Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-06-03
LAND OF THE DOG PONY.
A Winter Ride ON a Dog Train In British
America.

| A Winter Ride ON a Dog Train In British
| America.
"Dogs in the Territories of the
Northwest have but one function-to
haul. Pointer, setter, lurcher. fox
hound, greyhound, Indian, Mongrel,
| miserable cur or the beautiful Esqui-
mau, all alike are destined to howl un-
der the drivers lash, to tug wildly at
| the moosc-skin collar, to drag until
| they can drag no more, and then to
die. The dogs are put one after an
other in tandem fashion. A complete
train numbers four, but three, or some
times even two, are used. The train
of dogs is harncssed to the cariolc or
sled. by means of two long traces, be-
tween which the dogs stand one after
another, the head of one dog being
about foot behind the tail of the dog
in front of him. They are attached to
the traces by a long collar, which slips
on over the head and ears, and then
lies close on the swell on the neck;
this collar buckles on each side of the
traces, which are kept from touching
the ground by backband of leather,
buttoned under the dogs ribs. The
backband and collar is generally cov-
cred with little brass bells and gayly-
| colored ribbons. Great pride is taken
by the half-breed drivers in turning out
train of dogs in good style.
1.-The fact is patent that in hauling,
the dog is put to work from which
his whole nature revolts, with the sim
gle exception of the Esquimau, and to
haul with him is as natural as that of q
nniutor Tn npipt frhn h.,,l;n, lo-,,
day is long tissue of trail, for from
the first streak of dawn to the close of
day he is harnessed and at hard labor,
with but one meal day of two pounds
of pemmican or frozen white fish or
two, as the intense cold increases and
the dogs tire out. The ice cuts their
feet, and the white surface is often
speckled with the crimson icicles that
fall from their wounded toes. The
half-breed drivers, too, are brutal fell
lows, and belabor their teams without
mercy at times. This inhuman thrash
ing, the frantic bowling of the dogs,
the bitter and terrible cold, making up
the mode of Winter travel.
From the first covering of snow the
whole surface of the plain is one vast
sheet of white, SO bright and glistening
as to render men blind, ahd sometimes
crazy, by the continual glare. Not a
sound Is heard over this immense
waste, save now and then at night the
sharp bark of the coyote wolf-not a
speck or even a bird dots the blue
vault of heaven, nothing but solemn
stiffness and immense cold, culmina-
ting about midwinter at from 40 to A
degrees below zero, or over 70 degrees
of frost. The cold becomes piercing
and bitter wind sweeps across its SUR
face. In midwinter the snow falls
every day, with high westerly wind,
veering toward the north, and thick
poidra, dry ice, specula hard as gravel,
and blizzards jump up all of sudden
in seemingly pleasant weather. COM
mencing with gale and increasing to a
hurricane, the wind blowing at the rate
of from forty to fifty miles an hour,
while the thermometer registers from 35
10 40 degrees below zero, with the
clouds of snow-dust. hard as bullets,
the effect can well be imagined. Men
are silent; their lips are blue and re-
fuse to utter the words they feel.
| Where the skin is exposed ii becomes
frost-bitten, and afterward rOts away;
eyes and nostrils are glued together,
and icicles hang from the eye-lids. To
touch a knife with the hand would burn
like coal Of fire. The hot tea freezes
while il is being drank, breath freezes
instantaneously into solid Jumps of ice,
and 40 degrees below zero means
death, in period whose duration
would expire In the hours Of a Winter $
daylight, il there was no fire or means
Of kindling one on the trail. From.
, Buffers Recent look on Manitoba.