ACHC #1992.019.3
This photo in our collection shows 13 young men seated on a very long sled. The two boys at the very back were probably pushing. They don’t seem to be on the sled. The photo dates to about 1915.
The bobsled in the photo came to us in 1960 from F. Tyler Carleton who grew up on Central St. in Andover, MA. Yes, it is a Bobsled and not a toboggan. The difference is that toboggans are flat, without runners.
Although toboggans had been around for hundreds of years and used in northern Canada by the Innu and Cree, bobsleds were first built in the late 1800s.
Casper Baldrutt, a Swiss hotelier, opened his first hotel in St. Moritz, in 1877. It was known primarily as a summer spa destination because of the mineral springs. Baldrutt wanted the hotel to be a year-round spot. He invited his wealthy summer guests to try the hotel in the winter. Baldrutt offered to refund their lodging cost if they didn’t like the experience.
Looking for something to do, some British guests took the local boys' delivery sleds, strapped the multiple sleds together and sledded through the streets of St. Mortiz. The sport caught on. The adapted sleds were called bob sleds from the technique of bobbing back and forth to go faster. After a few years, and many collisions, the town banned bobsledding on the narrow public streets.
In 1884, Badlruff, ever the entrepreneur, built an ice-covered sled track for his guests and the locals. The track, Cresta Run, is still the oldest track in the world.
Credit- International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation
We are fortunate to have a letter that F. Tyler Carlton wrote about the bobsled that he gave us. The sled was built by his brother, Edward, a student at Phillips Academy up on “the hill.”
Tyler wrote:
“Until about 1915 the only big bob-sled on 'the hill' was the one owned by the Williams family of the present [in 1960] Williams Hall [formerly] on Phillips St. It was about 12 feet long but narrow and high. It must have been a 9" plank about 15" off the snow on narrow sleds and with foot rests that cleared the ground by about 3". It steered with a dangerous post topped by a cross bar.”
“Needless to say it did not appeal to my brother’s engineering sense with its high center of gravity and post that could break off and impale someone. So he designed and built one more to his liking.”
Instead of a steering post Edward had a steering rope that crosses in the front of the sled, and runs through pulleys for more ease and control. He also designed an emergency brake made of a heavy chain that could be dropped under the runners of the rear of the sled. Though he built the bobsled by hand, “he had the iron runners ‘shrunk’ on by the blacksmith.”
Tyler went on to describe the bobsledding –
“Loaded with ten or a dozen riders, it would go from the top of Phillips St. (near the road to the academy infirmary), down across Abbot St. around Torr St. and down Central St., sometimes even topping the second hill there and going on down to the railroad.”
Back in the early 1900’s Andover’s roads were dirt, and the snow was packed with horse-drawn rollers or by sleighs. The result was a smooth hard packed surface, perfect for bobsledding. Of course, the boys did have to haul the bobsled back up the hill. Sometimes. they were lucky to hitch the sled to a passing farmer’s wagon or sleigh!
When was the last time you went sledding? I'd love to hear your sledding adventures.