OVER THE SNOW WITH MUSHERS AND MALAMUTES.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3463, 31 March 1930, Page 7

OVER THE SNOW WITH MUSHERS AND MALAMUTES.

“Mush! Mush, you Malamutes!” The French-Canadian driver of the second dog-team frenziedly urges his huskies to greater efforts. The finish tape is just ahead, but there is still a chance that the American in the lead con be reached and passed. For 120 miles across the snow, the drivers, famous men of the Northland, world champions some of them, have urged their sturdy sled-dogs. The snapping of long leather whips in the frosty air has been like rifle shots, as Earle W. Gage tells us in the New York Herald Tribune Magazine. A throng of thrilled spectators has for three days watched men and animals “fight it out in the famous international dog derby at Old Quebec, where world championships are awarded each winter.” It is the 1929 race that Mr Gage describes. In the lead, as the last of the three 40-mile heats is nearly over, is Leonhard Seppala of America. He has already, during this current winter, won the Poland Springs Dog Derby in Maine, and .will probably be one. of the big figures at Quebec this month. Right behind him last year were such racing figures as Frank Dupius and Emile St Godard, winner of three world championships. All wer? giving their last bit of energy towards, caching the finish tape in time to uhave off precious hours and minutes from previous world records.” But the American won, we are told by Mr Gage, who continues; As the lead dog of the head team breaks the tape the fractional part of a second ahead of the second team, a mighty roar of applause greets the hew champion—the reward from the-thousands of thrilled spectators for the dogs and their drivers who have electrified the northland the three days the big race has been on. . Seppala had entered this race with a, string of seven wonderful dogs, Mr Gage tells us as he proceeds to this more detailed story of the event: This was th© third year he had made a determined 1 bid to win the world s championship, and from start to finish, Seppala ran one of th© most spectacular races ever seen at Quebec or anywhere ©ls©. Not only did he defeat St. Godard by about an hour, but he broke St. Godard’s own world’s record, and again put the Americans into the game. Dupuis took second honors, and St. Godard came trailing in third. In the opinion of the judges, Seppala s Siberians completed the 123-mile grind fresher than any racers they had ever seen and they were awarded the condition prize, something unusual in the annals of dog races, Lfsually this award goes to some driver who trails in later, and who has saved his dogs in th© mad dash over the snow. The Canadians have their dander up now, and are eager to reclaim the championship. Thus, the 1930 International Dog Derby will attract one of th© largest galleries of spectators that has ever seen a race.

Wonderful time is made in these classics —time which the person not experienced in mushing snowy trails is unable to understand. For example, Seppala’s record last winter was 11 hours, 6 minutes and 33 seconds, for the 123-mile course. Dupuis, who started out the third day 7 minutes and 22 seconds behind Seppala, made the total run in 11 hours, 23 minutes and 12 seconds. All through that final morning Dupuis fought to hold down Seppala’s lead. Fqt twenty miles of . the forty-one they travelled at *the same speed. Then Seppala spurted ahead and took sitxy seconds, then another minute, then two minutes more, until he had established a lead of more than sixteen minutes for the three days’ race. St. Godard, record-writer ol the snow country, fought one of the gamest battles ever known in dog racing. Before he started out in the final morning of the race, he knew lie was beaten ; yet, with characteristic determination, and with only four dogs ho was willing to 'put into the race out of the seven he had started with. He set forth and won the cheering crowd, who, shivering im the Arctic wind, showed their devotion to a man who could light even after he knerv he was defeated. .•■'These races are run for prizes rangfrom 1,000 to 2,500 dollars, plus the coveted championship cup. However, ' in reality the dog derby constitutes a competion for the reputation of 'owning a string of dogs superior to those ot any other section, which is more prized in the North than glittering gold! or sparkling cups. The drivers are men of powerful endurance, inured to the' long snowshoe trail, and with blind faith in their dogs; they enter tho contest with genuine interest, and fight it out from start to.finish, nor men ol the North swear by their dogs, brag of their stamina and speed, and many if" the numbers are known and respected for the string of dogs at the head of their sleigh rather than lor their personal characteristics. . These “most thrilling and spectacular sporting events of the winter” are not conducted in costly stadia close to civilisation, but in the “heart of the north country, over a wild and truckless snow trail,” says. Mr l Gage. I have had as their participants, in addition to men like Beppala, such figures as Scotty Allen and Arthur Walden. These dog derbies of the North are more' than twenty years old we learn as w© read on: The first of these picturesque and unique sporting events occurred over the 408-mil© wilderness trail, the Nome to Caudlo Creek and back. The laitliful dogs had made it possible for man, in quest of golden nuggets in Alaska and the Yukon, to throw opexi the portals of the northlaud years before ho could otherwise have achieved that goal, and this All-Alaskan Sweepstake race was dedicated to the heroic husky clog. “Lawyer” Albert Fink, of Nome, shrewd dog lover and experienced sourdough musher, was father of the idea. It was Mr Fink who raised the 10,IXMJ dollars to be awarded to tho winners. Assisted by a large' company of friends, he spread word throughout the uoitliland, with tho result that tho start found Nome packed with spectators, and a long string of famous dogs and experienced mushers eager to set out into the raging blizzard. That epochmaking race was won by John Hcguess, who ran the 408 miles across the bleak wilderness and back, after a steady grind, night and day, in lb| hours and lo minutes —and most ol the way he had to fight one of the most sovcto Arctic blizzurcls known in the history of Alaska. It was a supeiachieveinent. and to this day you hear of Hcgness’ mush.

A young hardware clerk, destined lor an important role in the drama ol the North, entered the second was none other than the Great Scotty Allen, of whom Mr Gage writes: Allen, in odd hours at the store, bad managed to assemble a team ol flogs of doubtful value as racers. Eis entry was regarded as a joke ; he was asked how ho had got up the nerve to list thorn—but Scotty won the U909 classic. In 1910 ho was deteated by ‘‘lron Man” John Johnson, who established a record never duplicated over that

in weather. Johnson’s time was /4 hours and 14 minutes, the fastest ever made l in dog racing in the North. But Scotty Allen was not discouraged Back he came for another trial in 1911, and cut two hours off his previous record. He is the only man who ran in more than four All-Alaskan Sweepstakes —the first, second, third, and eighth and final—and he won the distinction of always finishing a race, irrespective of weather or condition of his dogs. In 1915 Scotty took 440 Alaskan dogs to France; for distinguished service he was decorated by the French Government with the Croix_de Guerre. “King of the Arctic Trail's,” Scotty symbolises the men who have put the dog derby on a par with the best of deeds of valor. Because of his uncanny knowledge of the ice and snow wastes of the far-flung forbidden Northern frontier, he succeeded where others failed or perished. Miner, musher, railroad-builder, all-around sportsman, friend of Amundsen, Steffanson, and Byrd, Scotty Allen has written his name into the imperishable record of Alaska. He with Walter Goyne, another famous musher, perfected the Alaskan “gang hitch,” which' revolutionised dog-racing, and which is now standard in dog derbies. The same world conflict that claimed the service of Allen attracted the other men of Alaska —and the ranks of the racers became so depleted that it was impossible to> hold the big race. Thus the 1916 event became the last. During that winter a company of sourdoughs met in Le Pas, Manitoba Dog-race talk was revived. It was suggested that Le Pas hold such a classic —and the date was set for late that winter, over a 150 mile course from (Le Pas to Flin Flon, mushroom mining town, and back. The preparations were cursory enough; the drivers used ordinary dogs; they themselves were unskilled in the art of racing, and a bitter struggle followed across that trackless snowv waste in quest of the 500dol. prize and the title of champion. But it was a singularly exciting race. The winner became involved in an accident that staved in two ribs; but he hung on until the finish. From that day to this Le Pas has staged each winter one ol the most thrilling races, and has developed some of the finest men arid teams in the game, most famous o! whom is their own 'Boy, St. Godard.

By this time the imagination of snowland had been captured, we are assured. A host of dog lovers all the way from the snow-covered Sierras to Maine, from Idaho to the Northern fringe of Canada were making ready to hold similar dog races. Of the present importance of the sport, the writer says :

This winter, for example, clog derbies are scheduled in eight or ten different places, at such wide y separated points as Idaho. Hand, Alberta. Vetmont, New Hampshire, and Maine. On Washington’s Birthday the American Dog Derby will 'he run at Ashton Idaho. Many famous men and dogs have entered and this season piomises to witness a classic ol even (neuter interest than those of lome years. A score or more men are out in the snow country training then dogs as the hour of the sta-v approaches The iev surface of the Snake River is a favorite practise trail to develop a racing team. Secret training is a big factor in this American race, not th least important of which is to teach the animals to buck snow. At Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, where civilisation is still close to the skirts of the unknown andl unexplored wilderness, the faithful husky dog occupies the place ot honor. Here, on a huge track, the largest of its kind in the world, has been arranged a course which permits spectators toj io - low the progress of the racers for ne ly every foot of the 160 mile race whi di is run in four heats ot 40 miles each, fUpvp, heincc two laps to each heat o the 20 mile oval track. The jcinror classic race, in which youtns entei then teams, is a training school for the do^ racers of to-morrow. n At ancient Quebec, during the third week in February each year, the Eastern International Dog Dcrby is held under, the supervision of the Dog-Sled Derby Club, and world championships are awarded the winners. Here assemble the winners of the other contests, to race over a course of about 120 miles, run m heats of 40 units a day-so the big international event is really three races nr one. lire teams start at intervals of three minutes, <and a gold eup and substantial cash prize are awarded the winner. An award also is made to the driver whose dogs break the finish tape in the best condition. Last February, Leonhard beppala, American driver, bad the distinction ot winning both prizes. Special skill is demanded to train these canine racers, and a special vocabulary it seems, is needed to direct them Of these requirements we read; Though much devolves upon the driver in the derby, the determining factor is the power of the dog-team. The husky dog is a hardy, sagacious animal ot wonderful endurance, inured through generations to the climate or the bleak northlaud and the ardors ol the snow country. He is a tremendous worker, and not infrequently is a blood relative of the timber wolf. In the matter of pedigree, he is often “too-many-kinds-of-a-dog” to have his family tree investigated. His veins may carry the blood of the mastiff, German police, Great Dane, wolfhound, setter, spaniel, cbllie, Siberian, or even a little of them all, while wolf blood imparts hardness and speed. Though his lineage be sadly mixed him mileage speaks tor itself. The method of driving the dogs is unique and interesting. The animals are trained to respond to the slightest inflection of voice of their master, and respond more readily than any horse. The driver seldom uses his whip. Hie man whose duty involves the transportation of heavy loads of supplies over difficult roads scorns the idea of speed, and selects his dogs tor size, rveight, and pulling power. The racer however, aims in an entirely opposite direction. The “lead,” or head dog in the team is trained to respond to his master’s voice. Instead of urging the team with the exclamation applied to horses, such as “Get up?” the dog team driver exclaims: “Mush you! Mush on, inalamutes-”