Snow machines made the outdoors even greater
When Jenkins Cartage was located at the old barn at 1658 Water St., many friends of my dad, E.L. (Slim) Adam, and uncle George Anderson would drop in for a chat.
Don Ellis (the game warden), Ray Downing and Scotty Shiosaki were some I recall.
One day, Ellis was talking about snowmobiles, having used one on his job. He wondered if a person could build one.
Shortly after that, the Princess Auto catalogue advertised war surplus snowmobile tracks. Princess Auto did not have a store in Kelowna at that time – only in Winnipeg – and so I ordered some tracks, thinking that it would be fun to make my own snowmobile.
When the tracks arrived, I had a good look at them and found that they were designed for special wheels of some sort. Hindsight now tells me that I should have changed my plans and instead buy a new machine. However, I gathered up some old car parts, etc., and began devising something, but – after some time – decided to scrap the whole thing.
This was in the mid-1960s.
As I had a few dollars left, I bought a 1967 Skidoo Olympique 10-horsepower machine from Monte Elsdon at Day’s Sporting Goods for $725, plus another $200 for a small trailer.
Snow Cruiser from Outboard Marine Corp., Arctic Cat and Polaris machines were more expensive. The Skidoo was very basic.
A year or two later, I bought another Olympique for my wife to ride. It was a 12/3 model: 12 horsepower and 300 pounds. It was an improvement in many ways from the first machine and cost less — $675. The engine, skis, and track were all better.
That same year, 1968, saw the formation of the Kelowna Snowmobile Club, the SnoHoots.
Club members got together and built at the cabin at the Greystoke.
Bob Spall, an expert carpenter, was the supervisor of this job. The Greystoke area, which had probably been quite empty in previous winters, became a popular place.
After being members of the Snowmobile Club for a while, we had a chance to buy a cabin at Headwaters, west of Peachland. Our snowmobiling after that was around Penask and Kathleen mountains. We had many enjoyable times at that cabin during the following years, in all seasons.
When my wife, Joyce, began having eye problems, we traded the two Olympiques for a twintrack Alpine-640 CC with electric start and reverse. This had only one ski in front, where it needed two. It ran well but was rather noisy. Later, I traded that one for a new Skidoo, and later yet had an Arctic Cat Pantera 5000, the best machine that I ever had.
When we sold the cabin, about 1991, the two snow machines and a boat were included, and so I quit snowmobiling for a while. Then, after joining the Spallumcheen Pioneer Power Club, I advertised in its newsletter for an old machine to fix up. I ended up with four old Arctic Cats, which I used for a while on trips to Greystoke and Myra Canyon. Finally, I sold them all.