As we settle into winter and the appearance of that four-letter word that is both cherished and hated, I’d like to take a moment to thank J.W. Elliot. It was Elliot, hailing from Toronto, Canada, who patented in 1869 the first-documented snow machine. Elliot never produced it but he set the stage – a dual stage at that – for machines that came later.
People are also reading…
Chris Hardie and his wife, Sherry, raise animals and crops on his great-grandparents’ Jackson County farm. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 2001, he’s a former member of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council and past-president of the Wisconsin Newspaper Association. Email chardie1963@gmail.com with comments.





