Albuquerque daily citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1895-1903, 1901-11-25
T0BOGGAN GONE OUT
Once Popular Winter Sport M
Longer In Favor.
The Rssnsricss Sled Are seIdem
Sees Even 90 the ssow-Clad
Hills of The Nosth-Dnsssd-
ed by society,

they have hills and things that they
u slide on when there is enough
snow that the %tobogRan is IA dead
one!" The long Hat board with the
t%urned-up nose which used to fy
down the steep frozen dec.i,ities with
the speed of "a cannon ball will hy no
more, at least for the present. II has
been relegated to the walls of dens
and clubruums. where IL sticks silent
~ an alleged article of decoration Of
the relic pattern.
Society went back on the Itobopgnn.
aud when society goes back on a bit
Of sporting goods the goods might as
well hunt for it, sarcophagus and
crawl in and let society seal on the
capstone. Time was when the crst-
while tobuggan was the warmcst win.
ter favurite that ever cayorted among
the frozen hills ~ the northern states.
but IL has gone the way Of all other
faNoriteS that have reigned with too
much popularity. Hut n few short
years ago winter without the tobog-
gan in the billy country would have
been like n Fourth of july without
fireworks. The season would have
been nought but u bitter patch Of mel
ancholy. In those DAYS the young
folks would have gone into spnsms Of
Indignation ard NtNatiou il thcy had
been deprived ~ the privilege Of to-
boRgsning. But now the %tobopgan
has gone down the slide. aud there is
no evidence that 20 is going to come
back mp, says the Chicago Chronicle.
\ few winters Z the ~tobuggan
Juror that reigred in the parts where
the sport had ans show whatever at
tracted the attention Of the entire
country. The daily news papers. the
weeklies and the magazines displayed
long, profusely illustrated articles on
the sport, and tn, popular indulgence
Ia II time and again aud people who
had no more prospect Of ever seeing a
toboggan thnn they have Of seeing
the north pole, talked ~ the runner
less sleds and their awful flights with
brcathless interest. Stamped In the
mind Of every reader il the picture
of the long snow and ice emhank-
ment. with torches down the sides and
In the middle Of the slide. the big to-
boggan filed with boys aud girls fy-
ing down the declivity at the rate Of
II mile n minute. When the reader
saw this time-horored old picture for
the first time he always held his
breath and calculated, In low. smoth-
cred tones: my, isn't that Just
awful?" and at the same time he had
"a gaarnt l.UafnV g. AZ. .v ~. 80, -
try u whirl down the chute.
II used to be- said that IL required
long persuasion 10 induce the extreme
~ timid To ever board u iohcVgan. but
after They had once taken a trip they
hungercd for more Of "the same"
with greater ayidity than anyone else
on the Hill. When the sport was AZ
the height OF its popularity In st.
Paul and Minneapolis II was well
worth a trip 10 the Gopher cities to
see the amusement in fun blast ON a
cold winters night. Everybody owned
n ioboggan or belonged Ia a tobuggan
club. NJ night the frozen hills and
snow and @,cc-coycred entertainments,
built sometimes especially FOR the
sport, We're lighted up with great
torches until they were as bright as
day. and swarminF about on every
hand were men and women, young
and ~middle-apcd, dressed In their fam
tastic red. white and blue blanket COS.
tunes and streaming from their
heads were the long points Of the
knitted caps that were pulled down
over their ears like uightcaps.
And the great slides prepared for
the use Of the ~tobopgan meant a mile
a minute ride down a stcep incline.
every foot of which was fraughf with
peril. Many wild tumhlrS eusued
many ears and noses were frozen, and
yet the %toboggan dropped In popu.
larity with as sudden and hard a thud
as the roller skate. just as In the
case OF the roller skates, when the to-
hogan was AZ IT, height, the sales
made by sporting houses were enur
nous, considering the size of the cit
les. One firm alone IN the city of -
Paul sold In a few months in the
n~eighhorhoud Of $4,000 worth Of to
hopgans.
The advent 81 the toboggan brought
skis into high favor The first ones.
made Of Norway pine, had a monopoly
for awhile, but American ingenuity
and inquiry speedily disposed of the
a%hsurdity ~ ,eudiug an the way To
Norway Tor siis. some genius disco,
cred that Georgia pine was just as
good for the purpose, and that wood
Is now used almost exclusively Tor
the manufacture ~ skis In the Unit
ed states. From the peculiar charac
ter Of the Georgia pine snow will not
adhere to it.