The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1907-05-16
THE DOG OF THE NORTH.
First the Companion of Men Then the
Assistant in Hunting.

Assistant in Hunting.
The dog was the first animal do.
mesticated by man. Originally mere.
ly companion and later a hunting
assistant he came at last to be also
beast of burden, and such he was
over great part of northern Amer
lea at the time when the white faces
of Spaniard and Englishman were
first seen on these shores.
Even after he had become a beast
of burden, the dogs function as
hunting helper did not cease. Even to-
day the wild Eskimo and hardly less
wild Dog Ribs of the Arctic regions
turn loose their dogs when bear or
a herd of musk OK is seen, and man
and his four-footed companion com.
pete in wild race toward the game,
the man depending on the dogs to
hold the quarry until he shall come
near enough to kill It. In the same
way in ancient days when the dogs
carried burdens and hauled loads for
the Indians of the plains, the ami.
mails were often freed from their
loads il game was suddenly sighted:
and when, as sometimes happened
in those days of wild animal abund.
ance, buffalo or deer or rabbits ran
through the column of the marching
camp. the patient dogs, which had
| been wearily tugging under the packs,
| forgot their fatigue and started in
pursuit of the game, scattering their
loads far and wide over the prairie
In temperate zones-as has been
intimated-the dog hauled the trav.
ois and carried the pack. These
| dogs were not like those that we. see
and strong and able to carry a good
load. The most ancient men, whose
memories go back to the early part
of the last century, describe these
animals as being as large as wolves,
long cast, of many colors, white,
black, yellow or spotted, and as often
having crooked legs and turned out
fes, something like those of the
daschund or the bench-legged beagle
OF to-day.
With the passing out of existence
of Americas primitive people, the use
| of dogs as burden bearers has almost
ceased. Over a vast range of this
continent the horse has taken his
place, and the old breeds that so well
performed the labor of transporta-
tion have become extinct. Only in
the farthest North the huskie re-
mains, used by the Eskimo, by the
Alaska miner In winter, and by the
Indians on the border of the barren
ground. Even these are growing
scarcer. though in the Eskimo camps
of the Far North one may still see
splendid specimens of the sturdy
breed, and as he walks through the
camp will often be in danger of
stumbling over a brace of tiny pups
already being trained to the harness
and fastened to some stake driven
into the frozen ground.
1t is but a few years since Major
II. NJ. Robinson, whose familiarity
with the great lone land of the Far
North is 80 well known, told in For
est and Stream the story of the pass
Ing of the sledge dog. He gave an
interesting picture of the sledge dog
and the sledge travel. and one who
reads the old books of Arctic explora-
tion and of Arctic life will find this
story often retold. 1t is the old tale
of the change from primitive meth
ods of life to those which are more
complex, and such changes never fail
to possess an interest.-Forest and
Stream.