Evening star., 1939-11-12

Ill hldSkd llIdN luot iioihSiSi VI
the United States. And. after
intimate association with the Alaskan
sled dog. it isn't easy now that I'm
back outside again to find toleration
in my heart for the yipplng bit of fluff
with insolent pop eyes, which find
occupying the best chair in my sisters
living room.
Up there in Alaska our dogs all had
definite reason for being. We de-
pended upon them in a thousand ways.
The Carlsons at the trading post kept
a team of beautifully white
Malemutes for the sheer pleasure OF
driving them. The Omans had heavy
shaggy dogs for freighting their sum-
mer's supplies each spring up to their
gold claim in the mountains. The mar
shals long legged Labrador retrievers.
travelling always at run, got HIM
swiftly over his vast district.
Dogs that didn't measure up, didn't
last Every year saw changes in
Man y tCdIIl. \/ul , W. iio SANNPs'o'i
and tried to keep from growing -
fond of individual dogs Tons of dried
salmon for some thirteen voraclous
MaIemutcs eats into tne Duuget and
doesn't permit OF boarding slackers.
Harsh. perhaps But Alaska is like
that wedding out the weak.
nf .o,rea there arc exrapfionS In
nearly every old sourdough's remote
mountain cabin you will find an an
cient, half blind leader sleeping behind
the stove wildly recall the first
saw. had stopped at Shorty Smiths
uprlver cabin to thaW out over d cup
of coffee and give him the latest down.
river news My eyes spotted the old
dog twitching and growing in his
sleep at memories of lusty fights and
hard davs on the trail Shorty inter-
cepted the glance.
"A nuisance" he grumbled. "Tve
got to get rid of him" And later saw
him cooking oatmeal for the toothless
old veteran, perturbed because he had
no appetite.
One reads frequently that dog teams
are rapidly disappearing in Alaska -
being replaced by reindeer, motor
sledge or airplane. Nothing will ever
take the place of dogs in Alaska; for
nothing can. Over an area Of thou
sands of square miles dogs will con-
tinue to furnish - as they have since
man first settled in the North - the
chief mode of travel and transporta-
ton. What can replace them for fol-
lowing the miles of trap lines that
mesh the arctic; for travel between
isolated native villages; for the quick
need of a doctor five or fifty or
hundred miles away? And what for
recreation during the still, white win
ters when mining and fishing and
other industries lie dormant?
In remote communities like Akiak
We had no movies, no bridge teas. no
shopping orgies. But we had some
thing we wouldn't have exchanged for
any of these. If only | could make
you feel the thrill of a run behind a
perfectly-functioning dog team, you
standing erect on the runners of the
fourteen-foot sled, four or five pairs Of
powerful dogs strung out along the
towlne, all with ears pricked, plumy
tails high, eyes bright - all tense
With eagerness to 60. And all that
swiftly-moving dog power, that strung
out machine of living sinew and blood
and bone responding swiftly to your
least command.
For all of us living in that vast
reach of territory from the Canadian
border to the Arctic Ocean. dogs are
inextricably bound up with our lives.
used often to sit back at our friendly
little gatherings and listen with amuse-
ment to the conversation. Out here
it is the new car, a recent movie of
which they speak. Up there it was
always dogs.
Adreenyah, my Eskimo nursemaid,