Thompson statue in Squaw Village looking at KT-22
SNOWSHOE THOMPSON: The Legendary Skiing Mailman (PART TWO) by Mark McLaughlin In the 19th century, getting the U.S. mail, newspapers and critical items like medicine to snowbound northern Sierra Nevada communities was a dangerous job, but there were plenty of men ready to do it for a fee. Carrying heavy loads through rugged snow
country required strength and endurance along with expert survival skills during winter storms. Depending on the route, sometimes mountain mailmen were accompanied by a pair of mules or horses fitted with footlong snowshoes featuring specially designed leather bindings that attached to their hooves. Equipped in this fashion an animal could carry a bulging mail pack while it clumped along behind the mailman leading on homemade wooden skis. As long as the snow stayed hard and frozen progress was good, but once they hit soft snow or deep powder the draft animals bogged down. At that point the team was unloaded, turned around, and with a smack on the rump sent back to the corral. The mailmen then hoisted the consignment onto their own backs and continued the arduous trek across the frigid wilderness. Stories of carriers fatally lost in storms or dying from exhaustion and hypothermia were not uncommon.
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For frequent winter delivery routes that followed a summer stagecoach road, teams of horses were often employed to break through the snow. In 1880, Sol Rousseau handled the mail between Truckee and Sierraville three times a week. He traveled one way each day between the two towns. Rousseau didn’t ski the 28 miles each way, but instead used three horses in tandem on his busy route. The animals were harnessed in single file as they pulled a sleigh loaded with mail and supplies along a narrow path. When major storms swept the region, the sleigh was abandoned and the heavy packs were strapped onto two hardy horses chosen for duty. Rousseau rode a third horse and led the mail carriers along by rope. Most important to this equestrian-based system, however, was Sol’s fourth horse, the one he named “Snow-breaker.” This specialized steed showed a marvelous instinct for following the winding route between Sierraville and Truckee no matter how bad the blizzard or darkness of night. Snow-breaker wore only a halter and was turned loose upon the road to blaze a trail through the snow. Sometimes the drifts were so deep the stallion would sink nearly out of sight with only his head above the surface while its long legs churned for traction. For six years, Snow-breaker never failed in his duty, a remarkable achievement by a horse that Rousseau swore possessed an almost human intelligence. Skiing mail carriers sometimes provided a unique service for people needing to travel continued on page 6
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