Posted: 12/24/02

Sleigh bells, overshoes kept spirits high, toes warm

(Editorís Note: The following Reflections column was first published on January 13, 1983 and is reprinted here as part of the newspaperís on-going coverage during its 100th year.)

Elsie Vogel
Times Correspondent

ìItís snowing. Itís snowing.î This happy little chant repeated in a childís sing-song voice may be heard at this time of the year in Forest Lake.

With noses and hands pressed to the window and excitement mounting, children watch the falling snow transform trees and fences into a winter fairyland.

This winter scene, in varying degrees, has remained the same for all generations to cope with and to enjoy. But while time has been marching on, there have been big changes in winter pleasures and winter clothing.

We now have snowmobiles, indoor skating arenas and ski lifts to name a few. We have down-filled jackets, snowmobile suits, insulated underwear and moonboots to keep us warm.

But before all these wonderful new things came to be, there was ìanother time,î a much simpler time. Today might be a good day to jog the memory of all adults, a time to remember their childhoods in a Minnesota winter. Perhaps your reflections might parallel the memories of the following people.

Sleigh Bells

To the merry jingle of sleigh bells, Dick Cartier urged his horses to pull the sleigh a little faster. Snuggled in the sweet smelling hay, wearing wool caps and scarves, with thick blankets tucked under their chins, Cartierís nine children and their friends would be out enjoying the first snowfall with a ride guaranteed to delight the youngsters and including their Mom, Lucille and Dad.

Trooping into the farmhouse kitchen after the cold ride, Lucille always had hot chocolate and treats to warm everybody. (It takes a lot of energy for sleigh rides, especially if you were jumping off and on the sleigh).

The Cartier family lived on a farm near Centerville, but Dick worked for Northern States Power company. For many years Dick took two days of his vacation time to treat the school children of Centerville to a sleigh ride. It was a treat his many ìlittleî friends, now grown up, still remember and talk about. Different groups such as the Girl Scouts also enjoyed the timeless pleasure of a sleigh ride.

Dick is in United Hospital, St. Paul, at this time, and his friends are happy to know he is recuperating well.

Sliding on a Straw Stack

Out in Columbus Township where the land is quite flat, you wouldnít expect the children could do very much down hill sliding. But there was one farm that had a terrific man-made hill.

When old US-8 was being built, the late Frank Boehm sold dirt for the road construction and this left a dug-out area on his land. Mr. Boehm erected a straw stack on top of the bank and what a terrific slide that made! The Boehm children and all their neighborhood friends utilized this for sliding with whatever they owned... skis, toboggans or sleds.

In remembrance of this childhood fun time, Gertrude (Boehm) Hauble just marvels at the patience her mother had as the Boehm children and their friends came stomping into the kitchen, all covered with snow and ice, stamping their feet and dripping puddles of water on the hard-wood maple floor.

They all had to get warm, donít you know, and while they were thawing out (runny noses and all), their gloves and mittens were put on the wood range to dry. Somehow, Mrs. Boehm always just happened to have lots of cookies to go around, plus popcorn. And there were some fudge making times too.

Gertrude said another winter fun place to go was skating at Matt Haubles on Howard Lake, near the Columbus Town Hall. So letís see what went on there.

Ice Skating on Howard Lake

Picture if you will a clear, cold moonlit night, a bonfire burning brightly on shore and the swish, swish of skaterís blades on the ice. Anyone who has ever skated under a full moon has seen a night to remember for a long time.

It took effort to arrange this. Young Joe Hauble would mount a blade on the front of the tractor and clear a good-sized skating area on the lake while the rest of the family would gather rushes, cornstalks and sticks for a fire.

It wouldnít be long before the neighbor youngsters, the Boehms, Saxís, Houferís, Thurnbeckís and many more would show up to help and join the Hauble skaters.

Some nights they roasted hot dogs in the fire and consumed gallons of hot chocolate and pans full of popcorn.

Forest Lake has always been proud of the skating accomplishments of Rita (Hauble) Tetrault. Rita skated with the Shipstead & Johnson Ice Follies for four years and her love of skating started right there on Howard Lake. Rita is still involved with skating as a skating teacher at the Maroon and Gold Sports Center.

While the Columbus crowd was skating on a lake, another young mother of two recalls her skating fun.

Just a Little Duck Pond

About four miles west of town the Joe Tessier children were skating on a smaller scale... it was only a little duck pond in the cow yard. Therese (Tessier) Engquist recalls with a chuckle it was a case of four kids skating on about a four-by-four pond. Therese remembers how proud she was of her pretty white skates, but nobody saw them, only the cows.

Ice Boating

Tom Rolseth, our well-known local druggist, remarked that you donít see many ice boats on Forest Lake anymore. In the late 1930s the young fellows around town were quite involved with building their own ice boats.

They studied plans, hammered, sawed and sought the help of blacksmiths Denny Cyr and Oscar Hoglo for the iron work. Mothers sent off orders to Montgomery Wards for muslin to sew the sails.

The majority of boats were small and held one person. But, there were some larger boats made to hold two to four persons. All in all there were about 15 or 20 ice boats pulled up on shore just waiting to skim across the ice at breathtaking speed.

Art Forsberg designed and built several models for himself and he also built several to sell.

His wife, Marge, recalled her role as sailmaker. She used her foot treadle sewing machine to make this voluminous sail and she said after that she could only use it for heavy sewing.

Although the season is short for ice boating, it is exciting and exhilarating but not without its dangers too, as Art recalls an unforgettable incident one January day.

Art and the late Ralph Poirier were ice boating and as our lake can do, it had cracked open in the vicinity of the old ice house. Ralph, skimming at high speed, couldnít see the open area because of his sail. He plunged into the icy waters and fortunately Art could swing into the wind and rescue Ralph. By the time Art brought Ralph home he looked like the original iceman.

Granny and Ozzie Schmidt made an ice boat with a propeller and motor. But when they lost a race to Art and his sail, they decided to give up on their idea.

In addition to Tom Rolseth and Art, there were other ice boating enthusiasts: Howard Ruggles, Ward Lewis, Wally Langdon, Don Coleman and the late Art Palmer, Louis Carroll and Frank Fowler to name a few.

Art Forsberg went on to become a mechanical technician in the Flight Test division of Honeywell. He worked also in design and fabrication in a technical position.

Skiing

The skiers with their wide wooden skis would head for ìShelandersí Hill,î which by todayís skiing standards wasnít very high. But there was plenty of cross country skiing. A popular trip was the ìSki Trainî which originated in St. Paul with the destination Taylors Falls for a day of skiing, skating, etc.

Taylors Falls capitalized on its natural terrain for winter sports.

Winter Clothing

We must admire the good looking, extremely warm outer garments on the market today. Several generations can look back with a laugh or two on the clothes that were ìinî when they were young.

Nobody that ever had to wear ìfour buckle overshoesî would forget them. As a matter of fact, they were around a long time. I wore them and my son remembers looking down the cloakhall at school and seeing 30 pair of identical black overshoes all in a row.

The ìlong winter underwearî was the bain of every young girls existence. There was absolutely no way to make those folded over leg coverings fit smoothly under the cotton stockings. They were always lumpy. If the truth were known, many girls quickly rolled up the underwear legs before entering the school room.

Ladies Snowsuits and Boots

In the late 1930s the two-piece wool snowsuits started to be worn by the girls. They came in lovely colors and were so very warm. Light colored leather fleece lined ìsnowbootsî replaced the ìfour bucklesî and ìstadium bootsî became another popular footwear.

War Surplus Clothing

Men and women beat a fast path to the war surplus stores after the end of World War II.

The special flight suits that cost the government a lot of money to have made, now could be purchased for a very nominal sum. These leather sheep-lined flight pants, jackets and caps, made to be worn by the Air Force Pilots in the upper atmosphere, were just the thing for ice fishing in our climate.

During the first ice fishing contests by V.F.W. Post 4210, there was such a high percentage of fishermen and fisherwomen wearing these outer garments, we all looked alike out there.

ìSnowed Inî

When we all woke up to a white world a few weeks ago, we were all affected in various ways.

My own reaction was complete relaxation... with a fire burning all day long in the fireplace, plenty of food, with electricity and telephone working and an exciting book to read, I probably had as near a perfect day as I could ever have.

ìBlizzard partiesî can be the neighborhood get-togethers of the year, the fun of just trying to get to the party while carrying a hot dish for the pot luck can be hilarious. Card playing, charades and just plain old fashioned fun like popping corn and trying to remember how to pull taffy.

Of course there are the disappointments of far away guests not arriving, the cancellations of events and there are also severe hardships with a snowstorm.

No matter how many post cards one received from friends and relatives in warm climates saying ìyou should be here,î thereís a big feeling of accomplishment in coping with a Minnesota snowstorm.

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