Many of the Norwegians who emigrated to America were skilled skiers and were well acquainted with the Norwegian skiing tradition. Through Norwegian winter sports, skiing and skating, the Norwegian-American community had something to offer that excited the competitive American audience.
The Norwegians helped lay the foundation for the American sport of skiing, and we can find some of them on the memorial monument at the Emigration Centre.
John “Snowshoe” Thompson was a legendary Norwegian-American postman and skiing pioneer, known as "The Skiing Mailman" and "Viking of the Sierra".
On skis he was able to provide a service that no one else was capable of, when he single-handedly managed the postal service in winter between the states along the west coast and the rest of the United States.