The Autoneige As Workaround: Infrastructural Momentum At The Emergence Of The Snowmobile

Background Drawing on infrastructure theories of communication, this article considers the snowmobile as an exceptional instance of transport and media circulation in rural Quebec and Eastern Canada. In the early twentieth century, the snowmobile provided a temporary fix to the isolation of developing communities. When the snow and cold descended on these regions, both transport and communication came to a standstill for months.Analysis This article explores how the snowmobile provided a workaround to the environmental conditions that cut parts of the nation off from the evolving mobilities of the era.Conclusions and implications Transporting people, goods, and messages across social and environmental divides, the snowmobile illustrates how challenging topographies can precipitate invention. This process of mediation is indivisible from its social, environmental, and cultural context.