The Great Bellingham to Mt. Baker Race
And the car built for it.
THE CAR
I grew up in Bellingham, Washington, a small northwest town, in the sixties and seventies. A good friend of mine had a father who always seemed to be a wheeler dealer. His father owned a local mobile home dealership, and he seemed to take in some unusual items for trade, including some interesting vehicles. In 1970, I went over to my friend's house, as I often did, and saw he had an old car in the alley behind his house. I asked him about the car, and was told it was a 1913 Model T that was built for the Bellingham to Mount Baker race. 1913 was the last year the race was run.
Mount Baker is an active volcano about 32 miles (51 km) from Bellingham as the crow flies or 52 miles (84 km) by car. Mount Baker is also the second-most thermally active volcano next to Mount St. Helens and is listed as one of America's volcanoes with a very high threat status. It is also one of the worlds snowiest places. It set a world record in 1999 with 95 feet (29 meters) of snowfall in a year. We both looked the car over and my friend proceeded to give me a ride around the block in it. The next time I heard anything about the car was in 1971, when at the beginning of our senior year of high school, my friend signed up at the local technical school for half day classes in auto mechanics.
THE DISASSEMBLY
He hoped to learn enough to repair and maybe even restore the Model T. But all he got done was tearing it down to parts and rebuilding the motor. The oil pan needed to be replaced or repaired, as it was cracked and leaking. Over the next few years, my friend and his father painted most of the parts of the car, in preparation to put it back together. But they never got the car completed. Fortunately the car was always stored inside. The only parts not still torn apart were the engine and the differential, which had been rebuilt. When his father passed away, my friend inherited the Model T. It sat in his garage in parts and pieces for 38 odd years. I have always kept in touch with my friend. He said he was going to use the car as a retirement project.
About 10 years ago, I started asking him if he was ever going to actually do anything with the Model T. His response was, he really had very little interest in the car and wasn't sure what he was going to do with it. I told him if he ever wanted to sell the car, I would love to buy it.
Over the past 20 years I've become interested in both Henry Ford and the early Ford Motor Company. I've read pretty much every book on those topics that I could find. This really had me interested in owning a Model T of my own.
OWNING THE.CAR
Finally, in February of 2023, my friend decided it was time to let me take over the project. I went to his house and picked up the car and all the pieces and parts. I had not seen the car in over 50 years, and was amazed at the condition of the parts and the body. There was no rust on anything, even the motor, which had no paint on it. The body was completely rust free and all the original wood was in perfect condition. Even the original leather upholstery was in amazing shape, at least for a 110 years old car. Equally as important as the amazing condition of the car was the story about its history. By this time, I had watched the 2012 documentary on "The Mountain Runners" about the Bellingham to Mt. Baker race held in 1911, 1912 and 1913.
According to my friend, the car was built in 1913 by a mechanic at Diehl Ford in Bellingham by the last name of May for the 1913 Mount Baker Race. He said the mechanic sold the car to my friend's father in March of 1953. The mechanic was long retired at that time and the car had been sitting in a shed for years. At that time, my friend's father owned a car dealership in Bellingham called Bellingham Motors that sold Lincoln’s and Mercury’s. He turned the car over to one of his mechanics to restore it and put it back on the road. This was completed in about 1954. He then used it occasionally until 1971 when it was disassembled.
Since acquiring the car, I have found out several interesting things about the Model T. It was never titled since it was new. It has no serial number on the engine. The suspension was lowered. It also has aftermarket, correctly dated, knock-off “buffalo” wire wheels, a “Moore” two-speed overdrive transmission, domed pistons, a high performance aluminum intake manifold, a Bosch magneto, an aluminum hogs- head, and many other period parts. I also got some period correct leather Washington license plates to put on the car for display only.
I have started to reassemble the car, which is not an easy task for someone who not only didn't take the car apart, but has never owned a car built before World War II.
THE REASSEMBLY
Thanks to friends, who are much more capable with old cars than I might be, it is getting slowly reassembled. I've added Rocky Mountain brakes for safety. The body is now back from the body shop for paint and soon the interior will be re-done. The broken windshield has been re-done with laminated safety glass. I have also added a brass horn. Soon I hope to add a brass rearview mirror and a brake light switch and bulb to the original taillight.
THE RACE
In 1911, Arthur Craven, the president of the newly founded Mount Baker Club, approached the Bellingham Chamber with the idea of a race to the top of the volcano. The race was America's first ultra-marathon. It combined auto racing (using mainly Model Ts), train racing, and mountain climbing. Competitors raced from Bellingham to one of two trails to reach Mount Baker's summit and return back to Bellingham in the quickest time. The Mount Baker Ultra Marathon was a very grueling competition with the racers running 32 miles, climbing in elevation over 10,000 feet (3 km) through forests, then over rugged snow trails, across glaciers, and up to Mount Baker's summit. Amazingly, this event was held in the dark, when the snow and glacial ice was firm, so it was much safer for the contestants. Approval to hold the race to the top of the mountain and back was granted. The race was held on August 6, 1911. Organizers emphasized the dangers of slipping into a snow-covered crevasse and the stamina needed to climb the 10,781 foot (3.3 km) mountain. The first route choice involved riding a special train on a cleared track for 44 miles (71 km) to the town of Glacier. There they would get off the train and run the Glacier Trail for about 28 miles (45 km) to the summit and back. They then had to ride the train back to Bellingham. If you did not get on the first train, you had to wait for its return or take an automobile. Total miles for this option was about 116 miles (186 km). The second route choice was to go by unreliable automobiles on rough roads for 26 miles (42 km), then run the Deming Trail for 32 miles (51 km) to the summit and back. The Deming Trail was longer than the Glacier Trail, but it involved a shorter snow climb. On the trip back, they would ride in their auto for 8l miles (135 km). The first runner to reach Bellingham would be the winner and claim a trophy and a cash prize.
For the first race, 14 local men were at the starting line at 10 p.m. Six runners went by car to Deming and eight by train to Glacier. A huge crowd gathered in the night to wait for updated progress reports to be wired back to town. Harvey Haggard, age 19, a packer for the mine company, chose the train route and got to the summit at 5: 18 a.m. Joseph Galbraith, age 25, a rancher, chose the auto route and jumped in a stripped down Model T Ford named "Betsy" driven by Hugh Diehl, the local Ford dealer. He arrived at the summit at 5:37 a.m. Only five of the 14 racers made it to the summit. Galbraith was declared the winner with a 12 hour, 18 minute finish time. Haggard finished second with a 13 hour, 10 minute time. The 1913 race drew 20,000 people to Bellingham on August 15. It was part of a huge city festival with twenty other events held at the same time. Race organizers decided to change the routes. If you went up by train, you came down by auto and vice versa. The race foolishly began at 5:01 a.m. This sent the runners up the peak when the snow and ice was soft and dangerous. They did this to bring crowds to the finish line in the afternoon. Due to recent storms, the officials decided to send all runners up to the saddle and not the summit. Runners on the Glacier Trail claimed to not have received news of the shortened route. So those who went up the Glacier trail went on up to the summit. Paul Westerlund had gone up the Deming trail and had gotten word to only go as far as the saddle. Thus he won by not climbing an extra 1,000 feet (305 meters) up and back down again. The race ended in accusations and confusion. Westerlund and Magnusson were declared co-winners. But no one was happy. As the city was celebrating the wins, it was realized a runner, Victor Galbraith, was missing on the mountain. He'd reached the summit using the Glacier Trail, but not been seen since. His cousin, Joe Galbraith, organized a search party to find him. He had fallen into a 40 foot (12 meter) crevasse and could not pull himself ' out. He was rescued five hours later; his only injuries were bruises. Another runner, Peter George, from Boston, also fell in a crevasse, but was able to crawl out and suffered with only some cuts. The near tragedies were the last straw for the race.
I would recommend watching the documentary “The Mountain Runners” to learn more this epic race.