The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1931-01-23
SKIING
(By Oscar Bodin.)

)lic had not yet experienced the
ills of the ski sport. They had not
the Ole Feirigns, the Barney
eys, the Steven Trogsteads and the
sper Oimoens, sail through the air
m dizzy heights, to land hundreds
feet down the hill in whirl of
DIV, glistening in the sunshine, and
ne to graceful stop in Telemark
Oslo swing at the end of the ride.
eSe thrills were still in the future,
they were due to come. There Is
much in the history of sports to
certain exactly when the sport had
beginning in this land, but it must
We been somewhere in the nineties
i it must have happened something
this:
Some time, let us say, back in the
letieS, on bitterly cold but glisten-
sunShiny afternoon, while Jack and
l and Barney were riding along the
,hway in their cutter, all covered up
their noses in bearskin coats and
yes, behind Dobbin, also covered up,
pair of giddy Oles from the land OF
midnight sun were seen shoveling
DIV together in big heap on prom
.nce somewhere in the middle OF a
lg and perilously steep hill. This
ne, they put on their feet pair OF
lg and slender gliding contraptions
ID started out from the top OF
Zy height, slid at a neck-breaking
ed over the newly constructed bump
the hill, sailing through the air
ne hundred feet or more down the
of the hill. Bill and Jack and
rney stopped and looked. AT first
Y thought that the men up there on
-. hill must be members of some new
m of suicide club, who had contrived
ne new way of attaining the end OF
h club, but who were apparently
successful, for they would always
ID on their feet and would nearly
yays come to a graceful stop down
ow the hill, only to start up the hill
lin, leaving a track like a giant
ring bone behind them, and to go
ough the same performance, again
/ again. Indeed, they seemed to
oy it.
ack and Bill and Barney covered
bbin up more carefully, tied him to
lost along the road and came closer.
.ey succeeded in engaging those
zy Oles in conversation after a
hion and found that in the land of
If birth, this was popular pastime.
CIT 10abnd Thau
got that it was cold. They observed
& these lads from the land of the
might sun were thinly clad in natty
:. aters, knitted caps and mitts and
led not cold at all; that they were
table manifestations of health and
being; that they had a glorious
e basking in the snow and sun
ne. They longed to free themselves
heir bearskin coats and before they
aScertained where pair of these
= ing contraptions, which they learned
called skis, could be procured.
ssy got them.
hns it happend that Jack and Bill
Barney were out there on the hill
l the Oles on the following Sun
afternoon. From humble begin
IS, under the instruction of these
: ng lads, they soon came to try the
rides down the hill; they tried
bumps and liked it; they become
nbers of the first club of ski-riders.
it was no longer the exclusive
t of the Oles; the Jacks and the
and the Barneys also belonged.
sporting editor heard of it and
to investigate. He found small
e for the sport and sandwiched it
Jeen the boxing news. Others read
1t it and soon other clubs were
ned. More and more people for
their places at the comfortable
stuffy fireside and went out to
hill to take q look at this
tangled and daring sport. They
lped around in the snow in a glory
listening sunshine and forgot that
vas cold. They came again and
n The result of coming out in
air and sunshine was lungs full of
air, veins full of blood that flowed
y anu oil dPPC1A0c W ShJoy eAiOa
ing repast, as well as an exhilara-
thrill for which they had hitherto
looking in vain.
on tournaments were started be-
n different clubs that had sprung
but they lacked an organization
andle such tournaments, the stimu-
they needed for growth. It was
he winter of 1904 that some of the
ortals among the ski riders and
enthusiasts met at Ishpeming,
ligan, and there formed the first
nization of ski clubs, which be-
known as the National Ski As
ton. It was there that the seed
lis sport was really planted, sport
may be said to be still in its in