dogs of the nobth
Even those who have had most to
do with the huskies and malamute days
and heroism attached to them cannot
give them a first class character for
honesty and industry.
Dogs from the outside are as num
erous as the native breeds, are hon
est pullers and even make better lead
ers in the team where native intelli
gence would seem to be the best guide
to picking out a difficult trail or find
ing the way home through the blizzards
and snow wastes. There is a difference
of opinion as to the two native breeds
of dog, the Malamute and Husky, their
origin, the country from which they
come and the amount of wolf mixture
in them. A lady, however, who has
spent several winters on tho Yukon,
writes as follows:
“I think that the Malamute dog is
the one breed with the wolf and na
tive of the McKenzie country as I
have seen a large picture of the Mc
Kenzie river Indians wTith 50 or 75 of
their dogs, every one of the wolf breed.
‘‘The Indians put heavy loads on
their sleighs and sometimes a squaw
and papoose on top. Other dogs carry
packs and even the puppies carry
small loads according to their strength.
The Indians as a rule treat their squaws
better in the north than on the plains
and exact less drudgery from them.
The dog harness is ornamented with
bead work and little bells jingle by the
way.
“The Husky is a taller, bonier and
gaunter dog than the Malamute, with
characteristics in common. Laziness
and knavery are common to all though
a decent education and care sometimes
overcomes this.
“To steal and steal craftily is a nec
essity of the northern dog's existence,
for as soon as the snow breaks up and
they can no longer be used their own
ers almost unanimously turn them
loose to shift for themselves just as if
they were grazing animals, instead of
carnivorous. When the whistle of the
first steamboat sounds upon the barely
open reaches of the river the wolf-like
mournful howl of Malamute and Husky
gives its echo along the shore and they
dash into the wrater for such scraps as
the stewards throw overboard, swim
ming around, fighting and diving until
the last morsel has been secured.
“As soon as the snow flies again
this indifference as to the dogs dis
apears and men with chain and rope
may be seen on all hands recovering
the dogs they turned loose to shift for
themselves in the spring. Puppies of
the same litter vary very much in their
dispositions, and fear of man in some
is as pronounced as in a perfect wild
wolf cub. The instinct to steal is not
confined to food, they will carry off
clothes and bring them home, or secrete
metal articles for which they them
selves have no use. Molly Mute one
day brought home a flat iron and kept
her owner fairly busy returning the
things she stole. So long as a driver
can speak they retain their fear of him,
but if he becomes unconscious or dies
from illness, they will eat him like a
pack of wolves. The native dogs, with
help, start a load, but so soon as it is
going they will, if unwatched, trot
along apparently pulling, but really
loafing and allowing the other dogs
from the outside to do the real work;
thus it comes that cross-bred or im
ported dogs are most largely used, al
though they are not quite so able to
care for themselves on bitter nights
until they have learned to remain buri
ed in the snow. The Malamute has a
double coat of gray hair and under fur
which enables him to defy the cold and
withstand rigor of 70 degrees below
zero. Dogs of all breeds suffer extrem
ely from the snowrballs that form be
tween their toes on the trail and that
only some drivers are humane enough
to remove.”
“AROUND WORLD” DOG TEAM
Circling the globe, with a team of
twenty-eight Eskimo dogs and a sled,
for a purse of $12,800, Mr. and Mrs.
Harry J. Mason, who started on their
unique journey from Nome, Alaska,
October 27, 1908, arrived in Denver,
today, with 8,000 miles already travel
ed.
Clad in the furry garments of the
far north, the plucky couple attracted
an inquisitive crowd in front of the
Post this morning, where, surrounded
by their wolf-dogs, they told in matter
of-fact way, the plan of their undertak
ing, and some of the difficulties that
have so far beset them.
Tanned, muscular, evidently in per
fect health, both the man and the
woman appear as fit for a round-the
world trip behind a dog team as two
people could be. The thing to them is
a business proposition and they discuss
it as such. Minor obstacles are given
little heed. When in the vicinity of
Shawnee, in Platte Canon, nearly 70
miles from Denver, one of the axles of
the half sledge, half wagon conveyance
which they use, broke, Mrs. Mason left
her husband in charge of camp and
dogs, came ahead to Denver, got a new
axle and sent it out. She was joined
by Mason this morning.
This blue-eyed young woman is a na
tive of Sweden, but has lived in var
ious parts of America during a consid
erable portion of her life.
“It was on a wager that we under
took the trip,” said she. “Harry, my
husband, whom I met and married in
Nome, five years ago, is a native Colo
radoan. He was born at Eagle and
reared there. But he’s been up in the
northwest for years and years—he was
at Nome before there was any Nome—
and when he decided several years ago
that he was coming back home for a
visit, he thought it would be a good
scheme to make the trip by sled with
the dog team, Eskimo fashion. Then
the idea developed of going around the
world that way, the wager was made
and we started, depending on our-own
wits and muscles to make our living en
route.
“According to the wager, a purse of
$12,800 put up by the Alaska Sweep
stake Race company and the North
Star Trading company, will go to us if
we get back to Nome by May 1, 1915,
with the sled intact and at least two
of the six dogs we started with. Well,
we started out and sledded it until we
reached a point 62 miles northeast of
Ashcroft, B. C. There the snow gave
out and we put wheelbarrow wheels
on our rig and they answered our pur
pose first rate.
I
“We got a tree concession for the
Alaska-Yukon exposition at Seattle and
we hung, up there until October 18,
1909. From Seattle we went down in
to Montana and it was while we were
crossing Taft Summit, near St. Regis,
that our first bad luck overtook us. The
dogs got after a rabbit and became de
moralized. They ran awray and my hus
band was hurled down a steep slant of
some 600 feet, breaking some of his
ribs and bruising him up all over. It
was many months before he was able
to travel again and we stopped at Mis
soula, Mont., until Sept. 13, 1910, after
which we visited Great Falls, Helena,
and other towns, giving exhibitions of
driving, dog tricks, and my husband
lecturing on our trip and Alaska gen
erally.
“We traveled on southward until we
reached Rock Springs, Wyo., last De
cember, and there we stayed four
months raising dogs. We got nine pup
pies wintered through so that we now
have 28. They are good dogs, mala
mutes and huskies. The malamutes,
you know, are half dog and half wolf.
The huskies are less than half wolf.
They are strong but they are harder
to manage than the malamutes.
“From Rock Springs, we crossed the
Red Desert to Wamsutter, Wyo., and
then over to Craig, Colo., then on down
through Routt county to Eagle. We
left there in the early part of August
stopped five days at Leadville and
came along, making very good time un
til our axle broke in Platte canyon.
We expect to stay here a week or so
and we ought to do pretty well with
our trick dogs and driving and our lec
ture. We will then move on east, prob
ably through Chicago to Washington
and then to New York by next Febru
ary, shipping in March for Liverpool
“After we finish our journey and win
our money, w-e will make the long
driv’e down the Pacific coast from
Nome to San Francisco, where we will
be features of the Panama-Pacific ex
position.”
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