Posted 10 years ago
IMASapp
(57 items)
I volunteer for a local historical society here in Colorado. This dog sled was a recent donation. I would like to know more about it. Can anyone help with at least an approximate vintage?
I have added a few photos showing the construction. Hopefully, it will help to pin down the vintage. Not shown are the steel runners on the on the bottom of the rails.
Jim.
PS: Administrators: Please move to an appropriate category if there is one.
mush on ..............love it, nice find,
I can't see the photo close up but I believe this would be a kick sled. I think it was sold as a kit you put together. Boys Life Magazine ( boy scouts magazine) sold these years ago. You put them together to earn a merit badge. You could research the magazine in years before 1978 back about 20 years. I believe all editions are archived and free to search online.
Good tip! I did find some articles on sledding but have not found the kit yet. I'll keep searching the magazine. I don't know anything about dog sled but a "kick sled" seems to be correct considering the rails are too narrow to stand on.
Ripely, thanks for the information!! There are steel straps on the runners and the brake is metal cut like fingers. I will a few more pics to show some of the details of the construction. Thanks again. Jim
I have added a few photos showing the construction. Please let me know if other details are needed.
This looks very similar to the kit I spoke of. I don't recall the brake but I am talking 1958 to around 63 so my recall may well need cleansing. As I recall the kit was around $148 and no one family in rural Vermont had that much laying around. gas was 18 cents a gallon and wages were 30 to 75 cents an hour. It took a group effort to pool enough money for the kit and then put it together as a team. Unfortunately they didn't honor a group effort, one person alone had to do it to earn the merit badge. The entire troop kind of fizzled out after that. Live and learn I guess.
Today, while making some minor repairs on the sled I made a few discoveries. They are:
The name "Cox" is stamped into the cross bar at the front. It looks like a maker's mark but it could just as easily be someone's name.
The structural screws are brass.
The brake seems to have been repaired/replaced. It is two pieces connected with two strap hinges. The "teeth" look like they were cut from angle iron.
There is a D ring under the cross bar on the front. I assume this is where the harness was attached.
The rails in the back have four pairs on nail holes as if there were cross bars between the rails at on time. Each wooden rail has a full length flat steel runner.
There are what appears to be tie down holes at the ends of each cross bar in the cargo section and two more holes in the cross bar near the bow shaped handle.
I suspect some of these discoveries may be insignificant, but you never know what clues they may be to someone who knows a lot more that me.
Finally, a friend suggested this may be a racing sled. ????
Jim
I think you are right about the crude repairs indicating a need to keep the sled functional. And, rural remote areas we have plenty of here in the mountains of Colorado.