Community effort strives for a spacious, sparkling snowmobile museum in Engadine.

A fisherman, cold and tired from working in the wintry Lake Michigan elements, heads for the warmth of a nearby shelter. His motorized sleigh, a hand-built, somewhat crude contraption that looks like a large box on skis, rests in the snow near the frozen water’s edge, loaded with his day’s catch.

“That’s what the commercial fishermen in Naubinway used to do,” says Charlie Vallier of Engadine, reflecting on a practical use of early snowmobiles.

He’d like to see a similar scene installed in the spacious new Top of the Lake Snowmobile Museum on U.S.-2, in the heart of the Upper Peninsula town.

When it’s built, that is. For the next few years Michigan’s only antique snowmobile museum will consist of static exhibits of 62 historic snow vehicles and related paraphernalia at a temporary site just south of the Naubinway blinker light. “Current space isn’t big enough for displays like (the more dramatic depiction),” says Vallier, a 28-year Department of Natural Resources fire officer who is chairing the fledgling nonprofit corporation behind the museum.

The current space is a former laundromat owned by a local businessman who turned it over to the group, earlier this year, for its short-term use. Within six weeks, an eager crew of volunteers had gutted and renovated the 2,000-square-foot, L-shaped area, moved in the display sleds, snowsuits and other exhibits, created and hung short descriptions of each vehicle, and set up a small gift shop. Top of the Lake Snowmobile Museum opened its doors during Naubinway’s annual July 4th celebration and since then visitors from across the country and Canada have signed its guest book, says Marilyn Vallier, Charlie’s wife and a museum volunteer.

The rotating display taps the collections of eight people; Vallier has about 15 sleds in the museum at any time, culled from his personal inventory of 98 machines. He’s had a passion for snowmobiles for as long as he can remember. “I talked my dad into being a Viking dealer in 1971 when I got out of the Army,” says the 58-year-old, who’s restoring a 1950s Bosak Power Toboggan, one of only four or five in the U.S. He owns 10 of his family’s favorite riding machine, the Hus-Ski, an “ironing board on skis.” Two of his Hus-Skis from the years 1963-65 are in the museum.

Vallier helped launch the Antique Snowmobile Show held in Naubinway each year (the 16th annual event is Feb. 15-16). At an event about five years ago, a group of collectors realized they could share their passion with the general public, while doing something positive for the local community, by opening a snowmobile museum–one of only a handful in the country. The project has taken shape through the efforts of Allen Frazier, president of the Naubinway-Engadine Merchants Association, Aaron Schroeder and John Ketcher of Engadine, John and Lynn Batchelder and Bruce Gustafson of Naubinway, Fred Edgarton of Hale, and John McGuirk of Ohio.

The group appreciates the guidance of Tom Farnquist, executive director of the Shipwreck Museum in Paradise, for his help in developing the current displays.

Having a few years in the temporary space is beneficial to the development of the permanent museum, says Vallier. The 10,000-square-foot building will have room for 180 snowmobiles, a library of related literature, a visitor information center for area businesses, a conference room for the Sault Chippewa Tribe of Local Elders, and at least one exhibit recalling the snowmobile’s role in the history of this fishing port at Lake Michigan’s most northern point.

Top of the Lake Snowmobile Museum is open year-round, but hours vary. For information or an appointment to visit, call 906-477-6192. Also visit www.topofthelake.org.