Vintage Lund - Northland Skis

Antique Lund - Northland Skis 
Wood, Metal
 89 1/4”l x 3"w
© Vintage Winter

A true piece of history here.  This wonderful set of 1920s downhill skis have both logos on them from a time when the Lund and Northland companies were merging.  

C. A. Lund founded Lund in Hastings, Minnesota. Norwegian-born Christian A. Lund 1911. Skis, Poles, Boots, Bindings, Toboggans, and Snowshoes were manufactured at Hastings, Minnesota, St. Paul and in Laconia, New Hampshire. By the mid 1920’s and on into the 1930s, Lund (and later Northland) was one of the nation’s largest producer of Winter Sporting equipment.

Northland Ski Manufacturing Company was incorporated in 1912 by Hugo Kjølstad, John Fryer, and Ole S. Ellevold, former foreman of the Strand Ski Company. After a relatively short time, Ellevold needed cash for the operation and management expertise, so in 1913, Norwegian born Christian A. Lund became associated with the business through purchase of stock. Lund had been working right across the street at Gold Coin Chemical Works, so he was somewhat familiar with Ellevold and his situation. In 1916, Christian Lund owned most of the stock of the company and Ellevold left Minnesota to farm in North Dakota. In the 1920s and early 1930s Northland published some of the first U.S. how-to-ski pamphlets printed in the U.S. Northland skis soon gained a widespread reputation for unsurpassed quality making Northland the largest manufacturer of skis in the world. A series of factory fires caused Northland to move to different locations over the years.

In 1938, Northland opened a factory in Laconia, New Hampshire to capitalize on Eastern ski demand. The factory in Laconia was managed by Christian Lund's son Carl. A complete line of skis, skiing accesories, hockey sticks, and toboggans were manufactured in Laconia. Abercrombie & Fitch Department Store sold skis made by Northland.

Northland was forced to adopt fiberglass in the late 1960s, and became just another ski company—its product was pedestrian. And, unlike Rossignol, Kastle and Kneissl, Northland couldn’t afford to support athletes on the U.S. team, although they did sign Stein Eriksen.

In October 1966, Northland was bought by Larson Industries, which built Larson and Glaspar fiberglass boats. Larson expanded rapidly into snowmobiles and other sports, and then went bankrupt. Most Larson stock was acquired by Wilson Sporting Goods in 1970 and the Larson conglomerate closed.

Source: http://skiinghistory.org & http://www.nlrb.gov, newspaper articles, and