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)
THE CHEMAWA AMERICAN jNDIANL LEAD ALL THE WAY Portland Runners are Defeated hy Twslvs and Quarter Minutes. ' : la the first relay race ever run from Salem toPortland, the Chemawa team, composed of ten Indian students, .yester day defeated ten runners of the Portland Y,, M. 0. A. by 12 minutes. The exact distance, oyered by the runners was 51.3 milesv theiiverageaime being a mile in G minutes and. 20 seconds. The weather conditions were ideal and the roads in good 'condition when Haight of the , Chemawa .team and Rasmussen of thePortlaftdY.M.C.Alwereeach handed a letter by W. N Oaten, private secreta ry to GoverhOr-'Chamlierlain, written by the govenor. to Mayor Line of Portland, at the west entrance to Oregon's capitol yesterday morning. The runners start ed fromthe tape at 9:40 o'clock. The lndjan;,sopti toj? j the lead,, . which was maintained ., by the Chemawa students over the entire course to Portland. At station No. 1, near Chemawa, the In dians, lead by 5 minutes; at station No. 2, bv 3 minutes; at station No. 3, by 5 minutes; at station No. 4, by 4 minutes; at station, No. 5, by 6. minutes; at station No. 6, by 7 minutes; at station No. 7, by minutes; at station No: 8, by 8 min utes; at station No. 9, noti.me wa3 taken; at station No. 10, the finish, by. 12 min utes. ' The entire distance, 51 3-10 miles, was covered by the Indians in 5 hours and 26 minutes, an average of a mile in 6 minutes and 20 seconds. The order of the. runners was the same as published in yesterday's States man with the exception that on the Port land teamRasmussen was substituted for Backus as starter, and the latter took the place, of Wetterborg at station No. 7. The time made by Haight of Chemawa from the state, house to the first station, 28 minutes and 53 seconds, was within 2.8. Seconds of the world's record for the same distance, 5 miles, made on a cin der track. . ' A large number of people gathered ai the capitol to see the beginning of the race and all along the route great inter est was shown in the contest, the road be ing lined with men, women and children, who cheered the racers as they sped on their way. A.M.Grilley,of the PortlandY. M. C. A., ' and Rube Saunders, of this city followed the runners to Portland on bicycles and acted as official time-keepers. Assistant Superintendent W. P. Campbell, of the Chemawa Indian school and O. J. Wilson of this city, also follow ed in' an automobile as far as Woodburn. A movement is now On foot to arrange a relay race to be participated in by .teams of various institutions of Oregon and to take place at Lone Oak track during the meeting of the state fair in September. . The race was to the swift. The steady gait of the Indian boys won the race. ; - J as. R.' Smith, the' tra iner and coach for the Chemawa relay team that won. the race" yesterday, is deserving of a great deal of credit for the splendid vic tory. He was with the runners from 'Oregon City. Mr. Smith .is the assistant engineer of the institution. He is a grad uate the school. The crowd in front of The Statesman office yesterday, was not looking for election returns;"siinply anxious to as certain how swift the Indians are afoot. Statesman. May 5, 1907.