Ho, Ho, Ho!

By Kyle Smith

Last week's column on Christmas decorations certainly brought out the good cheer! I heard from any number of homeowners who thought their creations were worthy of being, as they say, "mentioned in dispatches" (actually, that is an English military term, popularized in the Crimean and Boer Wars, as well as WWI, besides all the other more minor conflicts the Brits fought during their years of Empire).

It may have been that my eyes were drawn westward and towards the Central and the Estates. Remembering that the Christmas star rose in the East, I now seek to remedy that oversight.

There are any number of well decorated homes throughout the East. One home on Stewart Ave. has a tree that is undoubtedly a candidate for largest and most impressive. Additionally, that fine boulevard section of Stewart Ave. (between Franklin and Clinton) has a varied and nice collection of reindeer and sleigh themes. Also notable in outdoor decorations is Mayfair Ave.

Ever wonder why reindeer are the source of locomotion on Santa's sleigh? Horses were the animal of choice for the sleighs of the past. Whether for the farmer on the country road or the swell of New York streets, the horse made for a great sleigh-puller. The horse was excellent on the hard-packed snow of the road. The horse even navigated the deeper snow of the newly driven drifts. Its relatively narrow hooves penetrated the snow until well-packed snow or solid ground was encountered, giving it good traction. It was only the very deep drift that would defeat the horse-drawn sleigh.

Horses were also used for snow plows, both the type where a sleigh is fitted with a plow and the type where the plowman follows on foot, much like he did when plowing his field. Interestingly, while mules were the animal of choice for field plowing, the horse was the one chosen for snow plowing. Mules were more easily forced into the tedious labor of breaking up sun bsked soil, often interwoven with thick grass roots, whereas, because the key to snow plowing is speed to throw the snow outboard of the plow, horses were employed for this purpose.

Ever wonder why those Garden City trucks doing the plowing today move at that pace? Wonder why your just shoveled driveway is blocked once again with thicker, heavier snow masses? The answer is the technique of snow plowing.

Did you know that Garden City once had a fleet of horse-drawn sled plows? Perhaps some recall seeing photos of those now quaint, but practical and efficient teams.

Ever wonder what the difference between a sleigh and a sled is? As with many semantically linked words, there are several varitions. A child's sled is a good example of a simple sled, basically a flat platform with runners and limited steering capacity. The best rides are where gravity, and preferably quite a bit of it, is the form of propulsion! A sled can also be much larger, in which can be used as a "heavy duty" sleigh, in the sense that it is pulled. Most often that pulling was by animals, i.e. dog sleds, horse drawn sleds, etc., but artic teams today often use powerful tractors hauling multiple sleds, much like freight cars, for long-distance hauling in the colder global regions.

On their famous race to the South Pole, Ronald Amundsen beat Robert Scott in part because the Norwegians used dog teams and the Brits man-hauled their sleds, and eventually perished from exhaustion, lack of food, and the fierce cold.

For heavier sled-hauling in olden times, the oxen team provided the real horsepower (oops, oxpower). Oxen-drawn sleds were responsible for much of the deforestation of the northern climes. Oxen-drawn sleds transported the captured Fort Ticonderoga cannon to the heights above Boston, convincing the English there to hastily depart to New York. Small markers along some of the toughest mountain passes throughout the Green, Taconic, and Berkshire Mountains pay hommage to those oxen and men with their sleds.

Even in Finland, where reindeer sleighs made their picturesque mark, the Finns prefer horses, the reindeer not being a well-domisticated animal.

We have all seen many pictures of Sanat's sleigh too. Were you aware that sleighs came in different models and not only for size and purpose, but also in varying levels of quality? Much like the selection one finds in today's auto showrooms.

There were single sleighs (the sportcar), the faster two-person model (the coupe), and the family or four-seater (the sedan). There were even the equivalent of the sports utility with a style looking somewhat like a pick-up truck, two-seats forward and a large storage flatbed. The quality and luxury factors were also present. There were sleighs that ranged from mid-priced cars to the Rolls Royce.

There were many style and quality-of-component differences between these price ranges. For instance, the riders could be of brass, steel, or hickory, or even a "lesser" wood. There were differences in the bends the runners took, especially with the signature front coil. Working without modern plywood, these stylistically bent sleigh bodies were layers of veneer, hand-applied, glued, and varnished or painted. The wood craftsmen of those days created true works of art and function with their sleighs.

The sleighs of the czar and kaiser were said to be magnificent. The Victorians produced sleighs comparable to the Rolls Royce of today. Almost every Western region with significant snow-falls had sleighs that are noteworthy for their luxury and style.

Many of the multi-unit garages on many of the larger historic homes in Garden City held one or more sleighs for winter use. The original Garden City Hotel had a horse-drawn sleigh to meet arriving rail passengers. Can you imagine our boulevards ringing to the tune of sleigh bells? It must have been a marvellous sight! Incidentally, the sleigh bells were there for safety besides musical reasons. A horse-drwan sleigh is surprisingly quiet. Care to venture a guess as to where the sleighs were repaired in turn-of-the-century Garden City?