Remember that early windsled we talked about a couple of days ago? The “Maybe,” built in 1941?
Well, it wasn’t exactly the first.
Washburn Times, February 3, 1921
Air Iceboat Goes Through The Ice
Lans Goodnough and Don Cameron’s air propelled iceboat is now lying peacefully at the bottom of the lake near the breakwater on the Ashland side of the bay as the result of having gone through the thin ice on Tuesday afternoon, and due to this accident Martin Larsen was given a drenching in the icy waters of Chequamegon Bay.
For some time the air-propelled iceboat, the invention of Don Cameron and Lans Goodnough has been plying between Ashland and Washburn as well as furnishing sport for the owners and their friends. On Tuesday afternoon Don Cameron and Martin Larsen went over to Ashland in the boat and upon their return to the city cut across the bay, taking the course near the end of the breakwater, little thinking that the ice would not be of sufficient thickness to hold the weight of the boat and its two passengers.
Just as the boat was passing around the breakwater the ice gave way and Cameron jumped out on one side of the boat while Larsen went out on the other side. Cameron landed on ice of sufficient strength to bear his weight while Larsen went through with the boat and was pulled in to the cold waters of the bay.
Martin Larsen is a good swimmer and an all-around athlete and he immediately started to climb back into the ice, but it kept breaking away and throwing him back into the water. Larson kept his head all the time and managed to push the broken cakes of ice under him until he could get hold of ice thick enough to bear his weight and crawl back to safety after being in the water for about 10 minutes.
Fascinating so far, jaw-dropping from here:
Aside from getting pretty wet, Larsen did not mind the experience a great deal and said if the ice had kept breaking that he would have made his way to shore before he would have given up, and Cameron is laughing yet over the experience.
This boat, which is propelled the same as an aeroplane, is a great machine, the power being furnished by a large Franklin engine. It is said to be able to make a speed of more than 90 mph and has made trips across the bay from here to Ashland in less than nine minutes.
Some folks reading this article might think of the sign on the wall of LaPointe’s great bar, Tom’s Burned-Down Cafe, reading, If you’re going to be stupid, you have to be tough. I know that I did, for a second. Then I realized how wrong I was– there’s nothing stupid about dreaming big.
Shine on, you crazy diamonds of the world.





