804 



SNOW-SHOES. 



are made in " rights " and " lefts " that is, on 

 the inside the frame sweeps in more sharply 

 from the widest part toward the tail. The 

 walker is thus permitted to preserve a more 

 natural gait without the shoes interfering. The 

 dimensions of these shoes vary from two to five 

 feet in length, and from ten to eighteen inches 

 in width. Snow-shoes for women are smaller 



and lighter. Lumbermen chiefly use a circular 

 shoe, as best adapted for traveling in heavy 

 timber and underbrush. The racing shoe must 

 have a width of not less than ten inches, but 

 its length is without limitation. In weight the 

 snow-shoe varies from an eight-ounce racing- 

 shoe up to several pounds. Snow-shoes are 

 made by Indians, as their peculiar construction 

 defies the successful use of machinery. 



In snow shoeing an experienced walker will, 

 with the peculiar loping gait, cover fully as 

 great a distance as a pedestrian on a road, and 

 with equal ease and speed. The longest tramp 

 on record is that of a party of surveyors at- 

 tached to the Canadian Pacific Railroad. They 

 left British Columbia in December, 1875, and 

 crossed the Rocky Mountains on snow-shoes 

 to Edmonton, over 900 miles. 



The early explorers among the Esquimaux, 

 Siberians, and Laplanders mention the snow- 

 shoe. La Salle and Champlain employed it 

 in explorations of Canada and 

 the Northwest. Le Hontan, in 

 his "Nouveaux Voyages dans 

 1'Amerique Septentrionale " 

 (1702), describes at length des 

 racquette, or snow-shoes. La 

 Perouse writes of the shoes in the huts of the 

 natives on the coast of Tartary, and the mu- 

 seum attached to the College of St. Ignatius at 

 Rome had a pair of shoes from Northern Asia. 



Soon after the English conquest of Canada, 

 Gen. Riedesel introduced the snow - shoe as 

 part of the military equipment of the English 

 forces there. Sir John Johnson's orderly- 

 book has this entry under Jan. 4, 1777, at 

 Lachine: "They [his soldiers] will practice 

 marching on snow-shoes." The Earl of Bella- 

 mont writes to the Lords of Trade of the 

 military equipment at Montreal : " There are 

 arms for 2,500 men, . . . and 1,550 pair ot 

 snow-shoes or racquets, a pair whereof I now 

 send your lordships, . . . that you may see 

 the manner of them." At present, snow-shoes 

 are a part of the regular outfit of the Cana- 

 dian volunteers, and regular drills upon snow- 

 sin es are had in the winter tactics. 



Snow- shoeing as a sport is confined to this 

 continent (except as hereafter mentioned), and 

 may be said to date back to the organization 

 of the Montreal Snow -Shoe Club in 1840. 

 Since then, snow - shoeing as a pastime has 

 steadily developed, and at present there are 

 a hundred or more snow-shoe clubs in Canada, 

 with a membership of several thousand. The 

 Saratoga Snow-Shoe Club, organized in 1881, 

 was the first American club. Many clubs have 

 since been formed, notably in the Northwest 

 about St. Paul. 



From the inception of snow-shoeing as an 

 amusement, racing has been a prominent inci- 

 dent. In Canada the annual races are as much 

 an event as the summer field meeting of ath- 

 letic associations in the States. The following 

 table of amateur records will show the speed 

 attained at various distances : 



100 yards \\\ seconds, skeleton shoes. 



100 yards 12s., ordinary shoes. 



150 yards 16} s., ordinary shoes. 



220 yards 26 s., regulation shoes. 



440 yards 1 m., 5 s.. skeleton shoes. 



440 yards 1 in., 17J s., regulation shoes. 



1,000 yards 8 m., 15 s., regulation shoes. 



1 mile 5m., 42| s., regulation shoes. 



Hmile 8m., 49s., skeleton shoes. 



2 miles 11 m., 52$ s., skeleton shoes. 



3 miles 19 m., 11 s., regulation shoes. 



5 miles 82 m., 18s., regulation shoes. 



CROSS-COUNTRY. 



1 J mile 12m., regulation shoes. 



S miles 25 m., ordinary shoes. 



5J miles 38 m., 41| s., ordinary shoes. 



OVER HURDLES. 



100 yards, 8 hurdles, 8* feet high 14fs. 



100 yards, 4 hurdles, 3i feet high 134 s. 



440 yards, 10 hurdles, 2 feet high 1 m., If s. 



440 yards, 6 hurdles, 8 feet high 1 m., 26J s. 



The customary programme followed by the 

 snow-shoe clubs is to have a weekly after- 

 noon and evening tramp. The costumes worn 

 in snow-shoeing are comfortable and pictur- 



esque. The coat is made of a heavy material 

 in the nature of blanketing, manufactured ex- 

 pressly for this purpose. To the coat, which 

 reaches about to the knee, is attached a long 



