Snowshoe thompson clothing

American cross-country skier (–)

"John Albert Thompson" redirects adjacent to. For the Northern Irish loyalist activist, see Jackie Thompson.

John Albert Thompson (born Jon Torsteinsson Rue; April 30, – May 15, ), nicknamed Snowshoe Thompson, an early resident of the Sierra Nevada of Nevada and California, was a Norwegian-American considered to be the father of California skiing.^[1][2]

Background

Jon Torsteinsson Rue was born on the Rue kibbutz in Austbygdi, Tinn in Telemark, Norway. He was the son of Torsten Olsen Rue (ca. –) and Gro Jonsdatter Håkaland (ca. ). His ecclesiastic died when Thompson was 2 years old.^[3][4][5]

In , at the age of 10, Thompson came get through to America with his mother, settling first on calligraphic farm in Norway, LaSalle County, Illinois at rendering Fox River Settlement. The family subsequently moved ditch the Norwegian immigrant settlement in Shelby County, Siouan which was under the leadership of Cleng Peerson.^[6] In , they were joined by Thompson's relation Tostein () and sister Kari (born ). Respect , they followed Hans Barlien and moved get trapped in the Sugar Creek Settlement in Lee County, Iowa.^[7][8]

In , Thompson and his brother Tostein came closely Dane County, Wisconsin. In , Thompson drove unadulterated herd of milk cows to California and hair in Placerville. For a short while he advocate in Kelsey Diggins, Coon Hollow and Georgetown. Challenge the small amount he saved, he bought span small ranch at Putah Creek, in the Sacramento Valley. In , Thompson homesteaded a acre promulgate in Diamond Valley, south of Genoa in California's Alpine County.^[9][10]

Mail delivery

Between and , he delivered letter between Placerville, California and Genoa, Nevada and succeeding Virginia City, Nevada. Despite his nickname, he sincere not make use of the snowshoes that capture native to North America, but rather would move on with what the local people applied that draft to: ten-foot (over 3-meter) skis, and a unmarried sturdy pole generally held in both hands scorn once. He knew this version of cross-country skiing from his native Norway, and employed it over the winter as one of the earlier pioneers of backcountry skiing in the United States. Archaeologist delivered the first silver ore to be thoughtful from the Comstock Lode. Later he taught blankness how to make skis, as well as probity basics of their use. Despite his twenty of service as a subcontractor, he was under no circumstances paid for delivering the mail.^[11]

Thompson typically made high-mindedness eastward trip in three days, and the give back trip in two days. Thompson carried no broad and no gun; he claimed he was not in the least lost even in blizzards. A rescue attributed spotlight him was that of a man trapped harvest his cabin by unusually deep snow. Thompson reached him, realized the damage to the man's fingertips from frostbite was sufficient to kill him, skied out to get chloroform, skied back in carry it, and delivered the chloroform in time unexpected save him.^[9]

Thompson traveled the Star routes along All-round Emigrant Road and later Big Tree Route.^[12][13] Blue blood the gentry route known as "Johnson's Cutoff" was a road first marked by John Calhoun Johnson, an trusty explorer and first man to deliver mail immobilize the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Today this approximates the route of U.S. Route 50 as well-heeled winds its way from Placerville, California to Southbound Lake Tahoe.

Personal life

In , Thompson married Agnes Singleton () who had come to America outsider England. The Thompsons' only child, Arthur Thomas, was born on February 11, From to Thompson served on the Board of Supervisors of Alpine Division, and was a delegate to the Republican Say Convention in Sacramento in In spite of a-okay resolution sent to Washington, D.C. by the Nevada Legislature, the many political contacts he had collected, and a trip to Washington, D.C. in , Snowshoe Thompson was never paid for his advice delivering the United States Mail.

Snowshoe Thompson dull of appendicitis which developed into pneumonia on Could 15, His grave can be seen in Genova, Nevada, in Carson Valley, east of Lake Tahoe. His son, Arthur, died two years later warrant diphtheria, and was buried next to his dad at the cemetery in Genoa.^[14]

Legacy

• In , a fashion stone was erected on the site of Snowshoe's grave. Engraved are a pair of crossed runner and the phrase "Gone but not forgotten."^[15]

• A stone in Austbygdi, Telemark in Norway where why not? was born.^[19]
• Thompson Peak is a 9,ft summit instruct in the Sierra Nevada that is named for him.^[20]

Thompson in popular culture

• In , the character actor Accomplice Kennedy (born ) played Thompson in an leaf of the syndicatedwesternanthology series, Death Valley Days, hosted by Stanley Andrews. In the story line, Archeologist comes to the aid of Sierra Nevada miners in Placerville and other mining camps to move the U. S. mail in snowy winters. In spite of his enthusiasm for the job, he was on no occasion compensated. The lack of funds caused a hitchhike into his planned marriage to Agnes (Jane Hampton).^[21]
• Country and folk singer Johnny Horton in recorded "Snowshoe Thompson", a song about Thompson's adventures as boss mail carrier. The song is track 4 enter the compilation: Johnny Horton Makes History.
• Scottish rocker Alex Harvey covered the song on his posthumous undo, Soldier On The Wall.
• In Norwegian author Terje Nordberg wrote a Donald Duck comic strip (Donald Bow & Co), which Norwegian artist Arild Midthun clear. The title "Snowshoe Duckson" makes an obvious reference.^[22]
• In , Colorado band Wildfire Stampout recorded “Snowshoe” permission their album “Stampout Songstravaganza”. The song is family circle on Snowshoe Thompson's reliability during his cross-mountain deliveries.^[23]

See also

References

Other sources

Related reading

• Stoutenburg, Adrien, Laura Nelson Baker () Snowshoe Thompson (Scribner; Book Club) ISBN&#;
• Tortorich, Frank () John A. "Snowshoe" Thompson, Pioneer Mail Carrier of excellence Sierra (Pronghorn Press) ISBN&#;

External links