154 RACEALONG 



of the first Charter Oak $10,000 Purse, which was 

 won by Director. 



In 1903 when I was preparing the conditions of 

 the first three heat race for A. J. Welch, it being the 

 Charter Oak Purse that Billy Buck won, Burdett 

 Loomis dropped into the office. During the conver- 

 sation he stated that when he proposed the original 

 event in 1883, the directors of the association had 

 some doubts in regard to it but Morgan G. Bulkeley, 

 who was treasurer, told him to go ahead and he 

 would guarantee the race. Fourteen entries were 

 received so that instead of losing money the associa- 

 tion made a profit and also had a splendid contest. 



During his long life, Burdett Loomis saw many 

 changes. The last time that I met him he referred 

 to a trip which he made with his father, Allen 

 Loomis, to the powder works at Hazzardville during 

 the Crimean War. Upon their arrival, they found 

 representatives of England, France and Russia 

 anxious to purchase powder. His father had to enter- 

 tain two of them while Colonel Hazzard made a sale 

 to the third. 



The powder works at Hazardville were estab- 

 lished by his father, who in addition to owning 

 a large farm, had a mill and cigar box factory in 

 suffield, and purchased furs in New Hampshire and 

 Vermont for John Jacob Astor. Powder was scarce 

 and at times hard to get for the fur trade, so he 

 started the powder mill. After running it a few years 

 he took Colonel Hazzard, who had come to New 

 York from South Carolina, into partnership and 



