Sleigh Bells and a Giveaway

by Anita Mae Draper

Lady in cutter, Calgary, Alberta, ca 1910. Courtesy of Glenbow Archives

The winter songs that merrily sing out about sleigh bells jingling at Christmas weren't just a holiday tradition, but in many snow regions were a legal requirement to winter transportation. The reason being that fast gliding sleighs and other conveyances on steel runners were often the cause of accidents to the unwary. A leather strap of bells, as in the above photograph, was an easy way to warn the public as well as comply with any local laws concerning winter driving.

Porcupine Advance (Porcupine, Ontario, Canada), 23 Jan 1924

Although many states and provinces have taken the sleigh bell law off the books, it is still illegal to drive a horse-drawn sleigh without bells in Ontario, Canada, where according to the Ontario Highway Traffic Act, "Every person travelling on a highway with a sleigh or sled drawn by a horse or other animal shall have at least two bells attached to the harness or to the sleigh or sled in such a manner as to give ample warning sound."

Court records found in the London, Ontario public library show a common occurrence in 1877 for sleigh drivers to be fined $1.50 for driving a sleigh without having bells attached. 

Depending on size and how they are made, sleigh bells give off sounds from merry jingling to heavy clunking. The image below shows round bells with a single slit, called a throat, that is one open cut across the diameter to let out the sound of the iron pellet or ball bearing rolling around inside. Sleigh bells don't hang down like an open bell, but are riveted to the strap, or held in place with a shank, and stand upright for the best sound quality. 

Crotal bells with iron ball bearings, 19th century. Courtesy of National Museum of American History

There are no rules to how many bells are too many, or how elaborate sleigh bells and their harness can be. Take this late 16th to mid 17th century pen and ink watercolor from a Nuremberg, Germany parade which shows an impressive harness with many bells.

Album of Tournaments and Parades in Nuremberg, Germany. Public Domain, Wikipedia

Sleigh bells are known by several names and shapes depending on the region. What we call petal bells in North America are referred to as crotal bells in the United Kingdom. Manufacturers of petal bells - on both sides of the ocean - go back 400 years and vary in size from 3/4 inch to over 4 inches or more. Older petal bells have a ridge around the middle and two to four holes cast into the lower half. The older they are, the more decorative, with manufacturers initials or the size engraved near the throat. 

Crotal bell cast by the Robert Wells bell foundry of Aldbourne, Wiltshire, U.K. Public Domain Wikipedia

Early catalogs show strap with bells alone, or with chimes attached. The open bottom chimes added a melodious sound to the jangling strap of bells and could be heard from a greater distance. 

Strap Bells, Sears, Roebuck and Co., 1896. Public Domain

Chimes were often used alone where they sat above the horses back. Open bottom shaft bells were attached to the sleigh's trace, or shaft. This 1890 catalog from R. S. Luqueer & Company shows a variety of what was available at the time. 

Bells and Chimes, 1890 catalog. Public Domain

As a modern collector of jingle bells, I bought a strap of sleigh bells a few years ago and then gave it to my daughter. This year, my son is in his first apartment and drooled over my leather wreath with large sleigh bells attached, so I gave it to him. I am left with this modern reproduction assortment, none of which are worth anything of value, but pleasurable enough when it comes to testing their different shapes and sound quality. 

Anita's Jingle Bell assortment

Personally, I love the sound of No. 2 Ring of Jingle Bells which have hung on our front door Christmas wreath in winter weather for several years. I also like the richer tone of No. 3 and No. 5 which appear to be made of the same metal but have different throats. For contrast, No. 6 is an open bell and not a jingle bell.

I found this interesting video where you can hear and learn about the different sounds of sleigh bell types. More pics and info on their post by the same name.
Everything You Never Knew You Never Knew About Sleigh Bells

If you are interested in sleighs and horse-drawn winter conveyances, check out my post,  https://www.hhhistory.com/2017/12/sleighs-cutters-carioles.html for info and images from the past.

Have you ever been on a sleigh ride? Have you heard the sound of sleigh bells? Care to share your thoughts?

Giveaway of one new signed copy of a small hardcover book, A Cup of Christmas Cheer Volume One: Tales of Faith and Family for the Holidays to one person who leaves their email address in the comments of this post. 
Deadline to enter is Dec 5, 2019 at midnight PST. 
My first published story, Riding on a Christmas Wish, is part of this collection and is set in 1911 Ontario, Canada. Riding on a Christmas Wish features sleigh riding so if you liked this post, enter today for a chance to win the book.

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Anita Mae Draper lives on the Canadian prairies where she uses her experience and love of history to enhance her stories of yesteryear's romance with realism and faith. Readers can enrich their story experience with visual references by checking Anita's Pinterest boards. All links available on her website at www.anitamaedraper.com

Early photos of Children's Sleighs

Since I covered the sleigh as winter transportation in my post Sleighs, Cutters & Carioles, in this post I wanted to show how the youngsters who lived in snow-covered areas were spending their winters. Like the sleighs and cutters, quality images are usually found online at auction and museum websites, but contain a copyright which prohibits reuse on a blog such as this one. However, I believe I've found enough images to show what was in use in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

In 1888, George Barker (1844-1894), created this stereograph of children playing in the snow beside a sled and a snowman. This is a very artistic snow sculpture as shown by the raised arm, shoulder, and two legs. 

The Snow Man - Happy Days, c1888, George Barker, photographer, Niagara Falls, New York. Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

Sleighs were more elaborate than sleds with sides and a seat like the adult versions. The pull sleigh was pulled by a person or animal, most often a dog, pony, ore even a goat such as this one pulling a Quebec cariole.

Master Corriveau in goat sleigh, Montreal, QC, 1880. Source: http://collections.musee-mccord.qc.ca/en/collection/artifacts/II-55024.1

Although this next image is undated, wikimedia commons has tagged it as a Victorian trade card. Manufactured by North Western Sleigh Co, it shows one of the swell-body type sleighs of my last post.

No. 23 Children's Cutter by North Western Sleigh Co. (Wholesale Manufacturers). Source: commons.wikimedia

The push type of sleigh didn't require an animal and was mainly for children and invalids. They were made of wicker or wood with iron or bent wood runners and was a larger version of the doll sleighs seen in this next image. Like the adult version, family finances and social circles dictated the look of the sleigh.

Midwinter Carnival, Children's Parade, Doll Sleds, Upper Saranac Lake, N.Y. c1909. Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

Many farm children and prairie settlers made do with all-wood push sleighs, which were used for work as well as play. 

Moodie children playing in the snow, Kelowna, British Columbia. Ca. 1911-1912.

Source: Glenbow Archives, Calgary, Alberta

Sleds were sleighs without sides, although the term is often interchangeable. For instance, a wooden sleigh with low sides and wooden runners could be referred to as a sleigh, sled, or even a sledge depending on the type of runners and use. A sledge, for example, was like a barge. It was a platform on timbers running low to the ground, a working vehicle most often used for hauling things, including people when the need arose. 

Children being pulled on sled, Spencer Ranch, Milk River, Alberta. 1913, Source: Glenbow Archives, Calgary, Alberta

A sled could have high iron runners that enabled it to glide along the snow, yet less expensive models used wooden runners, or even wood covered with a metal strip. From this next photo, it appears this type of sled was used on grass during summer training of a young lad's dog as well.

Boy with dog hooked up to sled, Crowsnest Pass, Alberta. Ca. 1915. Source: Glenbow Archives, Calgary, Alberta

Today we call it sledding, but historically, sledding down a hill has been known as coasting - a rather sedate word for the fast pace of iron runners which shoot down a hill at high speeds. 

Snow, Children Sledding, Washington, D.C, c1915-1923, glass negative, Harris & Ewing, photographer. Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

Wooden runners may not have been as fast, but their enjoyment can be seen on the faces of these boys.

Two boys on a wooden sled in winter, Edmonton, Alberta. 1913, Source: Glenbow Archives, Calgary, Alberta

Sledding was enjoyed wherever a snow-covered slope was found. In Rochester, an open-air school built a wooden chute (slide) so the children could enjoy this winter activity. 

Sledding, Rochester, Out of Door School, Coasting on the Toboggan. c1908-1915. Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C

This photo of sledding on a wooden chute fascinates me. Mostly because I'm not aware of the term, 'open-air school', and also because of their school uniforms. Does anyone have any information that could enlighten us?

My most memorable experience of sledding is of an abandoned ski hill where the coasting was super-fast, but the remnants of summer weeds slapped our faces as we whizzed past. I'm sure I ate a few seeds on my way down.

What about you? 

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Anita Mae Draper's historical romances are written under the western skies of the Saskatchewan prairie where her love of research and genealogy yield fascinating truths that layer her stories with rich historical details.  Anita's short story, Here We Come A-Wassailing, was a finalist for the Word Guild's 2015 Word Awards. Her novellas are included in Austen in Austin Volume 1, The American Heiress Brides Collection, and The Secret Admirer Romance Collection. Readers can check out Anita's Pinterest boards for a visual idea of her stories to enrich their reading experience.  Discover more at:

Website - www.anitamaedraper.com

Pinterest - www.pinterest.com/anitamaedraper/

Sleighs, Cutters & Carioles

Up until the last half of twentieth century using a sleigh was a necessity in areas that received more than a couple inches of snow. Although they were only required for a few months of the year, sleighs were manufactured to fulfill a variety of needs, sizes, and pockets in much the same manner as buggies, coaches and carriages. Usually a manufacturer would build both. In fact, some sleighs were simple buggy or coach bodies added to fancy runners instead of wheels. 

In the early 1800's, the most common North American winter vehicle was the piano box sleigh. Sensible, practical, it was made for hauling a family with kids, farm or business goods and usually pulled by a single horse or a team of horses.

Moose hitched to sleigh, Athabasca Landing, Alberta.  1909. Glenbow Archives, Calgary, Alberta

First designed in the early 1820's by James Goold of The Albany Coach Works, the Albany sleigh presented an ornate, rounded body in direct contrast to the piano box sleigh. With higher runners it could glide smoothly across deeper snow. Built with a single seat for two people, it became a romantic cutter, able to race against the fastest sleighs of the time. 

1868 Albany cutter manufactured by The Albany Coach Works. Courtesy of coachbuilt.com

The single seat Albany cutters and two-seater sleighs were the most expensive sleighs of their time due to their custom finish to whatever paint and fabric you ordered. Because of this customization however, Albany sleighs never reached mass market. Instead, Portand sleighs became the most popular sleigh of the snowy season.

According to The Farm Implement News Volume 15, Peter Kimball of Bryant's Pond, ME buiilt the first Portland sleigh one year after Mr. Goold built his Albany sleigh in 1817. But Kimball stuck to straight lines instead of Goold's curved ones and the simplicity appealed to the Puritan nature of the New England population.  

This newspaper ad from The New York Herald of December 12, 1869 shows what was trending during that winter:

The New York herald. (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, December 12, 1869. Image provided by Library of Congress, Washington, DC

So fifty years after their introduction, the sleek Albany cutter was old-fashioned and the Portland and Boston made Sleighs were light, elegant and modern. They may have the rolled dash, but their bottoms were still flat which makes me call them boxy. Further research led me to the 1889 Hitchcock Manufacturing Co Catalogue which showed two versions of a Swell-Body Cutter - one with a foldaway top.

A similar ad for a Swell Body Cutter in an 1894 edition of The Farm Implement News confirmed the Swell Body cutter was on the market and not just the offering of one manufacturer.

It's interesting to note that the 1911 Sears, Roebuck and Co. Fall Catalogue carries the Portland cutter with a slightly rounded bottom and high runners, as well as a double-seater platform Business or Pleasure Sleigh that looks like the old Piano box style.

This two-seater held a minimum of 4 people and used independent runners for easier maneuverability as well as safer travel. Called a bobsleigh, it didn't tip as easy with the dual runners as it did with those using long, single runners on each side. 

Although the Albany and Portland styles were manufactured in Canada during the same time as their American counterparts, a different type of sleigh, called a cariole, was often seen north of the friendly border. Gliding low to the ground instead of with 12-18" high runners, the cariole looked similar to the old world ones in countries like Russia where snowfall equaled that of Canada. You can see the style difference between the cariole and other sleighs of the time on this poster from the January 1899 issue of Harper's New Monthly Magazine.

Poster for Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, Jan 1899

Larger carioles provided a seat for the driver, but the design still retained the low solid appearance which appears frequently in Canadian paintings.

Winter Beauties of Humber Valley Hold Lure, The Globe, Toronto, 7 January 1925, Courtesy of Toronto Public Library

The Canada Science and Technology Museum has several sleighs on display including a Victoria sleigh built for 3-5 passengers. According to the write-up, this is one of the sleighs developed from an existing carriage design - the cabriolet - and adapted to bent wood runners. 

Victoria Sleigh with Cabriolet body. Courtesy of Canada Science and Technology Museum

This video shows different types of sleighs in action and explains many more available at Skyline Farms, Maine. Sleighs and Sleighbells by Rural Heritage

Sleighs can be found at many large museums in snowfall areas, but check out the small museums too. They may only have one type, but it will give you an idea of what was available and in use in that area. 

So, did you see a sleigh you liked? Have you ever been on a sleigh ride? Where? When? Why? What was the weather like? What time of the day?

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Anita Mae Draper's historical romances are written under the western skies of the Saskatchewan prairie where her love of research and genealogy yield fascinating truths that layer her stories with rich historical details.  Anita's short story, Here We Come A-Wassailing, was a finalist for the Word Guild's 2015 Word Awards. Her novellas are included in Austen in Austin Volume 1, The American Heiress Brides Collection, and The Secret Admirer Romance Collection. Readers can check out Anita's Pinterest boards for a visual idea of her stories to enrich their reading experience.  Discover more at:

Website - www.anitamaedraper.com

Pinterest - www.pinterest.com/anitamaedraper/