bobsled, bobsledding

[Christopher Philippo]

Grondahl, Paul. “Albany birthplace of bobsledding; Bobsled historian: 19th-century sport’s origin in capital city.” Albany Times Union. February 6, 2014 http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Albany-birthplace-of-bobsledding-5212631.php

My Compact Edition of The Oxford English Dictionary doesn’t seem to have a citation for bobsled as old as the one I found.  Possibly online there’s an older one, though.

“We proceeded however, and at length discovered a team of several yoke of cattle and a horse, attempting to draw an old bobsled up a steep hill on bare ground.”
Pitcher, Mary. “The long pull, the strong pull, and the all pull together.” Concord Gazette. March 9, 1816: 2.

“Old bobsled” suggests there might be ever older citations.  What were the bobsleds in St. Moritz in the 1870s-80s called?

Christopher K. Philippo

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