Image: US mail carrier and dog sled team arriving at Seward, ca 1912 (THWAITES 238)

Description: Caption on image: U.S. Mail Carrier arriving at Seward, Alaska PH Coll 247.386 Prior to the formation of sled dog racing as a formal sport, sled dogs were bred and used by native peoples of the polar regions of the world in their everyday lives for survival in harsh climates. Two dogs commonly employed in sledding are Alaskan Malamutes and Siberian Huskies. These two breeds had quite different origins and uses. Alaskan Malamutes originated with a group of Eskimo people known as the Mahlemiut. The dogs of that time were very large freighting dogs, capable of pulling heavy weight. The Mahlemiut people inhabited the region in the upper part of the Anvik River in Alaska, and were spread out over a large area. The Mahlemiut people used these dogs for hauling food back to the villages. The gold rush in 1896 created a high demand for these dogs. On the other hand, Siberian Huskies originated with the Chuckchi people of northeastern Siberia. These people had a Stone Age culture and used their dogs for a variety of things, like herding reindeer and pulling loads. These dogs were smaller and faster than their Mahlemiut counterparts. These dogs were exported to Alaska at around the time of the gold rush. Thus the gold rush played a very important role in the development of our modern day sled dog breeds. Sled dog racing began as a formal sport with the first All-Alaska Sweepstakes race in 1908. Prior to this, Alaska's mushers had little opportunity for recreation and they used their teams primarily for work and transportation. Naturally, most northern breeds were used as sled dogs. Alaskan Malamutes, Siberian Huskies, Eskimo Dogs, Greenlands, Samoyeds, Norrbottenspets, and Hokkaidokens are all sled dogs. However, lots of different breeds of dogs have been and are used to drive sleds and carts. Subjects (LCTGM): Dog teams--Alaska--Seward; Mail sleds--Alaska--Seward Subjects (LCSH): Sled dogs--Alaska--Seward; Mushers--Alaska--Seward
Title: U.S. mail carrier and dog sled team arriving at Seward, ca. 1912
Credit: John E. Thwaites Photographs of Alaska
Author: John E. Thwaites
Permission: Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse The author died in 1940, so this work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 80 years or fewer. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1927. This file has been identified as being free of known restrictions under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights. https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/PDMCreative Commons Public Domain Mark 1.0falsefalse
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No