Iola's organized skiing tradition dates back to Tuesday, January 11, 1910, when a group of individuals met in Justice Cleaves' office to initiate the organization of the Iola Ski Club, which morphed into the Iola Winter Sports Club some 10 years later. The first ski jumping activity recorded in Iola had taken place on Sunday February 28, 1909, however, when Albert Johnson, Elf Elfson, Oscar and Andrew Waistad executed jumps from an improved scaffold affixed to Jas. Parker's barn roof, situated "on the hill in the rear of the school buildings," facing north down the embankment.
The Iola Ski Club's founding officers: president Oscar Wrolstad, permanent clerk H. C. Cleaves, and treasurer G. L. Gunderson. The January 13, 1910, Iola Herald reported their first mission would be the "building of a slide to be erected on the hill just west of the High school," with the skier landing area on West State Street in the area of this sign's placement. The first competition on the hill was held on Sunday, January 30, 1910, with first place in Class A (Continued on other side)
(Continued from other side)
going to M. Grenli of Nelsonville with a jump of 40-1/2 feet and a point total of 116, while the Class B winner was Helmer Johnson of Nelsonville with a jump of 39-1/2 feet and a point
total of 103.
Over 1,000 spectators were reported to have been in attendance at that first School House Ski Hill tournament, many of whom arrived on a special train excursion from Waupaca. Building on that success, a second tournament was conducted on Sunday February 27, 1910.
The 1911 and 1912 tournaments were moved to a new location, Slaughter House Ski Hill, situated on the Taylor property on the east side of Iola, now a part of the Glacier Wood Golf Course. This scaffolding structure remained standing for many years, being used by local skiers for practice. On February 18, 1913, a new Knutson Ski Hill tournament location was inaugurated on the Clarence Knutson farm outside of Town in the Town of St. Lawrence. The 11915 tournament jumps posted on Knutson Ski Hill, in the range of 140 feet, were longer than those recorded at that year's national tournament hosted in Duluth.
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