1910 MVPBA Regatta
Mississippi River, Peoria, Illinois, July 4-6, 1910

Peoria’s Big Motor Boat Meet
How Red Top II Beat Hoosier Boy and Cero and Won the Western Rivers Championship
Results of the Third Annual Regatta of the M.V.P.B.A.
By A. T. Griffith

What they Will Do at Peoria, Ill., This Summer Great Racing Promised at the 1910 Regatta Annual Regatta of the MVPBA Peoria's Big Motor Boat Meet

When W. E. Hughey’s Red Top I was defeated at Burlington, Iowa, in July, 1909, for the Western Rivers free-for-all Championship, that yachtsman declared he would win that title if it cost him $100,000. he has built two boats since that time. With one he defeated Independence II, owned by Ed Koenig, of St. Louis, and Mascot, owned by Ernst Corcepius, of Fort Madison, at the St. Charles, Mo., Centennial regatta last October. Hughey was not satisfied with this boat, however, and immediately ordered another from W. H. Beauvais, of St. Louis, Mo., to be delivered at his Bellevue, Iowa home in June, 1910. This craft is just under forty feet in length and into her went and eight cylinder, two cycle motor built especially for the hull. It is calculated to develop 280 horsepower.

The new Red Top II was launched into the Mississippi at Bellevue, Iowa, late in June. It was due to race on the fifth of July at the third annual regatta of the Mississippi Valley Power Boat Association at Peoria. All possible haste was made and, during the first tryout of the craft, the heavy motors simply ripped themselves loose from the light hull, made a wreck of the stern of the boat and narrowly escaped sinking to the bottom of the river. Due to proceed towards Peoria, this damaged craft was mounted on a barge. A small steamer was chartered and while en route, workmen rushed the necessary repairs. She was hauled down the Mississippi to Rock Island, through the Hennepin canal to the Illinois River, 50 miles above Peoria, and on July 3d was slipped from the barge into the water and towed into Peoria that evening.

The racing program was to start the following day; but the free-for-all struggle was not to come until the next day following. Red Top was tried out over the five-mile triangular government course in Peoria Lake at moderate speed. Her machinery worked smoothly.

"I’ll rip that hull into splinters today," remarked Hughey a few hours before the free-for-all was to start; "I need a new one, anyway," he concluded carelessly; and Hughey wasn’t confident. He had spent two days in looking over the situation. The greatest collection of little speed craft ever assembled before in America were ripping back and forth across Peoria Lake. The free-for-all style of racing, with the only limitation, the length over all, was receiving a gruelling test, and it was standing this test marvelously. Twenty-footers were competing against twenty-six-footers and going on up to the 32-foot class.

Steam was being used as a motive power in one of the contenders. Like a husky little torpedo boat, two big funnels rising a foot or two above the driver’s head, was Cero II, Robert Deming’s entry from Cleveland, Ohio. This product of John Shepard, of Essington, Pa., which carried a White Steamer equipment in a thirty-two-foot hull, had cleaned up the thirty-two-footers in a grinding contest against eight entries.

True, L. H. Mills’ Beat It, from Chicago, had cut the course by accident, finishing ahead of Cero II. Then on the first lap of the five-mile course, the little twenty-footer, M.V., carrying a six-cylinder motor, had out-footed him at every turn until she swamped herself and tore out her feed tanks; but Cero II had shown class enough to prove formidable for Red Top II in he free-for-all.

Hughey regarded with awe the long black product of the Oshkosh shops, which Fred Athearn was managing, carrying out eight cylinders, resembling beer kegs in size and which drove the Dixie-like nose of Oshkosh through the water with uncomfortable ease. Then the would-be champion had his first look at the new Hoosier Boy. Just out of the shop without a chance even to adjust her carburetors, J. W. Whitlock was working every spare second to give his motors a smoothing out. An hour before the race was to start Whitlock had run over the course. The Hoosier cut the water smoothly, left little wake and traveled easily. She was not showing over twenty miles an hour; but clockers from the upper end of the course reported that she had been cut loose for a couple hundred yards away up there and had negotiated that distance in nothing at all. This was the last straw and Hughey saw the yellow flag go up and heard the preparatory gun with almost certain defeat staring him in the face.

The lake was smooth. Just a ripple of breeze came down the course. The grand stands on the shore were packed with a black mass of humanity and the shore lines as far as he could see in either direction were fringed with spectators. Climbing into his Red Top II, he pulled off his coat, instructed his engine driver to roll her over and Red Top II circled out to jockey for a start.

Nine racing boats were in that field, each belching and roaring. The din his own motors were making could not drown all of the roar around him as Red Top scored down the first time. Oshkosh was sulking and the red flag waved him back. Again they tried and again Oshkosh was out. A third was no better but finally Oshkosh spit up a column of fire and lurched into motion and the field was ready.

Close to the pole Hoosier was slowing a trifle behind the field. Kelso and Hilsinger’s Comet, a twenty-footer which had set up a new American record for that class the previous day was next. Beside her ran the speedy Missouri II. Red Top was alongside the little fellows with Oshkosh and the Steamer Cero II to port. Beat It and the two Vim boats shoving their noses into line from behind.

The white flag had superceded the red, a long puff of white smoke and the canon had roared out the signal to start. The roar of nine great power plants sounded like the beginning of a battle. The nine boats shot away, each leaving a creamy trail behind it. It was the greatest start ever witnessed in America. The racing sharks in the judges’ stand who had followed motor boats since their invention had never seen anything like it. The stands set up a cheer amid the blowing of whistles and the ringing of bells.

The long, glistening sides of Hoosier Boy shot out to starboard into unruffled water and set up a terrific pace toward the first buoy, a mile and a quarter away. Round when his timer to the last notch and glancing to the left the western river championship looked like a troubled dream to Red Top’s pilot, for the steamer Cero II, starting in the ruck on the far outside, had described a sweeping semi-circle and with a peculiar whistling roar had already cut across the top of half the field and a few seconds later had Red Top off her stern, overhauled the Hoosier and tore toward the first mark.

"Doing forty an hour," Hughey thought to himself, but he stuck to the work, for the little fellows had been shaken off; Oshkosh was being dropped behind and Beat It, left a few yards from the post, lost a precious minute again getting under way.

Red Top II swept around the first buoy in third place, Cero II was 300 yards to the good, traveling like a rocket, while he was gaining on the Hoosier. But a quarter of mile further out to the 2½ miles turn Cero II suddenly quit. A few hundred yards further out Hoosier coughed up black smoke like a locomotive and half a minute later this boat also came to a standstill, leaving Red Top II a clear field. Her yellow sides ploughed back the water in perfect curls, she was traveling like a race horse and Hughey swung her easily on the turn and headed down the stretch on the finish of the first five of the twenty miles all alone. She passed the judges’ boat with a mile of clear water between him and the next contender, which happened to be the twenty-footer Comet. Missouri II and Vim, of Dubuque, Iowa, trailed along with Oshkosh following. Hoosier had recovered her stride and as coming along in sixth place, but her motors were grumbling irregularly.

Red Top did not improve her lead much in the second lap, for Hoosier was coming up faster, having regained third place and during the next lap crowded Comet out of second position.

In this position the third and then the fourth lap was run. Red Top coming down the last stretch at the fastest clip she had displayed during the race and was received with one long continuous roar of cheers, whistle-blowing and bell-ringing.

Hughey didn’t need to spend all of the $100,000, for he had won the Western rivers Championship, the $1,000 cash purse, the $2,000 Thomas H. Webb perpetual trophy, the National Hotel Trophy Cup, the M.V.P.B.A. Trophy Cup and the silk banner which came with the title.

Red Top’s time had not been phenomenal. She had covered the twenty miles with its turns in 43.40½, or a trifle under 28 miles an hour. Hoosier Boy three minutes and a half behind, but the preceding year had made a lap of the same course at a better speed than any the Red Top had made. Considering the Hoosier had run into trouble and had come to a dead stop of at least two minutes and that Cero II had quit entirely on account of a broken pump, Hughey’s escape was a narrow one and he had little margin on which to hand his future hopes, but for the present he was surely the champion.

All alone the next afternoon the newly made western champion drove his Red Top II down over a mile course against time. Stop watches held by seven different men showed that Red Top negotiated the distance in 2:06 2/5, or a shade over 28 miles per hour. Cero II had a try at the same performance. Coming like an arrow over the course, he sent out great white wings on either side of Deming’s steamer, out of water aft of the forward funnel: "Only her wheel in the water," the awed spectators whispered to each other; made the distance in 1:49 2/5. This spelled out 32.9 per hour and Hughey’s championship was dimmed again though not lost.

(Excerpts transcribed from MotorBoating, August 1910, pp. 8, 9.)

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The Regatta of the Mississippi Valley Power Boat Association at Peoria
By En Jay

The third annual race meet of the M.V.P.B.A. was the most successful from all points of view ever held in this country, if not in the world. Not only did it bring together the greatest fleet of fast boats and "speed bugs" that ever faced a starter, but it introduced them to the finest course for boat racing on inland waters. The course is a triangular one of five miles, every foot of which is visible from the immense grandstand running about seven hundred feet along the water front, with a seating capacity of five thousand. The meet was held under the auspices of the Illinois Valley Y.C., and to its commodore, Thos. H. Webb, and director A. T. Griffith, whose untiring efforts made of it the success that it was, much credit should be given.

Some idea of the enthusiasm which the meet awakened can be gained from the fact that that the merchants of the city had pledged themselves to the extent of $7,000 to guarantee the payment of the $4,000 in cash prizes offered and the other expenses incidental to carrying out such an enterprise. But on account of the interest displayed, they were only called upon for ten per cent of their subscriptions, the receipts of the grandstand paying ninety per cent of the expenses.

The meeting opened on the morning of July 4^th, and while the weather conditions were ideal in a general way, the wind was a trifle high for motor boat racing.

The sight that met the eye when the preparatory gun was fired at 1:30 p.m. for the afternoon racing was certainly a beautiful one. The grand stand was filled to overflowing and the river front for one-half mile on either side was one solid mass of humanity, while both sides of the course were lined with hundreds of launches, most of them decorated.

The first race was a five-mile dash between boats of not more than 30 feet over-all length and not exceeding a speed of ten miles an hour. In this, as in all of the other contests, the skippers were compelled to draw for positions. Six boats faced the starter, and for the first half there was a pretty race between Rama, Argo, Hindee and Jose Villa. On the last leg Rama and Argo drew away from the other contestants. Jose Villa, Hindee, Ivy Girl and Imp followed in the order named.

The second race, Class D, for boats not to exceed 32 feet over-all, brought to the starting line the fastest bunch of time-annihilators in the motor boat world that ever came together. And when the flag fell for the start the flying bunch of spray-makers took to the water with a crash and a bang, like the firing of a battery of Gatling guns, and presently out from the field shot the little M.V. II, a 20-foot, wedge-shaped flyer, with 60 horse motor. Close behind her was Mascot, throwing a shower of spray, and following in the order named came Beat It, Elbridge V, Teaser, Pirate, Helen C and the steamer Cero II. Turning into the home stretch on the first lap, Dr. Hebbs, pilot of Mascot, was thrown overboard, and abut one-half mile further on M.V. II, at that time leading the field by fully a quarter of a mile, shook her gasoline tanks loose and had to quit. At the first turn of the judge’s boat, Beat It was in the lead, running like wildfire and throwing a sea of foam not only on both sides, but over herself and crew as well. She was closely followed by Elbridge V. A short distance behind was the steamer, which up to this time had not been working well, but now, opened up, she seemed to fairly fly, and with a noise like a toy whistle blown by a small boy, she started to overhaul the leaders; and not much wonder, for Mr. Deming, her owner, acknowledges that the boat carries 300-horsepower. Teaser, Pirate and Helen C were closely bunched and making a splendid race between themselves, but quite a distance behind the leaders. Passing the judge’s stand on the second lap, Cero II had passed Elbridge V and was rapidly overhauling Beat It, which still had a comfortable lead, if pursued by any ordinary boat. At the upper turn for the last lap the pilot of the Beat It, blinded by the spray of his own craft, cut the turning mark by quite a distance and was followed by every boat except the steamer, which disqualified them. The steamer ran the full course, however, and was awarded the first prize.

The cabin cruisers started on a twenty-mile grind, four trips around the course, at 4 o’clock. They got off to a fairly good start, Allamakee II leading, but only for a short time, as the Sparks II soon passed her and was never headed again throughout the entire race.

At 5:30 eight boats drew up to the judge’s stand for the last race of the day, which was to establish a new world’s record for 20-footers. At the starter’s flag, with a roar like a sham battle, they were off in a bunch. Soon Scamp III, closely followed by Comet, drew away gradually from the rest, and at the end of the first lap they were leading Joker by a quarter of a mile, with Pronto the same distance in the rear, followed by Judgey and Wux II. Going up the back stretch Comet overhauled Scamp, and heading into the stretch, was leading by a length. The race down the home stretch between those two was a sight never to be forgotten by those who had the pleasure of witnessing it. Coming with the speed of an express train, the spray rolling back from their sleek sides, they resembled two enormous white birds, and when the announcement was made from the judge’s stand, by megaphone, that a world’s record had been broken, a wave of cheers that deepened into a roar, as it swept from the grand stand up and down the shore, greeted Comet and its owner.

Second day, July 5.—A well-filled grand stand greeted the firing of the preparatory gun when the starters of the 26-foot class went over the line, attracted, no doubt, by the Free-For-All Championship Race.

The 26-foot race was ten miles, and a field of six was sent away well bunched at 2:01. The race, while run in fast time, was not as closely contested as the average "bug" would have liked, as the boats finished minutes apart. It was won by the Scamp III, built, owned and run by the Peterson brothers, of Davenport, Ia., Elbridge V, second; Missouri II, third; Vim, fourth.

The 40-foot free-for-all, that everyone was looking forward to, came next. The condition of several of the contesting boats left the probable outcome of the race a matter of deep conjecture. The New Hoosier Boy, owned by J. W. Whitlock, of Rising Sun, Ind., although carrying tremendous power, had practically never been run. Red Top, owned by W. E. Hughey, of Bellevue, Ia., had in her tryout ten days previously torn her engines loose from her hull. Cero II, owned by Robert Deming, of Cleveland it was whispered, could not hold steam for a 20-mile run at top speed, so the tip had been passed to look out for Fred Athearn’s Oshkosh, a piratical-looking, torpedo-shaped boat with a bunch of cylinders in her, each as big around as a beer barrel; but unfortunately for Fred, he could not make them work. The race was for a purse of $1,000, the $1,000 Thos. Webb Cup, the National Hotel Cup, and the M.V.P.B.A. Cup, emblematic of the championship of Western waters.

After jockeying for a short time, the boats were sent away to a good start, except Oshkosh and Beat It, who were late getting over the line. Cero II immediately went to the lead with Hoosier Boy right on her heels, but before reaching the first turn, Cero II broke her injector, Hoosier Boy had carburetor troubles and Red Top shot to the front, never to be headed during the entire race. The new Hoosier Boy finished second, almost four minutes behind, leading Comet by one-half minute.

The I.V.Y. Club 15-mile handicap for boats of more than 12 miles an hour drew a field of eight starters, and was won by Wux II, Pronto II second and Pirate II third, the others finishing in the following order: Helen C, Pronto I and Mora D.

Third day, July 6.—The last day of the races found the people still showing their enthusiasm in a substantial way by comfortably filling the big grand stand. The majority of the crowd had turned out to witness the 1-mile against time trials and see for themselves the settlement of the contest between the steam-driven Cero II and the pick of gasoline-driven racers. Red Top, winner of the Western championship the previous day, was the boat chosen to uphold the honors of the gasoline-propelled launches. The start was from a point ne mile up the river and the finish was in front of the grand stand. Red Top was sent away first and, with her 8-cylinder motors wide open, she made a beautiful run, and when the judges hung up the time, 2:06:02, which was at the rate of 28.52 miles per hour and considerably better than her performance on the preceding day, the gasoline bugs felt safe. They had never seen the little steamer opened up, however. After a couple of preparatory turns she shot by the starter with throttles wide open, daylight showing under more than half her length, and the fastest mile ever run by a 32-foot boat was started. Straight as an arrow, apparently not running, but going in leaps, that peculiar whistling sound growing almost to a roar (no small boy blowing a toy whistle this time), Cero II shot over the finish line in 1:49:4.

The 30-mile handicap, open to all starters, in Classes C, D, E and F, and handicapped according to their records in these races, was won by Pippen. This boat was built and run by a 16-year-old boy named E. H. Lenck, of Muscatine, Ia.

(Excerpts transcribed from Yachting, August 1910, pp. 102, 103.)

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A Wonderful Regatta at Peoria
Three Days of Racing in the Annual Event of the Mississippi Valley Power Boat Association, Under the Auspices of the Illinois Valley Yacht Club.
More Than Fifty Thousand Spectators Lined the River Front.
by William B. Rogers Jr.

The motorboat bug had nothing to do `round about Peoria during the week of July 2d to 8^th. There was no victim for his sting, for every man, woman and child here is a motorboat enthusiast; indeed, to me it seems that this must be the place where the bug was born, and from Peoria he must have set forth to inoculate mankind with his friendly and invigorating virus.

You may think that you have seen some great motorboat races, and that you know what real enthusiasm is. We thought that we knew, until we came to Peoria, until we saw the three-days’ motorboat regatta of the Mississippi Valley Power Boat Association held this year under the auspices of the Illinois Valley Yacht Club; until we felt the spirit of the occasion, until we mingled with the true sportsmen who have made this part of the country lead the world in motorboat racing. Now we know, and we shall try, as best we can in black type on white paper, to tell you about it, to bring you close to the scene, to make you feel as we have felt.

First of all, imagine a crowd of fifty odd thousand men and women lining the shorefront of Peoria. A huge grandstand provided seats for many of them, but every available foot of ground was occupied. Thousands more looked on from boats and the roof of every shorefront structure held its quota.

Imagine, if you can, the scene at the finish of an exciting race, when the crowd rose and let loose its pent-up excitement in cheers that echoed for miles along the Illinois River. Such scenes as this can never fail to quicken the heart of a red-blooded man, to instill in him the enthusiasm of true sportsmanship.

For days there had been a steady flow of motorboat men into Peoria, the Mecca of the tribes. The fortunate came in boats, but others came on dusty railroad trains. It was not so much how they got here, the main thing was to be here. The Illinois valley Yacht Club had made every preparation, had done things in a big scale. We are proud of the sport we represent, proud of this motorboat fraternity that attracts such men as we have met here at Peoria.

THE SUNDAY BEFORE THE RACES

Sunday, July 3d, at 6 a.m., when I landed at Peoria, Ill., I thought I had struck a dead town for fair. There wasn’t even a dog around the depot, and, after the momentary excitement that an arriving train creates, quiet reigned so that one could hear a pin drop. The railroad lands right by the river front and the buildings facing the river are mostly low, small ones, but I excused that fact because in one of them I saw the frame of a boat in course of construction. Tall brick chimneys and towering brick walls shut out the skyline to the south, but the other side of the depot, Allah be praised, there is the river, a wide, blue ribbon that contracts into narrows and expands into lakes like a string of seaberries. There was a large, three-decked sternwheeler, the Belle of Calhoun, that brought Jim Bludsoe to my memory, but, at that early hour, the waterfront was nearly deserted. Across the river the green hills show a rolling, hilly country with a most peculiar fringe of gnarled, bare, dead trunks and limbs sticking out of the water. These, I afterwards learned, were due to the rise of the water level owing to the opening of the Chicago Barge Canal, submerging and killing these trees, their dead limbs being carried down stream each Winter with the ice.

Well, I knew which way was north, and which was south, etc., but where my friend "Tom" Webb lived I knew not and so used the `phone and got sailing instructions to my friends.

If you don’t know "Tom" Webb you have never been west of Philadelphia. Every motorboat man in the country knows him and the boats he has once owned are scattered up and down the lake.

After breakfast we went down hill to the river again, and, oh, what a boxcar full of trouble we saw. It looked then far worse than it really proved to be. Cero II, from Cleveland, equipped with a steam outfit, had shifted forward of her blocking, the forward blocks going clean through her. Bob Deming and Bob Powers were flying around in all directions in an effort to get someone to repair the boat and to get a truck to haul her to the water. Hy Gage in his dreamiest moments, never saw such a collection of bugs as surrounded the box-car, but my modesty forbade me making any sketches of them. I may do so some day, but it will be when I am safe back East.

Peoria’s waterfront runs almost straight for a couple of miles past the city, a levee with a stringpiece being built along the main business section, while north and south of the city motorboats and houseboats by the hundreds are moored with their noses stuck up the bank and gangplanks reaching to the shore.

You never would imagine it was to be a boat race to see the size of the grandstand built just back of the bulkhead, at the foot of Main Street. The first two rows consisted of squared-off enclosures forming boxes, each seating from four to six persons. The bleachers back of these boxes were twelve tiers high and at least six hundred or more feet in length. A. T. Griffith very kindly took us for a spin in his motorboat, the Ivy Girl. He took us north up through the narrows at the head of the lake, through the long drawbridge that spans the river, past the rugged, heavily wooded cliffs that make right down to the shore and on into the upper lake to the beautiful clubhouse of the Illinois valley Yacht Club. It seemed queer to me, realizing that there was no tide, to see how high up on piles this clubhouse was perched, but I had noticed the same thing all along the shores and was told the reason was that in the Spring the river rises from eight to ten feet. Just south of the clubhouse where the shore formed a natural grove of beautiful shade trees with sandy beaches, there was a whole colony of houseboat owners, and back in the trees I could see a row of summer cottages. If ever a community was blessed with ideal conditions for boating, Peorians are. Men, women and children all take advantage of these conditions that Nature affords.

On our way up the lake, we passed a very peculiar looking little square-ended scow. Her stern was plumb, the bow raking under, and two men sat comfortably way aft with their feet in the cockpit. She came shoveling down the river with the impulses from her little single-cylinder motor. On each side was what one would compare to a rope portiere. It was a maize of small, wire grapnels, all hung from a cross rod which ran fore and aft and which stamped her as one of the pearl fishers, and industry which in this locality alone, keeps three thousand of the these boats going all of the season, and nearly every one of which is propelled by some make of little single-cylinder gasolene motor.

Being a boat crank, I am not going into spasms of description of the home of the Illinois Valley Yacht Club. It is as handsome a little clubhouse as one finds anywhere, from Bar Harbor to `Frisco. Every convenience is there. The decorations are very tasty and, far more important, as we found out that afternoon, it is a clubhouse that is made use of. You would think that there is a ball going on instead of it being a day preceding the races.

Right in front of the grandstand, of the city, the judges’ float was moored, directly in line with a little red spar buoy. The course over which the boats raced was a triangular one and in our trip up the lake we had no difficulty whatever in making out the buoys. In the afternoon a large fleet of Peoria boats, headed by the sternwheeler Wave, crowded with guests and with a brass band aboard, went down the river and escorted the fleet of St. Louis up the river past the city to the clubhouse on the upper lake.

The Peoria fleet that went to meet the visitors included the Cupid, J. M. Baillie, South Dakota, Ann G., Ann, Podle II, Chef, Phospho Fizz, Sunset, Curlew, Pirate II, Ivy Girl, Mohawk Satellite, Faccia, Meteor, Pronto, Sunkist, Keepon, Arline, Bonjour, Guess and Teaser, and among the visiting fleet of St. Louis boats were the Harriet II, Dr. Phillips; Allamakee, W. J. Ferguson; Naldnah, Eugene Handlan; Duro V, Kron; Wildwood, Ex-Com. English; Doodle Bug, Com. Slocum; Reliance, Nesbit Bartlet; Vagabond, Robert Haley; Meteor, A. Kron; Comet, Mr. Jacobs; houseboat Earl, Mr. Jacobs; Chum, Mr. Meyer; Sparks, C. F. Sparks; M.V. II, W. Sinning; Missouri, Hugo Sippert, and Gypsy, Dr. Stackhoff.

Besides this solid fleet of boats, which came in a body from St. Louis, individual boats kept dropping all day long from the North and from the South, and each one seemed to be recognized by everybody. Cannons boomed a welcome, Klaxon horns screeched and whistles tooted. The houseboat which escorted Mr. Hughey’s Bellevue fleet particularly attracted my attention by several large canvass signs lashed along the railings on the upper and lower decks. One of these signs read, "In God We Trust, Peoria or Bust"; then below in larger letters spelled "Bellevue Boat Club."

THE FIRST DAY AT PEORIA

The town turned out, July 4^th, in best bib and tucker, and Main Street leading to the river was thronged with gaily dressed women and men, going down hill to the water. There were not many fire-crackers, but big white canvass banners across the street announced the boat races. A canvass tent in the street bore placards, inviting one to come in and see the three smallest engines in the world, a locomotive only one foot long, etc. Just uptown from the railroad, two canvass signs attracted attention. Each bore the words, "Great Deep Sea Divers," the lettering being red on one and black on the other. A barker, with medaled blue coat, white hat and trousers, shouted through a megaphone to come up and see the blub-blub-blub something. Hucksters selling fruit added to the noise of hundreds of people in conversation, rumbling wagons and the put-put-put of autos.

The sloop Sunbeam started the fun by towing a procession of twenty-three paddling canoes down the river past the grandstand, where the brass band filled the air with music, and a barker on the big sternwheeler Belle of Calhoun, importuned the crowd through a megaphone to come on board and see the races.

At 10:30 Commodore Thomas H. Webb fired the first gun from the judges’ float in the river, where a brisk northerly breeze rippled the brown waters. I thought I heard the tinkle of a telephone bell, but never suspected there was one out there in the river. But hanged if there wasn’t, and Webb talked to the secretary’s office ashore, just as if he was in his office. To prevent the wind from blowing their papers away, the judges turned a table up on edge, as a windshield, and got busy. Reporters and others came out to the float, spectators in launches circled round the scene, and the racers scrambled aboard in swarms, tying their thin-sided racing craft astern of the float. Teaser, a narrow red flyer with brass cutwater and canvass-covered motor, out of which four pipes stuck up, and her crew of two in the small cockpit aft, and Wux II, a high-sided black skipjack with her name in large white letters, open except a short crowned forward deck, her brass jacketed two-cylinder engine with one exhaust pipe just forward of a bulkhead and her black gasolene tank up on chocks, like a back of an easy chair, were among them. Pippin was a small scow, white-sided, with dark brown stained coaming, her aluminum name-letters mounted on a black board on each bow. She had a long open cockpit with a box seat across her amidships, just forward of which was her little two-cylinder motor with exhaust piped off at an angle to port, with the after cockpit piled up with canvass cover and rubber covered bundle of duds—a boat built and raced by her sixteen-year-old owner. Scamp III, a dark-stained little high-sided inverted wedge model, was decked over forward about one-third her length, with a square-ended cockpit, out of the forward end of which projected four black pipes, with four copper colored cylinders and large square box oiler.

Regal was a white painted scow, with an aluminum cowl set through the forward deck, and the peculiar copper side lights used so generally here on either side of the deck, just forward of the V coaming. Pronto II was all red, sides, deck and coaming, V shaped at end of high turtle deck, and three tall pipes and an oil clad crew. She was a very clean, pretty model, built with narrow strakes, green below water, fitted with two rudders and steered by a side lever. She was equipped with a six-cylinder Roberts motor. Her stem, for luck, had a little white metal manikin astraddle of the stem-head. "1910" was a wedge model, red-sided, with green decks and green half round molding. A big brass cowl stood up out of her forward deck, and three funnel-like pipes shot her exhaust over the operator’s head. The steering wheel was to starboard and the starting crank to port on a cross brace at the after end of her Roberts motor. Joker was a low sided red racer with black molding and name, an iron hatch and four low pipes sticking up out of it about four inches. Vim, of Dubuque, had two four-cylinder engines with trim pipes up out of the after end of each. She was a long black hulled boat with varnished decks and gold name. Two cross braces stiffened the long, open cockpit, her pilot sitting well aft.

There was a lively contest for the paddling canoes in the forenoon. The favorite, who won last year, capsized right near the finish line, amid cheers from the crowds ashore.

Te ten minutes of two the preparatory signal, a yellow flag, was hoisted to the accompaniment of a gun. A smart breeze was blowing right down the river, and a toppy sea was running.. The grandstand was a solid mass of spectators, and the Belle of Calhoun had all decks crowded.

Ivy Girl, Argo, Rana, Imp, Hindee and Jose Vila, of Class H, open boats 30 feet and under, were firt sent away. They had been drawn for positions and the start was like that of a horse race. If they were to go on, the judges waved a white flag. A red flag was the recall signal, and if the judges wanted them to come alongside blue flag was waved. They got away at 2:01:30. Rana came in first, followed closely by Argo, with Hindee third, some distance behind, with her lone occupant all smiles. Ivy Girl and Imp came next, finishing very close together. The summary:

Class H.—Open Boats, 30 Feet Over All and Under. Distance 5 Miles

Prizes: 1^st, $30; 2d, $20; 3d, Columbia propeller; 4^th, ½ gallon Bridgeport Bronze

For the second race, Class D, 32-footers, about six boats were lined up, when someone shouted, "Let `em go!" "Let `em go!" and bang went the gun. With a rattle of released engines that sounded like a volley of musketry, the racers were off. Three boats were late in starting, one of them the M.V. II, but how those little water spiders did light out. They flew, all but the steamer, which for some reason lagged, but not for long, and, as she began to spread out white suds, everyone shouted in unison, "The steamer’s off!" Excitement ran high as three spider-like craft came down to the line. The leader stopped and the crowd cheered as Beat It took the lead. With a rattle and roar over on one bilge, Beat It rounded on one bilge with Elbridge next. "Look at that steamer!" and with a humming sound, like the whistle on a peanut roaster, as steady as a church, Cero II swept around the judges’ barge. Teaser, the next boat, had to make a long turn, and then the yellow Pirate swept inside of her. Helen C, a long, thin inverted wedge model, was last, her stout skipper blowing water like a porpoise, as showers of spray came all over him. Beat It had a long lead on the second round, and how she did throw water. One of her crew, clad in a life preserver, lay flat away out on the after deck, her helmsman clinging wet at her wheel. Her long slim model took the sea beautifully. The steamer came next, gliding out of the water, one man shouting into the ear of the other, to be heard above the whistle of stem. Then there was another interval and Elbridge V made the shortest turn. M.V. swept past next, followed by Teaser, and then the yellow Pirate, throwing a tail feather of spray yards in the air at the turn. Pronto II, a little red flyer, was waved off the course, as Helen C rounded in a shower. Beat It, the first to finish, came down wind, steady as a clock, with two diew, white pulsating wings of water, and swept across, cheered to the echo of 50,000 people, amid the strains of a brass band and a jabber of excited talk on the judges’ barge. The steamer then came gliding along, half out of water, her whistle now toned down to a high pitched hiss. Elbridge was next, followed by Teaser and Pirate. Unfortunately the leaders mistook one of the flags, placed as guide marks half way along each leg of the course, for the turning mark, and, as usual in such cases, it was "follow your leader," and the whole fleet except Cero II cut the course short. The pilot of Beat It, L. H. Mills, and her engineer, F. Sayner, both told the judges they turned the flag marks, and the man at the upper mark said Cero II was the only one that rounded the mark, so, when you consider how close she came in behind Beat It, you can imagine what she could have done, had they gone the long course as she did. But, be lenient, reader, you may some day be under the shower bath yourself, and then, and not till then, can you appreciate how difficult it is to distinguish marks when on a flying broncho. Mr. Deming said he had great difficulty in finding the upper mark, and really thought he had over run when he happened to see the mark "away up in a clump of bushes," as he expressed it. Mascot’s helmsman, Dr. J. M. Hobbs, was thrown clean overboard and her engineer, Geo. Cuthbert, put his foot clean through her planking at the same time, but got her ashore safely. Cero II passed Dr. Hobbs, whose life preserver kept him afloat, and would have stopped only the gamey doctor waved for her to go on. The summary:

Class D—32 Feet. Distance 15 Miles

At 4 o’clock four cabin cruisers were started on a twenty-mile race, which meant four times around the course. They were fairly well bunched at the start, Allamakee II being the pole boat and leading with Sparks II and Duro IV almost rubbing sides until the former pulled ahead, and Fiesta, of the Columbia Yacht Club, Chicago, last. It was a very even contest between the first two boats, and they finished the first round only a couple of lengths apart, Sparks II leading, and they threw such a wash that the little Pronto II, tied astern of the judges’ float, got her nose under it and ripped off the brass stem band, nearly annihilating the mummy-like image of Hermes on her bow. The summary:

Class A—Fill Cabin Cruisers 20 Miles. Start 4 P.M.

The last race of the day was another hair raiser. Eight boats started, six finished. Scamp III led the Comet at the end of the first lap, and increased her lead by making a much shorter turn than the Comet. About half a minute later Joker made a pretty turn and as far again astern from her came Pronto II, and then Judgey and Wux II last. The little Pippin was just starting on her second round, when the Comet came tearing along, with Scamp III many laps behind. The crowd on the grandstand had just been buying the extras that were out about the big fight at Reno, when a wave of cheers that started up along the shore—where spectators lined the river banks for fully a mile—swept down the grandstand and greeted the winning boat. Joker led Pronto II, both looked very much alike, except that Joker had short funnels, and Pronto three long ones. Far astern of them cane Judgey, then Wux II, late but running fast, and the grandstand did not wait for the arrival of Pippin. Everyone left for home or hotel, to eat and get back to see the fireworks. The barges, from whom decks the display was to be given, were then anchoring just up stream. The summary:

Class E—20 Feet. Distance 10 Miles. Start 5:50:50

The racing officials were: Judges, President E. S. Osborn, Chicago, Ill.; Harry Asthalter, Muscatine, Iowa; William B. Rogers Jr., New York City. Timers: Robert E. Power, Cleveland, Ohio; Charles P. Hanley, Muscatine, Iowa; E. H. Bradley, Peoria, Ill. Starters: Wm. Ohl, Peoria; W. A. Williamson, Burlington, Ia.

RED TOP II, MISSISSIPPI VALLEY CHAMPION

The climax of Tuesday’s racing came when W. E. Hughey steered his new racer, Red Top II, across the finish line, first of the fleet of starters in the forty-foot free-for-all class, winning the championship of the Mississippi Valley Power Boat Association for 1910, also the Corning and Company and Corning Distillery Company purse of $1,000, also the Thousand Dollar Webb Cup, the National Hotel Cup and the Mississippi Valley Association Cup. The New Hoosier Boy, owned by J. W. Whitlock, of Rising Sun, Ind., won second place, although she was not in good condition. This was the New Hoosier Boy’s first trial, and when limbered up she will undoubtedly prove to be a very fast boat. Poor carburetion caused Mr. Whitlock to hold the boat down to much less than her true speed. Comet, the world-beating twenty-footer, owned by Kelso and Hilsinger, of Bellevue, Iowa, took third place. The time of Red Top II for the twenty-mile course was 43 minutes 40 seconds, and her average speed was 27.5 miles per hour. She won handily, as she was not forced to go her full speed. Red Top II was built by Beauvais, and is equipped with an eight-cylinder, two-cycle special motor, built in Bellevue. The cylinders are 7 inches in bore, with a stroke of 7½ inches. The New Hoosier Boy’s time was 47 minutes 16 seconds. She was built by Mr. Whitlock from designs by Stillman and Truitt. She has an eight-cylinder V-type Buffalo motor. The summary follows:

Championship Race—40 Foot (Free-For-All) 20 Miles

The free-for-all fleet made a beautiful start. New Hoosier Boy and Cero jumping into the lead. Beat It and Oshkosh were late. Red Top got to the lead in the first round, with Comet after her, and then Vim, of Dubuque, and New Hoosier Boy. On the turns Red Top II threw a tail feather of spray much like that of Jan, of St. Lawrence River. Cero the steamer, was disabled and drifted down to the judges’ boat.

The race for Class C, the 26-footers, was over a course of ten miles. It was won by Scamp III, owned by Peterson Brothers, Davenport, Iowa. The time was 23 minutes 31 seconds. Elbridge V, owned by J. L. Seeley, of Rochester, N.Y., finished second in 24 minutes 59 seconds, and Missouri II, owned by H. Lippert, of St. Louis, was third, having covered the course in 26 minutes 39 seconds. Vim, the property of Meyer Brothers, of Peoria, covered the course in 26 minutes 52 seconds and finished fourth. Pronto II, Smith & Thede, of Peoria, owners, and Mosquito II, C. W. Myers, of Clinton, Iowa, withdrew. The first prize in this race was the Schipper and Block purse of $100, the second a purse of $%50, the third a Model A Geis Gear, and the fourth a Columbian Speed Propeller. Scamp III is an amateur built boat, equipped with a four-cylinder Termaat & Monahan engine.

The Illinois Valley Yacht Club handicap race, 15 miles, open to speed boats only, of a speed of over 12 miles an hour, was also run off Tuesday. It was won by Wux II, R. W. Ellis, of Peoria; Pronto II, owned by Smith & Thede, won second prize, and Pirate II, also a local boat, owned by W. M. Barnes, won third place. Others finished in the following order: Helen C, William Reece, owner; Pronto, owned by D. S. Brown; Mora D, William Turnbull. Beat It and Vim, of Dubuque, did not finish. Bonjour was disqualified for cutting the marks.

There was a brilliant marine spectacle in the evening. A large fleet of beautifully decorated an illuminated boats passed in review in front of the city reviewing stand on the river front. Later in the evening the Illinois Valley Yacht Club entertained the officers of the Mississippi Valley Power Boat Association and the com-modores of the visiting yacht clubs at a banquet at the Crevecoeur Club. The prizes offered for championship races were awarded at the banquet. There were speeches by Commodore Webb, of the Illinois Valley Yacht Club; J. W. Dixon, president of the Mississippi Valley Power Boat Association, E. S. Osborn, president of the Western Power Boat Association; R. H. Coomb, secretary of the Mississippi Valley Power Boat Association; P. G. Rennick; W. B. Rogers Jr.; Murray M. Baker; S. P. Browse; William Ohl; William M. Barnes, of Peoria; J. R. Fuller; Inspector Mansfield, of Chicago, and W. E. Hughey.

THE LAST DAY AND THE ANNUAL MEETING

The first race to-day was for half-cabin cruisers, originally scheduled for Tuesday. The course was twenty miles. It was won by Meteor, owned by A. Kron, of St. Louis. Her time was 1 hour 43 minutes 41 seconds. La Tosca, owned by T. B. Siesle, of St. Louis, was second, finishing 2 hours 2 minutes 43 seconds. Alamo, Scribner & Iten, Clinton, Iowa, was third, and her time was 2 hours 4 minutes 51 seconds.

The thirty-mile handicap race, open to all starters in Classes C. D. E and F, and handicapped according to their records in the races of those classes, was won by Pippin, owned by E. H. Lenck, Muscatine, Iowa, who built her when 14 years old. Pirate II, William Barnes, Peoria was second, and Wux II, R. W. Ellis, Peoria, third.

The mile speed trials constituted a big event. Cero II, 31 feet 5 inches long and fitted with a "White steamer," built by J. F. Sheppard and owned by Robert Deming, of Cleveland, Ohio, made an average of 32.9 statute miles per hour. Her time for the 1 mile was 1 minute 49 2-5 seconds. Red Top II, the Bellevue, Ia. Boat, owned by W. E. Hughey, covered the mile in 2 minutes 6 1-5 seconds, her average being 28.52 miles an hour.

The final race of the regatta was for the 32-foot class, over a course of fifteen miles. A number of prizes were offered, the first being a purse of $100. There were no awards, because all of the class excepting Cero II were disqualified.

The annual meeting of the Mississippi Valley Power Boat Association was held this morning at the National Hotel. The principal transacted was the selection of Dubuque, Ia., as the place for the regatta to be held on July 4m 5 and 6, 1911, and the election of officers for the ensuing year. The new officers are: President, W, F, Bishop, of Muscatine, Ia.; first vice-president, W. H. Gosch, Davenport, Ia.; second vice-president, Ernest Corsepius, Fort Madison, Ia.; secretary, R. H. Coombs, St. Louis; treasurer, Mr. Kelso, of Bellevue, Ia. Executive Committee, T. H. Webb, of Peoria; Dr, Dixon and Commodore Seaman.

(Transcribed from MotorBoat, July 10, 1910, pp. 33-40.)

[Thanks to Greg Calkins for help in preparing this page --LF]

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