A WHEELBARROW RACE.

Kumara Times, Issue 991, 3 December 1879, Page 3

A WHEELBARROW RACE.

Last December, says a contemporary, a number of gentlemen met at San Francisco and offered the “ big” sum of fifteen hundred dollars, equal to <£3oo, to the man who made the best time from “Frisco” to New York with a wheelbarrow in front of him. The' whole journey was to be performed on foot. Two eompotilois appeared, in the persons of Mr Fedemeyer and Mr Potter. On the eve of Clnistmas, both men jmt their hands to their barrows and set out on their track. The distance is by road four thousand five hundred miles, and runs zig-zag through several States. When the wheelbarrows were trundled out of “ Frisco ” crowds of sightseers formed a cortdge ofhonour to the men behind the wheel for a few ' miles beyond the city. For five weeks Fedemeyer and Potter travelled together, and a Mr Fuller walked with them as umpire. After this period however, PoPov "went on “ his own hook,” and has not since been heard of; but Fedemeyer and Fuller walked Oh, and, in dne time, arrived at the where they began to experience the horrors of a Nevada winter. The thermometer registered 20 degrees below zero. The feet of the men became frostbitten, and, what was worse, their supplies of food ran short. Fuller Carried a gun, with which he hud flattered himself ke could procure “fish, flesh, oi‘ fowl,” should supplies run short. Though antelopes were plentiful, however,- the shot from his rifle never seemed as the Yankees phrase it “ to come into contact ” with the object aimed at* In all, seven small birds formed the only game which fell to the halffamished travellers. On one occasion they had to walk one hundred miles with light stomachs and heavy hearts. Through Nevada, Wyoming, and Utah the pair journeyed wearily on. In passing from Laramie to Cheyenne, a Snowstorm overtook them. . After several hours wandering, they stumbled over a log hut, the occupant of which guided them back again to the right track, after comforting them with food and shelter for the night. At length, after 228 days’ wearisome trudging, Fedemeyer and the umpire, Fuller, reached New York in August, where the former received f.iora the latter a certificate entitling him to the wager as the reward of his folly.