Part 28 (1/2)
At the rate of a pound a day a man for four months, it would take all of five hundred dog teams of ten dogs each to get the stuff up there!
An' what would you do with the five thousand dogs when you got 'em up there?
[Ill.u.s.tration: REINDEER MESSENGERS OF RESCUE.
Courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: REINDEER THAT SAVED THREE HUNDRED LIVES.
Part of Charlie Artisarlook's herd, driven a thousand miles through blizzards by three Coast Guard heroes.
Courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard.]
”No, winter travel in Alaska's got to be by reindeer. You mayn't know it, but it's the U. S. Government that has made the Eskimos happy.
There's one man, Sheldon Jackson, of the Bureau of Education, who's brought more peace and happiness to a larger number of people than 'most any man I know.”
”How? By introducing reindeer?”
”Just that,” the whaler answered. ”The Eskimo would have been wiped off the face of the earth but for that one man's work. He started the reindeer idea, he brought in a few himself, he got the Government interested an' now reindeer are the backbone of northern Alaska. Our steam whalers had driven the whales an' the walrus an' the seal so far north that the Eskimo couldn't reach them. They were slowly starvin' to death by hundreds when Uncle Sam stepped in. And your captain commandant, that's Bertholf, who I'm telling you about now, he did a lot for Alaska when he brought in the bigger breed, the Tunguse reindeer, which are comin' to be the real beasts o' burden here in the north. It was knowin' what could be done with reindeer that sent Jarvis round to Point Rodney and Cape Prince of Wales to get the herds together an'
start 'em north.”
”I thought,” said Eric, wrinkling up his forehead, ”there was a herd nearer than that. How about the Teller Station at Port Clarence? Isn't that a reindeer layout?”
”It is,” said the old whaler, ”but distress among the miners in the Upper Yukon had been reported earlier, an' that herd had been started off for there. Jarvis figured on rounding up Artisarlook's herd at Point Rodney, and the Government herd under C. M. Lopp at Cape Prince of Wales, an' arrangin' to drive 'em to Point Barrow. Then, by pickin' up Bertholf, who was to cut straight across the Seward Peninsula with the dog-teams and the provisions, he would be sure of having enough supplies to push north.
”Then Jarvis struck snow-drifts! The guides traveled with snowshoes an'
did their best to make a trail, Jarvis doing a big share o' the work.
The runners of the sleds went clear down an' the dogs sank nearly out of sight in their struggles to move 'em. The men had to go backwards and forwards a dozen times in front of the sled, stamping it down hard.
Then the dogs would drag it ten feet or so an' they'd have to pound the snow again. There's something that's exhaustin'. Even the dogs played out an' simply lay down in the snow, refusin' to go any farther.”
”Without any shelter?”
”Huskies don't need any shelter. They're tough brutes so far as weather is concerned. Durin' the coldest winter weather in the worst blizzards they'll curl up anywhere on the snow an' sleep, an' when the snow has drifted over 'em, get up, shake themselves, an' lie down in the same place again for another sleep.”
”They sc.r.a.p a lot, too, don't they?”
”At feedin' time. When bein' fed they are like wild animals an' snarl an' bite each other, keepin' up one continual fight until everything is eaten. It's more than one man's job with a club to keep 'em quiet enough for all the dogs to get their share. But when all the grub is done with, they'll get moderately quiet again.
”At Golovin Bay, Jarvis found the Teller reindeer herd under Dr.
Kettleson. He was on his way to St. Michael for the Upper Yukon, same as I told you, an' had started from Port Clarence three weeks before but had been stopped by the deep snow. So Jarvis sent back the dog teams to Bertholf, who was waiting for them at Unalaklik, and started out with reindeer teams.”
”How do reindeer travel?” queried the boy.
”All right, in winter, but they're irregular,” the other replied. ”Every one has got to be ready in the morning for the start, for the instant the head team moves, all the deer are off with a jump, full gallop. For half an hour or so they go like an express train, then they sober down to a more steady rate of speed, an' finally, when they are tired, they'll drop into a walk. Jarvis' deer played him a nasty trick on this trip.”
”What was that?” asked the boy.
”It was on the way to Point Rodney. It was blowing a living gale an' the snow was blinding. In the dark Jarvis' deer wandered from the trail, got entangled in a lot of driftwood on the beach, which was half covered over with snow, took fright, an' finally wound up by running the sled full speed agin a stump, breakin' the harness, draggin' the line out of Jarvis' hand an' disappearin' in the darkness an' the flying snow.
Luckily Jarvis knew enough not to try and follow him. He stayed right there.”