Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1909-03-02
MAILS IN THE ARCTIC
ARE BORNE BY DOGS
People in Bleak Lands Of the North
Get Letters by Eskimo Trans
portation

No one, not even his brutal native
master, begrudges an Eskimo dog his
summer vacation. Every Alaska town
swarms with dogs, and no amount OF
cutting or of yelling will cause them to
stir if they are indisposed to move. In
summer, says a writer in st. Nicholas
their sluggish blood and wornout legs
respond only to fight. They are new
er too old, too tired or too hungry for
that. When not in harness or aiseep
they are always scrapping.
In speed the outside dog-that is,
the dog from Europe or the States
shows off in camp to the disadvantage
of the native, but once on the tran the
latter is the Arabian steed of the Arc
ties. The aristocrats of Alaska dog lie
are the mail teams In the United States
service. Until the coming of the Amer
leans the leaders in Eskimo dog teams
were unknown in the arctics. The tran
was generally broken ahead by an In
dian or Eskimo woman running aneao
of the team, her tiny mukluks-which
are high boots made of hair seal or the
reindeer-pounding through the snow,
while her. liege lord snuggled IN the
sledge's fur-ltned bed.
Few pure malamutes (native dogs de-
scended from the Siberian wolff are
now employed in the mail service.
Their legs are too short, their feet sink
too readily through the snow. Prefer
ence is given to a cross of the mala-
mute or Mckenzie husky and the st.
Bernard or Newfoundland, ESKIMO
with a little hound. The Eskimo be-
gins to train his dog for sledge work
before it is month old. One of the
most interesting features of Eskimo
villages are puppies tied to the pole OF
a tent. They pull on the rope with all
their puppy strength in the effort TO
break away and join the frolics OF
their elders. Not until a dog pred roI
mail service is one year old is it put IN
training for the trail 1t begins by
running ten miles with the team, then
1t is dropped out. Next day 1t runs
the same distance. Gradually the dis
lance is Increased until it reaches its
fifteenth month of life, when 1t be-
comes part of the regular service.
to four years.
No greater punishment can be in
flicted than to lay dog off from SER
vice. When unruly they are threat
ened with a layoff, and with almost
human intelligence they seem to under
stand the disgrace it implies In the eyes
of their fellow workers on the trail. All
fight to be leaders. Some dogs are bet
ter trail followers than others, as some
best of them lose the trail, but invari-
ably find it.
When on the trail they eat but once
day, at the end of the journey. After
feeding, like weary children, they fall
asleep and are never quarrelsome. 1t
takes on an average of twenty pounds
of food a day for team Of eleven dogs
on a hard route. The dogs of the mail
teams consumed last year three tons OF
bacon and one of rice. The rice and
bacon are cooked together with frozen
fish, and eaten hot The dogs are per-
mitted to eat all they want. When too
hot they let it cool in the snow. If near
the sea or a river they will cunningly
pull the vessel out on the ice and test
the temperature of it's contents with
their long tongues until the mess can
be eaten without burning the mouth.
Frozen fish is the staple food of all ma
tive dogs. Once week the dogs are fed
on fresh meat bones. In severest
weather the dogs are unprotected save
by the thick coats of hair that nature
provides. In April and May the mail
dogs wear moccasins of moose or deer
skin, for the thaw of the spring sum
shine freezes at night and the ice cuts
their feet. When a roadhouse is reached
they often share it's shelter with the
carrier, but not infrequently they bur-
row into the snowdrift and, curled up