Rensselaer Republican, Volume 26, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 March 1894 — DOGS IN ALASKA. [ARTICLE]

DOGS IN ALASKA.

Without Them the Eskimo Would Scarcely Kind an Existence, Youth's Companion. “Without dogs the larger portion of the great Eskimo family peopling the barren northern coast of America would find it impossible to exist in its chosen home.” So writes Mr. E, W. Nelson in his “Mammals of Northern Alaska.” They are used in the winter for hunting, sledge drawing and the like, but in summer are mostly* left to shift for thernsel vcs. They receive much hard usage as well as do much hard work, but are described, nevertheless, as a rolicking set, full of play, fond of human society and quarrelsome as schoolboys. Mr. Nelson credits them with a vein of humor and declares that their varying characteristics can be read in their faces. They are worth from $2 to sls apiece, according to age, size arid intelligence. For sledge drawing they are harnessed in teams of either seven or nine—three or four pairs and a leader. Their load is from 350 to 700 pounds and the course is mainly through unbroken snow or over rough ice. With a team of seven doges and a load of more than 300 pounds Mr. Nelson made a journey of more than 1,200 miles in about two months. The lust sixty miles were made over a bad road in a continuous pull of twenty-one hours. They are much affected by the moon. During full moon half the night is spent by them howling in chorus.

“During the entire winter at St. Michael’s,” says Mr Nelson, “we were invariably given a chorus every moonlight light, and the dogs of two neighboring villages joined in the serenade.” He speaks of its “wild, weird harmony,” and seems to have found it agreeable rather than otherwise. The influence of the moon is also very apparent when the dogs are traveling. They brighten up as the moon fi.se,s and pricking up their ears start off as if they had forgotten their fatigue. The fur traders take advantage of this fact and sometimes lie over during the day and travel at night. The dogs endure an astonishing degree of cold. Mr. Nelson saw a female with two newly born puppies lying upon the snow near a hut, with no sign of shelter, when the thermometer ranged from 30 to 35 degrees below zero.