‘The Mountain Runners: America’s First Adventure Race, 1911-1913’ released in August by Washington State University Press
The Mount Baker Marathon — the most dangerous, adventure-filled competition in Whatcom County history — has at last received a book-length account, complete with photographs and maps. “The Mountain Runners: America’s First Adventure Race, 1911-1913,” by Bellingham history author and filmmaker Todd Warger, has been published by Washington State University Press.
Held three times, the races began in Bellingham and attracted thousands of spectators. The runners, mostly local residents, traveled by train or stripped-down speedy cars to trailheads, raced to the 10,781-foot summit of Mount Baker, then reversed course to the finish line in Fairhaven. Despite storms, glaciers, snowfields laced with crevasses and, by modern standards, antiquated equipment, the two finalists in the inaugural race managed to finish in less than 11 hours.
Designed to promote tourism and development, the marathon finally succumbed to financial pressure, bad weather, and near-fatal mishaps. Still, the competition left a legendary legacy that demanded a full retelling and inspired today’s annual Ski to Sea Race.
Kahn: What sparked your interest in the marathon?
Warger: My interest in the marathons goes back at least 25 years. Each year during Ski to Sea week, Richard Vanderway, the Whatcom Museum educator at the time, would give a program and slide show about the early marathons. There were even a few descendants from the race years who would come. Aside from this program and a chapter in John Miles’ book, “Koma Kulshan: The Story of Mt. Baker,” there was very little information out there about the marathons.
One day, Richard took me aside, knowing I had an interest. He told me he would be retiring soon and assumed no one would be taking up his program. Richard wanted me to do something with the race before the story was lost. Relatives were dying off, and it was time to record what they know. He suggested I take his lecture notes and offered me a list of names of those descendants still living in the area who could help me get started. The 100-year anniversary of the marathons was approaching and Richard thought I might make something of it.
Honestly, I thought there was little more to tell of the story. Richard seemed to have had it all well covered. When I asked further about his research, he confided that he had an intern at the museum pull the newspaper articles from the weekends of the race, quoted descendants of the runners and placed what photos he collected in an order to tell a story. Otherwise, he had done little else and suggested there had to be much more out there. All I had to do was find it. That ignited my imagination!
Kahn: Why did the race fade from the nation’s memory?
Warger: I do believe the Mount Baker marathons were America’s first adventure race. I use the term “adventure” because that’s what it was, with the speeding train, the stripped-down cars, the naive participants and, of course, the mayhem of it all. And you can’t discount the spirit of the era, when people were exploring the last continents, conquering mountains, and even racing bicycles, cars, and planes around the world.
I would much welcome knowing if there was a comparable earlier race. If there was, it was as little known as the Mount Baker marathon. True, there was the Mount Wilson race in California and a foot race up Pikes Peak in Colorado, but those footraces were to a parking lot and back. Seward, Alaska, does lay claim to the Mount Marathon Race that predates our marathons, but it’s a 5-kilometer race, and Alaska was still a territory when the Mount Baker marathons were run.
Testing my claim further, when the documentary film “The Mountain Runners” came out in 2012, Running Magazine and Trailrunner Magazine, both national, made the story their main feature. No one objected to the claim. The film also screened in 25 film festivals without rebuttal.
So, why did the race fade away? Nationally, it was reported in newspapers across the nation, Canada, and in some European papers. By 1913, the marathon was just getting some tread as outsiders were arriving to participate, when the race ceased. Because it lasted only three years, I don’t think it was around long enough to maintain a national following.
Kahn: How did your research begin and evolve over the years? Where did your research run into dead-ends and unexpected discoveries?
Warger: One of the main reasons “The Mountain Runners” took so long to write was because I was never comfortable with enough material to tell the story. I still dream of a trunk of material out there somewhere.
I have done podcasts, interviews, a documentary, magazine articles and curated an exhibition on the subject. Each time, a few new pieces of the puzzle would surface. A photo or two, a family member appears, etc. A year ago, a new photo album of images and writings from a family member surprised me.
I was extremely fortunate to have started this project with the help of descendants with their stories, scrapbooks and photos. In some cases, they were the sons, daughters, nieces and nephews of the participants, whether runners, drivers or some other affiliation.
Of course, I had the Whatcom Museum, where I work, and the great capabilities of our archivist, Jeff Jewell. Also, keep in mind, when I started my research there were many older-generation historians in Whatcom County, whom I owe so much. Galen Biery, for instance, had oral history interviews from the 1960s.
Windfalls came from unlikely places: An auto accident in the race lead me to a lawsuit with witness statements describing the race; county commission records described road conditions and race preparations; Bellingham Bay Improvement Co. records contained correspondence regarding the race, railroad and detailed reports of the aftermath of the train wreck in 1911.
A gentleman came to me with a booklet belonging to his grandfather who recorded the weather every day, which covered the race period. And a retired caretaker came to me with a packet of photos taken by Dr. Beebe who was on the train with his camera. She told me she inherited his belongings and was told to give the photos to someone who would truly appreciate them.
Dead-ends, or the weakest portions of my book, would be backgrounds of the participants. The reader has to keep in mind that for these amateur runners and drivers, this was possibly the highpoint in their lives where they made the newspapers. Nearly all were laborers who had families and lived hardworking lives. They left no diaries or journals. It was all I could do to bring them back to life.
Sometimes I got lucky. Paul Westerlund’s family in Stockholm, Sweden, and in Finland happened to Google his name and found me. I visited the family twice and got a wealth of information.
Kahn: What surprised you about the race?
Warger: I wasn’t surprised about the politics of the marathon, but the depth of disregard for the participants’ safety was disgraceful. Unknown to most people was the devious sabotage against the competing town of Concrete by Mount Baker Club, and the indifference the club showed Concrete’s sole competitor, Herman Schreiber, who was allowed to run into a blizzard while in Bellingham the race was cancelled without notifying Concrete.
Kahn: What’s one of your favorite anecdotes from the race?
Warger: Certainly the highlight of the marathon years was in 1911. The first year of the marathon is when Harvey Haggard faced his troubles returning from the mountain. Haggard barely beats Norman Randall to the train, survives a train wreck with a bull, but somehow manages several modes of transportation back to the city. These are scenes out of a movie. You can’t make this up and expect people to believe it’s possible.
Kahn: How much opposition was there to the marathon?
Warger: Most of the opposition came from businesses along the downtown race route when the automobiles raced out of town at great speed. Fears of a crash or potential death was proven correct, but the race committee wouldn’t alter the race.
After many mishaps, mismanagement and unpredictable weather, the race was deemed too dangerous to continue. Some referred to it as “human horseraces.”
Kahn: Besides generating incredible stories, was the marathon worthwhile?
Warger: I believe the idea of the race was ahead of its time. That said, the marathon didn’t have the time to mature into what it could be. There wasn’t a long-range plan set in place.
Mount Baker Club was using the race as a means to an end — focusing attention on Mount Baker and the region as a destination, like Mount Rainier. Within the club, some people wanted a national park around Baker. Others dreamed of a lodge near the glaciers. Others simply wanted better roads to the mountain, trail-systems and overnight huts. The Chamber of Commerce wanted a yearly event to bring visitors to the city with their money. For the most part, the participants just wanted to run, not caring about the politics and vision for the race.
A longer version of this interview appeared in the December 2025 edition of the annual journal published by Whatcom County Historical Society.
—By Todd Warger and Dean Kahn
Todd Warger, of Bellingham, co-directed a 2013 documentary about the Mount Baker Marathon that was nominated for an Emmy, and has written several local history books, including “Shipyard” and a series about regional homicides in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Dean Kahn worked for the Bellingham Herald for 29 years as a reporter, editor and columnist. He retired in 2016.