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The year was 1851, the Pony Express was about a decade away from being established. Two men, George and Absalom were hired for 14 thousand dollars a year to deliver the mail from the West to the Eastern states. This route began in Sacramento, went through The Sierra Mountains and up to The Great Salt Lake, and onward to the East Coast.
This route was done by packing mules and it took a long time, 16 days just to reach Salt Lake in Utah. It also proved dangerous. Absalom was killed by Indians and though George was intent on continuing on, snow blizzards were simply too much and too dangerous.
Soon the route to the East switched to going south and along the bottom of the states to the east. This meant that mail would not pass through The Sierra during the winter at all. Those living in and around South Lake Tahoe would be cut off from all communication…
This was not a good thing; imagine being isolated for up to 6 months out of the year, not being able to hear what was going on in the world, not being able to tell a family that a loved one had died…
Not just letters were sent, medicine sometimes was only available in the cities, and what if you need some or you'd surely die? Well, hopefully you were fine in the 6 months you could get mail!
People lost to the world! Uncle Sam needs a mail carrier.
-Sacramento Union 1855
The man who applied right away was a guy named John Thompson, about 28 years old, 6ft tall, and 180 pounds from Norway.
So imagine a guy that looks kind of like a Viking.
Some Backstory
He came to The United States at 10 years old, changed his name to the American spelling of John and the family changed their last name from Torsteinson to Thompson to be more American.
His family settled on a farm in Illinois then moved on to Missouri and then Iowa.
John moved on to Wisconsin where he caught gold fever and took an opportunity to move a herd of milk cows to California he dropped everything to become a rich and successful miner in Placerville…
But of course, very few made it rich.
He mined at Kelsey Diggins then went to Coon Hollow and then to Georgetown before deciding the miner life was not what its all cracked up to be and he took what he had and bought a plot of land over at Putah Creek in the Sacramento Valley.
The mail route was dangerous, up to this point in time all attempts to deliver the mail were by snowshoe as we know them today. Just as you'd imagine woven snowshoes are typically made by Native Americans. Imagine trying to walk from Placerville to Carson City that would be insane. But there was no other way…
John knew another way, back in Norway when he was a kid he remembered flying around in the snow on these snowshoes. But they weren’t like what you think of snowshoes today, he used his memory and grabbed a slab of oak wood and carved out two 10 foot long 4 inches wide 25 pound planks then added a leather strap for shoes, and then grabbed a 6-foot long pole for steering and propelling.
Sounds like skis right? Yep.
Back in Norway, they were called snowshoes so Thompson, when asked what his invention was his answer was “snowshoe”.
So in January of 1856, John Thompson started his mail route. A huge crowd gathered as he embarked on his journey.
One spectator yelled out,
“Good luck snowshoe!”
On this trip, he traveled from Placerville around South Lake Tahoe up to Carson City and back. Delivering the mail and picking up new mail to be sent back west. It took 3 days to make it to Carson City and 2 days to make it back. Doing this in the winter 2 to 4 times a month depending on the demand.
How did he sleep on the way down? He carried no blankets, no tent. All he carried was the mail, some food, some matches, and his Bible.
Whenever he needed a rest he would find a cave or build a shelter or find an abandoned cabin to hide out in. But sometimes he got caught in a blizzard, in the Sierra, snow can pile on extremely fast. Snow can get up to 27 feet thick and in a 24-hour period of time, 3 feet of snow could pile on. During the times he would get caught in a blizzard he didn’t sleep, he found a rock and danced Norwegian folk dances until the blizzard passed.
Snowshoe Thompson as he came known as didn’t wear the typical clothes we would wear if we went skiing today, he simply wore a thick flannel jacket, wide-rimmed hat pants, and boots. To keep from going snow-blind he rubbed charcoal under his eyes like a football player.
The food he took with him was simple survival food, dried sausage, beef jerky, crackers, and biscuits.
Pretty soon he proved himself to be quite the mailman and quickly became sort of a celebrity which he liked a lot, he loved helping out his community and took his job very seriously. He left at the same time on his route so that the people would be expecting the mail. One story mentioned that the people would leave their homes and look up at Genoa Peak to watch the Viking mailman fly down the mountain.
“Most remarkable man I ever knew, that Snowshoe Thompson. he must be made of iron. besides, he never thinks of himself, but he’d give his last breath for anyone else. even a total stranger”
— Postmaster of Genoa
There are at least 2 specific stories about him saving people.
This first one is an account of one man to the newspaper about his encounter. He and two others were on their way to a mine when they got stuck in a snowstorm. Somehow word got out and Snowshoe was sent to the rescue.
The other is this,
Around Christmas one year a fur trapper named James Sisson was hunkering down in an abandoned cabin. His feet were pretty much a goner - half frozen. He hadn't eaten for 12 days and he had no way of making a fire that whole time either. It wasn’t just feet that were on the verge of dying...
Luckily for him, Snowshoe Thompson showed up at the cabin to rest himself and he found Sisson. Though he was tired, he quickly made a fire and booked it as fast as he could to the town of Genoa where he got a rescue team.
By the way, if you don’t know, Genoa is, it’s about midway between South Lake Tahoe and Carson City.
He carved (snowshoes) skis for the men and gave them a quick lesson on how to ski and they made haste back to the cabin then took Sisson back to Genoa to a doctor…
Now the doctor had nothing but bad news, Sisson’s feet had to be amputated but he was out of Chloroform
Snowshoe once again booked it from Genoa all the way back to Placerville, just to find out there was no Chloroform there either so he had to continue on all the way to Sacramento where he got some and made his way yet again, back to Genoa. It took 10 days to make that crazy trip, about 400 miles, and because of that, Mr. Sisson lived.
Mail was not simply letters. Thompson’s mail sack would be about 100 pounds, some of the other kinds of things he would carry were medicine, emergency supplies, clothes, books, tools, pots, and pans. Sometimes it was mail-ordered items like a glass chimney for a lamp. or if a fiddler needed new strings for his fiddle snowshoe would bring him strings and of course, he brought the newspaper with him.
Eventually in 1859 snowshoe innovated and with the help of a judge from Genoa started a sleigh line across the Sierra. Horses would wear these special snowshoes that Snowshoe Thompson made and that way bigger packages and even people could cross the mountain safely even in the winter. But not in a blizzard or really bad weather.
That same year he was asked to bring this weird-looking blue rock (it’s sort of blue) from the Virginia City area back to Sacramento to have it assayed (which means checked out) and it turned out to be full of silver! By this time the gold rush had slowed to molasses and this discovery called the Comstock Lode in Virginia City sparked the Silver Stampede.
Now, Snowshoe Thompson was a servant, when his community needed him he always said yes. This brings me to where Snowshoe Thompson almost died.
Quick Lesson
Rangers are basically militia men who form when needed. Kind of like today’s National Guard.
As you can imagine sometimes Native American tribes and American settlers had problems…
In 1860 there was some kind of issue that ended with the deaths of a few American settlers. So a militia group comprising 3 separate militia groups was sent out to confront the tribe responsible.
This militia was described as a "motley company mustered from the mining towns and settlements in the valley, poorly mounted and armed … with wretched muskets and shotguns. (The group) was a heterogeneous mixture of independent elements, poorly armed, without discipline, and they did not believe that the Indians would fight”
Snowshoe Thompson answered the call for help and joined the Genoa Rangers. The group was a mixture of the Silver City Guards, the Carson City Rangers, and the Genoa Rangers. Totaling up at 105 men, headed by Mr. Ormsby.
Well…as they made their way to Pyramid Lake to confront the Paiute tribe, they were ambushed at a place called Williams Station.
It was a pony express stop.
originally the idea of going to Pyramid Lake was to make peace but after this attack, peace was not really an option. (Again these guys were not trained, just militiamen.
When they got closer to Pyramid Lake they saw some Paiute on horses up on a hill. One guy, acting on his own decided to fire and kill one of them.
So this didn’t help one bit.
As the militia group got into the valley they saw another couple of Paiute on horses up on a hill looking down on them. Out of nowhere a ton of Paiute surrounded the militia and began shooting both arrows and bullets at them.
They overpowered the militia extremely fast. This battle only lasted a couple of minutes and in the midst of the smoke and screams, Ormsby yelled out "retreat!"
The quickest way out of this valley was up a somewhat steep hill. But they ran straight toward more Paiute waiting on the hill.
Oddly enough, Ormsby was a friend of the tribe, he had actually taught many of the tribe to read, write and speak English. At one point Ormsby, as he was trying to flee up the hill was flung off his horse and rolled down the hill, though blood was dripping down his face he saw a face he knew and called out his name.
But at that moment another Paiute warrior straddled above Ormsby, got his bow ready, and simply said "it’s too late for talk" then released his arrow killing Ormsby.
Snowshoe Thompson was able to escape and he got over to the Truckee River on foot. Finally resting he felt a hot breath on his neck. He expected a hand-to-hand battle so he turned around quickly ready to fight and low and behold it was a horse, saddled up and ready to go. He quickly got on and made it home safely. Thompson said that horse was sent by God. No doubt about it.
Out of the 105 men who went, only 29 came back.
After this, the California rangers were sent in and after 2 battles, the Paiute war chief Winnemucca eventually surrendered, signed a treaty, and stayed on the reservation after that.
The result of this was Nevada territory being created, before this, it was Utah territory.
Snowshoe Thompson was happy to get back to normal life and soon he met a lady named Agnes who he eventually married in 1866.
Thompson, until then had been a single homesteader but after getting married settled in Diamond Valley in Alpine County. They raised cattle and boarded horses and grew wheat, oats, hay, potatoes, gooseberries, and currents.
But every winter 2 to 4 times a month, he would make the rounds delivering the mail but he wasn’t all work and no play.
Snowshoe, absolutely loved playing in the snow, he built snowshoes for anyone who wanted some, and he gave lessons on how to snowshoe also. He went around doing big jumps, racing down hills, and a few tricks. Soon snowshoeing which we would call skiing today was a big hit.
“Take up the gauntlet or forever hold your peace”
— Snowshoe Thompson
At this point in time there were two kinds of snowshoers the type like Snowshoe Thompson who just wanted to go around and have fun and the sort of snobbish snowshoers who had the nicest gear, the top-of-the-line “dope” for the shoes and so on. So this made a friendly rivalry between the two types of snowshoers.
"The Downieville Messenger says had heard of snowshoe races and to satisfy my curiosity I attended those in Laporte.
I did go to LaPorte, expecting to see some scientific snowshoe racing, but I was disappointed: it was nothing but "dope racing" it unworthy of the name of snowshoeing. it is nothing more than a little improvement on coasting downhill on a hand sled. the improvement is, that instead of uprights and crossbars from one runner to the other, they make their legs and crotch answer this purpose and they have no more control over their shoes than a boy has over his sled. they have exhibited some skill in making dope, but all they gain is that they make about the same time on a hill of 15 degrees that a man would, without dope, on a hill of 30 degrees. These "dope riders" at LaPorte are good, clever fellows, but they have no more right to call themselves scientific snowshoers than a man with steel skates on smooth ice who with a spiked pole between his legs pushed himself straight ahead should be called a scientific skater. "
"Now, I, on behalf of the Alpine Boys, make these propositions to the Plumas and Sierra boys or "any other man" in the state. Come to Alpine County next winter and run with us. we will run you for 1,000 dollars a slide for each one of the following.
First - Against time; you select your hillside, and then we will select ours.
Second- Against time; we select the hillside
Third- Over a precipice fifteen feet high, without the usual poles, the one jumping the furthest without falling, to take the purse.
Fourth- From the top to the bottom of the highest and heaviest timbered mountain we can find
Fifth and last- To run from the top of Silver Mountain Peak to the town of Silver Mountain. The altitude of the peak is 11,000 feet - 4,000 feet above town., and distant 4 miles.
Now, boys of Plumas and Sierra, come over here; we will treat you well, and if you win our money you are welcome. If you come, be sure and bring that messenger man along with you, and I will bet him 100 dollars that if he attempts to follow me on snowshoes for one day he will break his neck before night.
For the information of those who have not seen my snowshoes. They are 9ft long, turned up in front, and flat bottomed; 4 inches wide in front; 3.5 inches behind, and 1.5 inches thick in the center. "
Then after this, the editor adds his own words…
"As the messenger rather disparages our man, we will cite what he has done, and he can do it again for an object. Thompson, with a heavy bag upon his back, has frequently run three miles in 5 minutes; has jumped precipices and landed 90 feet, right side up, from the starting point; has command of his shoes to such an extent that on the steepest and heaviest timbered mountains he glides among the obstructions like a skater on ice; at ever so great a speed he will touch or pass within an inch of any designated object; he has often carried the mail from genoa to Placerville, eighty miles in fifteen hours running time. He runs standing and does not check himself with the pole, but turns around but turns around and runs uphill when he wants to stop. Now, we have stated what one of our Alpine boys has done and can do.
The response from the Alturas Snowshoe Club was basically no, it was quite the response but here’s the nitty gritty. Written by the president of the club
"I claim the privilege of saying a few words on behalf of the club. In reply, first I will tell Thompson and the chronicle man what the Alturas Snowshoe Club was not organized for, and then what it was organized for. It was not organized to make business for doctors and undertakers by running races down steep and thickly timbered mountains over high precipices, nor was the purpose of encouraging gambling, otherwise, we might be induced to accept Thompson’s bombastic challenge. If he would come to time with the money would be sure to put several thousand dollars into our treasury. But it was organized to fill in the time during the long tedious winters when everybody is idle, affording an innocent amusement and health-giving exercise thereby keeping the muscles in tune for the labors of the summer. "
Then he ends with talk about how Snowshoe Thompson had come to Laporte and didn’t do very well in the races and didn’t even stay the whole time and simply left and left by a different way than whence he came so that he didn’t have to say anything to anyone he had passed by on the way there. then said he was a good traveler but not a good racer then finished the piece by saying
"Doc Brewster has a mule that has been practicing this winter on snowshoes, that can beat him on an even string"
For all the years he had been delivering the mail he never got paid. He figured he would get paid eventually but now with a kid, he wanted the money.
They told him they would get it for him but the weeks went by and they simply kept telling him they were waiting on the money from Washington D.C.
Eventually, the Nevada legislature in 1869 appealed to the Federal Government to give Snowshoe 6,000 dollars. Nothing came of it. So in 1872 Snowshoe got on a train and headed to D.C.
The train he was on got stuck in the snow and after a few hours, Snowshoe got irritated and began walking with his briefcase, after 3 days of walking he got to Wyoming where he got on another train which got him to D.C.
Apparently, this trip was historic in itself because he made the fastest trip until then from the pacific to the Atlantic (2 weeks.)
He was in D.C. for 6 weeks lobbying for payment but nothing came out of it, he actually ended up running out of money and went back home empty-handed.
You'd think he would be an angry and bitter man after this but he only blamed himself for not signing paperwork. Until then he would always say that if he did his job well, Uncle Sam would pay him. But it was evident that it would never happen.
When he got back to California he thought about just quitting, now knowing he would never get paid for this grueling and dangerous work.
Snowshoe started asking the people for payment of one dollar per piece of mail. It didn’t work out. The people didn’t understand or maybe they didn’t care. They refused to pay but still expected the mail to be delivered. Maybe someone else would have taken up the torch if he had quit, we'll never know because he continued on.
As I said before, the man just wanted to be a help to the community and the celebrity status was cool too.
At the young age of 49 years old, Snowshoe got appendicitis which turned into pneumonia and he died.
His son Arthur died just two years later from Diphtheria at 11 years old.
Snowshoes then are what we call Skis today, Delivering the mail back in the day was extremely dangerous in the winter. Snowshoe Thompson answered the call but made the huge mistake of not signing the paperwork. This mistake cost him thousands of dollars and even the way he is remembered in history is limited. Not long ago in 1995, the Smithsonian came out with an exhibit on mailmen of American history and he was left out. the simple reason was that he was not technically a united states postal service employee. (The Smithsonian has corrected its view of him as of now, they have a piece on him on their website as does the USPS where they label him a “contractor”)
Statues of him can be found all across California and Nevada, there’s even one of him back in Norway as well. The Placerville Fountain and Tallman Museum has one of the pairs of snowshoes he used on display along with all kinds of cool things about him
ep. 2 - Snowshoe Thompson - The Viking Mailman of the Sierra