The National.us

On August 18, 1878, the first organized young bird race series out of the New York City area was commenced. Twenty-six young birds born in March or April, were flown from Tobyhanna, PA. about 122 railroad miles (82 airline miles) away. Seven birds were entered by John Van Opstal of 4 Lewis St. on the lower east side of Manhattan, ten from Oscar Donner, eight from John Mumperon and one from Oswald Rothmaler all from Williamsburg across the East River from Mr. Van Opstal.

The birds which had all been thoroughly trained, were released from Tobyhanna at 9:00 AM and arrived together clocking between 10:50 and 10:52. It seems that the birds over flew the Van Opstal loft as his birds were seen coming from the Brooklyn side of the river.

Upon arrival of a fancier's first bird, the arrival time was written down on a piece of paper and attached to another pigeon which carried the time to Mr. Donner. except Mr. Donner would release a message bird with his first arrival time to Mr Van Opstal.

In these very early days of the sport in New York, before metal bands, countermarks and clocks, fanciers depended on somewhat of an honor system. Birds carried a name stamp on one primary flight to identify the owner and if there was a prize money race, another wing stamp was applied with a letter A to Z, which was only known to the release agent. In that situation, the fancier would need to report both the time of arrival and the letter stamped on the bird's wing.

In those early days when only a few fanciers were participating, the birds were known by their names, so a message might state "Andrew Jackson" arrived 10:51 AM with the wing code letter "C". As the sport grew in the USA, and more fanciers participated, it adapted the Belgium style of race reporting, which required that a fancier send a runner to a central location [for example the local post office] and the runner would carry the bird to the central location called a marking station. where the arrival time of the runner was recorded as well as an serialized number stamp on the bird's wing. Each fancier was given a time adjustment based on how long it should take a runner to arrive at the marking station from the fancier's loft.

The sport soon modernized and rubber countermarks attached around the leg of the bird were used as a replacement for the serialized wing stamp and soon afterwards, the first clocking mechanisms were manufactured for recording the arrival time of the bird.

The earliest clocks were not continuous running clocks but rather started only when the first countermarks was placed in the clock. At the clocking station, the officials would subtract the clock time from the actual time to get the time of arrival. Like with any mechanical clocking system, a correction was often needed if it was found that the clock was running fast or slow.

The first clocks were two bird timers. How they worked, was there were two clocks each one started when a countermarks was inserted in a "hole" or opening and the a safety door closed over that opening. When the countermarks was secured, by the locking of the opening, the clock associated with that "hole" was started. When the second countermarks was inserted and secured, the second clock was started.

After the introduction of the two bird clock, a clocking mechanism was developed that needed only one clock and when each counter mark was secured, the clock time was stamped on a strip of paper which the race secretary could access, after the race, to record the arrival times of each bird. This time stamping mechanism allowed a fancier to record many birds in a race, depending on how many secure "holes" were machined into their clock. Finally, clocks were manufacture that ran continuously from the time the birds were shipped to the race until the time the race was closed. The introduction of the continuously running clock, added more security to the process, as it was easier to detect any manipulation of the clock speed by a fancier.

Returning now to the race series, these same birds were later flown out as far as Towanda, PA. about 267 railroad miles (146 airline miles) as the last race of the series.

John Van Opstal, imported his first "Antwerp" type racing pigeons somewhere between 1871 and 1874. He raced his first team of yearlings in 1876. However, in 1876, there were no clubs or organized racing in New York and he would arrange mutual releases with a fancier in Philadelphia or Baltimore where the birds were released half way between these cities, and upon return the fanciers would telegraph the arrival time and wing mark to the other fancier.

Philadelphia was without a doubt, the center of "Antwerp" type homing pigeons and had for five years staged annual races for prize money. New York City was in its infancy, but was already planning a 500 mile race in the next year. Doylestown, PA had a club, as had Toronto Canada, which had already flown a race from Guelph. Newark and Patterson NJ had staged several races. Troy, Green Island and Albany fanciers had flown races as far a Sryacuse a distance of 170 miles. The Baltimore area was starting up with races and as far west as Grand Rapids, MI., the had staged several races during the summer. 1877, was a breakout year for fanciers who flew the Antwerp homing pigeon.

In 1877, John Van Opstal also did some releases with a fancier in Hoboken, NJ. named Waefelaer. This series of match races, for a prize of $100, was quite the stir as great crowds would come to the release points to see the birds off. The first release was from the roof of the Republican newspaper in Scranton, PA. Onlookers viewed the release from the roofs and high windows of other buildings. Others who could not get to an elevated position, stood in the streets surrounding the building to watch the birds get released and head towards home. When the birds arrived in New York 140 minutes later, a telegram was sent to the Scranton newspaper recording the time of arrival and the wing mark of each bird.

The excitement generated by the newspaper in Scranton lead to the formation of the first racing pigoen club in the Scranton area called "The Volant Club or Scranton". Their first race was on September 14th from Binghamton (48 miles), they flew from Binghamton again on the 18th and then had the final race of the season from Homer NY (96 miles), on September 22nd. The Homer, NY race was for the "Anthracite Cup". The first four positions were as follows:

1st ~ R. M. Lindsey       2 hrs, 21 min, 30 sec
2nd ~ J. M. Robertson     2 hrs, 32 min, 30 sec
3rd ~ G. S. Horn          2 hrs, 45 min
4th ~ Robert Macmillian   3 hrs, 15 min

The location of the second and third release points for the Van Opstal - Waefelaer prize matches were, Northlumberland, PA, and Lock Haven, PA.

I think we can safely say that 1878 was the first year of organized club racing in the New York area.