899.
18 Ibid.
19 “Cycling in the News,” Salt Lake Tribune, September 17, 1899.
20 “Phenomenal Wheel Ride,” Salt Lake Tribune, October 20, 1899; “Cycle Track Frosty,” Salt Lake Tribune, October 24, 1899; “Bicycle Track Blacklisted,” Salt Lake Tribune, November 5, 1899; and Balf, Major, 64, 67, 245.
21 “Cycling in the News,” Salt Lake Tribune, June 11, 1899.
22 Ibid., June 18, 1899.
23 “Lawson and Emory,” Deseret News, June 18, 1900; “Bicycle Notes,” Deseret News June 19, 1900; Richard L. Jensen, “Swedish Immigrants and Life in Utah,” in Utah History Encyclopedia, ed. Allan Kent Powell (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1996), 537-38 ; Richard D. Poll et. al, Utah’s History (Logan: Utah State University Press, 1989), 690-91.
24 “New Saucer Track Opens Today,” Salt Lake Tribune, June 17, 1908.
25 “Cycling in the News,” Salt Lake Tribune, September 3, 1899; “Cycling in the News,” Salt Lake Tribune, July 16,1899; “With The Wheelmen,” Salt Lake Tribune, March 25, 1900.
26 “With The Wheelmen,” Salt Lake Tribune, April 15, 1900.
27 Ibid., March 11, 1900.
28 “Meeting of Wheelmen,” Deseret Evening News, February 7, 1900; J.A. Mangan, ed. Reformers, Sports, Modernizers: Middle-Class Revolutionaries (London: Frank Cass,, 2002), 115.
29 Mangan, Reformers, 124; “With The Wheelmen,” Salt Lake Tribune, April 15, 1900.
30 Balf, Major,76; “Iver Coming Home,” Deseret News, March 22, 1901; and Lund, “The Old Salt Palace.”
31 “With The Wheelmen,” Salt Lake Tribune, March 4 , 1900, and “Meeting of Wheelmen,” Deseret Evening News, February 7, 1900.
32 “With The Wheelmen,” Salt Lake Tribune, March 4, 1900; and “With The Wheelmen,” Salt Lake Tribune, April 15, 1900.
33 “Five Race Meets For Bicycle Riders,” Salt Lake Tribune, April 30, 1908.
34 See for example, “Big Cycle Road Race for Decoration Day,” Salt Lake Tribune, May 24, 1908; “Big Road Race Over The Lagoon Course,” Salt Lake Tribune, May 30, 1908; “Dark Horse Wins Lagoon Road Race,” Salt Lake Tribune, 31 May 1908; “Big Crowd Attends the Bicycle Races,” Salt Lake Tribune, May 31, 1908.
35 “Bicycle Season Open May 30,” Salt Lake Tribune, May 24, 1908.
36 “Revolutionist To Race As Amateur,” Salt Lake Tribune, May 12, 1908; “Salt Lake Riders Win All the Money,” Salt Lake Tribune, June 12, 1908. Just a note about the spelling of Devonevitch’s name. Newspaper accounts spell his last name alternately Devonevitch and Devonovitch.
37 “Clarke Breaks The Two-Mile Record,” Salt Lake Tribune, July 10, 1908.
38 “Crack Negro Bike Rider Arrives For Match,” Deseret News, July 14, 1910; and “Champion Cyclist Arrives in Zion,” Salt Lake Tribune, July 14, 1910; “Hardy Downing Breaks Record,” Salt Lake Tribune, July 2, 1910; “New Western Champion,” Salt Lake Tribune , July 5, 1910; “Clarke Jumps Onto Lead In Championship,” Deseret News, July 4,1910; “Clarke Hangs Up Two World’s Records,” Deseret News, July 3, 1910; “Major Taylor Will Go After Record,” Deseret News, August 5, 1910; “Major Taylor Drew Crowd At Saucer,” Deseret News, July 26, 1910.
39 “Major Taylor Will Go After Record,” Deseret News, August 5, 1910; “Major Taylor Drew Crowd At Saucer,” Deseret News, August 6, 1910; “Lawson Wins From Taylor,” Salt Lake Tribune, August 17, 1910.
40 “Hardy Downing Breaks Record,” Salt Lake Tribune, July 2,1910.
41 “Clarke After All World’s Records,” Salt Lake Tribune, August 7, 1910; and Lou Dzierzak, The Evolution of American Bicycle Racing, (Guilford CN: Globe Pequot Press, 2007), 15.
42 “Clarke Challenges Kramer to Race,” Deseret News, August 4, 1910; “Jackie Clarke Defies Kramer,” Salt Lake Tribune, August 4, 1910.
43 “Motor Tandem on Saucer,” Salt Lake Tribune , and “Cycling in the News,” Salt Lake Tribune, September 20, 1899.
44 “Hardy Downing Breaks Record,” Salt Lake Tribune, July 2, 1910.
45 Lund, “The Old Salt Palace,” 10-11; Burt, “Bicycle Racing,” 165.
46 “Awful Accident Barely Averted,” Salt Lake Tribune, June 10, 1908; “Record-Breaking Crowd At Races,” Salt Lake Tribune, June 13, 1908.
47 “Motordrome,” Deseret News, July 26,1910.
48 “Motordrome Card of Speed Thrills,” Salt Lake Tribune, July 4, 1910.
49 “Kelsey’s Decision Will Determine Sanctions,” Deseret News, July 29, 1910; “Fight Renewed Over Motor Paced Races,” Deseret News, July 29, 1910; “ Motordrome and Saucer Track Settle Strife,” Salt Lake Tribune, July 27, 1910.
50 Balf, Major, 117-18, 132.
51 Christopher Thompson, “The Tour in the Interwar Years: Political Ideology, Athletic Excess, and Industrial Modernity,” in ed. Hugh Daunce and Geoff Hare, The International Journal of the History of Sport 20 (2003): 79-102; and Mangan, Reformers, 2, 106.
52 Ibid. It needs to be noted, though, that fixed races still continued, and that ultimately, the riders lost most of their control over the N.C.A.
53 “Cycle News,” Salt Lake Tribune, 24 Sept. 1899.
54 Balf, Major, 94-95.
55 “Benefit Race Meet At Salt Palace Tonight,” Salt Lake Tribune, August 28, 1910.
56 Lund, “The Old Salt Palace,” 11.
57 “Salt Lake Bike Riders Off For East Tuesday,” Salt Lake Tribune, September 8 1912; “More Riders Come For Saucer Track,” Salt Lake Tribune, May 18, 1913; “Large Crowd Attends Saucer Track Opening,” Salt Lake Tribune, May 31,1914; According to one of the interviews in Lund, “The Old Salt Palace,” one account claims that the track burned down, but newspaper articles suggest that it was simply torn down and replaced by the exposition hall, while another makes the claim that a dancehall, arena, and then supermarket were built on the site, see “Building One Time Rocked With Sports’ Fans Cheers,” Deseret News, July 23, 1959.
58 See for example, Roy Rosenzweig, Eight Hours For What We Will: Workers and Leisure in an Industrial City, 1870-1920 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983); Vanessa R. Schwartz, Spectacular Realities: Early Mass Culture In Fin-De-Siecle Paris (Berkeley: University. of California Press, 1998); Thompson, “The Tour in the Interwar Years,” 79-102, and Mangan, Reformers
