My Toboggan

The year 1954. I had heard that Mr. Shears, a businessman of Hawkes Bay was selling his Bombardier snowmobile, and that Bill Chambers and his brothers were considering buying it. I had chain saws and parts in a store in Hawkes Bay and thought it would be an oppertunity to travel there and see how things where. Upon contacting them I found they planned to walk, at least part of the way, and I made arrangements to accompany them.

We spent the night at Barr'd Harbor, and I stayed at Hubert and Laurie Chambers' house. The next morning it was snowing as we walked to Eddies Cove West in company with Michael Eastman. As we were eating at Mike's house, Mr. Offery came in and finding that we were going to Hawkes Bay, he decided to go with us on a short-cut across the country, directly to Hawkes Bay. We started on that route and no doubt we saved time and effort. There was no marked trail and it was snowing all the way, which made for harder walking, but we reached Hawkes Bay a little after dark. I learned that Mr. Shears was also selling a motor toboggan, and I decided to check it out.

I remembered that one winter day about a year or two I heard the sound of a motor, which I thought, might be the airplane that carried our mail. Looking out the window I saw an unusual, rather small vehicle with two people riding on it, speeding along and soon disappearing around a turn in the snow covered road. In our climate snow often blanketed the ground for half of the year, and all transportation had to contend with the deep snow. I had felt drawn to this neat rig that it might be a dependable snow vehicle that the average person could afford to own.

After finishing my work I went to call on Mr. Shears, with whom I had been previously acquainted. He brought me to the shed where the vehicle was in storage; it was idential to the one I had seen. I asked about his experience with the motor toboggan, as a user. He said it was a convenient and dependable little machine and that he had used it quite a bit without any trouble, and it was still in good condition. I decided to buy it; I think he sold it for three hundred. I had it checked over at Bowaters garage, and it was working fine.

That afternoon I started on my journey homeward, driving over the frozen bay to Port Saunders, where I had relatives who were familiar with the back country, as I planned to drive from there direct to Eddies Cove. They gave me directions, and I started out. After about three miles I was to leave the local woods trail and drive north east to connect with the logging trail that the Eddies Cove men used. But I found that the lower country I had to travel over was flooded, and the machine wasn't coping very well in the slush. I thought it best to turn back and attempt to get across the flooded area early in the morning, assuming there might be an overnight frost. Next morning the sky looked like it might snow, and it hadn't frozen to any extent. I abandoned any further attempt in this direction.

I hired a motor boat owner who had been hunting seals, to transport my toboggan to Port au Choix. It was now snowing thickly, and somehow he found his way into Gargamelle Harbour, where a couple of men came down to the shore and helped us lift the machine from the boat. One of the men, Ralph O'keefe, who invited me to his home that day; his family became good friends of mine to this day. The snow turned to rain. By the afternoon of the second day at Port au Choix, I started off on a trail that would take me to Eddies Cove. About a mile or so from town as I was crossing a frozen pond, the toboggan mired down in the slush. I saw that it was futile to persist in trying to drive the toboggan home this late in the season, as conditions had been getting worse each day. I gave up the attempt to go any farther, and stored the machine in my host's shed. Tomorrow I would start the long walk toward my home, a distance of about forty miles.

I was told that Mr. Romeo Gould and his sons were logging near Eddies Cove, and would be travelling to the area early next morning by Bombardier snowmobile. I immediately went to see them; they agreed to take me along and kindly invited me to stay at their home overnight as they werere starting early in the morning.

It was slow going the next morning because of slush on yhe trail; we arrived at Eddies Cove about noon. I had dinner and started walking toward Barr'd Harbour. The brooks were overflowing and I had to detour often. It was nearly dark when I arrived at Barr'd Harbour, and was still a distance away, when the sled dogs, detecting my presence on the trail, began to bark their challenge. I found it a little unnerving, as one doesn’t know how dogs will react to strangers, especially at night. But I encouraged myself with the thought that the men of the community were hearing their dogs barking, also, and would know what it meant. When I came to the clearing where the houses were, the barking had ceased and soon, with relief I could see a man standing there among his dogs, and he called out a hearty, "Welcome come on in to the house and have supper". The man was George Chambers. The next evening I reached Castor River and stayed at the home of John Scanlon. There I found that the next day Ambrose Rumbolt from the community was traveling to Bird Cove on his dog team and would take me along. I arrived back home next day in the afternoon.

In the summer, when on a trip to Hawkes Bay, I had my toboggan shipped on the Coastal Boat to my homeport. During the summer I got acquainted with the workings of the machine, checked it over and replaced worn parts, to have it ready for the winter. I had an enjoyable winter season, that year. I travelled north to Green Island Brook, east to Bowaters camps, and to Reef's Harbour to pick up freight that the Coastal Boat couldn't land at our port because of heavy ice. I traveled south to Bartlett's Harbor, and also used my toboggan that winter to collect firewood, which we used for heating and cooking. At the end of winter I was convinced that the use of a motor toboggan would make the northern man's work easier and more efficient. Shortly after I became a dealer for the revolutionary Skidoo.