The Legend of Snowshoe Thompson

by Mick Mikkelson
Reno, Nevada

Flat land didn't interest John Thompson. So, when the U.S. government needed someone to deliver mail in the Sierra foothills, he eagerly applied for the job.
Thompson had emigrated from Norway at age 10. He tried farming, but he couldn't stop gazing at the mountains. He was under their spell and had to find a way to create a life high above the valley floor.
He gave gold mining a try but was still looking for his destiny in 1856 when, before his 29th birthday, he noticed an ad in the newspaper seeking applicants for a mountain mail carrier.
He was determined that he could fill the position and to demonstrate his unique talents, he chopped down an oak tree and carved out two skis - - each weighing over 12 pounds. He referred to the skis as snowshoes.
Thompson also cut a 10-foot pole for balance, direction and braking; he then mapped a route between the towns of Genoa, Nevada and Placerville, California - - a distance of some 90 miles.
When Thompson applied for the job, the postmaster was skeptical.
"Even men with mule trains fail to make the trip over the Sierra in the dead of winter," he told the would-be mail carrier. "We found some frozen to death."
But no one else applied for the position and the postmaster had little choice. The man forever after known as "Snowshoe" Thompson assumed responsibility for covering 25 to 40 miles each day, skiing through all kinds of weather and conditions.
The heavy mail sack made the job more difficult and Thompson's skis were cumbersome; so he traveled light, carrying only crackers, bread and dried meat for sustenance.
Blankets and coats would have been too bulky, so he depended on his exertion to keep warm.
Though he had carefully plotted his route, Thompson carried neither a map nor compass.
Nothing could stop this rugged mountain man. No blizzard was severe enough nor temperature low enough to make him call it quits, and the legend of Snowshoe Thompson lives on.
He is believed to have been the first person to ski in California and Nevada; and he was the only man to carry the mail between foothill mining towns in the winter months between 1856 and 1876, the year of his death.
A magnificent statue stands in the grounds of the Mormon Station State Park in Genoa commemorating the accomplishments of this Norwegian immigrant who yearned for life in the Sierra Nevada.