Winter transportation in 2023 consists of snow tires, all wheel drives, and plenty of antifreeze, but this wasn’t always the case. Throughout history, people have used a variety of modes of transportation to navigate harsh winter months.
The indigenous Inuit people of the arctic circle revolutionized snow transportation early out of necessity. These people commonly used a sledge, known as qamutik, pulled by dogs. Most commonly, the qamutik were pulled by huskies, which have been companions of the Inuit people since 800 CE, according to Oceanwide Expeditions.
The qamutik is built without nails or pins, allowing it to be flexible enough to withstand fast travel and the bumps that come along with it. The runners of the sledge are commonly made of wood, though when wood was unavailable, frozen fish were used. These runners were then wrapped in fur, which was covered in water and frozen, creating a slick surface that allowed the qamutik to move across the winter landscape.
These sleds are often still used today in arctic regions, and are sometimes pulled by snowmobiles, rather than dogs.
Snowshoeing and skiing were also common modes of transportation across the entire world. They were developed independently by civilizations that had use for them a number of times.
“The snowshoe seems to have appeared at an earlier period than the wheel. The earliest documents date the advent of the wheel around 3,500 B.C., whereas the ski already existed in quite a sophisticated state around 6,000 B.C., as proven by this engraving of the stone age found in Norway,” reads information from the forest preserve of Will County, Illinois.
During the 19th century, snowshoeing became more popular as a leisure activity than a mode of transportation, with clubs being created in North America as early as 1843.
Europeans had their own methods of winter transportation that they brought to the Americas, though they certainly shared similarities with some indigenous designs.
One such example was the horse and sled, also known as a winter carriage. Acting somewhat as a midpoint between a horse and carriage and a dogsled, the sleds were much bigger than qamutik, and often used metal runners to reduce traction. They were large enough to carry more cargo.
“From the late 17th century right up to the 20th century, this type of sleigh, called a country wood-sleigh, was consistently the most widely used winter vehicle in Quebec,” reads the encyclopedia of French cultural heritage in North America.
Entering the modern era, devices like snowshoes and skis became more popular as a form of entertainment and leisure than modes of practical transportation, and as horses began to be substituted with motorized replacements, winter transport too underwent the effects of the industrial age.
The snowmobile was the primary invention for mechanical snow travel. The first patient for a device resembling a modern snowmobile was issued in 1915. A number of places and people claim to have invented the device, as the idea of a motor-powered sled cropped up simultaneously in multiple places.
“In the U.S., the New Hampshire city of Ossipee claims to be the snowmobile’s real birthplace. It’s the city where the snowmobile first came to be known by its name,” reads information from the Volo Auto Museum.
Some of the early devices were stand-alone, though others acted more like conversion kits for early cars like the Model T.
“Ossipee resident Virgil D. White received a patent for his Model T Snow Flyer conversion kit in 1917, which consumers could purchase exclusively from Ford dealerships. He also copyrighted the term ‘snowmobile’ that same year, creating an entirely new class of winter vehicle,” shares the Volo Auto Museum.
Modes of winter transport have always been necessities in cold climates, and have changed a number of times across history. As humanity surges into the future, surely we will see more adaptations, but who’s to truly say what comes next.
