El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-12-23

portant part Of the traffic of Alaska.
They are TO be found IN and about
every mining camp, and there are nun
dTeds Of them in every town They are
used. in carrying the mails During the
long winter every postal card and every
letter. newspaper and magazine that
come sto Nome has To be hEpueht over
1900 miles of ice and snow bE dog
teams The mail is taken from Fair
banks 10 Ruby. IditarOd and Fort Glib
bon by dogs, and. in fact. the whole of
the interior of this great territory is
dependent upon dogs for its winter
transportation
In the summer the dogs are some
times used by the prospectors as pack
animals and at the time Of a gold STAN
pede they rapidly rise in value This
Is especially so If a stampede occurs
during the winter In the summer
time yOu can get a good dog for So
In the winter you may have TO pay
500 for the same animal \ man told
me how ne had bought two dogs one
October. and paid $40 each for them
The following spring he sold one fo-
SIS and later on, when the Chisana gold
mines were discovered. ne tried TO buy
back the same dog for SS0. but was To-
fused There is . regular business in
many Of the towns Of boarding dogs
during the summer Each place has its
dog pound, and the owners get from s.
20 So per month per dog
In n Dog boarding House.
] visited such a dog boarding house
at St Michael II was not far from the
hotel, and il consisted Of a score IT
more OF kennels out in the open. The
men in charge of il were EskimOs. clad
half in fur, half in cloth Their cop
per colOred faces shone out OF fur
hoods, and they Looked like the MOneo-
lians one sees north of the Great Wall
OF China. 7 watched the EskimOS feed
ing the dogs The animals were fas-
tened by strong chains to stakes The
food was cooked on rude furnace-lil1e
stove, made Of a gasoline tank set on
end.
on the top Of the stove was a soup
kettle. as large as that used for max
ing apple butter. This contained a
stew of fish and rice. which was ladled
out into a motley collection OF bowls
and basins. including oil cans, tin boxes
and tin wash basins. Each dog had
his howl or basin and he watched the
Eskimo as he poured out the soup. He
went almost crazy as the man brought
il TO him. and at the same time the
other dogs. not Yet served. tugged and
pulled al their chains and howled.
Just as the man was ready TO begin
feeding one OF the dogs broke loose
and made for the soup kettle. At this
the other dogs went mad They snapped
at the loose dog as he passed. and one
Of them caught him by the leg and
rolled him over They continued their
bowling and swapping and Juggling un-
til the Eskimo cuffed the intruder and
led him back to his place
Carrying Winter Mail and Express.
The carrying Of the winter mail and
express Of Alaska is a regular business.
There are men in every large town en-
gagged in II and there are some who
do nothing else but drive dog teams
over the country One of these men
tells me that the winter freight is
taken across the country on narrow
slsds, about Is feet long. Such a sled
will hold and stand up under d load Of
500 pounds. and II will take from nine
10 nineteen dogs TO haul il. according
20 the load. The mail is usually car