view raw text
WILL BE PICTURESQUELY LOCATED. Task of Constructing New Track Near Salt Lake City Proceeding Satisfactorily. Salt Lake City, Utah, .May S. Construction work is proceeding excellently at the new track of the Lagoon Fair and Racing Association. More than 12o men and seventy-live teams have been employed in building the track. Recently, as the guests of Simon Bamberger, president; II. I. Wilson, vice-president and general manager of the association: M. Nathanson, judge and handicapper. and Kay I.gan, treasurer, representatives of the four Salt Lake dailies, made a trip to the grounds by automobile. The newspaper representatives had been advised that work was being rushed on the mile track, grandstand and grounds, but they were hardly pie-pared for the busy scene that mot their view when their automobiles turned into the big tract of land which is being transformed by the racing association. The first tiling that demanded attention was the grandstand. This immense structure, upon which two score men are working, will seat 2.500 persons and is being constructed in a thoroughly substantial and lasting manner. The door of the grandstand will be eight feet above the surface of the ground and underneath and upon all sides concrete will lie laid. There also will be a row of boxes in front of the stand. The space beneath the stand will be devoted to various concessions, lavatories and other conveniences. While the grandstand was a pleasing and Interesting spot, however, the big mile track was the thing that really caught the eye of the visitors. This course, according to Lewis S. Long, the contractor, who lias built numerous race tracks, will be one of the finest in America. Mr. Long, who is a Chicago man, says that the soil at Lagoon is peculiarly adapted to the track purposes, and that when it receives the finishing touches it will be neither too hard nor too soft, but just right for racing. The big track, when completed, will be practically level, but in order to make it so a cut at the east end and a fill at the west end are necessitated. At the present time an immense steam shovel is eating its way rapidly through the cut on the east end of the track and the dirt is being hauled in steam cars over a temporary railroad line to the west end, where the big fill is being made. The track will be sixty-live feet wide for its entire circuit, and the space between the track aud the grandstand will be planted in flowers and grass. Extending around the track for fully two-thirds of the distance are the stables and stalls for the horses. The accommodations at present will provide for 505 horses, but there is abundant room for extra stalls as they may be needed. Between the stalls and the race track there is a big area that will be used for exercising horses and for other purposes incident to racing. From a scenic and picturesque point of view the track will surpass anything in the United States, says Mr. Long. Directly south is beautiful Lagoon, with its trees and grass and ilowers, and to the east is the Wasatch range of mountains, from which .blows a refreshing breeze at all times of the dav aud night. Another featnre of the new race track is the case with which it can bo reached. Persons owning automobiles have one of the prettiest roads in the country from Salt Lake to the resort, while the road from Ogden is nearly as good. Those who desire to take trains to the race track will be accommodated both by the Salt Lake and Ogden Bamberger road and the Oregon Short Line. The Bamberger road will add to its electrical equipment and run as many trains as the attendance at the Lagoon and race track may demand, while the Short Line will put on as many gasoline motors as mav be needed and also land passengers within a short distance of the grandstand. General Manager Wilson briefly discussed with the newspaper representatives the aims of the Lagoon Fair and Racing Association. He said that it was the intention of the management to conduct the cleanest racing possible, and that an attempt would bo made to make the betting a secondary consideration. The association, Mr. Wilson said, was expending its money with a view to making racing permanent. Touts and other undesirable characters, he said, in conclusion, would bo strictly barred. Martin Nathanson talked in the samo, strain and declared it to be his policy not to permit the entry of horses by any man who ever has been connected with crookedness or who is strongly under the suspicion of having been so engaged. There remains an immense amount of work to bo done at the track, but the officials say that the finishing touches will have been put on at least ten days before the date scheduled for the opening. Secretary Nathanson has prepared and issued the program for the first five days of the racing at the new track. On account of inability to determine in advance the numlier and class of horses available for the racing, it was deemed advisable to offer no closed in advance stakes for the inaugural meeting. Specially named events, including a Derby, carrying liberal values, will be opened and run during the meeting if the material is at hand. The overnight purses will range from 50 to 00 each, with "an average daily distribution of ,S00 for six races. The special events during the opening week will Include the Decoration Day Handicap, 00 added: the Kaysviile Handicap, 00; MIdvale Handicap, 00; and the Lagoon Handicap, 00. That the meeting will lie the most successful in the history of racing in this locality seems a safe prediction. Salt Lake City now has a population of more than 100,000 and Ogden boasts upward of 2.1,000. Both places are prosperous. Connected with the new track and immediately adjoining it is the Lagoon Amusement Park, for years the summer recreation ground for residents of the surrounding territory. Arrangements have boon made whereby the use of the Lagoon Park grounds and entrance to them will be free to holders of tickets for the Lagoon track. During the summer season the regular round trip rate from Salt Lake City to the Lagoon pleasure resort is 50 cents. The Lagoon Fair and Racing Association lias arranged with the railroads for a combination ticket, including transportation both ways, and admission to the track and grandstand, as well as to the nmnsenrent park, for . The running time from Salt Lake City will be twenty minutes and front Ogden thirty minutes. ,rly.cIl.,Ta 1wyr "as been appointed starter. Sam MeGibbon will serve as clerk of the course and John Dinue as paddock judge.
