7th Cav

So there I was one evening last week. I was doing some research for Fast Digs, searching, attempting to pick out key words from old newsprint, clues that would lead me to some bit of information about those early racing venues in Los Angeles. The year was 1875, and the only venue in existence at that time (the only I am still aware of) was Agricultural Park when, out of the blue, the thought popped into my head that Custer and his Seventh Cavalry were still alive, and that they would not be wiped out at the Greasy Grass for another year. Another year - 1876. Not only was that the year of the singular victory of the People over those who would be their oppressors, but also the year that the American public (at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition) would receive its introduction to the high-wheel bicycle, aka the penny farthing, thus beginning a transformation in personal transportation.

At some point in my early years I learned of that historic event, and it seemed so far in the past, and yet here I was searching for racing venues (sans bicycles at that early date) from an even earlier time. I don't know why the thought struck when it did but the incongruity was a bit of a shock. I wondered, would things have been different if Custer had been on a bike?