The Beltrami Tramway(Rusty C. Winters) THE BELTRAMI TRAMWAY

I was 12 years old in 1958 and was never satisfied unless I was building, organizing, or inventing some sort of device or experiment in my neighborhood. A few days earlier, I had seen a ski lift being used on a Sunday Sport Show from Colorado. The next morning, I was in my Dad’s garage trying to organize my day into something significant or mischievous in my little farming hometown. On the south wall of my Dad’s garage, I noticed a large roll of heavy clothesline wire and the lights went on: It was time to build my own ski lift.

There were no hills in my little farm town and there was no slope to the land: flat; so a ski lift was the last thing my town needed. A ski lift could never be used in Beltrami, Minnesota because no one owned any skis except Mr. Krogh who worked at the grain elevator! Maybe he would let me use his skis if I showed him what a good Engineer I was and how slick my new Tramway could deliver people to the slopes?

After eating breakfast and mentally seeing people going past my window with ski gear on, the young farm boy Engineer attacked the adventure full throttle; never asking for help or permission. My first task was to secure the high end of the clothesline wire to a boxelder tree at the southwest corner of my house. I grabbed the wire and taped the end to a rear loop on my blue jeans and started climbing up that enormous tree. As I reached 18 feet off the ground, my stomach started to turn in all directions and I knew the Tramway height was going no higher. I tied the wire to an 8-inch limb and prayed I would have the nerve to get down. Sliding down the boxelder tree with satisfaction in my eye, I spotted the lower end of my Tramway: a boxelder tree some 60 yards to the south across our driveway and easily accessible by stepladder!

The next day after eating breakfast and playing with my white rabbits, who were multiplying like crazy for some reason, I placed the stepladder near the boxelder tree and began the historic hookup of the Tramway wire to the tree’s largest limb. After getting down, I realized that I would need pulleys in this design somewhere and found three of them hanging in my Dad’s garage. By this time, my actions had gathered some neighborhood attention and the Newell boys and the Mjelde boys had arrived to give my design some viewing and scrutiny. Everyone thought it would be great to ride the tramway if the wire held the weight. The Engineer said, “No problem!”

It took me a couple days to build the first trolley and seat. I asked the advice of my neighbor friend, Darrell Newell, who could design and build anything. I decided that 2 pulleys with a wood spacer and four equal lengths of rope to the seat would be the cat’s meow! The first seat assembly was complete and ready for mounting the next day. The entire Backyard Gang of kids gathered to see the Engineer install his latest design. When I took the wire loose to mount the trolley, the wire, which was now much shorter, took off out of my hand like a rocket and for awhile, the Tramway completion seemed lost. I regained my focus and inserted the wire through the pulleys and with the aid of one of my Dad’s ropes, got that wire back up and mounted to the unique northerly limb of the boxelder tree. Wow did it look good! It looked like the first telegraph line that was set between poles in the Wild West! We hooked a rope on the seat with a hook and pulled it back and forth from one end to the other. We pulled it to the top and dropped the rope and the trolley went about halfway until it slowed to a stop at the midpoint, where the sag in the wire slowed the travel. Success! The design was flawless and the trolley would transfer many a skier from one tree to another?

The Design Engineer and the Backyard Gang thought we needed a second Tramway since the first one had worked so well. We stretched a wire from my Dad’s garage boxelder tree to the now famous south boxelder tree and installed a seat assembly trolley very much like the first. I bought a second pulley at Luther Erickson’s Hardware for $0.50, which my Mom financed. We tested it and moved it back and forth with the test rope and were jubilant that the two Tramways would make Beltrami, Minnesota news!

I asked my Mom if I should call the Fertile Journal and have them take my picture? She laughed and said that she would take our picture with her 620 box camera. Wow Recognition and Fame! Documentation and Popularity! When my Mom came out of the house with the box camera, the Design Engineer almost tripped over his own two feet he was so pumped with pride. The Backyard Gang placed Tommy Mjelde, age 8, in the shorter tramway and then we placed my brother, Dawson, age 6, in the larger tramway for the picture documentation. The stepladders were shuffled furiously and quickly so my Mom would not catch cold since it was a cool spring day. Then with the dignity of a Hollywood Production, we all smiled and the historic pictures were made.

The next step after the monumental documentation was to test the units with people aboard to assess their ability to carry skiers in the flatland town of Beltrami, Minnesota. The Backyard Gang placed Tommy Mjelde in the smaller tramway again and the group cheered as we pulled him to the top end and let him go. Smooth sailing, no flaws and a perfect ride from one end to the other! Success! No flaws here! The Design Engineer was strutting around like a Bantam Rooster on the success of his design.

The next test of the large Tramway was soon to happen after a cookie and milk break. The Backyard Gang elected my brother, Dawson, to ride the large Tramway for the historic ride. My brother was a little hesitant, but we helped him get into the seat and the rest would be history! Tommy Mjelde, Steve Mjelde, and I grabbed the pull rope and placed my brother at the top of the 18-foot incline. Like the Wright Brothers, it was time to launch. We let go of the rope and my brother took off like a new pair of ice skates on a pond. Down the wire he traveled! We all screamed and wished him well! Something was wrong! He was traveling faster and increasing speed! We ran after the pull rope, but it was too late! My brother ran head on into the limb of the boxelder tree at about 10 miles per hour. He was crying and mad as a wolverine! We got him down with a ladder and he had only minor scratches and bruises. Once on the ground, my hurting brother ran into the house and told my Mother what had taken place.

I remember the sound of the screen door opening as my Mom came out to tell me that both tramways would have to come down NOW! The Backyard Gang stood dead quiet! I grabbed my Dad’s big wire cutters in the garage and up the south box elder tree I went. In about 5 minutes, both Tramways were lying on the ground, and all the skiers of Beltrami, Minnesota wept as their debut had been cancelled for technical reasons. Ha!

Not being a quitter, the next day I found a use for the clothesline wire. I would build a Suspended Tree Fort in the neighbor’s big cottonwood tree and be the first man in Beltrami to sleep overnight 20 feet up in a tree. Yes, that did happen and then another and another idea! It never ended! Today at 59 years old, I am still thinking up ideas, making mistakes, inventing, and giving my ego plenty of fuel for its thirst!








This is a True Story that took place in the Spring of 1958. The attached picture confirms the Tramway Adventure.
03/01/2006 – Author Rusty Winters
Copyright: © ACO00012 - 2011

---