BACK IN THE
DAY
ADVENT OF THE SNOWMOBILE — BORN IN WISCONSIN — HAS MEANT PLENTY OF WINTER FUN KATHRYN A. KAHLER Necessity is the mother of invention. So goes the adage, one that also applies to the recreational pursuit of snowmobiling. Unless they had a horse, slogging through deep snow was sometimes an impossible adventure for people whose jobs required access to rural areas. Back in the day, game wardens, forest rangers, law enforcement, mail carriers and telephone repairmen all felt the need for a better way to be more “snow mobile.” Such was the impetus for Wisconsin’s Carl Eliason and others in snowbelt locations around the globe to find a better way around. Eliason and two other North American inventors — Joseph Armand Bombardier from Quebec and Virgil White from New Hampshire — created their own versions of snow vehicles around the early 1920s. Eliason built his snow toboggan in 1924 in his hometown of Sayner, the
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self-proclaimed “birthplace of the snowmobile.” That original vehicle is now enshrined at Sayner’s Snowmobile Museum in Vilas County. Eliason continued to build motor toboggans until the early 1940s, when production shifted to the Four Wheel Drive Auto Co. in Clintonville. The pioneering manufacturer was better suited for the burgeoning military and forest industry orders of the day. Production of Eliason’s machines eventually moved to Kitchener, Ontario. According to the Snowmobile Hall of Fame in St. Germain — which posthumously inducted Eliason in 1991 — his fervor “resulted in the longest
continuous production of any brand of snow machine even after 70 years of snowmobiling history.” Innovations including the forward-mounted two-stroke engines, centrifugal clutch, belt drive and ski steering are traced to the Eliason Motor Toboggan, the Hall of Fame noted. NECESSITY MEETS FUNCTION After World War II, it didn’t take long for necessity to make way for pleasure, especially for the yearround vacation destination of the Wisconsin Northwoods. The late 1950s saw a race by manufacturers to produce machines that were both functional and affordable.
WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY #148996
GOING MOBILE
Carl Eliason of Sayner stands with his first snow machine, invented in 1924. Next to him is Wisconsin Historical Marker #212, erected in 1975 to honor his contributions to the world of snowmobiling.
STABER REESE/DNR FILES
The Steiner family enjoys an outing on a 1965 Moto-Ski equipped with a sled near Eagle River. Moto-Ski was a Canadian company based in Quebec and later bought by Bombardier.
