By Ron Brown
November 13, 2009
MEDFORD, Ore. Medford Resident Paul Wright was familiar with the problems of snow removal.
As a mechanic at Crater Lake National Park in the 1920's, he saw firsthand the annual battle to blast and shovel ice and snow several feet deep each year to clear Rim Road for summer tourists. In the mid-twenties he put his knowledge and mechanical skills together to design and build a plow that could chew through the mountains of ice and snow blocking Cascade highways.
In July 1926 Wright obtained a patent and began rounding up the $2,000 to build a prototype. Several prominent Medford businessmen signed on and bought stock. For their investment they were given half interest. Wright contracted with Willamette Iron and Steel in Portland to build the first model. With its unique counter rotating drums to chew through the ice and snow it made its debut near Union Creek on May 10th, 1927.
"It had tough manganese-steel blades on counter-rotating drums that would tear into the ice and break up the hard compact ice that you have up around the mountains here and at Crater Lake," Former Southern Oregon Historic Society Archivist Bill Alley said in an interview in December of 2000.
National Park Service officials were impressed with the demonstration and ordered it be used that summer to clear the record snow still blocking access to the park. It took the park's five-ton bulldozer to shove the Wright Plow through the snowpack. Despite several delays the road was cleared in time for a July 1st opening.
"The Park Service bulldozer wasn't really powerful enough for the machine to work properly. And those were the little obstacles he was unable to overcome. And it just never became a commercial success," Alley said.
While the Wright Plow was a good idea, advancing technology and the Great Depression probably kept investors from finding a manufacturer willing to produce the machine. Wright filed for bankruptcy in 1934, and no other Wright Plows were ever built.
The Wright Plow may not have lived up to its expectations, but the tinkering of another Southern Oregon inventor did achieve financial success and has become a legend worldwide.
Emmett Tucker always had a knack for the mechanical. Born on Jumpoff Joe Creek in Josephine County in 1892 and raised near Trail he was very familiar with having to walk through deep snow. As a young man he tried to figure an easier way to get through winter snows. Finally, in the 1930s he designed and built the Tucker Sno-Sled. It was powered by a twin cylinder Indian Motorcycle engine. In the early 40s he started making snow vehicles in California. But he longed for the hills of Southern Oregon, and after the war moved the company to Medford where it still makes what is arguably the best-known tracked snow vehicle in the world.
"My grandfather wanted to build a quality machine. He wanted to be sure whoever was out in that machine went out and came back. And being in the snow business, it's very hazardous out there," said Emmet Tucker's Granddaughter Marilee Sullivan in an interview from September of 2000.
Tucker really made its name with the 1957 Trans-Antarctica expedition. The 2,000 mile trip tested the strength and durability of the machines from Medford, and ensured the Sno-Cat's reputation for innovation and reliability. The first Sno-Cats were gas powered, but now most are diesel engined and built to order from the company's plant on South Pacific Highway in Medford.
According to the company's website, the newest Tucker Sno-Cat is the Tucker-Terra model.
It has four all-rubber tracks that can be run on the snow, pavement or dirt and can be used for everything from snow grooming to airport runway snow removal.
