300 The Trotting and the Pacing Horse 



1898, ex-Mayor Gilroy wrote me a letter in 

 which he said : " I am glad to learn that the 

 speedway is to be opened so soon for driving 

 purposes, and that the light drivers of New 

 York, who have waited with so much patience 

 for so long a time for this event, will receive the 

 reward of their patience. There are driveways 

 for light driving in many of the large cities of the 

 country, but none of them, for length, for pictu- 

 resqueness and beauty of location, for solidity as 

 well as elasticity of road-bed, can compare with 

 our own speedway. The side of the river on 

 which it is built will always be cool in the after- 

 noon shade, there are no intersecting streets from 

 155th Street on the south to Dyckman Street on 

 the north; and through this latter street the 

 speedway connects with Kingsbridge Road, Fort 

 Washington Bridge Road, and Boulevard Lafa- 

 yette on the west, thus furnishing the most mag- 

 nificent system of driveways possessed by any city 

 on the civilized globe." The highest prices have 

 been paid by gentlemen of means for horses to 

 drive on the road, and the future of the light- 

 harness horse depends as much upon speedways 

 as it does upon tracks devoted to professional 

 races. 



