Snowshoe Thompson The Legendary Skiing Mailman Part Two

SNOWSHOE THOMPSON: The Legendary Skiing Mailman (part two)

by Mark McLaughlin

In the 19th century, getting the U.S. mail, newspapers and critical items like medicine to snowbound northern Sierra Nevada communities was a dangerous job, but there were plenty of men ready to do it for a fee. Carrying heavy loads through rugged snow country required strength and endurance along with expert survival skills during winter storms. Depending on the route, sometimes mountain mailmen were accompanied by a pair of mules or horses fitted with footlong snowshoes featuring specially designed leather bindings that attached to their hooves.

Equipped in this fashion an animal could carry a bulging mail pack while it clumped along behind the mailman leading on homemade wooden skis. As long as the snow stayed hard and frozen progress was good, but once they hit soft snow or deep powder the draft animals bogged down. At that point the team was unloaded, turned around, and with a smack on the rump sent back to the corral. The mailmen then hoisted the consignment onto their own backs and continued the arduous trek across the frigid wilderness. Stories of carriers fatally lost in storms or dying from exhaustion and hypothermia were not uncommon.

For frequent winter delivery routes that followed a summer stagecoach road, teams of horses were often employed to break through the snow. In 1880, Sol Rousseau handled the mail between Truckee and Sierraville three times a week. He traveled one way each day between the two towns. Rousseau didn’t ski the 28 miles each way, but instead used three horses in tandem on his busy route. The animals were harnessed in single file as they pulled a sleigh loaded with mail and supplies along a narrow path. When major storms swept the region, the sleigh was abandoned and the heavy packs were strapped onto two hardy horses chosen for duty. Rousseau rode a third horse and led the mail carriers along by rope.

Most important to this equestrian-based system, however, was Sol’s fourth horse, the one he named “Snow-breaker.” This specialized steed showed a marvelous instinct for following the winding route between Sierraville and Truckee no matter how bad the blizzard or darkness of night. Snow-breaker wore only a halter and was turned loose upon the road to blaze a trail through the snow. Sometimes the drifts were so deep the stallion would sink nearly out of sight with only his head above the surface while its long legs churned for traction. For six years, Snow-breaker never failed in his duty, a remarkable achievement by a horse that Rousseau swore possessed an almost human intelligence.

Thompson statue in Squaw Village looking at KT-22

Skiing mail carriers sometimes provided a unique service for people needing to travel between isolated communities in winter. Folks needing transportation between Etna and Sawyers Bar in Siskiyou County could pay $2.50 to stand on a mail carrier’s skis. The rear portion of the boards were equipped with an extra pair of cleats and toe straps for a passenger to slip into. Once the customer was perched on the skis, they had to coordinate their movements with those of the mailman in a type of synchronized the ridge dividing the two communities. The drop down to Etna on the east side was a long steep slope known as Long Run. When mail carriers took it straight the passenger experienced the ride of their life.

Of all the skiers who have carved turns on the snowy slopes of the Tahoe Sierra, the most famous is undoubtedly John “Snowshoe” Thompson. When it came to traveling through the wintry mountains, this indomitable Viking was a master, precursor to the pack train, the stagecoach and the locomotive. Ultimately, Thompson is America’s first freestyle skier, an expert downhiller who exploited terrain jumping cliffs and dashing through trees on skis nine feet long.

The adventures of Snowshoe Thompson are among the region’s greatest legends, but it is not mythology. He rescued many people from certain death during his two decades skiing the Sierra. One notable effort occurred in late December 1856 when Snowshoe discovered prospector James Sisson snowbound in a valley just south of Lake Tahoe. For 12 days Sisson had been lying in a remote cabin without fire, both legs frozen and nothing to eat but raw flour. Snowshoe chopped wood, built a fire and assisted the miner as best he could before skiing off to get help in Genoa, the closest town 16 miles away in western Utah Territory. He returned with six men who joined Thompson in hauling the prostrate Sisson out by sled.

Commemorative envelope from Sons of Norway

The physician attending to Sisson’s injuries in Genoa reported that he needed an anesthetic to perform an amputation in order to save the patient’s life. The doctor told Thompson that the vital chloroform could only be obtained in Placerville, Calif., nearly 100 miles away. Snowshoe wasted no time. He grabbed his skis and headed back up the mountain trail. He crossed the Sierra twice in this heroic journey, and in five days returned with the anesthetic in time to save James Sisson’s life. It is a nearly unbelievable feat of endurance.

In 1860, Thompson homesteaded a 160- acre ranch in Diamond Valley, south of Genoa in California’s Alpine County, where he raised wheat, oats, hay and potatoes. He also boarded cattle and horses, and constructed irrigation ditches from the West Fork of the Carson River to his ranch that are still in service today. From 1868 to 1872 Thompson served on the Board of Supervisors of Alpine County and was a delegate to the Republican State Convention in Sacramento in 1871.

Over the years, Snowshoe had tried to charge one dollar per letter carried, but some people wouldn’t pay and demanded their mail anyway. For years he was promised proper compensation by local authorities, but nothing ever came of it. Thompson was a generous man, but naive in the ways of government. Initially he was happy to do the job, but when he got married and a son was born, he needed money for his family. Trusting in the goodwill of people and his adopted country, Thompson never signed a contract with the U.S. Postal Service, but he wasn’t worried and said, “If I do my job and get the mail to the people, Uncle Sam will pay me.”

In 1871 Thompson calculated he was due $5,000 for unpaid delivery services. The Nevada State Legislature supported his claim, but no money was forthcoming. In 1872 Thompson traveled to Washington, D.C. to lobby for his deserved compensation, but he waited six weeks in Washington for the Congressional Committee to make a decision. In a letter to his wife Agnes he wrote, “I am still in this city and in good health, but my business goes slow. At my first hearing today, I appeared before the Committee along with a man from Placerville as witness. Senator Nye [Nevada] also testified before the Committee, which will make a report either for or against me. I think that if they rule against me, it is no use to try any more. I think they will allow me something, but will cut the amount down.”

Unfortunately, Thompson was turned down cold. The political snub resurrected itself again in the 1990s when the Smithsonian Institute failed to include Snowshoe Thompson in its exhibit chronicling the history of the Postal Service, once again because he had not signed a contract. Testament to the excruciatingly slow wheels of government, in the Congressional files in Washington can be found the record of a bill passed by the House of Representatives authorizing payment of $6,000 for his 20 years of service, but before action could be taken by the Senate Snowshoe Thompson died.

Thompson grave site

John Thompson passed away on May 15, 1876, at age 49, from appendicitis and buried in the Genoa, Nev. cemetery. Three months before his death, Virginia City Territorial Enterprise journalist Dan De Quille interviewed the popular Norwegian. De Quille asked Thompson whether he had ever lost his way in the mountains. “No,” Snowshoe modestly replied, “I was never lost. There is no danger of getting lost in a narrow range of mountains like the Sierra, if a man has his wits about him.”

One newspaper credited Thompson with accelerating the Comstock silver discovery and Nevada statehood because he carried the first ore specimens to California to be assayed for its value. He also hauled the type and newsprint for Nevada’s first newspaper, the V.C. Territorial Enterprise. Monuments and statues to Snowshoe’s

memory and heroic efforts can be found in Genoa, Boreal Mountain Resort, Squaw Valley Village, on Highway 88 along one his mail routes, and near his Diamond Valley ranch. There is also an annual Sierra Snowshoe Thompson Ski Race and four valleys south of Lake Tahoe he named — Faith, Hope, Charity, and Diamond. His feats of skill and daring may be legendary, but John “Snowshoe” Thompson’s heart was truly bigger than life. Genoa Postmaster, S.A. Kinsey, wrote, “Most remarkable man I ever knew. He must be made of iron. Besides, he never thinks of himself, but he’d give his last breath for anyone else – even a total stranger.”

Thompson monument at Boreal

Tahoe historian Mark McLaughlin is a nationally published author and professional speaker. His award-winning books are available at local stores or at TheStormKing.com. Check out his blog: TahoeNuggets.com.