Trail Relic 1: The Foot Problem That Started Everything (1924)

Welcome to our series called "TRAIL RELICS: The 12 Moments That Shaped Snowmobiling".

In this series we'll go deep into the vault and pull 12 important moments from the history of snowmobiles that helped shape the industry and how we know it today.

Let's begin.

THE MOMENT:

Carl Eliason ran a general store in Sayner, Wisconsin, and was born with a foot condition that made snowshoeing nearly impossible.

He refused to sit out winter. So he spent two years bolting together a "motor toboggan": a 2.5 horsepower outboard engine, bicycle sprockets and chains driving an endless track, wood slide rails, and skis steered by a rope.

He tested it in the woods around Sayner in 1924 and patented it in 1927. Over 15 years he hand-built roughly 40 machines in Sayner (family records count as many as 40, other histories say closer to 30), and the family records note that no three machines were exactly alike, every one custom-built for its buyer.

WHY IT MATTERS:

This is the machine every sled on the snow descends from.

And it was born not from a boardroom but from one stubborn Wisconsin guy who refused to be left out of winter. :-)

Carl's granddaughter shares the story...

WATCH IT:

No three machines alike. 

The first snowmobiles ever built were all custom, made for one specific rider. A century later, that is exactly what a Deviant Ink wrap does. No two machines alike on the trail or in the mountains. 

AT DEVIANT INK, WE RARELY EVER PRINT THE EXACT SAME WRAP MORE THAN ONCE.