The Portland daily press., 1894-12-08
"SEEEING" IN MAINE.
How the Norwegian Snow Shoe Was
introduced.
REMARKABLE ORIGIN AND DEVEL-
OPMENT OF THIS SPORT.

A Deering and an Augusta BOY Were In
spired by the Same St. Nicholas Article
But Long Before, a Baldwin Boy Was
Inspired by Boyesen's "Gunnar'' and
Made the First Pair of skees In Maine.
1t is generally the case that a COM
munity in Yankeeland has some sport or
recreation or game peculiar to itself, the
result of the restless enterprise of it's
boys and girls in seeking methods OF
amusemen The origin and develop
ment of t he sport of "skeeing" in differ
ent localities of the State of Maine is
notable instance of this Yankee trait.
In the city of Deering, it happened
over eleven years ago that a certain typl-
calYankee boy, named Walter e. Elwell,
VISA reading in a copy of the February
number of the ST. Nicholas for 1883.
about the snow shoes of Nolway-those
long, slender strips of wood called ski, !"
that seemed in the boys imagination
to rival the winged sandals of mythology
as he read of the glorious flights down. the
mountain side that the Norwegian and
his SKI" are capable of taking over the
glistening snow.
He would make himself pair of those
"skin or skees," as he preferred to call
them. He was sixteen years old, ana he
followed his own ideas, rather than those
expressed il. the article, as to methods OF
construction. 1t was evident to him that
in order for the skees to support his
weight on the soft snow of southern
Maine, they must be wider than his loot
and of goodly length. Also they must
be very thin, 50 that they light be light.
Some carpenter told him that bass wood
would be of sufficiently fine grain and
toughness And therefore his first skees
were made of Eastwood, and were eight
feet long, five inches wide and a half an
inch thick, regardless of the fact that
Norwegian ski" are the width of the
foot and half as thick, and made of the
hardest wood available. He enlisted
the cooperation of two schoolmates,
Arvid Elk and John Lidba AS it
happened, they had recently been talking
about making skees themselves, as the
fathers of both had used them in the
sold Countrywide three boys went into
the new sport together and slid and tum-
bled down hills whenever opportunity
offered.
The Eastwood skees proved delightful
to their owners because they knew of
nothing better, and soon half the boys
in the neigh borhood were sliding down
hill on these new playthings
The Yankee ingenuity had proved
equal to creating some device for fasten-
ing the foot to the skee, such having
proved necessary because of the thinuess
of the Eastwood. A strap could, not be
firmly fastened to a half inch board and
still leave the surface of the bottom in
tact and smooth. A two foot piece of
pine board was screwed on to the mid
die of the upper surface of the skees, the
points of the short screws, where they
came through, being filed smooth with
the bottom surface. To this pine board
which has become the universal speciality
(of the Yankee skee) the single strap was
attached in the form of a loop. through
which the foot was thrust. 1t should
be understood, of course, that the front
of the skee is bent up, like that of any
runner, also that only loop is safe in
sliding down hill, SO that the foot may
be instantly removed i'll case of fall.
Skees have been used in Deering and
Portland ever since, but basswoodSwas
Immediately discarded for ething
harder and smoother and lighter. One
youthful genius invented wonderful
skee. It was made OF a strip of hickory,
twelve feet long, two inches wide and a
third of an inch thick. 1t was, of course,
as lin Der rs rope almost. and required
the skill of a rope dancer TO maintain an
equilibrium. 1t sank deep into soft
snow. was wild runaway on the crust,
and WAS soon discarded as a failure.
Skees became so popular in year or two
that on one occasion pair of crude,
roughly made specimens were on sale
in Portland toy store. They have
been used somewhat every winter since,
but only two of the original boys of 'S3
have been continuously faithful to them.
Down in Augusta, Maine, that same St.
Yankee enterprise and love of sport and
novelty. A boy there, named Harry
Brooks, read the article, gazed longingly
at the great snow covered hills of his
native Kennebec valley and resolved to
slide on skees. Like the Elwell boy in
Deering he saw the necessity of accom-
modating himself to the kind of snow
in Maine, and made his skees wide and
thin. They were of brown ash, seven
feet long, six inches wide and seven
eighths of an inch thick. The second
pair in Augusta was made by Will e.
Perkins, now of Deering Like the
hickory skee" genius of Deering, he in
troduced the inevita bic innovation and
made his skees of white birch and Of
the extreme lengh of thirteen feet. They
were but three and half inches wide
and one-half iuch thick. They proved
TOO pliable, and were soon cut up into
two pairs.