Montreal Snow Shoe Club

The Montreal Snow Shoe Club (MSSC) was founded in 1840 by twelve well-known young men of Montreal. It was the first club of its sort in North America (and probably the world) and led the way for hundreds of other clubs like it to be established across Canada and the United States. Though as a club the MSSC was significantly pre-dated by others such as the Royal Montreal Curling Club and the Montreal Hunt, it was snowshoeing that pioneered the organization of sport in Montreal. In the 19th century, only lacrosse (and much later, ice hockey) exceeded the total number of urban snowshoe clubs in Canada. In the period before 1867, Lindsay remarks, "a history of snowshoeing in Canada is virtually a history of snowshoeing in Montreal, and, in particular, the Montreal Snow Shoe Club". The MSSC laid the foundations for many other winter and sporting clubs to be established in Montreal, and notably the world's first Winter Carnival.

The MSSC organized an array of races, but they are best remembered for their night-time torchlit processions from McGill's Gatehouse up through Mount Royal Park, wearing their traditional take on the outfits of the old Québécois trappeurs and the infamous tasselled 'tuque bleu'. At the top a hearty dinner was served in their clubhouse, the club's songs were further sung and before the descent new members were "bounced". The MSSC significantly added to Quebec's reputation throughout the British Empire as the most sociable, colourful and cheerful place to spend winter.

In 1840, the first twelve members of the as yet unnamed Montreal Snow Shoe Club (though mainly Anglo, there were several French names too) started by meeting up every Saturday to 'tramp' out into the surrounding countryside. After a walk of between ten and twelve miles, they repaired to a well-known café on Saint Jacques Street, where the proprietor, one Monsieur Tetu, "afforded every luxury relished by the jolly crew".

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