What's Your Best Winter Memory?

C OOurur TTownown Rod Boyce, managing editor, 459-7585; Twitter: @FDNMeditor Saturday, March 9, 2013 About Quads The Jeffery Quad was produced beginning in 1913 by the Thomas B. Jeffery Company in Kenosha, Wis. The company later became Nash Motors, renaming the vehicle the Nash Quad. The boxy World War I era truck featured the following: • 32-brake horsepower Rambler engine • 15 mile-per-hour top speed • 5.2 mile-per-gallon gas consumption • Four-speed transmission • Four-wheel-drive • 1914 production of 3,096 vehicles Sources: Eagle Historical Society, Antique Automobile Club of America Photos by Jeff Richardson Eagle Historical Society board member John Borg points out mechanical features on the 1914 Jeffery Quad in Eagle. The vehicle, which still runs, has been owned by the Historical Society for more than a decade. By JEFF History on wheels RICHARDSON Century-old Jeffery Quad still cruising in Eagle Remnants of the past are everywhere in the imprinted with a “C” and the brake has a “B” on it. It tops out Yukon River village of Eagle, but nowhere is at about 15 miles per hour. that fact more striking than in the anonymous At least once a year the Quad water wagon shed at Historic Fort Egbert. works its way through the streets of Eagle during the Fourth of When Eagle Historical caravan that pursued the July parade, which is why it’s Society board member revolutionary general Pancho decorated with tiny American John Borg rolls open the door Villa into Mexico. flags. With its hand-crank to the old wooden building, he But some of them also headed starter, Borg can still bring it to reveals an unexpected auto north to the young and relatively life with a little effort. museum. The shed at the unpopulated territory of Alaska. “I need an apprentice, and former Army post contains a Borg said the Eagle Historical I need to write down the 1925 Model T truck, a vintage Society has tracked down four instructions for starting it,” he road grader and a 1932 Model that were brought up by the said with a smile. B dump truck. But perhaps Northern Commercial Co. in A running century-old vehicle most notably, it also houses a 1915. At least one arrived in is a rarity, and Eagle’s Jeffery 1914 Jeffery Quad. Eagle on the barge from Circle Quad is no different. Borg Exactly how it spent its life in before heading up the Yukon knows of only one other Quad Eagle remains something of soon afterward to Dawson City. in the U.S. that runs, a model a mystery, but the old vehicle The Quad emerged in a in Albany, Minn., that chugs has become the pride of the transportation museum in down the street with old farming Whitehorse collection. in the 1990s and equipment during local parades. was eventually purchased by the “We’ve got some good Only 3,096 Quads were Eagle Historical Society. It was theories, but we don’t know why produced in 1914, according fixed up in Fairbanks before or who,” Borg said. to the Antique Automobile returning to Eagle in about Anyone who hasn’t heard of Club of America, but the club 2000. the Jeffery Quad can be forgiven doesn’t keep records of the The Jeffery has a four-cylinder — the boxy trucks were first number that are still functioning. Rambler gasoline engine, four- produced a century ago in Based on the response the Kenosha, Wis., Thomas speed manual transmission, at the Quad still gets today, the novelty B. Jeffery factory. The four-wheel drive and four-wheel isn’t lost on visitors to Eagle. workhorse Quads were built for steering. It even still has the “I have taken hundreds of the U.S. military to replace mule original owner’s manual, Borg The old Jeffrey Quad, which first arrived in people here through the years, teams and were used during said. Eagle in 1915, is a boxy four-wheel drive and they are always just blown truck that was likely used in the mining indus- World War I as troop transports The vehicle is old enough away,” Borg said. try in Eagle and, later, Dawson City. The Eagle and ambulances. Their moment that its pedals include basic Historical Society acquired the vehicle in the of glory may have come when instructions for drivers unfamiliar Contact staff writer Jeff Richardson at late 1990s from a transportation museum in 459-7518 or email him at jrichardson@ Whitehorse. they were part of a slow-moving with cars. The clutch pedal is newsminer.com. What’s your best winter memory? I see that the forecast is creeping up to and warped sense of humor, send us a photo of beyond the freezing point around here. you standing outside in shorts in front of a The calendar doesn’t lie: The end is near. temperature sign that says 40 below zero. Of winter, that is. You get the idea. So this is a great time for me to ask you to I’m one of those people who just loves the send in some photos of your best memory Fairbanks winter lifestyle. One of my favorite of the 2012-13 snow season. Send along memories of this winter was watching my 9- a paragraph or two of description, too. year-old daughter go mushing with three of our Maybe it’s a photo of a giant snowman dogs. Now she wants to run the Junior Yukon next to the driveway. Or of a snow fort your Quest. kids built. Or of animal tracks in the snow. Send photos to [email protected] Or of your family having a great time in what so we can share them with your friends and for many people is the reason to be here neighbors and other readers around Our Town. — the snow and the recreation opportunity it — Rod Boyce, managing editor, who after provides. 19 years in Fairbanks still thinks this is a cool place to be. Rod Boyce photo Or, if you’re one of those people with a Email: [email protected] Edie Boyce is seen mushing dogs. Butterscotch is in lead, Zorro and Tank are Twitter: @FDNMeditor in wheel..

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