Section A - The Vermont Standard

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A Special
Commemorative
Edition of the
Vermont
Standard
In cooperation with the
Woodstock Resort Corporation
and the
Friends of Woodstock Winters
March 12, 2009 • WOODSTOCK
7
Foreward
Vermont Standard, Woodstock
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t’s nice to see Sherm Howe getting some long-overdue
recognition for his hard work at chronicling Vermont
history. Sherm is the type who labors quietly behind
the scenes, never seeking the spotlight, but always working
tirelessly for causes in which
he believes. One of these is
preserving the story of skiing in
Woodstock. His marriage into the
legendary Fisk family brought
him face to face with important
players of the Woodstock ski saga.
Over the years he’s continued his
important mission, forming the
Friends of Woodstock Winners
with his wife of over 50 years, the
late “Petie” Fisk Howe.
Sherm recently received a Life
(Lynn Bohannon Photo)
Time Achievement Award from
the Vermont Historical Society. This year’s Woodstock Annual
Village Report is dedicated in his honor. It is with immense
gratitude and respect that we dedicate this historic document
marking the 75th anniversary of the first ski tow in the U.S. to
Sherm Howe.
VERMONT STANDARD
Established in 1853
Published every Thursday by Vermont Standard, Inc.
PO Box 88, Woodstock, Vermont 05091
(802) 457-1313 Fax (802) 457-3639
www.thevermontstandard.com
Publisher: Phillip Cabot Camp Sr., [email protected]
General Manager: Jon Estey, [email protected]
Business Manager
Jean Maynes
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Editor
Kevin Forrest
[email protected]
Production Manager
Lisa Wright
[email protected]
Advertising Sales Representatives
Jim Kelly
[email protected]
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[email protected]
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Second Class postage paid at Woodstock, Vermont 05091
Publication No. USPS 658-020. Rights to printed advertising material which
are the creative efforts of its staff, as well as illustrations and printed material
supplied by The Vermont Standard, reside with the company.
(Postcard Coutesy of Jonathan Robinson)
LONG BEFORE the White Cupboard Skiway opened at Gilbert’s Hill, the farm was the subject of many picturesque
postcards.
Far Beyond Our Own Sunny Slopes…
W
oodstock’s great ski heritage reflects ramifications
that shimmer far beyond the sunny slopes
surrounding the shire town.
In this snowy cradle of winter recreation, the following
“firsts” have been noted:
• The oldest racing club—the Ski Runners—in the United
States
• The first ski lift in the U.S.
• The first ski bobs, manufactured right here in Woodstock,
in the U.S.
• The country’s first night skiing, at Gilbert’s Hill north of
Woodstock Village in 1935.
• America’s first ski reports (postcards from the White
Cupboard!)
• Vermont’s first female Olympic team members – Ursula
Visit our Vera Bradley Showroom
For the newest styles & colors
of the season
and Margretta Fisk.
• First US National Snowboard Championship at Suicide Six
You can read more about this important developments inside
this special issue. But it’s easy to see how early trends and
tones of the ski industry were set right in our back yard.
This has been a long, complicated endeavor and wouldn’t
have become reality with the patience, diligence, humor and
hard work of the following people: Jack Anderson, Gary
Avigne and the Woodstock Resort Corp., Paul Bousquet,
Paul Graves, Sherm Howe, Jonathan Robinson and Heidi
White.
We are proud to play a role in chronicling this important
history on the 75th anniversary of the first ski tow in the
United. States. We hope this special supplement will find a
place in many peoples’ historic collections.
Complete Out¿tters for Man & Beast
286 Waits River Road Bradford, Vermont
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Vermont Standard, Woodstock
Thursday March 12, 2009
Page Three-A
ears o,
CLINTON GILBERT
MADE IT
asie
i i.
TO GET UP A
Getting own,
HOWEVER,
WA S S T I L L
ANOTHER
tor.
As much fun as it is to look back in time, at The Woodstock Inn & Resort we’re committed to looking
forward to the next 75 years and beyond by delivering an unparalleled vacation experience. As we welcome
visitors from around the world, at the heart of our commitment to excellence and to the community will
always be the unique joy and beauty of Woodstock, Vermont — the birthplace of the American ski industry.
14 The Green | 800.448.7900 | woodstockinn.com
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19th Century Innovations Lay Groundwork For Winter Wonderland
By PAUL BOUSQUET
Special To The Standard
n todayʼs world, winter is enjoyed in comparative comfort with a host
of amenities and surrounded by the technological advantages of the
21st century. The elements of topography, disposable income, leisure
time, transportation, accommodations, communications, and resorts have
coalesced to provide outstanding recreational opportunities for millions of
winter sports enthusiasts in the region. Improvements in both clothing and
equipment have allowed for a broad cross-section of society to enjoy winter, most especially skiing. This appeal created an economy unknown to the
region until well into the 20th century.
Accounts of the 1800s pictured life as austere. While the century has
been characterized as Woodstockʼs “Golden Age” with many of the churches, grand homes, and much of the commercial district we see today being
built during this period, winter activity and travel was restricted by roads
that were often impassable. Most residents of the area confined themselves
to their homes and farms, keeping warm around fireplaces and woodstoves,
venturing outside to do only chores absolutely necessary. Horse-drawn
rollers packed the snow on some of the town highways, enabling easier
sleigh travel. One can only imagine how difficult it was in winter trying to
slog from outlying farms to town for supplies.
Early settlers had cleared the heavily forested mountainsides and valleys
to make room for homesteads, farms, and pastures. Sheep farming became
the dominant endeavor not only in the region, but in the entire state of
Vermont where it is said 1.7 million sheep were being raised. Spurred by
tariffs on imported wool products in the early 19th Century, 75 percent of
the land was cleared of forests to accommodate the nearly 16,000 sheep
in Woodstock alone. Not even forests on the summits of Mount Tom and
Mount Peg were spared.
The advent of the Industrial Revolution coupled with the pioneer push
westward in the United States eventually brought an end to the thriving
sheep industry in the region.
It was the vision of Frederick Billings, a native Vermonter, who after
returning in the late 1860ʼs having made his fortune in the California Gold
Rush era, set about establishing a scientific approach to farming. Guided
by the precepts of another great visionary, George Perkins Marsh, Billings
began reforesting Mt. Tom and the barren land that had suffered from the
effects of erosion. Thanks to the pioneer effort of Billings, the forest on Mt.
Tom is the oldest managed forest in the United States.
With the benefit of his experience as a major stockholder and former
president of the Northern Pacific Railroad, the imaginative Billings
spearheaded construction of the 14-mile rail line linking Woodstock with
White River Junction in 1875. Trains powered by steam revolutionized
travel and life throughout the world. While horse-drawn travel remained
the dominant transportation in and around the region, travelers and
products moved more cheaply and easily in less time over longer distances
by rail.
What was characterized as a somewhat insular society had now been
opened to welcome visitors “from away.”
Not long after it was first settled in the 1700s (settlers perhaps having
been driven out of Massachusetts by oppressive taxes imposed by the British), Woodstock became the Shire City for Windsor County. To accommodate business travelers, Woodstockʼs first hotel was built back in 1792, later
known as the Eagle Hotel. In 1892, it was replaced on the same site by the
original Woodstock Inn to better serve the more discerning guest.
I
IN 1910 the Woodstock Inn and the Country
Club teamed up to build a two-slot, 1,000-foot
long toboggan chute on Mt. Peg, above. The
ride to the top was provided by horse-power.
The earliest known photograph of Woodstock
in winter can be seen below, in March of
1854. At left, ski fashion at the turn of the 20th
century included huge eight-foot skis and a
single ski pole.
(Photos courtesy of Friends of Woodstock Winters
and the Woodstock Historical Society)
THE FOLLOWING SPONSORS SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGE WOODSTOCK’S UNIQUE SKI HISTORY
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Woodstock, VT
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Woodstock, VT
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Monday-Friday 7 am - 4 pm
Saturday 8 am - Noon
Route 4 Between
Woodstock and Quechee
www.brittonslumberyard.com
Now A Full Purina Dealer
Woodstock
Glass Works
470 Woodstock Road
Woodstock, Vermont
802-457-1950
www.woodstockglassworks.com
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South Pomfret, VT 05067
802-457-9339
Village
Butcher
Elm Street
Woodstock, VT
802-457-2756
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Genial Inn Manager Arthur Wilder Puts The Off-Season Back On
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ts Victorian architecture and amenities ranked with the best of New
England inns. It had 100 guest rooms within its four stories, each floor
having separate toilets and bathrooms for men and for women (privies
began to be replaced with flush toilets in the 1880s). While the building
was heated by a steam boiler, the hotel was only open for summer seasonal
guests. It was closed in winter. Not until radiators were installed in the individual rooms in the early 20th Century was the opportunity presented to
accommodate winter tourism.
W. Storrs Lee in his book, The Green Mountains of Vermont stated that
the Inn became “Vermontʼs first winter sports center for tourists, and for
two decades its riotous winter parties were the talk of Boston and Montreal
sportsmen.” Lee recounts in glowing words how visitors arrived by train in
Woodstock to be met by colorful, horse-drawn sleighs. He described how
the primary winter sports were snowshoeing, skating, sleighing, and tobogganing.
Early winter enthusiasts did not need entertainment; they made their
own. For example, a group of 50
members of the snowshoe division
of the Boston Appalachian Club
made an annual pilgrimage to the
Woodstock Inn. They would snowshoe on trails throughout the day
then, with flares, would snowshoe
by night to the top of Mount Tom
to surround a waiting bonfire, eat a
cold supper and sing songs.
Arthur Wilder, the genial host
and longtime manager (1897
– 1935) of the Woodstock Inn
is credited with being the father
of the recreational industry in
Vermont. His promotional skills
combined with his expertise as an
innkeeper energized and attracted
thousands of guests both summer
and winter. Especially noted was
his enthusiasm and interest toward winter sports. While records indicate
that the inn was seldom full except for the holidays, Wilder made it a point
that everyone, young and old, had an enjoyable experience. Sleigh rides,
ice skating on the Pogue on Mount Tom, and tobogganing and sledding on
Mount Peg were highlights. The Inn teamed with the Country Club in 1910
to operate a winter sports center. Imagine a two-track, 1,000ʼ long toboggan chute lighted by electric lights (the Woodstock Power Company began
distributing electricity from its generator plant at the dam in Taftsville in
1894). These straight chutes were hand-dug out of the snow, then watered
to provide an ice surface on which toboggan and sled riders could rocket
down the chutes for the ride of their lives. Teams of horses were on hand to
pull the toboggans back to the top of Mt. Peg. In addition to over 20 toboggans, nearly three dozen pairs of skis, 100 pairs of snowshoes and double
runner sleds were made available by the Inn.
At about this time two enterprising brothers, Allen and Leo Bourdon
took space in the old mill where the Rec Center now stands and began a
business under the name of the Woodstock Manufacturing Co.
THE WOODSTOCK INN shortly after completion in 1892,
left. The Inn’s lobby as it appeared in the early 1900s can be
seen above. Arthur Wilder, Woodstock Inn Manager and winter
activities enthusiast, inset, far left. A winter outing and picnic
organized by the Woodstock Inn, below, with Arthur Wilder seen
on the left end.
(Photos courtesy of the Friends of Woodstock Winters and the Woodstock Historical Society)
Attention to Detail.
I REALIZED
cold is just a
state of mind.
Miranda Thomas; RNB banker, Joe Boyd; and Charles Shackleton.
An appreciation of fine craftsmanship led Charles Shackleton and
In furniture-building,
Miranda Thomas to establish their furniture and pottery studio in
Bridgewater. That same appreciation for craftsmanship may be one
pottery-making and
reason they began doing business with Randolph National Bank. At
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7
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Vermont Standard, Woodstock
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Bourdon Brothers Build 40 Meter Ski Jump At Country Club
T
hey produced skis and sleds in large quantities. In 1913, they
patented their coaster idea, calling it the ski-bob, using two-eight
foot runners under a sled-like frame using two handrails for
control. So popular were these ski-bobs, they were widely distributed
through upscale sporting goods dealers such as Abercrombie & Fitch,
Spaulding, and Wright & Ditson. One of these is on display at the
Woodstock Historical Society.
The Bourdon brothers, gathering ideas from the jump built at Dartmouth, joined with Wilder to build an impressive 40-meter ski jump at
the Woodstock Country Club. A wooden trestle was built with a landing
and outrun that crossed onto the sixth hole fairway heading toward the
first hole. Apparently, if all else failed in trying to turn the long threegrooved heavy jumping skis to stop, the Kedron Brook would be the
ultimate destination. The chilling thought of ending in the brook was
usually enough incentive to somehow stop before reaching it.
In todayʼs world, we view exploits of extreme skiing and snowboarding adventures in the high backcountry. Those are no more harrowing than what was taking place in the backyards of Woodstock in
the early 1900ʼs.
Harry Ambrose, in his book “From the Horses Mouth,” paints an exciting picture of winter fun. The Bourdon brothers set the pace with derring-do riding their ski-bobs off the Country Club jump, often flying as
far as the ski jumpers (100 feet). Dartmouth jumpers such as Fred Harris
(founder of the Dartmouth Outing Club), John Carlton, Charlie Proctor,
and Dick Bowler, not wanting to be outdone, would demonstrate their
prowess by plunging off the jump three skiers side-by-side. Carlton
would “wow” the crowd with his spectacular somersaults off the jump.
Growing up, Ambrose and his “River Street Gang” reveled in winter
on sleds and skis. He and his pals made their own fun. When not trying
to ski down the back yards onto the Ottauquechee River without falling, kids formed a chute further and further up the steep bank behind
the elementary school to slide down on the seat of their pants, a piece of
cardboard or, better yet, a metal pie plate.
Ambroseʼs neighbors, Jack and Dean Moore, were the proud owners
of a “traverse,” a long sled made up of two short sleds, one behind the
other, connected by a long plank on which four or five kids could sit upright. According to Ambroseʼs account, the local kids would drag their
“traverses” (Mountain Avenue residents Vaughn and Charlie McDonald
also had one) up the carriage road which in winter was packed down
from logging operations all the way up to Pogue Pond then race side-byside careening down the entire length of the carriage road to the Billings
mansion. Imagine the rollicking time the young kids of Woodstock had
in the late 1920ʼs – early 30ʼs.
While the children enjoyed those winters, the early ʻ30ʼs was the time
of Prohibition as well as the Great Depression. The Woodstock railroad
that at one time ran three times a day shut down operations in 1932, and
the Inn closed its doors in winter during the ʻ30ʼs. There was a pause in
the life of Woodstock. But soon a dramatic event would take place that
would alter winter life forever.
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THE SKIBOB, left,
invented by Allen and Leo
Bourdon is demonstrated at
Woodstock Country Club,
circa 1913. A 40-meter
ski jump at Woodstock
Country Club, below,
was also constructed by
the Bourdon brothers
at the same location.
Snowshoeing, bottom,
was one of the earliest
winter recreation activities
popularized in the region.
Dogsledding behind the
Woodstock Inn, bottom
left, in the 1920.
(Photos courtesy of
Woodstock Historical Society and the
Friends of Woodstock Winters)
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Vermont Standard, Woodstock
Thursday March 12 2009
Celebrate Skiing
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Bunny Bertram And A Model T Engine Ignite A New Industry
By HEIDI WHITE
Special To The Standard
rior to January of 1934, skiing in Vermont was not an undertaking
for the quadricep-challenged. In order to get up the hills, one
would have to walk, whether in boots alone or on skis with
sealskins attached. The skis of that day were more like the telemark skis
of today, with the boot clipped in only by the toe, allowing the heel to
roam free for easier uphill walking.
In early January, three New York businessmen—who had spent
most of the day climbing the slopes to enjoy a few brilliant moments
skiing down—sat at the White Cupboard Inn, chatting with innkeepers
Elizabeth and Robert Royce. The group consisted of a broker named
Thomas Gammack, Douglas Burden, who would later develop Florida’s
Marineland, and a man named Barklie Henry. Gammack is credited with
saying to Mrs. Royce, “You ought to be able to think of something to
get us up these hills.
Each of us is spending
$40 apiece to enjoy a
weekend in Vermont,
yet the most we can do
in a day is to climb a
hill half-a-dozen times.
We want to get in all the
skiing we can on these
weekends. We want to
be carried uphill.”
Wallace “Bunny”
Bertram was the former
captain of Dartmouth’s
first ski team and a
snowshoe coach at the
college. He had given
the three men lessons
on Clint Gilbert’s Hill
(formerly a sheep
pasture) earlier in the
day and talked to Burden about a rope tow he had seen in Canada that he
had heard was powered by an old automobile. According to a transcribed
conversation between Bunny and Ava Emerson in July of 1979, Bunny
was in the room when the three businessmen were badgering Elizabeth
about easing their uphill trek. As the conversation heated up, Bunny
asked Mr. Royce if he had a Sears or a Montgomery Ward catalogue so
that he could estimate the cost of the rope for such a pull. According to
Bunny, Mr. Royce asked Bunny what he wanted the rope for, and when
he deduced what Bunny was planning, made certain to rent the hill
before Bunny got to it, paying Gilbert ten dollars for the season.
The ski tow cost $500 altogether, $300 coming from the three New
York businessmen who each invested $100. It ran a 900-foot incline,
hoisting skiers up with 1800 feet of rope that circled through pulleys that
were attached to a tree at the top and to the drivewheel of the Model T
Ford at the bottom of the hill.
P
THE FIRST SKI TOW
in America, above, first
operated in January, 1934
at the White Cupboard Inn
Skiway at Clint Gilbert’s
Farm. Bob Royce, left,
owner and operator of the
White Cupboard Inn. The
original ski house and ski
hill sign, far left, at Gilberts Hill, circa 1935. The
original sign for the White
Cupboard Inn, insert left.
(Photos courtesy of the
Friend of Woodstock Winters and
the Woodstock Historical Society)
THE FOLLOWING SPONSORS SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGE WOODSTOCK’S UNIQUE SKI HISTORY
Woodstock
Home &
Hardware
Route 4 West
Woodstock, VT
802-457-3291
Ertel
Associates
Architects
Garber
Travel
61 Central Street
Woodstock, Vermont
802-457-1600
www.garbertravel.com
Hayes &
Windish
Woodstock, VT
45 Pleasant Street
Woodstock, Vermont
802-457-1602
802-457-2123
www.ertelarchitects.com
www.hayes-windish.com
MapleÄelds
&
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66 Pleasant St.
Woodstock, VT
802-457-1549
Congratulations On
75 Years Of Ski History
Here In Woodstock
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GILBERT’S HILL, above, the view from the top of the skyway, circa 1935.
(Photo courtesy of Friends of Woodstock Winter)
On Jan. 28, 1934 Three Local Boys Take Inaugural Tow Ride
T
he Royces brought in a man named David Dodd to engineer and
run the tow. Bunny would stick around to instruct skiers, but he
had his opinions about the power source the Royces had chosen.
Instead of using an electrical system offered by the Electric Company,
they chose to stay with their Model T Ford.
They called their hill the White Cupboard Skiway and gave it a stylish
opening with a parade through town that included a band, the Woodstock
Fire Department, and what a February 1, 1934 issue of the Vermont
Standard called “the big red Maxim truck.”
They also hosted the Ski Club Hochgebirge, a Boston club boasting
nearly 70 members, transporting them to Woodstock by train and bus for
a visit that lasted from Saturday afternoon to Sunday evening and during
which members stayed at the White Cupboard Inn.
The first to ascend the lift on January 28, 1934, were local boys named
Robert Bourdon, Lloyd Brownell, and Buster Johnson. In order to use
the tow, they had to grab onto the tow and hold on for dear life as the
rope pulled them to the top. According to the Commemorative Album
of America’s First Ski Tow, skiers would learn to approach the rope
carefully, grabbing with both hands, “one hand in front of the other,
bending their knees and pitching their center of gravity back over their
heels.”
As the rope pulled, it twisted, wringing and often stealing gloves
from skiers as they reached the top. If a skier wasn’t careful,
they could and in one case did get hung by their own scarf. The
Commemorative Album of America’s First Ski Tow tells of a
woman who was unlucky enough to have a thread of her heavy knit
sweater catch in the twisting rope. It began to unravel as the rope
hauled her to the top and, as it was spring and she had gone to the
slopes with nothing but the sweater to cover her top, she arrived at
the top of the hill completely bare-chested. Bobby Bourdon quickly
presented her with his ski jacket.
Dodd found that the rope would loosen with use, creating enough
slack to leave it dragging over the ground at times. To combat this issue,
he had to pull the ropes taught by progressively moving the pulley setup
at the bottom of the hill further down, and refastening it in place. Dodd
would sit in the Ford and man the pulleys as the skiers went up and down
the hill. When they wanted the tow to go faster they’d tell him to step on
the gas and he’d do as they said.
Back then, the state of the art for ski gear was a flat, unedged plank of
ash or hickory with “free heeled” bindings that may or may not release
your foot in an emergency. Skiers would soon learn to tie down their
heels with inner tubes that they wrapped around the ankles of a regular
pair of boots. In his conversation with Emerson, Bunny remembered
wearing what he called Bass boots “and you might just as well have
bedroom slippers on, they were so limp…. Why I didn’t break my neck
in them, I don’t know.” He later bought some handmade boots by Peter
Limmer.
The men wore plus fours, which amounted to wool or corduroy
knickers that they tucked into long wool socks that reached up just
below their knees. They would often wear another pair of wool
socks, which they would roll down over their boots. The Fisk ladies,
Margaretta, Ursula, and Petie, who would soon prove their talent
in the world of women’s skiing, challenged the men’s plus fours
with plus eights of their own, thus named because their knickers
bloused twice as much as the men’s knickers. So-called weekend
skiers would wear whatever they had on, some wearing three-piece
business suits and fur jackets.
7
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Flood Lights Are Introduced At Gilbert’s For Night Skiing
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he first ski tow tickets were one dollar during the day and 50 cents
at night. Bunny placed a flood light at the bottom of the hill for
night skiing, making the 50-cent price the greater value, since one
could ski well into the night.
The first season was a roaring success by most accounts, but by
Bunny’s account there were quite a few problems with the nascent rope
tow. The Model T Ford ran at inconsistent speeds, was tipped uphill,
and ran off of one rear wheel, an unstable setup that wore out the Model
T before the season was out. It would be replaced by a Buick and Ford
Ferguson tractor, owned by local farmer Rupert Lewis, before the end of
the season.
After that first season, the Royces hoped to rent the hill for another
year. They had offered Gilbert $100 dollars for the 1934-35 winter and
Mrs. Royce commissioned a local cab driver to fetch a crisp $100 bill.
The driver returned with a flimsy bill and Elizabeth, who was intent
on handing Gilbert a crisp note for his trouble, went home to clean and
iron it. While she was hard at work, Bunny slipped over to Gilbert’s
and rented it out from
under her. According
to Woodstock historian
and photographer
Sherm Howe, Bunny
rented the hill for $10.
He then renamed it
“The Woodstock Ski
Hill.”
When he was
visiting his home
in Newport Rhode
Island, Bunny saw
a Ferris wheel “and
that’s where I got my
idea of the multiple
groove with the idlers,
you know, to get the extra wraps in,” he says during his 1979 interview.
His observation solved the problem of the ever-loosening rope by adding
an extra larger pulley to act as a tightening device. The other problem
that Bunny would quickly fix would be the issue of the unreliable
automobile engine.
The Woodstock Electric Company had offered the Royces during the
previous winter the use of an electric motor, an offer the Royce’s had
turned down. Bunny saw the benefit of using electricity and accepted the
electric company’s offer. The company did not charge him for the motor,
only for the electricity it used, which wasn’t much. Bunny coined his
new motorized tow “the first continuously operating ski-tow.”
Bunny would work out a few of the kinks in his electric rope tow over
the course of the next few years, adjusting the speed to get people up to
the top before they fell off with fatigue and adjusting the rope so that it
did not twist so severely as to rip their clothing. With the faster rope tow,
people were learning to use their hands as a clutch, allowing the rope to
slip through for a moment before they latched on.
THE ORIGINAL rope tow, at Gilbert’s, above, seen in
1935, after refinements were made by Bertram to provide
reliability and greater capacity. One of the first ski tickets,
below, to the rope tow. Skiers prepare to hit the slope at
Gilbert’s, left, in the late 1930s. The rope tows innovator,
Bunny Bertram, insert far left.
(Photos courtesy of the Friends of Woodstock Winters and the Woodstock Historical Society)
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7
1934 - 1937
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Downtown Woodstock
In The 1930s
AUTOMOBILES PARKED in front of the White Cupboard Inn
with skis at the ready, above. The bottom three photos, left to
right, show the main, White Cupboard Inn building on the corner
of Elm and Central Streets, the adjoining buildings, which were
part of the White Cupboard Inn on the Woodstock Green, and Elm
Street with Gillingham’s on the left. One of the most famous winter
photographs of Woodstock, left, taken of the White Cupboard
Inn at night, is now in the permanent collection of the Library of
Congress.
(Photos courtesy of the Friends of Woodstock Winters and the Woodstock Historical Society)
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7
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Vermont Standard, Woodstock
Thursday March 12 2009
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1934 - 1945
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Prosper Ski Hill Opens; The Fisk’s And Bunny Open ‘The Gully’
I
f they grabbed on too quickly, they’d find themselves on the ground.
If they gripped the rope slowly, they could get up to the 10 mph rope
speed with no undue harm.
After one year at the hill, Bunny had a falling out with Clint Gilbert.
According to Bunny, he was supposed to pay Gilbert a certain percent
of the income he made from the hill. Gilbert didn’t trust that Bunny
was paying him the full percentage and attached his bank account in
order to get what he believed was owed him. Bunny, who denied any
wrongdoing, decided it was time to move on after that and left the hill
for Gilbert to run. At this time, Prosper Ski Hill (just south of On the
Edge Farm on Route 12) and Mount Tom opened up and Bunny began
looking elsewhere for a ski slope to purchase.
“Well, being a south slope and everything, it wasn’t the right place
to be, anyway…I went up
[what would later become]
Suicide Six, and down the
back side, and found what
is called the Gully now.
And I decided that was
the place to be because
it had higher elevation,
better snow conditions
and everything, and two
exposures: a northeast one
and a south slope. The south
slope being the back side of
Suicide Six…” said Bunny
in 1979.
Oscar Harding, the
Road Commissioner at
the time, owned the Gully
property. Bunny would
have purchased the property
from him, but Elizabeth
Richmond “Muddy” Fisk said (per Bunny’s account) “If anybody knows
that you want the land, they’re gonna put the price up, because they’ll
know what it’s for.” Muddy therefore purchased the land and allowed
Bunny to assemble the tow. Again, he used free hardware provided by
the Woodstock Electric Company. Muddy paid for the poles that would
bring the power from Route 12 up into the Gully and did not charge
Bunny rent for his use of the Gully hill.
Creating the Gully was no easy feat. In his 1979 interview, Bunny
describes cutting trails with his friend Bill “Pearly” Wheeler. According
to Bunny, Pearly was relatively old at the time, but they’d both get down
on “hands and knees with a two-man cross-cut saw, and cut trees down
right flush with the ground.” They would rake away the leaves and
debris to make sure they had leveled them off perfectly. They started
all clearing at the bottom of the hill in case they were not done by the
time winter came on, leaving a dead end course to confuse skiers. In one
summer, the men could build two complete trails.
THE ENGINE SHED, constructed in
the late 30s, housed the mechanism for
the rope tow, left. Above and below,
various photographs of skiers enjoying the
tow during the Great Depression. Ladies
Slalom, First Place medal, raced at Gilbert’s
in 1934, insert left.
(Photos courtesy of Friends of Woodstock Winters
and the Woodstock Historical Society)
Vermont Standard, Woodstock
Thursday March 12 2009
Page Thirteen-A
Billings Jerseys win top honors at
the World’s Columbian Exposition.
Mary F. and Laurance S. Rockefeller
dedicate the Billings Farm & Museum.
Billings Farm & Museum
The Woodstock Foundation, Inc.
commemorate the
75th Anniversary
of
Billings estate reaches 2,000 acres;
farm employs nearly 100 workers.
=@69FHdG =@@
,<9=FGH+?=,CK=BA9F=75
Creation of the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller
National Historical Park.
The Woodstock Foundation was founded in 1968 by
Mary French and Laurance Spelman Rockefeller as an
expression of their stewardship, community spirit, and
philanthropy. Over time, it has come to express their
vision for the special place Woodstock is and the message
it can carry to Vermont and across the nation. In 1983,
the Woodstock Foundation launched the Billings Farm &
Museum to preserve the Billings Farm and to serve as a
gateway to Vermont’s rural heritage. Nearly one million
Billings Farm Dairy opens.
people from every state in the country and from all over
A Place in the Land film produced by the Woodstock
Foundation receives an Academy Award ® nomination
for Best Documentary Short.
the world have made the Farm & Museum an important
part of their visit to Vermont. Our visitors take home
with them a taste of the values that have made Woodstock
great: hard work, respect for the land, and the importance
of our traditions and heritage. As we commemorate the
75th anniversary of the establishment of Gilbert’s Hill
– the first ski tow in America – we pause to honor our
traditions and heritage and the role they have played in
building our special community of Woodstock.
Billings Farm celebrates
100 years of operation in Woodstock.
Above: Portrait of Frederick Billings.
Billings purchased the Marsh Farm in 1863.
Gateway to Vermont’s Rural Heritage
2OUTE2IVER2OAD s 7OODSTOCK6ERMONT s s WWWBILLINGSFARMORG
Billings Farm & Museum celebrates
its 25th anniversary with Gov. Jim Douglas.
7
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Vermont Standard, Woodstock
Thursday March 12 2009
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In 1937 The Fisk Family Introduces The Fisk Trophy Race
I
n 1935, the Fisks built the Gully House, the small lodge where
Bunny lived during the winters and in which the Fisks enjoyed as
their own living space over the summers. The design for the house
was created by a local architect named Amory Williams (a descendent
of Norman Williams after whom the Woodstock library is named).
According to stories passed down through the Fisk family, the handhewed timbers that frame the building came from seven different barns.
With four ski areas in full operation, Woodstock entrepreneurs and
winter enthusiasts threw their energies into marketing the burgeoning
industry. That year, John H. McDill began a promotional campaign for
winter sports in Woodstock. His marketing pitch boasted that Woodstock
was the “Natural Skiing Center of New England.” Bob Royce used
his own printing press to create postcards, which he sent all over the
country, and Bunny used his telephone to talk to friends and customers,
encouraging them to call their friends to pass along the news.
People came from miles around by car, bus and train to check out
this “natural skiing center” for themselves. The Woodstock Inn was
closed over the winters at this time, leaving little lodging for the huge
influx of skiers that plowed into town seemingly overnight. The new
winter population turned young local kids into busy taxi drivers and
transformed at least one room in nearly every residence in town into
rented space. The town was booming with this new business and with so
little ready space for bodies, some resorted to staying in vacant jail cells
and jury quarters to rest for the night.
Ski instructors were imported from Austria, like Sigi Buchmayr and
Fritz Steuri, to impart skiing wisdom on the slopes, filling the airwaves
with foreign sounding expressions like “bend ze kneeses.” Bunny and
Bourdon would also offer instruction, but as Bunny became busier with
the hill, he spent less and less time skiing and instructing.
In 1936, Bunny would correct another inefficiency he had noticed with
Gilbert’s tow. Instead of powering the tow from the bottom of the hill, he
moved all of the drive units for the three Gully tows to the top of the hill.
Mrs. Fisk’s daughters, Ursula and Margaretta, were talented enough
at skiing to earn entry into the 1936 Olympics. According to an account
of Joan Merrill, “they were our first women’s Olympic ski team.” With
such a talented brood, Mrs. Fisk thought it would be great to start a ski
race for her daughters and thus began the Fisk Trophy Race in 1937,
which quickly became one of the premier ski races in the United States
due to the talent of the Fisk family. In that same year, Sherm Howe,
who was married to Petie Fisk until her death in 2001, remembers that
Margaretta was on the second backup team for an FIS sponsored race in
Switzerland. He believes that Margaretta and Ursula’s travel to Europe
and their subsequent mingling with other skiers brought an influx of
talented skiers to the Fisk Trophy Race.
One such racer was Alex Bright, another member of the United States
1936 Olympic Ski Team and the first winner of the Fisk Trophy Race for
the Men’s Slalom in 1937. Bourdon, the first man on the original rope
tow and the president of the Woodstock Ski Runners’ Club (founded in
1932 and active on the hills of Woodstock, Pomfret, and Prosper even
before ski tows had graced their hills), awarded the trophy to Bright.
According to Howe, the winner received a silver butter plate, onto which
the winner could emblazon their own name and label.
CLOCKWISE from top left,
The Gully House, just after
completion in 1935. • The Fisk
Trophy, first awarded in 1937.
• Margaret Williams, who was
instrumental in creating the
Vermont Symphony and bringing
them to the Gully for their very
first performance. • Petie Fisk
Howe, James Johnson and Ursula
Fisk during the construction of
the Gully House. • Margaretta
“Grettie” Fisk, who competed in
the 1936 Winter Olympics.
• Family and friends gather
during the construction of the
Gully House.
(Photos courtesy of the
Friends of Woodstock Winters)
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Vermont Standard, Woodstock
Thursday March 12, 2009
Page Fifteen-A
Page Sixteen-A
Thursdsay March 12 2009
Vermont Standard, Woodstock
New Print By Sabra Field
“SNOW LIGHT”
View of
Pomfret from
Suicide Six
Ski Area
Print can be
purchased at:
• SabraField.com
Image:
15 in. x 10 in.
$225.00
• Woodstock
Gallery
• Suicide Six Ski
Shop
Framed:
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$350.00
Iris Print
Friends of Woodstock Winters
P.O. Box 750, Woodstock, Vermont • 802-457-2142
Friends of Woodstock Winters is a non-profit, membership
supported organization dedicated to:
1. Collecting, preserving, and celebrating Woodstock’s contribution to winter sports.
2. Serving as a resource center for local historical concerns pertaining to winter activities.
3. Encouraging the continuation and expansion of various outdoor winter activities in the area.
Sherm and Petie Howe
resolved in 1994 to start
an effort to collect more
history of Woodstock
winter sports and
establish an accurate
chronology of the
people and events that
formalized skiing
in this area.
To become a member of the
Friends of Woodstock Winters go to
www.winterfriends.org