Photo from the Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum
Mr. Desmond Vaughan met with an unfortunate accident on Sunday afternoon while tobogganing on Sadler’s Hill. He and Mrs. Vaughan, accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Roy Morrow drove out to the new slide on Sunday afternoon. The four went down the hill without any difficulty. On the next run about 3.30 p.m. the two men went down together.
Des was on the back of the toboggan and cannot clearly recall what happened. The slide was hard-packed with a crust and he said they seemed to travel at a great speed. It is though t that with the lighter load, the toboggan slewed. He was pitched off and landed on his back, suffering a break in his backbone about the waist-line.
With the help of other men who were present, he was placed on the toboggan and Dr. JR. K. Bach was called. He was brought to the R. 4 Hospital by Comba’s ambulance, still on the toboggan. He suffered considerable pain for several days but is more comfortable now. It is expected that a walking cast will be adjusted on Friday. Des was employed at the Cities Service Station and expects to be able to perform light duties in a short time.
Almonte Gazette 1960
Photo from the Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum
Tobogganing down “Stoddards’ Hill” on Morphy Street in Carleton Place, not far from Ottawa, circa 1912..
1. The word toboggan comes from either the Algonquin word odabaggan or the Anishinabe word nobugidaban.
2. The Inuit made their toboggans out of whalebone, while other tribes used birch or tamarack. The sleds had a curved front, to ease traveling over difficult terrain, but had no runners. The design has changed little since they were first developed; today, most toboggans are made with seven boards of ash or maple, each about 2 inches wide.
3. The Russians built the first toboggan slide—a high wooden structure with an ice-covered chute—in St. Petersburg in the late 1800s.
4. Tobogganing as a sport began in Canada in the late 1800s and quickly spread. Though it was considered a “sport,” tobogganing was also high-fashion: Men wore top hats and ladies donned their best clothes for trips down the chute.
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