The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1916-08-23
OUT OF THE GAME FOREVER
Tommy" King, Champion Dog Musher of Alaska,
Hears Verdict That Calls Him From His Trail

The champion dog musher of Alas
LA, Tommy" King, is out of the
game forever. He will sing no more
the cry of the trail to Juggling, strain
ing, yelping malamutes.
At Chicago the other day great
doctor told him he would be lame for
life and that he should stay indoors
whenever the thermometer dropped
below zero.
In the annals of the sourdough,
however, there is one record that he
will hold for many years. 1t is rec
ord of daring, of courage, of faith, a
record of achievement of sort that
tries the elemental man. Since the
days of the Klondike, when he first
went northward, King has mushed
over $4,000 miles behind dog teams.
He has been in every nook and cor
ner of the vast expanse of Alaskan
hills and valleys and plains, from the
purely humanitarian to the most
speculative of commercial missions.
Permanently Injured.
| Last winter when the dogs were
in their kennels for the snowless sea-
son Tommy took a job in Fair
banks store. One day he happened
too close to the open shaft of the
freight elevator with the result that
he fell to the floor below, distance
of some rs feet. They picked him
up, carried him to the hospital and
found out that his hip bone had been
fractured. 1t was a serious injury,
and King decided to come ''outside"
for the best surgical attendance it
was possible to get in the country.
And now he has heard the verdict.
During the winter of 1901, one
of the most severe that interior Alas
ka had ever witnessed, Tommy estab-
lished a record for endurance on the
trail. He mushed during that winter
over 5000 miles behind malamutes,
on variety of missions over a vari-
ETY. of trails.
He made several round trips dur
ing the winter between Fairbanks
and Iditarod, and it is 800 miles be-
tween the two camps as the mushers
go. He made several smaller trips.
A Perilous Trip.
On one of these round trips Tom
my came nearer to losing his life
than he ever did during all his trav-
els on northern trails. Early in De-
cember the word came from Iditarod
that there wasn't anything but rein
deer and caribou meat in the camp
King decided to speculate, take q
fiier in poultry, one might call it, and
capitalize his ability as "musher'
to his own profit
He bought about 400 pounds OF
chickens, 400 pounds of turkeys and
some pork loins and little beef. He
took half hundred letters that were
offered for Iditarod and way points
He bought a number of magazines in
Fairbanks, paying the newsdealers
the regulation price of so cents each
He also paid this price for Sunday
papers.
1t was the morning of Decebme1
that Tommy started from Fair
banks along the down river trail to-
ward Iditarod. He had to get there
before the morning of the oath in
order to realize on his merchandise
The snow became more powdery
than ever, and the dogs could not
travel far without fatigue.
i Seventy Below Zero.
''It was 40 below when we left
Fort Gibbon, at the mouth of the
Tanana," King said 81 had figured
out that l had to make road house
day in order to reach Iditarod in
time. 1t was harder going every day,
; particularly because it didn't get a
bit warmer.
''It didn't moderate a bit. Instead
it got little colder. When we struck
Mouse Point, about half way between
: Fort Gibbon and the Lewis cutoff, il
was about 70 below"
Near Mouse Point is the coolest
spot in the whole Yukon river, where