In 1911, Tahoe Tavern, an elegant Tahoe City hotel, hoping to drum up business after a record breaking snow-bound winter, offered a 3-foot-tall silver trophy to the driver(s) of the first car to complete a spring journey from California to Tahoe City.
Fortunately, snowbrains.com posted two photos from that race. One black and white image shows a pipe-smoking driver coolly steering his car down a nearly vertical slope. The other photo is of a group of men pulling a tin-lizzy up a snow covered incline, its wheels wound with rope for better traction.
What were they thinking? Obviously, the racers hadn’t heard about Harry D. Weed and his wonderful invention — tire chains.
The observant Mr. Weed noticed that winter drivers wrapped rope around their tires for traction. Harry knew that he could think of something better, and set out to develop long lasting, easily fastened metal tire chains that could be used in mud or snow. He got two out of three right. The chains provided traction, did not wear out easily, but required the tire to be partially deflated before installation. Once the attachment hooks were fastened, the tire was re-inflated, no doubt with a hand pump. Imagine doing that today in a white-out on I-80.