The 1897 Los Angeles to Santa Monica Road Race

The 1897 Road Race marked the arrival of one of the southland's best known racers of the early decades of Los Angeles racing. Three changes were introduced as well: First, handicapping for the race was made by a single person, in this case "Alphabet" Ford Smith, who was solely responsible for judging the race histories of seventy men to determine the start times for each. The second change was to the course - still starting at Sixth and San Pedro, the racers would head out on San Pedro before turning onto Washington for a straight shot into Santa Monica. Third, the race was moved up to the 3rd of July.

Unlike previous years, the listing of prizes does not appear to have been made beforehand, except in a general way: Prizes were to be awarded for forty-five places, totaling $287, and for the fastest seven times, totaling $223. A booby prize, absent from the 1896 race, was re-instituted - "an evil-smelling goat of butty proclivities" being donated by "Pinto" Jenkins, and awaiting the honor of the last rider to finish.

Carson Shoemaker

The scratch men for this race, who would start eight minutes after five limit men, were W. R. Ruess, Carson Shoemaker, Harold Hawkes and J. F. Frazee. The best placed finisher from 1895, R. H. Boettcher (2nd place), would start three minutes ahead of the fast four along with J. E. Sandstrom, who placed thirty-sixth the previous year, but had the seventh fastest time.

"Fallen is Babylon!" is how the race recap begins. "Billy Reuss, the pride of Los Angeles road racers, was beaten to Santa Monica yesterday by Jasper [sic] Shoemaker, from Riverside, and despite an earnest protest, the defeat stands and rankles in Ruess' breast." 

Though the day dawned cloudy, the usual large, and enthusiastic crowd gathered at Sixth and San Pedro, growing more unruly as the minutes to start ticked by: "A few apoplectic moments were spent by the rest of the officials in waiting for the arrival of H. C. F. Smith, the starter, while the condensed mass of watching humanity passed rude remarks upon the physical appearance of the barelegged, bare-armed riders." 

As the four scratch men waited in anticipation of their start they were described as "gradually growing paler as the various bunches of vibrating pipestems and hunched shoulders disappeared in the perspective of San Pedro Street. A group of nine riders left the line at seven minutes, a minute behind the first group to leave the mark. Among the seven was Will Fleming, who "saw before him a long vacant stretch of road, where monotony was only relieved by the shadow of a chuckhole or a pile of sand."

At 10:32 the scratch men left the mark, at which everyone was in full chase, some pursuing the riders just ahead, others seeking the finish line. Surprisingly the road was reported in good condition, that is until the end of Washington Street. There the race "encountered a stretch of slushy mud, an unwise and deeply cursed watering cart man having turned his flood upon the surface of the highway." Fleming along with fellow seven minute men H. Michelson and Frank Cooper, and six minute men Allen Keene and David Kinsey came together as a fast moving bunch. Shoemaker paced the scratch men with Reuss close to his wheel, Hawks and Frazee further back. William G. Furman and Ralph Hamlin, starting at two minutes rode so well together that many at the finish believed they must have surely finished in the fastest time. Beneath Cemetery Hill, Reuss took a fall, but got to his feet only to discover his fork had bent. A minute was lost straightening them. In that minute Shoemaker sped away on his own.

Meanwhile at the finish line two boys atop a nearby roof spotted an approaching cloud of dust and yelled out the familiar "here they come!" As heads turned and watched "the cloud traveled down the grade and from it emerged a rider, so dirty and sweat-stained that he might as well have been an animated clod of earth. A great roar went up as [Will Fleming] swiftly moved down between the lines of spectators and flew across the line, a winner by nearly four seconds over the man who followed him." Shoemaker came across the line to another great roar from the crowd. R. Y. F. Campton, who started at six minutes, brought the race to a close, taking the prize goat with him.

Shoemaker's time of 49:42 was fast, but still slower than Emil Ulbricht's 1895 time of 49:29. William G. Furman finished with the second fastest time, 50:17. Hamlin, at 50:29, had the third fastest time, followed by Reuss with a time of 50:44.

As for the placings, the men who followed Will Fleming across the line were Allen Keene, Michelson, and Frank Cooper. Veteran Fay Stephenson (6 1/2 minute handicap) finished twenty-first in a time of 55:33. Another veteran of the race, H. B. Cromwell (2 minute handicap), who won in 1892 finished twenty-fifth in a time of 52:40.

It should be pointed out that per General Rule B of the California Associated Cycling Clubs, and as reported in the San Francisco Call, W. R. Ruess was suspended from all road and track events until 3 September 1897 for his participation in the (unsanctioned) race. Additionally, and for the same reason, Harold Hawks, William Furman, Waiter Imbler, Herman Keane, J. H. Owens, James L. Todd, R. H. Hahn, O. D. Eastwood, J. E. Pugn, D. R. Pool, W. H. Stafford, Charles Twitchell, Ray Rogers, B. Moody, J. Goldsmith, George A. Proctor, Richard Wolfe, Richard Lane, DAvid Kinsey, R. Y. F. Campion, Albert E. Case, John Willich, I. J. Mauley, David Lewis, H. Michelson, Frank Cooper, Will Fleming, John E. Parsons, Frank Lewis, Carson Shoemaker, Ralph Hamlin, H. B. Cromwell, E. R. Northmore, Hennion Robinson, Frank Devlin, John f. Duval, P. H. Muller Jr., J. E. Sands, F. W. Janes, C. J. Lattum, J. W. Austin, E. P. Blackmer, Phillip Hunter, Charles S. Hinton, E. C. Rice, Ed Ledbetier, Tom Morris, Otto Widley, Allen Keeue, Frank Field, Fred Dee, N. B. Norfolk, Theodore Pinther, Fay Stephenson, W. Swearinger, Kesnoe Flore, A. C. Mutt, Bert Tomlinson, James Robinson, and Will Brodie, were all suspended until the third of August 1897.