The Dartmouth Crew
There's a thrill in this story for every man who wants tosee Dartmouth bach in the list of college crews that compete each year for championships. But there isn't even theremotest chance of a Dartmouth crew in the future, according to the undergraduate feeling, because Dartmouthmen have been so long without a navy. The ConnecticutRiver has proved itself too swift and uncertain for racingshells, and Enfield with its lake is too far away for practice after class hours. They met such a difficulty as this atPrinceton by enlarging a local pond into a lake. Perhapsin the future some such method may be used at Dartmouth.Who knows? However the old days of crew were romanticenough to last the college for many years.
BACK IN THE '7o's
To this modern generation of Dartmouth men, the mention of a Dartmouth crew will not conjure up any definite memories, but to those men who were connected with the college in the '70'5, a Dartmouth crew is a living thing. These men can re-visualize the days when the Green (and White) was a potent factor in intercollegiate rowing, and was once feared by the goliaths of the East: Yale, Harvard and Cornell.
In the Fall of 1872, the Dartmouth student body decided that Dartmouth should have a crew, a desire perhaps brought about by the fact that all the other major New England colleges were taking part in intercollegiate regattas and making a success of it. A mass meeting was called in Hanover, and an active subscription campaign started, which gathered impetus among the student body and faculty members, with the result that by the following Spring a coach, the well-known John Biglin, had been engaged and a boathouse built on the shores of the Connecticut River.
I have before me on my desk a copy of the New YorkGraphic of July 17, 1873, sent by Samuel Merrill of Cambridge, Mass. There is also a leaf from a scrapbook, on which is pasted a ticket on the New Haven road "from Springfield to the Boat Race" and a convenient map, also from the Graphic, telling just what the lay of the land is like. Let us use the ticket, although it is marked expressly for 1873, and take a trip to this great intercollegiate regatta.
The train takes us to the Longmeadow, Mass., station on the East bank of the Connecticut, and already tourists and students are milling about in expectation of the coming event. The Connecticut River at this point is practically straight for a mile and then to the South bends to the left. The finish this year, however, has been changed, and the crews will line up for the start almost opposite our station, whereas in 1872 they started about a quarter of a mile further North. The Dartmouth camp and training quarters are located almost directly opposite the station, with Amherst a little below and Williams on a side-road above. These camps are in Agawam.
Every member of the intercollegiate rowing association is represented in this regatta with the sole exception of Brown. Yale, Harvard, Columbia, Cornell, Williams, Trinity, Wesleyan, Amherst, Massachusetts Agricultural College and Bowdoin are represented as well as Dartmouth.
A meeting of all the participants was held yesterday morning at 11 A.M., and several lively discussions arose as to procedure. Capt. Brewer of Amherst moved that a cannon be fired before the race, and the crews be given a half hour to move into starting position. Then followed a long discussion regarding the drawing for places, it finally being decided that they would do so by alphabetical order. Dartmouth drew the eighth position. Quite some trouble was met when boats could be procured from the Springfield police only for exhorbitant rates, but a committee of one, Mr. A. D. McClellan of Brown, was appointed to investigate the situation. He must have succeeded, for today, the boats were in their places carrying officials.
In the pool selling here last night, Harvard was made the favorite by 10-6 odds, with Bowdoin, Dartmouth, Amherst and Aggies quoted at 2-1, and Cornell 10-5. There was quite a large amount in the pool box at the close of the sale.
The actual race finally started, and the 11 crews all jumped forward as one at the gun. Biglin's final selection for the Dartmouth crew was Paul, Archibald and Underhill of the class of 1873, and Ward, Gates and Eaton of the class of 1874. Paul was stroke and Eaton bow. The Dartmouth crew lagged at the start, and was in last position for the first quarter of the race. They then spurted, and gradually overhauled Cornell and Columbia and by a great burst of speed gained fourth place at the close of the race.
For the first season of intercollegiate rowing at Dartmouth, the showing of the crew was remarkable. Yale, with their veteran boat, had won in 16 minutes, 59 seconds, with Wesleyan and. Harvard following them. Dartmouth had triumphed over seven other crews of the East.
THE FOLLOWING YEAR
Dartmouth then took its crew seriously, and by the winter of 1873, rigorous training was commenced in the gymnasium. All sorts of rowing paraphernalia was set up in the bowling alleys and a squad of 20 men went faithfully to work in the afternoons, supplementing their training by running and walking about the hills of Hanover. When Spring came, the men were out on the river, and new faces appeared in the Dartmouth varsity boat. C. O. Gates '74 was the sole returning member of the 1873 organization, and he was chosen stroke. Other places were filled by Eaton '75, Westgate '75, Mitchell '76, Eager '77 and Robinson '77.
After a brief training on the placid waters of Mascoma Lake, the crew started for Saratoga, the scene of the 1874 regatta. While en route, sparks from the engine, which was decidedly not like the engines of 1929, ignited the crew's practice shell, and badly burned it, although the men found their regular shell waiting for them upon their arrival.
The results of this race again gave Dartmouth a fourth place, trailing Columbia, Wesleyan and Harvard in that order. Dartmouth just managed to nose out Cornell for the fourth position at the finish.
Again the New York Graphic comes to the fore with an interesting sidelight on inter-class races this year. The special correspondent of the Graphic refers to the University crew, despite the fact that this was some time after Daniel Webster's oration. The article tells of the growth of rowing at Dartmouth, and describes part of the 1873 regatta. It seems that there was quite a hubbub over the position of the Green at the finish line, but that the judges went into a huddle and finally decided upon fourth place, which seemed satisfactory to all concerned.
The inter-class races were held on the Connecticut River, which was too narrow to permit four crews to row abreast. The juniors were unfortunate in their race against the seniors, for one of their number broke an oar before the race had progressed 40 rods, and as a result the 1875 men were the victors. The sophomores won handily from the freshmen, and the big race was all set to go on.
From all accounts it was a thriller. The sophomores first took the lead, but at the end of the first mile the seniors had overtaken and passed them. At this point the sophomores spurted, passed their adversaries and won the race by approximately four lengths. This was the first and only inter-class race held at Dartmouth, and the class of 1877 felt proud in winning the colors presented by the Boat Club.
THE LAST TEAR OF THE CREW
During the spring of 1875, E. C. Carrigan '77 toured the neighboring towns in New Hampshire and spoke on behalf of the college's rowing association. Additional financial support was forthcoming, and the co-operation of interested alumni boded a very successful season.
The crew by this time was recognized as a very big factor in Eastern rowing, and their unscientific stroke had been abandoned for one which was taught by George Englehardt, a famous professional sculler. In a book called "Athletics at Dartmouth" by Horace G. Pender '97 and RaymondjMcPartlin '2O, the 1875 season is adequately described.
Training quarters were removed to Webster Lake near Franklin, N. H., and the men got down to serious business. Two new men were given seats in the boat, Sumner Wallace '77 and "Reckless" Frost '76, and this combination fitted well with the veterans from former years: Eaton, Robinson, Mitchell and Eager. The race this year was at Saratoga, with 13 college entries and Yale the reigning favorite, due to their recent adoption of the English stroke.
The weather that year was decidedly adverse to a race, and under abominable conditions which rendered the lake choppy, Dartmouth again took a fourth place. There was some solace in their showing, as the Green had beaten the much-heralded Yale crew with their new stroke, and had trailed Cornell, Columbia and Harvard, generally adjudged to be the best in the East. They won from the Wesleyan boat by a single second.
In the winter of 1877 a hard storm striick the boat house, and everything, including the rowing shells, was completely destroyed. Thus the crew passed into the discard, and several attempts to resurrect it since have proven futile.
In 1879 an association was formed, and a crew actually picked, but interest diminished, and the whole project was finally abandoned. Again in 1920, attempts were made to interest alumni and undergraduates in rowing, but the plan was given up, as the Memorial Field project was just getting under way, and interest centered in that.
Only memories now remain of the Dartmouth crews, who in the past were among the best in their class. The Connecticut River is still used for rowing, and canoes carrying students still glide along its waters, but the days of six husky oarsmen preparing for an intercollegiate regatta seem gone forever.
THE DARTMOUTH NAVY IN ACTION
DARTMOUTH COLLEGE CREW CLASS OF 1878 White (stroke), Parkhurst (capt.), Gerald (No. 5), Dodd (No. 2)*, Darling (bow), Norton (No. 4), Gerrish (spare) *He directed the boat's course by means of wires attached to his feet and extending to the rudder
THE BOAT HOUSE Collapsed Jan. 20, 1877, under the weight of a heavy fall of snow. Shells, sculls, and boats of the Dartmouth Navy were destroyed
THE DARTMOUTH NAVY At Rest under Ledyard Bridge
