User:Donkjensen/mount baker marathons

The Mount Baker Marathons were three races in which contestants raced from downtown Bellingham, Washington to the top of Mount Baker and back. The races occured in 1911, 1912, and 1913 until finally being cancelled for safety concerns.

Origins
Mount Baker was first climbed in 1858 by Edmond Coleman In 1906 The Mazamas climbed Mount Baker. This was followed by the Seattle Mountaineers in 1908, and The Mazamas again in 1909. In 1910 more local Bellingham groups made successful climbs of Mount Baker with each climbing party showing better times than previous groups. In August of 1910, Robert Hess of Bellingham put togehter a small team to attempt to make it to the top of Mount Baker and back to Bellingham in under 24 hours. The attempt failed due to bad weather, In Early 1911 Author Craven, a lawyer and mountaineer from Bellingham, proposed how to make it to the top of Mount Baker and back in under 24 hours. Craven's plan used a trail that left from a farm near Demming, WA and climbed up to the glaciers of Mount Baker on the south side. A month later, a pharmacest and avid photographer, Henry Engberg, proposed a shorter route along a diferent trail that left from the town of Glacier, WA and went up Mount Baker on the north side of the mountain. Engberg's article in the Herald also sugested the creation of a mountaineering club. Over the next several weeks the Mount Baker Club was formed as rules for a race to the top of the mountain were fleshed out.

1911 Marathon
The first marathon was an experiment more than anything designed to answer two questions; was it possible to leave Bellingham and make it to the top of Mount Baker and return in under 24 hours. If it was possible, what was the fasted route. While attention and excitement about the race snowballed inthe build up to the race, most of the attention was placed on a rivalry between the two trails from Demming and Glacier, Washington. The rules allowed racers to choose either the Deming Trail of the Glacier trail. Racers taking the Demming trail would be driven to a farm just past Deming where the trail started. The racers would the run to the top of the mountain and return to the waiting car which would drive them back to Bellingham. There was only a very primitive wagon road that led to the town of Glacier. Because of this,tThe racers on the Glacier trail would take a train to Glacier and then proceed by foot to the top of the mountain and back. The first person to make it back to the train would be raced back to Bellingham. Everyone else on that trail would have to find their own way back to Bellingham. In all, 22 men signed up for the race though to ultimately came down to two men. Harvey Haggard was racing up the Glacier side of the mountain. After leaving the train, Harvey Haggard was the second person to get to the top of the mountain, behind Normal Randall. On the way down Haggard passed Randall and made it to the train. The train took of for Bellingham, but wrecked after hitting a cow near the town of Mapples Falls, WA. after climbing out of the wrecked train, Haggard was put in a horse and buggy which took him along the wagon road to the town of Kendall where he traded up for a fast horse without the buggy. A few miles later, Haggard reached a road where a car was waiting for him. Car startled the horse so much that Haggard was thrown to the grown. Haggard had to be strapped into the car to keep from falling because he kept passing out. On the way back to Bellingham, Haggard found out that