Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-08-21
EuRntnD Gfrat

DoupliesS lIllS VIII be one of the
features OF the celebration, and it
re-calls mat in the early days of the
city boat racing on the Susquehanna
was an event equal in Importance
ana interest to the kipona of to-day.
Among the men who manned the
eight cared shells in those famous
contests were Ed. Rauch, owen NJ.
CopeHn, former city treasurer, and
the late Charles Etter. The Harris
burg Boat Club was the name of
thelr organization and they had Il
boathouse on the island abutting on
the piers OF the Market street bridge
of handsome design just nearing
completion in June of 1889 when
the big flood dem olished the build
ing.
AT the same time another club
which had a handsome house with
large storage facilities at Front and
Maclay streets went out of business,
the flood running the structure and
It's furniture. The place was never
occupied after that, although large.
well built and of handsome design,
1t stood vacant until half carried
away by lumber thieves and was
demolished when the city began it's
river park improvements. In it's
day 1t was a noted landmark along
the Susquehanna.
The boat races held under the
auspices of the Harrisburg Boat
Club drew thousands of spectators
and made a great holiday in Harris
burg, visitors coming from as far as
Philadelphia and Williamsport. The
events were well staged and exciting
In addition to the four cared she'll
race, there were two scull races,
duck boat contests. canoe races and
tub races, the last attracting wide
attention and causing much amuse-
ment. The course lay between the
Market street bridge to the water
house and return around a stake
boat there, but the audience had
no front steps" on which to sit and
the water was not so deep for there
was no dam in the river at the
lower end of town.
Members of the old boat club
rowed in regattas at Philadelphia,
Newark, Seneca Lake, Columbia,
Sunbury and other places where
contests for national championships
were staged and always made
good showing. Among the most
enthusiastic club members were
Thomas T. Weirman, Luther Gorgas,
e. c. Kepple, Theodore G.. Calder,
DR.. c. Westbrook, Charles +. Etter,
r.. c. Rauch, O. NJ. Copelin, Charles
| E. Covert, William r. Denehey, T..
r. Sites, j. Herman Knisely, Homer
Harris, William Myers, Charles
| Schriver John d. Lemer and f.
! Bergstresser, some of whom have
since passed beyond.
And they had accumulated a valu-
! able lot of property when the big
| food came down and gave rowing
| here solar nlpX1c hlox1y Itrhi 10,
it is only now showing signs of
recovery. The equipment included
two four cared shells, three double
sculls and four singles, worth $2,5O0
at least.
Some of the others who were IA
nous oarsmen on the river were
| Lyman d. Gilbert and Judge Nc
| Pherson, then young lawpartnels
in this city and both now dead.
| Jack Mcpherson was also a crack
cricket and baseball player, cricket
| being a game then in vogue here
The cricket field was at Maclay and
| Fifth streets. Gilbert and McPher-
son had a two cared scull on the
river and they took their exercise
! together even as they did their legal
work together and it was not an
unusual thing for them to go down
the river as far as Middletown and
| back or up the river to Rockville
and back in a single afternoon and
still be fresh enough to attend a
dinner party or dance in the even
/ ing. They were among the best
athletes in the city in those times.
I Still another who knew how to
handle scull was the late Osceola
! Daugherty, a we'll known engineer
| on the Pennsylvania Railroad, but
he took his pleasure alone, being
one of the best single oarsmen in the
State. Almost any fair afternoon
his boat might be seen on the river.
| The sailboat was also a common
sight on the Susquehanna in those
days. Perhaps the most daring of
the sailboat navigators was the late
Sam Knox, whose father purchased
| for him in Baltimore the Joseph
ine," a sailing vessel that carried
twenty-three yards of sail, the
largest amount ever used on a boat
| here. This boat made speed records
for a number of years on the river
and also went out of business fol-
| lowing the 1889 June flood. The
motorboat has superseded the sail
| boat, but there would be more sport
than ever in sailing with the better
surface offered by the dam and the
increased depth, especially if the
Navy gets the channel through to
Rockville, which now seems posi-
| BILE.
One of the noted oarsmen of the,
| Eighties, now residing in Harris
burg, and who more than once con-
tested with Harrisburg talent for
the supremacy of the Susquehanna,
is John S. Musser, former president
of the Harrisburg Rotary Club and
head of the Dauphin Electrical Sup
| plies Company. Mr.. Musser was,
then a member of the Columbia.
Boat Club, one of the most noted
organizations on the river, and
there was keen rivalry between the
Harrisburg and Columbia organiza-.
tions. 1t was nip and tuck between
| them and some good stories ara
exchanged when he and some of the
| old Harrisburg four-oared experts
meet to talk over old times. Mus
ser got his early training as an ath-
| lete on the top of one of the old
| fashioned high wheel bicycles, being
one of the first to take up that sport
in Columbia and he still has numer-
| Gus trophies he won in those con-
! tests. He rode to Washington and
made tour of Canada on his high
wheeler, featS to tax the endurance
| of any athlete when the type of
machine he rode and the condition
of the roads in those days is con-
| sidered. Consequently when he went
in for boat racing he was as hard
as nails and soon won the position
of stroke oar of his crew