Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-03-08

Dawson, Circle City, Fairbanks. Eagle
Minook-and number of other camps
where they have fair streets or roads
the dogs are used to draw light freigh
about in little two wheeled carts, ant
|, they are used in the mines and on the
trails for packing. The pack saddles
are made Of heavy canvas and the av-
erage dog will pack thirty or forty
pounds.
Some dogs will lie down in the mud
or water with their packs on, while
others seem to feel the responsibility oil
protecting their packs and are ex-
aceedingly careful in picking their way
through thick brush or over fallen
trees that obstruet the trail. leaping
over pools of mud and picking their
footing with great care on the small
rocks in fording streams. They rarely
bark.
The dogs are fed once day when
working: the best feed is the Yukon
dried salmon but failing this bacon
has proved the best substitute. 1t is
cut in small pieces and boiled in n
quantity Of water an hour or more,
and then -four, corn meal, rice or roll
ed oats is added and cooked we'll in the
greasy water until the whole becomes
thin. smooth mush. Each dog has
his own pan and i is filed with the
food and carefully guarded by its own
er until cool, and then eagerly devour-
ed.
The native dogs will steal anything
they can eat; in the absence of some
thing more tempting they dote or
ropes. harness. old rubber boots, moe
casins and snowshoes or anything of
the like nature which they can chew
on. The Siwash dogs have the same
characteristics as the Indians of the
country; they are the most ungrateful
creatures in the world and their nature
is absolutely void Of attachment or
sentiment The SiWash, both Indian
and dog, care for one only as long as
he feeds them.
A good team of three, four or five
dogs with q light road Will acreage
forty miles a day. The same team
when heavily loaded cannot make over
two and a half or three miles an hour.
However. there is n vast difference in
the gait of dogs; some are very speedy
and have great endurance. while 9TH
ers are fast at the start but soon play
out and become extremely SLOW
There are a number of foreign dogs
in the country-St. Bernard, Newfound-
land and heterogeneous multitude of
others. AS they are far more intelli-
gent than the native dog, they are apt
and amenable TO discipline and as
rule are faithful in the harness, while
the ungrateful native dog win shirk at
every possible opportunity. and oe-
casionally good flashing is necessary
to Keep his memory alive to the fact of
obedience; encouraging words 40 not
have the force with the native that
they do with the dogs of civilization.
But it is impossible for the immigrant
dogs to endure the hardships of this
rigorous climate for any length Of time.
My noble dog Baldie was one Of the
finest specimens of canine flesh | have
ever known.
This powerful dog took me from my
cabin in the mines into Circle CITY,
the sixty-five miles in one day. of
course the trail was in excellent condi-
- 't+tf' NiiSi = " ~ iAOllltliS OIL the SleQ
with me but my robes. | ran oecas-
lonally to get warm. and walked up
the inclines, but rode nearly all the
way. or course he couldn't cover the
distance daily, but he could make it
once or twice week, and forty to fifty
five miles on good trail was an easy
average for him.
lie was much to fast for a. team.
ana would always be ahead pulling the
other dogs along. He was considered
the fastest dog in that part of Alaska.
lie had very peculiar gait-not the
trot of most dogs, but a pace or rack.
He weighed 1855 pounds and was all
bone and muscle. ON the summer trail
he could carry fifty pounds in his pack
saddle. l paid 800 for him, but all the
gold of Alaska could not have purchas-
ed him from me.
The price of Alaskan dogs is govern
ed by the number of stampedes during
Il winter, which creates a great demand
Tor dog teams with which to reach nevy
gold helds at an early date. At such
times teams Of three or four dogs have
Drought as high as 1880 or $1,000 where
their usual price would be about s70o
or $500.