14 replies to this topic

[m.tanney]

  I am looking for information on Wilbur D'Alene. I know a bit about his AAA racing record, courtesy of Phil Harms' stats in Dick Wallen's board track book (his career stats are not on motorsport.com), but almost nothing else on the rest of his life and career. A few months ago, I did a search at newspaperarchive.com. It yielded some contradictory information on D'Alene's background. When D'Alene raced at Tacoma in 1914, the Indianapolis Star called him a Californian. In 1919, the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette said that he was a native Hoosier (someone from the state of Indiana). It also said that D'Alene served in the US army from January, 1918 to February, 1919 (I have been told that most of the US service records of that era were lost in a fire, so that may be a dead-end). The Decateur Daily Review of June 1, 1916 described D'Alene as "a Canadian lumber baron". Brian Pratt (bpratt) has a Canadian newspaper clipping that states that D'Alene was a former resident of both Toronto and Vancouver. I've checked the late 19th-early 20th century directories for both cities and found nothing close to a "D'Alene". There are no D'Alenes on the 1901 Canada census. Nor are there any on the US Social Security Death Index. The names Dalene and Alene are also quite rare. I haven't found any Wilburs with those surnames. Could D'Alene have been a nom de course? If anyone could suggest further lines of inquiry, I would be most grateful.
  If I could find out more about D'Alene's early racing career, I might be able to learn more about his origins. D'Alene's first AAA national championship race appears to have been at Tacoma in 1914. Did he race in the "bush leagues" before that? If so, where? Or was D'Alene, like some of his contemporaries, promoted straight from riding mechanic to championship driver?

Mike

[fines]

Good point about d'Alene being a mystery!

First of all, I have seen his name as " d'Alena", "de Alene", "Wilber Dealame" and "Walter d'Alene" - and perhaps other things in between. Perhaps you should try some of these when searching official records?

The "Des Moines Evening Tribune" nicknamed him the "Wild Lumber Baron" on June 23, 1916. He's also described as a "youngster" around these times, but that's of course relative. I have no record of him as a riding mechanic, and none of him driving before summer 1914.

[m.tanney]

  Thank you for the additional names/spellings, Michael. I'll see what (if anything) turns up.

Originally posted by m.tanney
.....It also said that D'Alene served in the US army from January, 1918 to February, 1919...

  Looking at Brian Pratt's material on IMCA races in Canada, I was reminded that there were races in Ottawa on July 6, 1918, sponsored by the Great War Veterans Association. Among the drivers were AAA regulars Gaston Chevrolet and Jerry Wonderlich and a "Red D'Alene". I would assume that it was our man Wilbur. If so, it demolishes the claim that he was in the service then. One of the Ottawa papers gave D'Alene's name as "d'Alien". If correct, that might explain his sudden appearance on the racing scene and later absence from the public record .

[fines]

[Richard Jenkins]

Originally posted by fines
Good point about d'Alene being a mystery!

First of all, I have seen his name as " d'Alena", "de Alene", "Wilber Dealame" and "Walter d'Alene" - and perhaps other things in between. Perhaps you should try some of these when searching official records?

This man is proving a bit of a nightmare to track down - I also have him down as Walter D'Alone now! (Atlanta Constitution 1914)

Nonetheless, I shall plug on with all the other spellings, although most of them have failed miserably thus far...;)

[humphries]

In the official 1914 records of the AAA D'Alene is listed as De Alene.

Apologies if you already know all of this:-

His name appears at Tacoma 3-4 July and at Rose City, Portland 11-12 July (He was not at this location at the earlier meeting 13-14 June). He put in further appearances at Meadows, Seattle (18-19 July), and at Kalamazoo (26 Sept) and Grand Rapids (4 Oct) in Michigan. Perhaps local newspaper reports might provide a lead.

All these places are reasonably close to Canada but he could have been an American, in which case he would be registered as DeAlene or Dealene.

Possibly De Alene was a pseudonym. In the USA auto racing was considered an off-shoot of the entertainments industry. Why yet another American driver when you could have a Canadian lumberjack who has made it big? I suppose he could have been a Mountie from the Yukon, a close friend of Eskimo Nell!

John

[m.tanney]

  Many thanks to Donald Davidson, who has solved the mystery of "Wilbur "D'Alene". D'Alene wasn't a Canadian, a Californian, or from the northwestern U.S. He wasn't a lumber baron. He wasn't really named Wilbur D'Alene.

  D'Alene's biggest success was his second place in the 1916 Indianapolis Sweepstakes (cut from 500 to 300 miles that year). That was when the Evansville, IN newspaper revealed the truth: that "Wilbur D'Alene" was actually a local fellow named Ed Aleon.

  The 1920 U.S. Census has a listing for Wilbur D'Alene. If you're looking for it, you must omit the apostrophe when entering his surname into the database - although the spelling on the actual census report is "D'Alene". He was 34 years old then and selling tires in Fort Wayne - confirming the information in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette article mentioned above. According to the census, D'Alene was born in Indiana, as were both his parents. There are no listings for Wilbur D'Alene in any of the pre-1920 census reports. The 1910 Census does have a listing for an Edwin W. Aleon, age 25 of Vanderburgh Twp., Indiana. He was, like his parents, a native of Indiana. His occupation: farmer. In 1910, Edwin Aleon had a 22 year old wife named (I think, it's hard to decipher) Anna. In 1920, Wilbur D'Alene had a 29 year old wife named Georgia. It seems likely that they're the same guy. He may have been widowed, divorced, or "on the lam", hiding from something in his past.

  The Social Security Death Index has a listing for an Edwin Aleon who was born on 25 October 1884 and died in December of 1966 in Fort Myers, Florida. That would seem to fit with D'Alene's age in 1920.

  Mike

[Richard Jenkins]

Brilliant! That's saved me so much time!!

To fill in a bit more:
Edwin Aleon married Georgia (George) Emmick on 9th July 1918
His middle name was Wilbur

Edwin Aleon's first wife was Amy Gleichman - married on 10 Nov 1906. Presumably it's a divorce as Amy Aleon married Clarence Swallow in 1918!



Unfortunately, the Florida Death index (unusually) does not have a specific date.

Obviously, Center is a Township rather than a town - it has the following communities,
Country Club Meadows, Hamilton, Harwood, Highland, Knob Hill, Kratzville, Lakewood Hills, McCutchanville, Melody Hill and Stringtown
but I think Center Township will do?

Again, kudos to all

[humphries]

A useful bit of research from Donald and Mike. The reason I use this forum. Thanks.

That De Alene or D'Alene was a pseudonym comes as no surprise. In the first half of the 20th C in Europe the use of pseudonyms was usually to conceal a driver's identity from disapproving families or simply to avoid publicity or in "Bira"'s case to save printer's ink. In the U.S.A. pseudonyms were not just "stage" names but it sometimes involved the playing of fictional roles, as in the case of Leon Duray.

Many of the races that The Lumber Baron participated in were promoted by E.A.Moross and it seems he had a number of drivers on his books including the "Canadian". Top of the bill was Terrible Teddy Tetzlaff.

Further digging has revealed that De Alene/ D'Alene also raced his Marmon during 1914 at the following locations:- Butte, Montana (2 Aug), Salt Lake City (8 Aug), Ogden, Utah (9 Aug), Brunot's Island, Pittsburgh (5 Sept), Crittenden, N.Y. (7 Sept), Milwaukee (14 Sept), Fort Wayne (19 Sept) and Decatur (30 Sept).

Although the AAA did not condone "hippodroming" it would seem there may have been some collusion between the drivers. When IMCA was formed the following year and eventually became the dominant sanctioning body at the smaller fairs the accusations of stage-managed races was rife. This was not done in a contemptuous way to hoodwink the Hayseeds but rather to provide a memorable day out for the good folk of the rural communities who spent most of their lives toiling on the land, enduring harsh winters and battling to make ends meet.

I would be interested to know the economics involved in being one of these journeyman drivers but it seems it was one way of earning a living, albeit a very dangerous way.

There is no mention of an Ed Aleon racing in 1913 but Moross did promote the race meeting at Fort Wayne (21 Sept 1913) and this may have been when Ed Aleon decided to be the Canadian lumber baron cum racing driver.

John

[bpratt]

Rats, I was hoping good ole Wilbur was a Canadian. Big story in the Vancouver World newspaper in 1914 giving him a very nice Canadian background. Good work to all to sort out his history. Another 1914 date that involved "D'Alene" and the variations of the spelling of that name was at the Minoru Mile horse track in Richmond, BC (south of Vancouver, BC, Canada) on July 24th.

He was part of a touring package that included Teddy Tetzlaff in the Blitzen Benz, Hughie Hughes, Coal Oil Billy Carlson and a couple others. This tour was similar to a 1913 package that came north with Bob Burman in the Blitzen Benz as the headlining "record breaker". That tour carried on across western Canada that summer. In 1914 Tetzlaff went south to Utah to try to set some records on the salt flats after the Minoru date.

E.A. Moross was the manager of both the 1913 and 1914 tours. The barnstorming tours seemed a natural money making development after the AAA road races at Tacoma, WA around the July 4th weekend.

[fines]

Many thanks to Donald and Mike!!!

[Richard Jenkins]

D'Alene died on the 1st December 1966 - that information comes from a descendent on a family tree on Ancestry.

[Graham Clayton]

Edwin Aleon's first wife was Amy Gleichman - married on 10 Nov 1906. Presumably it's a divorce as Amy Aleon married Clarence Swallow in 1918!

Richie,

Here is a snippet from the "Paducah Evening Sun" (Paducah, Ky) newspaper, dated July 26, 1909:

Mr Edwin Aleon, of Evansville, returned home after Sunday after a day's visit to Mr and Mrs William Hailey, of Ninth and Harrison Streets. He made the trip here in his gasoline launch "Amy".

[Zeroninety]

Richie,

Here is a snippet from the "Paducah Evening Sun" (Paducah, Ky) newspaper, dated July 26, 1909:

Mr Edwin Aleon, of Evansville, returned home after Sunday after a day's visit to Mr and Mrs William Hailey, of Ninth and Harrison Streets. He made the trip here in his gasoline launch "Amy".

Slow news day?

[David McKinney]

Newspapers published social notes like this back then - certainly in New Zealand, and clearly in some parts of the US as well