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Hi I'm Rachel Johnson and thanks for joining us
on Common Ground. We travel the land of 10,000 lakes to bring you the best
of the north country's history, culture and art. This week on
Common Ground learn about the history of Scorpion snowmobiles formerly located in
Crosby. Fans of this classic brand reunite each year to show off
their vintage sleds at the Scorpion Homecoming Festival.
Then photographer and world traveler Cal Rice takes us on a cultural journey
through Cuba and Bhuton with his exhibit on display in Bemidji.
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2013 is the
9th year of Scorpion Homecoming. It started as a bit of a dare
to see if anybody would actually show up. But that
of course is a number of years ago now and
the first year was such a success.
We had a lot of people come and they had a lot of fun. Heard a lot
of people in the town, talking about the extra vehicles staying at the hotel.
eating at the diner etc. And you realize that there is still a lot
interest in these old machines and in the community that birthed them.
I remember that first year we even went by the old plant
showed people where these machines previously had been made. It's still right in northwest
Crosby. And every year, we try to do something a little different.
We feature a particular model from
Scorpion trail sled history and we focusPPon that model for thatppparticular year.
Like today we were focusing on
1971 and 1972 wedge design. We had almost 30 of those
machines. And to see the same machine
same color scheme, same sparkling red
all in a line. It makes for quite a sight. People particularly enjoy to see them.
Scorpion Homecoming is unique
from most other vintage and antique snowmobile events. Most of those
events integrate racing
and a lot of other additional components.
Frankly, lend to complication. What Scorpion
Homecoming was from day one was simply
Scorpion collectors getting together not particularly
pretentious just enjoying one another's company and swapping
stories and looking at one another machines.
snowmobile engine running
The sled I have is a 1967 Scorpion
270 wide track. It is an original sled
from one end to the other, it has not beenPPrestored what so ever. I'veppowned it
for 4 years. I found it in storage in Wisconsin.
It had been stored for a little over 30 years when I acquired it.
I have been driving it for 4 years.
It just runs beautiful. I have no intentions of restoring it
now because it's in such great shape the way it is.
It's best just left as it is a piece of history.ppBut I can still use it
and enjoy it. So we enjoy it.
snowmobile engines running
snowmobile engines running
snowmobile engines running
I think my biggest attraction
to them is the way they were built. The looks of the machine
I love the way they look. Also the fact
that it was my first snowmobile that I bought. I don't know why when I was 15
I wanted a Scorpion. I'd seen the Stinger which has red metal plates
hood and it was the first year and it really excited me.
My dad tried to talk me into buying a cheaper model but I wasn't going to have any of it. So
I ended up getting the Stinger and I still have it today like I said.
Not to many people can say that. Yea you know the
Cuyana Range has seen good times and it's seen bad times.
And in recent years it's seen a lot of good times.ppWe see what's happening with
Cuyana Lakes and the mountain bike system, which is bringing a lot of renewed interest
in to town. A lot of outsiders are not familiar with Crosby/Ironton or the
surrounding area which we affectionatelyPPcall the Cuyana Range. But asppthey all
also come to the range, they are learning about the range's
history. And this is something that I find so fascinating,
particularly, somewhat younger people.ppThey don't even realize
that there was once a top 3 snowmobile manufacturer in the world
right here in this beautiful little town of Crosby/ Ironton.
So been part of that awareness has been
very rewarding and it's literally a win win for everybody.
My name is inaudible
My name Hung young Lin. My name is inaudible
It's a Scorpion
traveler. Because we are very far from
here. We came here from very far
from Korea. We flied
here about 6,000 miles so we
won the trophy for farthest travelers.
Oh it's a little cold. Ten degrees and we're
standing in 10 feet of water. So let's keep this moving.
In terms of sleds. We have 160 sleds this year which is a good turnout. And our highest ever
number of feature sleds which was 28.
So a big hand for everybody that brought those wedges out.
Okay at last but not least
this is the coveted best of feature award.
It's our last award. Presented by this lovely young lady in front of me.
Isn't she doing a fine job today.
Her name is Abby I think she's related to me.
Okay, this is a '71
Stinger 2 intense it all from Mel Forever
Scott Told. Scott come on down.
applause
We have a great time, every time I come. I've come to the Scorpion Homecoming
for I think I missed the first couple that they had and I've been coming
every year ever since. I just like coming to
the homecoming. I hope they can keep it going.
Everybody there is interested in Scorpion snowmobiles;
and that is what's really fun when you have that many people,
And that many sleds. I mean anytime you can get 150 - 200
of one make, in one big place it's quite
an accomplishment. You know. Like I said I compliment the Chamber and everybody that
puts this on every year. Cause I think it's great. It's just fun.
You can come up, it's not real formal, I mean
but you go out, you come, do some riding. You talk with
everybody and it's a good time it's a fun day. I look forward
to it every year.
In 2002, myself and my family were introduced
to the hobby of vintage and antique snowmobiling.
We didn't even know what it was. My father and the other founders
had gotten out of snowmobiling in 1969. It had been literally decades
since we rode these machines, let alone seen these machines.
We as a family didn't even own a Scorpion.
not a single one. And when we walked into the Glenwood Ballroom in 2002,
to see a vintage event that featured Scorpion
Snowmobiles and we saw those beautifully restored and original
snowmobiles up on that ballroom floor
we were shocked and literally
brought to tears, because the memories began to flow.
And before I knew it my father was on his knees next to a '64
looking at that old pleated track remembering that configuration
that he had worked on so many years. And here it was.
And suddenly he was like a kid again, and I was like
a kid again and my family we all felt the same way.
We met people that cared very deeply about the history
of snowmobiling but in particular the history of Scorpions
snowmobiles. And they began to ask my father questions.
asked for his autograph. He began to realize how what he
had birthed together with the other founders. Is now
respected and in some quarters revered. And it
was a wonderful thing, to see a light in his eye
that I hadn't seen for a number of yearsPPand I thought that was a goodppthing.
So what he have here is a little bit of trail and PPsledding incorporated historyppjust right on this
singular wall. These are the founders of the firm.
In 1959, three Crosby/Ironton area men came together
to form Trail-A-Sled Inc.
Glen Gutzman,
my father *** Harrison and Eugene "Stub" Harrison. This picture was taken in
1967 for Snowgoer magazine. When they first came
together in '59, they went headlong into the manufacture
of something at that time was unprecedented. And now
was a fiberglass, skied airsled.
And in 1959 there was no such thing as a snowmobile.
Getting around in the wintertime was a big problem
and was a real impediment to commerce.
So when a machine like this came around it was attractive to
ranchers, to DNR, resort owners
needed to get fisherman on or out back from the lake.
And so these machines which were called Trail-A-Sleds.
Because you could pull them behind a car, right behind a
tow coupling. These would allow
those commercial customers the abilityppto transport and move people.
like none other, there wasn't ever the case before.
My name is Richard Harrison
I'm one of the originally founders of Trail Sledppwhich was incorporated in
1959 and continued for around ten years
making AirSled and snowmobiles.
Those are the '63 that's one of the first that we made.
There was only several of those built.
And we had originally built airsleds and we started to get into
this track driven snowmobile. From there it expanded
for 10 years. Yeah I worked on a lot of the
first 65 fiberglass make and mold. Drawing
pictures, designs and so on and so forth. The Airsleds
were pretty much my design that we worked from.
I guess we liked that curvy round look.
And of course then these here the production year went and look
went for several years that model did before it changed.
The design was probably years ahead of it's
time really, some of it was.
The Airsled was and there was nothing like that
for a long long time. This is a '67
Range Whip that I converted from a fan engine
to a free air. So I redesigned the hood.
so that the cylinders protruded that through the hood for
cooling. And it's a free air engine.
Modify hood, made a new mold, made the
part for it and redesigned the front end.
So it's just a custom built sled is what it is.
There is only two of these that I know I made
both of them. And it's kind of an eye catcher
and looks nice. And we had the diamond cut heads
on it. It made a beautiful machine
out of it. Scorpion made
several big advances and kept going and that's why they probably
why they lasted as long as they did. So this particular building
that we are in this evening was built specifically to display
Scorpion snowmobiles as best as we reasonably
can from the original prototype all the way to
the Snowpull Racers of the late 1970's. And I think
for the most part, we have a very accurate representation.
Not just of the brand of Scorpion or
Trail-A-Sled that birthed that brand. But a real
view of the history of snowmobiles and the evolution of
the sport from a utilitarian mode of transportation
only, to one of speed,
and thrill. And we in the museum
basically lay out the machines chronologically.
You have the early prototype from 1963 all the way up to 1980.
And each year represents a bit of a change not always dramatic
in some cases very dramatic. As the
machine changed their
track systems, their engine configuration, the way the engine was shaped.
the skis, the width of the skis. All of those things changed
dramatically as time went on. And what's kind of unique about
this building is that people can come here, stay as
long as they like and if they take the time they will
see the evolution of design, the evolution of
technology and the birthing literally of
entirely new industry whose story is uniquely
Minnesotan. We have a facebook page which we link together with the Cuyana
Lakes Chamber of Commerce and we are actively promoting our event
together. People will learn all about the
event, the agenda and that's at trailasled.com
all one word trailasled.com. And you will also find in there
fact, figures, trivia, information about various models
and also information regarding next year's homecoming in 2014.
Hi I'm Cal Rice.
I'm a photographer in Bemidji and at this point in my life, I enjoy
traveling to different cultures and bringing back images to share
with the people of northern Minnesota. This particular
exhibit I called Cultures in Change. Culture to me is
an interesting word. The definition that I'm using for what I'm doing
here is: culture is what we learn from the previous
generation. So cultures are always in change.
But in some places, they are in dynamic change.
For example in Bhuton where
10 years ago, 15 years ago for the first time in the history
of the country, they got a road across the country
they got television, they got internet and they got telephones. You can
imagine how rapidly that is changing. First of all
let's talk about the country of Bhuton. ppBhuton is a small country
located high up in the Himalaya's. A Buddhist country
with people who are very peaceful, very friendly
and very easy to interact with.
The primary crop they have is rice. A different rice
than what we have here, where we grow it in the water. They grow it on
the mountain side. And here we see terraces going
up the mountain side. Each terrace is two to six feet high.
With the river next to it and they depend on
the monsoon season to give them adequate moisture for the rice.
The roads in Bhuton,
actually there is one road that crosses the country
and somebody computed that one day we made a turn every 9 seconds going across
the country. But you get a feel for it here.
But many of the villages are still very isolated. Again we see the
terraces and of course always the mountains in the background.
Going on over, this is a very important building or actually
set of buildings. It's call a Dzong, it's spelled
D-z-o-n-g. These are the government buildings.
This one happens to be in the capital. This is where the king has
his office and the national officers.
So we have our foreground here our Dzong
the capital city in behind it and stretching on
from there. The Tiger's Nest is
the most famous monastery, the center
of the history of Bhuton.
Guru Rinpoche flew in to Bhuton on the back of a tiger
and landed in a cave up here on the mountainside. He stayed there
for several weeks meditating and he was the one responsible
for bringing Buddhism to Bhuton from Tibet.
That was around 700, it took another 900 years
before they decided to build a monastery in recognition of the
event. Now to get to the monastery you can drive
up to 8300 feet and then depending on your choice
you can either walk or ride a horse for the next thousand feet
up to about 9400 feet and then you hike up
to around 10,500 feet. Unfortunately
about 15 years ago the monastery burned down due to a kitchen fire.
And they have totally rebuilt it. So all of this material
has been hauled up the mountain to have it there for
the monastery. Now archery is the
primary sport the national sport of Bhuton.
Anytime you see a group get together there will be an archery contest
All you have to do is look around and someplace it's happening.
They shot at a target or maybe a little bigger than a
large dinner plate. But that target is
150 yards away. One and half football fields.
And after they shoot their two arrows, they start walking
to the other end while the next person's arrows go flying by them
as they walk along. Construction is
continually go on. I saw a place where a dump truck
had dumped a load of rocks and they were splitting them by hand,
with a maul and a chisel. And then they would pick them up like this
and carry them to where the construction site is.
Food in Bhuton is
very simple, it consists of rice and peppers.
Three times a day, seven days a week.
So you will find peppers drying everywhere you go.
But it's they seem to have a healthy diet of it
and occasionally they add chicken to the meal.
Around the year 2000 they completed the first highway
east and west across the country, which they call the National Highway.
It doesn't actually reach clear to the borders but this is the first time
they've been able to travel across the country without going
down to India going across and coming back up.
The highway is about one and half lanes wide. Which means when you
meet a vehicle one of you goes off on the shoulder on that side
one goes off the shoulder here and usually one side
one side is straight up and one side is straight down.
So it's an interesting ride as you go across the country. To me
of all the pictures that I had in this exhibit the one
that says how rapidly culture is changing
is this one right here. We have the prayerPPwheel which they have had forppcenturies.
it actually has prayers written on paper inside of it.
This dates back to the time when people
could not read or write and so the prayers were written they spin
spin the wheel and that sends the prayer out
across the countryside. So this is in a tiny little village
here is the little boy learning from his elders that you spin a prayer
wheel, but then you look at him and you see his Crocs
and his Lego truck. That's how fast things are changing
in Bhuton right now.
Before I went to Cuba, I talked to some people who had been there recently.
and I said what picture do I want to get. And they said
architecture. This is a overview
of old Havanna. I was up on a 5th floor rooftop
when I took this. The key feeling
to get from here, is that Cuba has not done
any infrastructure work since 1960.
So you see a lot of building decay, water main
all of the infrastructure that you think about.
A closer up shot of a building shows what I saw
street after street, day after day in Havanna.
You see the roof is gone the top floor is gone but
people continue to live on lower floors.
So if there is a room that's enclosed ppthere is a family living there.
But I think it would have been absolutely ppwonderful to have visited Cuba
75 years ago. This is one of the squares
there are four major squares in Havanna, where they have
restored the buildings. And just look at the architecture,
the columns, the color that they would have had about
75 years ago. One of the pictures that I wanted
before going to Cuba, was the iconic picture of a Cuban
smoking a Cuban cigar. What do you think of with Cuba,
if you don't think cigars? So one day I got the opportunity
these men were just out on the sidewalk and I was able to get
what I think is a nice artistic picture a close up
of the man with a cigar and another one in the background.
Before going to Cuba, I had the three pictures I wanted
to get, the architecture, the Cuban cigar,
and I wanted the picture of an American car with a Russian engine in it.
This is a 1960 Buick with a Russian
tractor engine in it. Fortunately, I was able to get
that about the second day in Havanna and that took the stress off
of me as far as getting that picture.
We had a model one day and we were allowed five minutes
each to photograph the model with an old car.
This was my picture which I really like. Artistically she was sitting
in the backseat, I adjusted the outside mirror to see her
and then to see the inside of the car which is a classic car.
The taxis in Cuba
are basically all American cars pre-1960.
This is one I happened to see on the street
but if you see a newer car it's a Russian car,ppit probably belongs to
a diplomat. So you see these kind of cars
just on the street traveling all the time.
The cultural change to me is important. Maybe it's my age but
I think back to what did I learn from my parents versus
what did my children and grandchildrenpplearn from my generation.
And if we don't document it, we lose that so quickly.
We have lost information about our family, our grandparents.
I can remember farming with horses and think how different that is
today and so I think it is important to maintain a history
and to share that history of cultures whether it be
our own or in another country.
Thanks for joining us for this episodeppof Common Ground and
we'll see you next week. If you have a segment idea for Common Ground
pertaining to north central Minnesota ppcontact us at legacy@lptv.org
or call us at 218-333-3022.
To view this episode or any
Common Ground segment visit us at lptv.org
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To order individual segments or entire episodes of Common Ground call
218-333-3020.
Common Ground is funded by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund
with money from the vote of the peopleppon November 4, 2008.