Sandburg's Hometown

July 6, 2015

Champion Trotting Queen, Alix - Currier & Ives - Library of Congress

Sweet Little Alix

by Barbara Schock

Carl Sandburg was sixteen in the summer of 1894. A new racetrack had been constructed on 112 acres of land east of Farnham Street and south of Grand Avenue (Knoxville Road). It was a flat track in the shape of a figure eight, except the top of the eight was small and the long sides were straight and flat. Some called it a kite track. The curves were banked so the horses could pull their sulkies around safely at racing speeds.

Sandburg made himself useful by carrying water, running errands and helping to sponge down the sweating horses after their runs. He was usually given a tip of a quarter or half dollar (equal to $6 or $7 in today's money). In those hard times, the money was very useful for the Sandburg family.

Charles W. Williams had been invited by a group of local horsemen to come to Galesburg to build and manage the racetrack. He had been born in New York state December 4, 1856. His family moved to Buchanan County, Iowa, when he was eleven years old. He trained as a telegraph operator for the Illinois Central Railroad, then went to Chicago to drive a milk wagon. He returned to Independence, Iowa, and started his own business shipping milk, cream, chickens and eggs to Chicago and New York. Using horses in his business, William learned to train and handle them. He became interested in harness racing as well.

He bought four horses in 1883 for $600. He broke and trained them himself. He sent the mares Lou and Gussie Wilkes to be bred in Kentucky. Since he couldn't afford the high stud fees of the famous horses of the day, he had to make due with lesser known horses with good blood lines. Lou was bred to William L and the foal was named Axtell. Gussie Wilkes produced Allerton. Subsequently,Williams drove Allerton in record-setting times for a trotter..

Axtell set a world record on October 11, 1889, in two minutes and twelve seconds. Williams sold the stallion to a syndicate of racing men in Indiana for $105,000 (equal to more than $8.2 in 2015). Axtell was injured and never raced again. He became the sire of many great trotting horses. His descendants are racing to the present day.

Alix, the daughter of Patronage and Atlanta, was born in 1888. Williams purchased her from David Hays of Muscatine, Iowa. In her first season as a two-year old she won five of ten starts and set a record of two minutes and thirty seconds. She ran in a Free-for-all race at Washington Park near Chicago in 1893 as a five-year old. There were nine heats in the race and Alix won the $15,000 prize. It was a rugged race and Alix won the hearts of many racing fans with her staunch bravery. Her time was 2:07 3/4. Racing fans began to call her “Sweet Little Alix.”

During that week of harness racing at the Galesburg track, Alix broke the record of Nancy Hanks by a fraction of a second. Her record time of 2:03 ¾ stood until 1900. Alix died in October 1901. She produced two foals in her lifetime.

In 1908 C.W. Williams retired from horse racing and took up evangelizing in the style of Billy Sunday. He had also invested his winnings in land in Canada. At one time, he owned 33,000 acres of wheat land in Saskatchewan. He died February 2, 1936, in Aurora, Illinois.

Sandburg wrote in his autobiography, Always the Young Strangers, that he thought Williams face looked like he had secrets about handling horses and there was a solemn look that “bordered on the blank.” Others said he was a hard-working and shrewd man. He had a large capacity for work, both mental and physical, and a great deal of self-confidence.

 

Sandburg's Hometown
Date Title
July 6, 2015 Sweet Little Alix
June 29, 2015 Sharlie's Shickens
June 22, 2015 Anna Held & John Drew
June 15, 2015 Hartel & Secker Meat Market
June 8, 2015 Girls
June 1, 2015 Old First Church - Part II
May 25, 2015 Old First Church - Part I
May 18, 2015 Marbles
May 11, 2015 Pawnee County, Kansas
May 4, 2015 Detective Stories and the Real Thing
April 27, 2015 Professor Isaac A. Parker
April 20, 2015 Celluloid Collars
April 13, 2015 Asparagus
April 6, 2015  Mayor John C. Stewart 
March 30, 2015 Basket Ball
March 23, 2015 The Courthouse of Knox County, IL
March 16, 2015

“Trifles make perfection...”

March 9, 2015 Uncle Tom's Cabin
March 2, 2015 Martha Sandburg Goldstone
February 23, 2015 Devotion
February 16, 2015  Gumbiner's Pawn Shop 
February 9, 2015 White Bread
February 2, 2015 The Monarch Club
January 26, 2015 The Silver Dollar
January 19, 2015 The Fulton County Narrow Gauge Railway
January 12, 2015 The Four Corners
December 22, 2014 Swedish Christmas
December 8, 2014 Christmas 1878
December 1, 2014 Bunker Boots & Shoes
November 24, 2014 Galesburg, Illinois
November 17, 2014 It was Buffalo Bill's Day
November 10, 2014 The Election of 1896 (A follow-up story)
November 3, 2014 The Election of 1896 (continued)
October 27, 2014 The Election of 1896
October  24, 2014 The Rissywarn
October 20, 2014 The Parlor Stove
October 13, 2014 Ashes to Ashes
October 6, 2014 Jesse James
Sept. 29, 2014 Lester T. Stone, Public Servant
Sept. 22, 2014 It's Who You Know
Sept 15, 2014 Mother of the Illinois Flag
Sept 8, 2014 The Scissors Grinder
Sept 1, 2014 Baseball
August 25, 2014 Howard K. Knowles, Capitalist
August 18, 2014  Alcoholic Beverages
August 11, 2014 Soda Water
August 4, 2014 Sweet Corn
July 28, 2014 Marching Through Georgia
July 21, 2014 The Knox County Fair
July 14, 2014 The Panic of 1893
July 7, 2014 The Rev. T. N. Hasselquist
June 30, 2014 The Knox County Courthouse
June 23, 2014 The Family Photograph Album
June 16, 2014 Parades
June 9, 2014 Lingonberries
June 2, 2014 Where We Live
May 26, 2014 Old Main
May 19, 2014 Rhythms of the Railroad
May 12, 2014 Spring Tonic
May 5, 2014 The Milkmen
April 28, 2014 Gray's "Elegy..."
April 21, 2014 Off to War
April 14, 2014 Swedish Easter
April 7, 2014 A Father's Face
March 31, 2014 Secret Societies
March 24, 2014 George A. Murdock, Merchant
March 10, 2014 Trade Cards
March 3, 2014 The Demorest Medal
February 24, 2014 Rip Van Winkle
February 17, 2014 Cabbage Soup
February 10, 2014 Lincoln's Birthday
February 3, 2014 4  The Colonel
January 27, 2014 The Lincoln Penny - A Little History
January 20, 2014 Walking to Work
January 13, 2014  A Small Abode
January 6, 2014 Birth of a Poet
December 30, 2013 Christmas 1880
December 23, 2013 Swedish Christmas
December 16, 2013 The Reporter Sees Santa
December 9, 2013 The Coming of Christmas
December 2, 2013 The Fire Boys Talk
November 25, 2013 Galesburg Will Feast on Turkeys and Cranberries - Thanksgiving 1893
November 18, 2013 Mary Sandburg Johnson
November 11, 2013 Carl Sandburg's Bicycle
November 4, 2013 Lace Curtains
October 28, 2013 The Front Room
October 21, 2013 A Warm Breakfast
October 14, 2013 Marion D. Shutter
October 7, 2013 Cigars and Consumption
September 30, 2013 Forrest F. Cooke & August Sandburg
September 16, 2013 Forrest F. Cooke, Mayor
September 9, 2013 Dusty Streets
September 2, 2013 Typhoid Fever
August 26, 2013 Coffee and Water
August 19, 2013 A Horse! A Horse!
August 12, 2013 Gaddial Scott
August 5, 2013 The Racetrack
July 29, 2013 John Peter Algeld - Part II
July 22, 2013 John Peter Altgeld - Part I
July 15, 2013 Tramps, Tramps, Tramps
July 8, 2013 Lady Liberty
July 1, 2013 Galesburg's Fourth
June 24, 2013 John H. Finley
June 17, 2013 The World's Columbian Exhibition
June 10, 2013 Fruit Short-Cake
June 3, 2013 Horatio Alger, Author
May 27, 2013 Memorial Day, 1887
May 20, 2013 Professor Jon W. Grubb
May 13, 2013 Beginnings of Lombard University
May 6, 2013 Young Sandburg’s View of Lombard College
April 29, 2013 Thinking
April 22, 2013 Robert Colville, Master Mechanic
April 15, 2013 The Galesburg Opera House
April 8, 2013 Grocery Stores and Sample Rooms
April 1, 2013  A Hearty  Breakfast 
March 25, 2013  The Lost Wallpaper Legend 
March 18, 2013 Martin G. Sandburg
March 4, 2013 The Edison Talking Machine
February 25, 2013 Joe Elser, Civil War Veteran
February 18, 2013 Remember the Maine...
February 11, 2013 Lincoln's Birthday
February 4, 2013 Curiosity
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