Image provided by: The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde; Grand Ronde, OR
About Weekly Chemawa American. (Chemawa, Or.) 189?-198? | View Entire Issue (May 10, 1907)
6 THE CHEMAWA AMERICAN 5alem-portIar)d 50 Til? Ielay laee Won toy Chemawa from Portland give the school yell. Y. M. C. A. Lttr carried in Five Hours and Twenty six Minutes Maintain Lead all the Way. Run ners are Cheered by Crowd? all Along the Route. The , Salem-Portland relay race be tween the local Y. M. C. A. and the Che mawa Indian school was won yesterday by the Indians. The race was a close contest and the Association boy was only 12 minutes behind the Indian lad when he reached the Y.' M. C. A. building. The race started from the State House, Salem, at 9:40 a. m., and the Indian run ner reached the terminus in Portland at 3:06 p.m. The race was the first of its kind ever held on the Coast, and one of the longest relay races ever held in the country. At 9:40 the tvo runners, Sidney Rasmus sen, representing the Y. M. C. A. and Walter Haight, a Klamath Indian lad representing the Government school,were each handed a copy of a letter containing greetings from Governor Chamberlain addressed to Mayor Lane at the west steps of the Capitol. Both men started off amid the cheers of a large crowd of Salem people, took Capital street to Mar ket, then on to the State Fair road lead ing towards this city. All along the road they were greeted with cheers. Crowds of farmers had assembled, and at . the crossroads there was usually a vehicle containing some party that had traveled a distance to witness the race. The two runners, with the Indian boy in the lead, passed down the road about a mile east of the Chemawa School. Nearly every student in the school was there to The runners changed at a point about five miles north of Salem, and the In dian had gained seven minutes on his rival. The fresh runners followed the County road, passing about a mile east of Brooks and a half mile from Gervais. A large crowd was there to greet them, and as the first man passed through the crowd, a number of guns were fired. The Indian lads kept the lead, and never allowed the palefaces to pass them. At Canby they took the railroad track and followed the line to Oregon City. There they crossed the Suspen sion Bridge and came into Portland on the Oswego road. Here they encounter ed some very heavy hills, especially the Oswego hill. With the Indian still in the lead they passed through Fulton and came in the 'city over Kelly street. Then they took Water street to Colim bia, Columbia to Fourth, then on to the Association building. A large crowd was in front of the Y. M. C. A. building when Amos Smoker, the Indian boy who was to finish the race, came in sight. Cheers went up as the little fellow came in weary 'and panting after his long run. He delivered the message to the party on the platform, then hurried into the association build ing to take a shower. Twelve minutes later Frank Newell, theY. M. C. A. man came running in, and delivered a copy of the same document. He, too, was greet ed with cheers, and soon disappeared in to the association building. . Tht first Indian lad was Walter Haight the second was Sam John, a lad' from California. He in turn was relieved by Peter Seymour, and Seymour turned the letter over to Michel Wilson, a fullblood ed Nez Perce from Idaho, At Hubbard