The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-01-30
SLEIGH WILL
GONE INTO rs
own SOON
Inventor Of First Vehicle of
That Nature Looks For
Development
PRACTICAL SIDE
Consider the Idea of Staging
Series of Exhibition Next
Season

That the day when sport enthusiasts
will be lighting ticket scalpers in order
to get q front seat to witness motor
merely imaginative is the belief Of
NJ. d. Wagness of I4akota, who is the
inventor of what IL said to be the first
motor sleigh ever made in America
and the second vehicle of the kind
ever turned GU in The world.
Mr.. Wagness. who is in the autofno-
bile business in I.akota, is in Grand
Forks attending the motor car show.
To a group of acquatntances and
newspapermen this morning he eN-
hihited photographs of his Invention,
with a. bit OF justif1able pride.
i photographs were taken i'm
inediatcly after the first demonstration
of the motor sleigh at Michigan where
the owner formerly resided. This eX-
hibition of the new vehicle was made
when the Thermometer registered thir-
ty degrees subzero and when there
was about a foot and a half Of snow
on the ground. In his first demon
stration. which was witnessed by prac-
tically the entire population of the
town. Wagness travelled at the rate of
t~hirty-flvc miles an hour. he says. with
the sleigh taking the roads with as
much ease as Il Curtiss hNdro-planc
Skins the surface of the atty sea.
First demonstration q Success.
II demonstration was made or the
principal street at Michigan and Wag-
ness fellow citizens checrcd him
wildly when he finished he first trip
of the kind ever attempted on this
continent.
In this demonstration Wagncss cn,-
ploycd an automobi.. engine of TWEEN
ty-tWn and II half 1nrc, A,-
cordins to the inventor the little en-
CINE worked like a charm while o
|pletely exposed to the extreme cold.
The motor sleigh Is propelled on
three two in front and one
behind. The propeller is in front and
the radiator of the engine faces the
driver. Tho snow boat is actually Il
cross between ii monoplanc and an
automobile. At the first glance it puz-
zles the eye to determine whether the
vehicle is really anything at all or
jus. IL phantom snip that passed by
the morning after a wild night. The
inventor declares that the vehicle wiz
rise i'll the air and penetrate the skies
il sails are attached. 1t looks as
even more.
At his hotel this morning the build
or of the snow boat said:
Tried to Show it Here.
Il was disappointed at not having
my sno craft ready for the Grand
Forks auto show. but did not get a few
Improvements completed in time to
moro for the fun of it than for any
other reason and also to demonstrate
the worth of the engine to some of
my skeptical friends who have been
convinced.
THE first demonstration Of the
motor sleigh convinced me that the in.
vention ought to be a great thing for
the aeroplanc. particularly the hydro
aeroplane and the automobile, before
! commenced work on my winter car.
| believe the motor sleigh will be here
to stay in a few years. Just how 1t
would he for joy riding 1 cannot offer
a superstition, but it ought to be a
dinger."
May Give Exhibitions.
Mr.. Wagness is being urged by close
acquaintance and automobile men to
take up the amusement game with his
snow boat n give exhibitions about
the states where there is a suficiency
OF winter to make such a rig popu-
lar. He says he will try it next year,
perhaps, but will devote the remainder
of the winter in perfecting his inven.
ton.
The marked interest being taken in
the young North Dakotan's contriv.
ance is evidenced in the numerous
communications in this country and
abroad. requesting information on the
snow craft and pictures Of the demon-
STATIONS.
Wagness' snow boat is said to he
the first of the kind ever made on this
continent and the second motor sleigh
in the world to be successfully demon
strated. A German inventor recently
brought out q motor sleigh. but this
vas unlike the invention of youne
Wagness in nearly every respect.