The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-04-03
It's a book on manners. Chicago Tri-
REAL TOBOGGANING.
Something That Takes Skill and CouI

Tobogganing as recognized sport Is
Of very recent origin, and is practically
confined to Davos and st. Moritz, For
as played in Canada, the United States
and Russia, 1t is not a game of skill and
endurance. In those countries the to-
boggan simply glides down an incline,
usually in a chute from two to three
feet wide, covered with snow or ice
The speed attainable is said to be from
seventy to eighty miles per hour, and
the toboggan used is the Canadian"
of thin ash boards turned up in front
1t is perfectly safe and easy. In the
Alps things are altogether different.
and a notable sport has been evolved
in the last few years. 1t may easily be
conceived that the mere rush down hill,
even at eighty miles an hour. is apt to
pail. Englishmen wintering at Davos
sought for something more than that
They sought to exercise hand and eye,
muscle and BRAIN skill and nerve; a
true sport, In fact. Ready to hand were
the despired "schIittle," the unganly
Swiss hand sled, and the post road
winding and doubling down to Klos-
ters. To coast down this road, sitting
upon the "schlittle," was good fun.
Tine sharp turns allowed frequent OPP
portunities for involuntary dives down
the snowy slopes on the outside edge,
and the ruts and other inequalities re
quired careful manoeuvring, while the
frequent sleigh added pleasing source
of danger
Now, Peter Minsch. the Davos post
man, dragged his mail up this same
road each day, and. naturally, coasted
down throughout the winter. He had
thus become an expert tobogganer
for the term was now applied to
the "schllttle'' rider-and was skilled
in the idiosyncrasies of the road. The
late J. A. Symonds and others, seeing
this, and also that other natives and
visitors were good riders, conceived the
happy notion of an international race
on that road. Accordingly. on Februa-
ry ~. 1883, the first race was slid, and
the evolution of tobogganing may be
said to have begun. The course was
two miles, less one hundred and sixty
yards, with fall of eight hundred and
sixty feet Minsch tied with an Aus
tralian visitor, but In the next years
race won outright, as he has done once
or twice since. One, small Improvement
was soon introduced into this road
racing. in the substitution of hand
steering by means of iron-tipped pegs
| for the old footsteering.
| The winter of 1SS4'S5 was the first
| building of the Cresta run at st. Moritz
and after that changes were quickly In
| troduced There Is no road like the
| Holsters at st. Moritz so from the be-
ginning its runs have been artificial
| The earlier ones are only important as
experiments. It had been found or
them that very sharp curves-"corners'
could be ridden If banked with snow
| ION the same principle as a cycle
| track But the toboggan runners soor
cut the banks to pieces, and icing was
resorted to- Soon the whole surface was
| iced, and fast, smooth travelling, witt
| accurate steering, became possible. Sc
the first Cresta run was iced and
"crooked," and was altogether a devil
ish invention. AS Davos had taken the
| dignified title of international" for Its
race, 1t was laughingly suggested thai
| the Cresta race should be called stht
| Grand National" And so it was, an6
! Is. Davosers carried off the champion
ship for the first three years, but afte,
| that the Engadiners found themselves
and have never since lost the pride Of
place The 1887 Cresta race saw an i'm
| tnr Ityh
at, but which conquered finally. One o.
the competitors rode head first. Ht
| failed to gain a place but next year the
Davos race was won by a head-firs
rider, who rode an america" machine
| lower longer and heavier than the
Swiss. Its superiority and his position
were so manifest that all the St Moritl
men rode Americans in the following
year A head-first rider again won
and since then the prone is the only po
sition for fast riders. In this style Of
riding steel "rakes" are screwed to tht
toe of the boot sole, with projecting
serrated edges, for the purposes o.
steering and braking. A steel "skele
| tom toboggan appeared in 1892, ant
carried off not only the Grand Nation
| Il, Out Tue lDleTndLlOIdl dlSU, tIlus
proving its superiority on road ant
path, so to speak. A steel skeleton" i:
somewhat like an America" with {
steel framework in lieu of wooder
slides. It is five inches high. twelve
inches wide, and its length should equa
the distance from the riders chin to hi!
knee. All good riders now ride this
type of toboggan. Thus. in few
years, the sitting gave way to the
headforemost position, and the antiqu,
Swiss coaster" to the modern stee
Skeleton"
But while the machine was beins
evolved, and the rider fitting himself t.
it, the crooked artificial run was beins
perfected. Its course has now become
most devious and desperate. 1t twist:
and turns, describes semi-circles anC
SIS, goes down hill and up, or, on occa
sion, keeps level. 1t has leaps" anC
corners" banks" and "straights.
The Cresta is the highest and mos
startling development in this style o
thing, and Mr.. Egmont Hake we'll call
1t "the steeplechase course of the to
bogganing world" Its total length i