The MONTREAL SNOW SHOE CLUB
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THE Montreal Snow Shoe Club, ITS HISTORY AND RECORD, SYNOPSIS OF THE RACING EVENTS OF OTHER CLUBS THROUGHOUT THE DOMINION, FROM 1840 TO THE PRESENT TIME. By HUGH W. BECKET, Vice-Pfetidert Monlreal Snow Shoe Ciub, Director airf T'Mfurer Mo'-t'ta! Amgtev,' A*-!elic Afsocialien. jlUntrcnl ; PRINTFr' RY BKCKI-I HrOS.. 224 ?T. jAMFf St. 1882, Entered according to Act of Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and eighty-two, by H. W, Becket, Montreal, Province of Quebec, in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture and Statistics at Ottawa, Ont. ^yya •,^^ • .P^-^i- TQ MT CaMPwAIJES uF THE MONTREAL SNOW SHOE CLUB THIS WuRK^ "iPiTXlGsc princlpai pU.rpj55 15 \Z> Tsiats tilS hiatory af tii= z\± " Tii!^ua Elsua/' I:: imzsi^lLLTi: U i-L f UiiJUlUilTt^Di PREFACE. When I first essayed to give to the friends of the " Montreal " a history of the Chib, I had an idea that a small pamphlet would suffice. As time went on and the history was being written up, it became evident that it would be necessary —in order to the completeness, so desirable in works of a like na tare— to embrace accounts of races and meetings held under the auspices of other organizations, at which members ofthe " Tuque Bleue," or those who subsequently joined its ranks, took part. This entailed more labour than was anticipated, though, happily, I was partly prepared for the task, having had in my youth the usual boyish desire to " '' keep a scrap book ; and my fancy turning to legitimate Amateur Athletic sports I was enabled to compile from these scraps, detailed reports' of all the recorded snow-shoe racing events which have taken place in Canada, since the year 1840. In many instances, my personal observation is responsible for the accuracy of the information contained in this Book, and it is believed the re- cords may be accepted as thoroughly trustworthy. VI Appeals have been made by^me to the veteran members of the Club, for reminiscences of the early days of the club's existence, but the great treasure house from which it has been my privilege to draw, has been the vigorous memory of our oldest member and Honorary President, Nicholas H. Hughes, Esq. To Messrs. W. L. ^[altby, D. E. Bowie, W. G. Beers, W. H. Whyte, R. D. McGibbon, John K. Reid, John Horn, John Leslie (Ottawa) and T. A. Anderson (Quebec) I am indebted for much valu- able assistance, in the preparation of the work which is now submitted to the public. HUGH W. BECKET. tllKVTA \sn Af>»E.vnA. " '' '• On page .;r —for \V. Herbert read W. Fle- ber," 17th line from top. " " On page 94 — for 3 m. 5 sec," read 3 m. 58 sec," 5th line from bottom. On page 112— for '• Townsend" read "W. Town- send," 15th line from top. On page 112 - for " (M) " in parenthesis read "(A)" 5th line from bottom. On page 113— see Reports of "Aurora" Club's "walks," in years 186 i-i 862-1863, and 3 mile running race, 1S64. On page 128—see Errata and Addenda page. On page 156—for " 1869" read " 1868,'' 2nd line from top. On page 212 —For second heat ''pipe race," read *' third" heat, nth line from top. On page 228—for " Thomas Foy " read " W. K. Roy," 1 2 th line from top. On page 301—for " 1876'" read " 1S75'' i ith line from bottom* vni " On page 318 —lime in dub cup race. " 13-54, real "13 44." 13th line from top. *' On page 506—see Report Levis (Que ) Club' Races, partly omitted on page 287. On pages 506 and 508— see Rci^vii, Terra Nova"' Club Steeple Chases, omitted at dates. On page 507 —see Report of Annual Meeting of Montreal Club of 1876 7, omitted in Season. On page 508 —see Report, final heat, ^^o^vat- Starke Race, omitted in Season 1876 7. iHE history of the Montreal Snow Shoe ^Club, during an existence of over forty years, ^ would supply matter sufficient for a huge volume, but in the " contemplation of the * present" by its early members, and in the ab- T sence of official minutes, many interesting events have passed into oblivion. Tradition and the memory of the "oldest member" have done their best for the writer, who will endeavour to give as accurate a sketch of the early days of the Club, as possible under the circumstances. In the year 1840, the club numbered twelve members, who tramped out of town once a week, on Saturday afternoon. On their return after a ten or twelve mile walk, they repaired to a famous Cafe on St. James Street, near the corner of St. Peter Street, kept by L. Tetu, whose hospitable board afforded every luxury relished by the jolly crew, in those days representing our now flourishing Club. Should we dive deeper into the mysteries and seek why our early Snow Shoe men patronized " the Cafe," I fear that other and more potent reasons than the choice viands tempted their presence, for tradition hath it, that the Snow Shoe men of that era were quite as susceptible to the charms of female beauty and worth as the " heroes of the Shoes" at the present time, and Dame Rumour A has accused more than one of the handsome fel- lows who stretched their pedal extremities imder mine host Tetu's mahogany, of being attracted thither through the mesmeric influence of the fair dame presiding over the establishment in con- junction with her lord. Here too was found that genial youth, Henry Hogan whose "make up" of a bowl of punch, served to magnetize those from whom old age had eradicated the last traces of the tender passion. Before leaving this part of our subject perliaps the names of a few of these wortliies would not be out of place, and many who read this will remember the strapping fellows " who went snow shoeing a long time ago." Many of them have passed away, leaving ''ohve branches,"who have nobly trod in their shoes, though smaller—a few however remain, steady,stout old padres /ami/lev, whose shape serves as a fearful warning to those of us, whose youth is the only safeguard from a like fate. Still we must not laugh as we come across these stout old gentlemen, who laid the foundation of our Club, for ere 40 years pass over our heads we may be only too glad if we are here to "go and do likewise." Who can forget the splendid specimens of manhood in the Ermatin- gers,the Lamontagnes, Lamothes, and others of that time, who have passed away or ceased to take interest in the Club, or later on, Nicholas Hughes ; Burroughs, Fred. Matthews, Harris, (,"ol. Duches- nay, C. J. Coursol, (late Judge of Quarter Sessions, now ]M.P., for ^Montreal East, etc.,) R. H. Stephens, Frank Brown, Geo. E. Colthurst, who now resides (or till recently did) on an Estate in Ireland, and no doubt remembers with pleasure his tramps on snow shoes o'er Canadian snows : also E. Goff Penny, senior editor of the " Herald" and one of Canada's Senators —with others, whose names have escaped memory. These were the men who formed our club and when we think of them now, how we regret the absence of the official minutes to tell us of their jolly gatherings around the festive board, when the more substantial viands being cleared away, the steaming " bowl of punch" lent its aid to loosen t!ie tongues of those genial and witty companions. Great interest is always excited by tales of the doings of those veterans, and there is no lack of attention when any old member " crops up" at one of the weekly tramps, and delights us by reminis- cences of the early days of the Club. And our stalwart Honorary President, always succeeds in rivetting attention, as he recounts in troubadour style the deeds of those honoured in the past "when Frank Dowd accomplished three long miles over hill and through forest in 25 minutes," in the famous St. Hyacinthe scuiTy —closely followed by Hughes and Rintoul, while Romeo Stephens m guileless innocence, found himself and a host of others after half an hour's hard running farther from the winning post than when they started. Later still of the trip to St. Vincent de Paul with such hair-breadth escapes and adventures as were surely never matched by any other expedition. Parys has reduced this to verse, (which will be given further on) —and night after night the Club Room echoes with the chorus that tells us how they "walked and walked," and how Rambeau gave out and laid himself down " Alongside a fence to die" how Charlie Meyer "left a bloody track o'er twenty miles of snow" until they reached a *' Stovepipe village, but nol" " St. Vincent de Paul"' and when they had ordered dinner, " Up sprang Rambeau the liveliest of them all.'' Then of the expedition to St. Johns, when five men raced fourteen miles, arriving in the following order : Fred. Castles, C. P. Davidson, Stewart, Hughes and Radiger. Not being satisfied with the result of the " run" to St. Johns, the men made up a race home, which Fred. Castles gamely won, running from City Hall to City Hall in four hours, the second man arriving on St. Lambert bank of the River as '•' P'red" struggled up the Montreal side. Of other tramps particularly one to Lachine ren- dered immortal by himself in verse,uhen two officers of the 47th Regiment, Lieut's DeBalinhard and Pre- vost, thought to lead the club there in a race and after a hard run over hill, through wood and valley found themselves tar in the rear as the welcome portals of Laflamme's Hotel, closed behind the leading men of the " Montreal," John and H.