View of engine and clutch of 1968 era Ski Doo.

I took this shot in a Patten, Maine snowmobile repair shop, to show my buddies down around Dundalk, Maryland what the engine and clutch of a snowmobile looked like. But I wasn't so good of a photographer yet. So the detail seen in the sled is not as good as I could have gotten it by using better camera gear and with my U.S. Army Photo Lab Tech School training behind me.

While I was in that snowmobile repair shop, there was an old Maine lumberjack there sharpening his chainsaw blade--by hand. My Uncle Finley was there too, and we marveled at the dexterity and skill with which the lumberjack was handling his sharpening file. It was a considerable piece of work.

The entire time though: the lumberjack's squatted most of the way down onto the floor, with his backside halfway perched upon a small, old wooden box; the chainsaw was on the floor; he's gotta' half lit pipe hanging down from his between his teeth; he's casually conversing with the half a dozen or so of us younger Maine woodsmen in there; he's spinning off good jokes, quips and brief little, interesting and funny stories--like an old Maine lumberjack might.

It impressed me how he could work at such an unrelenting and steadily effective pace and be so relaxed about it. Hand sharpening a chain saw blade is not easy, because you have to make your file strokes just right--every hundreds of times.

I mentioned a little about how amazed I was about this, and the gregarious guys in the shop all agreed with me. They said it takes a real old timer to use a file on a chainsaw blade chain that way.

I loved hanging out with the people in those places.

Below is one final vintage snowmobile photo, for this series of articles. It shows some of the awesome scenery enjoyed by backwoods travelers in that part of Northern Maine.

I sure wish I could get someone to teach me how to bring out the best in my older photos by using photo restoration and enhancement software like Photoshop. These vintage snowmobile photos of mine have the potential to look much better than how I know how to scan them in and present them on the Internet.

An old buddy on a Moto Ski in Moro Plantation with what I believe is Mt. Chase in the background.

I have no idea who that guy on the snowmobile was. For some reason the name Cecil Gallagher or the last name of Cyr comes to mind.

But this photo shows the front end of that model and year Moto Ski snowmobile about as good as my inexpensive camera, which I owned at the time, could do it.

This shot was taken somewhere up in the Township of Moro Plantation, Aroostook County, Maine.

That sloping field he's on was a super-duper fun place to ride our sleds on. And I believe that is Mt. Chase in the background.

David Robert Crews Copyright 2008

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