Trnsaportation Methods in Alaska 



79 



the sledding season begins. In the 

 regions where Indians are to be found, 

 they can usually be hired to carry packs. 

 They are able to carry from 50 to 100 

 pounds over long distances. 



Here in "the States" the closing in of 

 winter means the limiting of traveling 

 facilities, and often renders quite impos- 

 sible journeys by means of the cruder 

 forms of transportation. Roads are 

 blocked with deep snow, melting weather 

 creates highways of bottomless mud, and 

 many of the streams have too much ice 

 to be crossed by boats and not enough to 

 bear up animals and vehicles. 



In Alaska, however, the "freeze-up" is 

 the magic key which opens wide the trails 

 to every valley and distant mountain fast- 

 ness. It is Nature's unlimited franchise 

 to the "sourdough" prospector, who, with 

 a strong back and a weak mind, responds 

 with tireless effort to the goadings of 

 the gold fever within his veins. It ex- 

 tends equal privileges to the fur hunter, 

 as he follows his long line of traps, and 

 to the toiling freighter and the scheming 

 tradesman, each of whom must have his 

 surer and not always smaller share of the 

 earth's rich treasure. 



Broad streams and rushing torrents 

 are bridged with ice strong enough to 

 bear up a railroad train, and the mushy 

 tundra, with its rough surface entirely 

 made up of alternate water-holes and 

 nigger-head hummocks, is leveled off 

 with layer after layer of wind-driven 

 snow. 



Every stream becomes a highway. No 

 part of the broad expanse is longer im- 

 passable, and the distribution can now 

 begin from the stocks of supplies cached 

 at convenient points by water transpor- 

 tation to the widely scattered - places 

 where those supplies are to be used. 



The most efficient freighting unit for 

 winter transportation is the single horse 

 and sled. The sleds used are of various 

 patterns, but the best one is built solid on 

 a single pair of runners, cut under at 

 each end, about 8 or 9 feet long, with a 



tread of about 28 inches, and with the 

 bed 10 or 12 inches above the ground. 

 The load is lashed on and, being low 

 is not easily overturned. An ordi- 

 nary load for such a sled is from 1,200 

 to 1,400 pounds, but on a good trail this 

 amount may be increased to a ton. The 

 great difficulties encountered in the use 

 of horse-sled freighting outfits are that 

 great labor is required in choosing and 

 breaking a trail, the horse is easily in- 

 jured by extreme cold and must have 

 careful attention, and the amount of for- 

 age required for the distance traveled is 

 enormous. These disadvantages are com- 

 pensated for only by the large size of the 

 load hauled. In point of speed, espe- 

 cially over unbroken trails through deep 

 snow, the horse is not in the same class 

 with the dog team. 



The introduction of domestic reindeer 

 into Alaska has given that country a new 

 and useful animal which is already be- 

 coming a source of comfort and employ- 

 ment for the native Indians, whose con- 

 dition in every way is deplorable. By 

 them these animals will have some use- 

 fulness as beasts of burden, but for any- 

 one to maintain that they are, or will be- 

 come, an important adjunct to the trans- 

 portation facilities of the country, is mis- 

 leading. They have been tried for vari- 

 ous kinds of work during a period of 

 several years, and have been unreliable 

 and inefficient in comparison with horses 

 or dogs. If driven through a country 

 where moss can be found for them to 

 feed upon, they can at least carry their 

 own bodies, and in that way become a 

 source of meat supply that may, as has 

 been demonstrated in some notable in- 

 stances, perform an invaluable service in 

 the saving of human life. 



Peculiarly fitted for Arctic travel, re- 

 liable and faithful in his work, and de- 

 votedly attached to the hand that feeds 

 him and the voice which commands him by 

 entreaties or by curses, the dog plays a 

 part in Alaskan life that is indispensable 

 and for which there is no substitute. 



