Snowmobiling:
A Quebec invention?
As
I cruise the Internet's snowmobile history web sites, I see
that there is a difference opinion out there, concerning the
question of WHO actually invented the snowmobile. Being a history
student myself, I understand the challenge inherent in trying
to remain objective, when looking into the past.
On the topic of snowmobiles however, I'm afraid I have to go
with my Canadian bias, and say with full confidence, that the
snowmobile, like the sport of basketball, is 100% CANADIAN!
( I can hear your groans all the way from New York State!)
When
Joseph-Armand Bombardier, a Quebec born inventor, invented the
snowmobile in 1922, he had no idea just how important his machine
would become. Today it has become the main method of transportation
for many Native people in Canada's North, and it is a fundamental
tool for industries such as forestry and power companies. On
top of all it's practical money making utility, the modern snowmobile
is also, the toy of choice for about three million people in
North America.
The
snowmobile is perfectly adapted to Quebec winters, and they
are driven by two main camps... the nature loving tree hugger,
and the foaming at the mouth speed demon! The most committed
of these sled heads, are often grouped together in clubs and
organize hundreds of competitions and events all year long.
These snowmobile gatherings can run from grass drags and watercross
in the summer months, to ice racing in the winter.
One
of the best known events in Canada is, without a doubt, the
Shawinigan Grand Prix on the river. It draws thousands of spectators,
and encourages even the amateurs like yourself, to suit up and
participate in the snowmobile racing. Imagine taking a trophy
home to the wife! She'd be impressed right?
Snowmobiling is practiced in almost
every region of Quebec. Along the marked trails, snowmobilers
can find everything they need such as fuel, snowmobile repairs,
snowmobile rentals, heated shelters along the snowmobile trails,
lodging, restaurants, and plenty of adult night spots with special
entertainment.
Maps of the snowmobile networks
are distributed by the various regional tourism associations.
For more information on the cost of access passes and on insurance,
see our trail pass page.
Antique snowmobile museums, and
groups of snowmobile collectors are all part of the Quebec snowmobile
scene. The Valcourt museum for example, featuring the inventive
history of Joseph-Armand Bombardier, is far and away the finest
museum of this kind, in terms of quality of artifacts and presentation.
There are also a number of independent antique enthusiasts,
who have mounted permanent exhibitions at Desbiens and Lac-St-Jean.
Annual shows at Drummondville and a five-yearly show in Scott
in the Beauce are a few of these events.
Snowmobilers from overseas represent
25% of all snowmobile rentals in Quebec, In 1995-96, 117 companies
offered more than 2,000 machines for rent. The quality of service
varies widely, without any correlation to the size of the enterprise.
Renters offer a range of services, from rental of a machine
to organised tours, complete with meals, accommodation, gas,
guide, and snowmobile suit (helmet, boots, gloves). The Mauricie
has it's share of these snowmobiling tour outfits, and they
are some of the best.
Now, lets revisit Joseph-Armand
Bombardier, one of hundreds of inventors who are known to have
designed machines for traveling across the snow. The first snow
machine patent seems to have been issued in 1927 to Carl. J.
Eliason of Sayner, Wisconsin, but Bombardier's development in
1958 of the type of sport machine that we know today as a "snowmobile",
was instrumental in changing life in all regions that get snow.
In the Far North, those changes were both rapid and dramatic.
Bombardier was born at Valcourt,
Quebec, on April 16, 1907. As a teenager, he was fascinated
with mechanics, and quickly showed that he had a natural gift
for working on machinery. His passion was to develop a machine
that could travel across both snow and muskeg, and by 1930 he
had built a successful machine that was driven by tracks.
It was steered by braking one track
or the other, as in the tractors of the time. In 1937 he made
his first major breakthrough, building a vehicle with steerable
skis in front of a set of tracks.
In 1942, Bombardier established
a company to manufacture his tracked vehicles. Great strides
were made in the technology during the war, and in 1947 Bomardier
announced a new 12-passenger enclosed snowmachine. Designed
primarly for military use, it was quickly adopted for use by
the Canadian police, mining and oil exploration companies and
even a few ski-hill operators.
In late 1958, the revolutionary
Bombardier sports machine, the Ski-Doo, was introduced. Although
the concept was similar to the company's larger machines, the
size (and price) of the new "snowmobile" made it an
instant hit. Within a decade, even dog-teams in Inuit villages
were being replaced by machinery.
By the mid-1970s, the U.S. Snowmobile
Association was sanctioning over 250 major races across the
US and Canada, including a marathon 650-mile one from Winnipeg
to Minneapolis.
The Father of Snowmobiling died
at Sherbrooke, Quebec on February 18, 1964. His company, though,
has continued to grow. In the early 1970s a major acquisition
was made by Bomardier when the Austrian company Lohnerwerke
GmbH was purchased.
A subsidiary company, Rotax-Werk,
was the supplier of the Rotax engine used in Bombardier's snowmobiles
and other vehicles and equipment. With plants in Quebec, Austria,
Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, Finald, Mexico, Germany,
the Czech Republic, Switzerland and the United States, the company
now has 53,000 employees and had sales in January 1999 of $11.6
billion.
As popular as it is, though, snowmobiling
is not without controversy. Conservationists and wilderness
travelers are complaining more loudly every year about the physical
damage done to sensitive alpine areas, the noise that destroys
"the wilderness" for many miles around on a clear
winter day, and the harassment or even killing of wildlife by
irresponsible riders.
For snowmobile riders themselves,
drinking and driving is a serious problem, and many deaths occur
every year. In the Yukon, going through thin ice after a few
drinks dulls judgement seems to be a fairly regular occurence.
As with so many activities, it's
a shame that the actions of a few irresponsible snowmobile riders
can result in restrictive legislation being introduced. With
a proper attitude, Joseph-Armand Bombardier's brainchild can
be a superb way to enjoy the winter.
After an initial growth in the
sport of snowmobiling through the 1970s, participation and the
sale of new snowmobiles fell off in the early 1980s. In recent
years, however, snowmobiling participation has seen a dramatic
increase in popularity with growth averaging 8-10% per year.
In 1990 there were 429 689 registered
snowmobiles in this country. By 2000 there were close to a million.
The actual number of snowmobiles in use is much higher. The
increase in popularity is largely due to advances in snowmobile
technology and related clothing and equipment, and the development
of a network of snowmobile trails. In Canada and the US (which
together make up 90% of the world market for snowmobiling) there
are an estimated 400 000 km of speically groomed and designated
trails.
Most snowmobilers today appreciate
this "touring" aspect of the sport. In Canada, it
is now possible to ride across the country on interconnected
provincial snowmobile trains. In 1998, 14 Canadians snowmobiled
from St Anthony, Nfld, to Squamish, BC. The more than 8000 km
of trails that they followed are provincially established and
maintained.
Each province and territory has
a non-profit organization that represents its separate clubs
within the province. In most cases membership is required to
use provincial trails, which are designed and maintained by
individual clubs in conjunction with the province and private
landholders.
For thrills, it's a toss-up between
luging and snowmobiling. To learn all about the history of the
"ski dog" that became a"Ski-doo," visit
the J. Armand Bombardier Snowmobile Museum in Valcourt. Along
Quebec's nearly 20,000-mile network of carefully maintained
and well-marked snowmobile trails, you can venture from village
to village, pulling your snowmobile right up to the door of
your cozy auberge or country inn.
More on the History
of the Mauricie Region of Quebec
Inaugurated in 1737, the Chemin
du Roy, or King's Road, was the first road in Québec
suitable for vehicles. It is an extremely pleasant route to
take, with rural villages filled with the riches of our heritage
on one side, and gorgeous vistas overlooking the Saint Lawrence
River on the other.
This route runs from Montréal,
through Trois-Rivières to Québec City. You'll
pass through the charming villages of Louiseville, Yamachiche,
Champlain, Bastican, and of course the village of Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade,
famous for its ice-fishing for the tiny tomcod.
Trois-Rivières was founded
in 1634 by Laviolette, an employee of the fur trade, and is
now the economic hub of the region. It has many attractions
to offer the visitor. The town, with its many cafés,
restaurants, bars and boutiques on Rue des Forges and its terrace
overlooking the St. Lawrence River, exudes a special atmosphere.
Cultural life is rich and lively here, with numerous festivals
and shows taking place all over town.
It has also inherited a rich heritage through the powerful presence
of its religious institutions. The Sanctuaire du Cap-de-la-Madeleine,
a favourite destination for many pilgrims, the former convent
of the Récollets missionaries, the Musée Pierre-Boucher
located in the Trois-Rivières Seminary building as well
as the Musée des Ursulines are just a few examples. And
to get a better understanding of the industrial nature of the
region, visits to Les Forges-du-Saint-Maurice historic site,
and the Centre d’exposition sur l’industrie des pâtes
et papier (pulp and paper industry exhibition centre) are highly
recommended.
The final portion of our journey leads us north into the Saint
Maurice valley, a region of forests and natural habitats. Here
you can visit La Mauricie National Park of Canada and the Saint
Maurice Wildlife Reserve, and enjoy some fresh air. The towns
and villages dotted here and there through the vast forests
are for the most part born out of the lumber industry. Here
we find ourselves in the midst of lumberjacks, river raftsmen
and lodges built of round logs.
Shawinigan, the 'energy city',
tells the story of industrial development in the Mauricie and
in Québec. Shawinigan itself became an important centre
for electricity because of the strong current in the Saint Maurice
River here. The towns and villages of La Tuque, Grand-Mère,
Grande-Piles, Saint-Tite and Sainte-Thècle have a somewhat
western feel. It is not surprising that the Festival western
de l'Est du pays returns every summer to Saint-Tite, attracting
more than 400,000 participants!
In the Mauricie, it is nature in
all its splendour that first catches the imagination of the
visitor. The legendary cliché that Canada is a land of
lakes and forests is in fact never truer than in this region,
especially along Route 155 that follows the Saint Maurice River.
This wilderness region, dotted
with lakes and blessed with vast forests, is packed with priceless
natural resources that for centuries determined human activity
here and contributed to making this region the first industrial
centre in Québec.
Considered the jewels of the economy,
the lumber and pulp and paper industries have formed the main
industrial base in the region for several generations, closely
followed by hydroelectricity.
Because of its geographical location,
sandwiched between the two most important cities in Québec,
the Mauricie is unfortunately often seen at a disadvantage when
compared with these large centres. Consequently: it often has
difficulty in defining its own identity and finding its rightful
position in the province. It should be mentioned at the start
that the region became an industrial one when, in 1730, Les
Forges-du-Saint-Maurice (the Saint Maurice foundries) were first
inaugurated. Since then, many multinational companies with head
offices in Montreal have exploited the resources of the region.
Since the beginning, the people
of the Mauricie have been resourceful and courageous, fighters
who have had to struggle hard for their survival. They were
first explorers, fur traders, river raftsmen, loggers and factory
workers, and life for them has never been easy. The history
of the Mauricie and the real-life experiences of its people
represent all that a nation must go through to survive.
So it is not surprising that many
political personages who have had an influence on Québec
should have come from this corner of the province – the
former premier of Québec, Maurice Duplessis and the current
Prime Minister of Canada, Jean Chrétien, to name but
two.
Is it the omnipresent religious
institutions, for whom the teaching of French was of prime importance,
or is it the search for a national identity that has resulted
in the Mauricie being the birthplace of so many of our greatest
poets? Among others are the sorely missed Félix Leclerc,
Gérald Godin and Pauline Julien.
Today, the town of Trois-Rivières
is famous for its Festival de la poésie (poetry festival)
where hundreds of poets from around the world gather to exchange
views and contribute to making the world a better place. We
should mention too the many professional journalists who also
come from this region. Another important fact to note is that
it was Abbot Gilles Boulet of the Trois-Rivières Seminary
who formed the first Université du Québec, so
as to give the local people and others from the underprivileged
classes access to higher education.
Dining in the Mauricie
Dining tables in Trois-Rivières
and in the Mauricie are gradually earning themselves quite a
reputation. Access to many quality products from the local forests,
farms and numerous lakes have had an influenced on the cuisine
of numerous families in the region. Trout, wall-eye, pike, large
and small game, bison, pigs' feet stew, baked beans, maple sugar
products, fiddle-heads, berries, pickles and fresh garden produce
are just a few of the flavours you can expect to find here.
Accommodations in the Mauricie
A land of wide-open spaces, with
its forests and numerous lakes, the Mauricie has a long list
of outfitters. Over the last few years, a new type of lodging
establishment has appeared in the forest, offering high-quality
resort-style accommodation that combines luxury with adventure.
In the more rural corners of the
region, as well as in Trois-Rivières, many large ancestral
homes and small farms that at one time housed large families
have now become bed and breakfasts. Their hosts will welcome
you warmly as if you were part of the family. You'll be invited
to the table for a taste of real home cooking. It won't take
you long to discover that the Mauricie takes great pleasure
in showing you all its aspects, sometimes wild, sometimes agricultural
and sometimes urban.
