Snowmobiling is a fun sport that only really started about 40 years ago.
People flew before we mastered snow travel. The first snowmobile wasn't
built until 1908, 5 years after the Wright Brothers flew their plane. This
"snowmobile" was actually a large machine like a steam locomotive with
skis. This machine didn't turn by it's self but needed several dogs and men to
turn it around. Snowmobiles have changed allot since then and are now fast
and easy to turn.
In 1909, a man named O.C. Johnson built a snowmobile that went on
top of the snow, most of the time. It was nearly 10 feet long, had one track,
one engine, and it steered.
In 1913 Virgin White, a ford dealer, invented a track and ski unit
conversion for the Model T Ford. The same thing was also invented by
another man in Maine at the same time, neither having knowledge of the
others work.
They were the first ones to call their inventions a snowmobile.
Then in 1922, in a farm region in lower Quebec, a fifteen year old
combined an engine and some skis, making a snowmobile that was run by
two people, one steering and another running the engine. His father made
him take it apart, however, but it did not stop him from making more. In
1940 he created the first successful commercial snowmobile, it held five
people and was powered by a V-8 engine. In 1957 this same man build the
first Ski-doo snowmobile, eventually making the biggest snowmobile
company around.
One of the most amazing snowmobiles was built in 1924 in Wisconsin
by Earl Eliason. It was nothing more than a toboggan with a outboard motor
attached which turned a cleated track. The most amazing thing is that it used
a front mounted,