Dog sledding (vintage)

[boneaddict]

Some more of the Kikendall history and hauling freight, men and supplies into the Azurite.  Tough country and tough men.  Idabooner would gladly come on and expalin a few of these if you all are so inclined to hear about it. 
The first one is titled the biggest payload.

[boneaddict]

This one is titled Breaking trail.

[boneaddict]

This one is titled "coming to the mine"

[ICEMAN]

Makes me feel weak and inferior.

Maybe you need to put a book together with all these stories and photographs?

[MikeWalking]

Ah the memories. I was a sled dog at one time. Well, actually an Army Rifleman in Alaska tied to an Akio (not sure of the spelling anymore) A little plastic sled with about 200lbs of C rations and other assorted goodies for the squad. Boots and itchy itchy wool clothes from the early 50's.  Standing guard at 40 below 0 wasn't much fun but the Northern Lights took a little sting out of it.  The wood & rawhide snowshoes were a pain to walk in, very wide, but they worked better than what I have now. ya ya ya there's more of me to support now.....

[Idabooner]

Bare with me guys. I got a story started but it takes time to check the facts, I hear the coyotes calling me now so I'll finish this after dark.

[Idabooner]

I'm not a writer so I'll borrow a few lines from a couple books, to give you a little back ground.   "American Mountain People" by National Geographic, and "The North Cascadian's" by Joann Roe.

There has been several articles written about my Dad's life, my Mother kept a daily diary from their marriage until her death, about 65 years, so this stuff is factual, Boneaddict has a copy which I hope he will fulfill my Mothers wish and write a book.
In winter all supplies were moved by dog teams and sleds, handled by Ed Kikendall and his brother Chuck.  Ed had run trap line since he was on his own at 8 years old. Spent some entire winters trapping the Olympic peninsula, at 19 he went to Alaska working on the whaling boats, and for a French Canadian freighter hauling freight with dog teams, a few winters. Later in the Cascade mtn. he and Charlie Biart lived several entire winter seasons in the wilderness, trapping lynx, bob cat, mink, martin, fox and weasel, shooting rabbits and squirrels for food, and wearing the same clothes for months at a time.
The dogs were mostly cross-breeds heavily laced with husky blood. They had a contract of 4 trips a month hauling at least 80 lbs. If the dogs couldn't get in the men were required to backpack that same amount to the Azurite mine.  A round trip could take as little as two days or more than a week, depending on weather. They carried survival gear & food, besides the pay load of vital mining supplies, food, mail and if room light personal items for the crew. They brought out mail, gold, a dead man, a few very sick ones, once they took a Doctor in and had to bring him and the patient out, different sleds, Dad got into a storm with the patient as I recall it took 40 some hours, nearly killed Dad and the dogs, they got the patient to the hospital where he died later. (The New York Times got a 1/2 page write up on that one.)
    Usually the teams went up the shorter but steeper Azurite Pass out of the upper end of the Methow Valley, some times in the spring they would go over Harts Pass into Slate Creek then up over Catie Pass into Mill Creek then up to the Azurite Mine.

One emergency trip Dad and a mine worker left for the Azurite and got hit with a sudden severe storm, forcing them to hole up under a tarp spread over some windfalls while the wind piled the snow up, they spent two days snuggled up with their dogs under that tarp, Dad said the dogs got a little cross and were snapping at each other, and the air got pretty thick under there.  The mine radioed to Winthrop that the team had not arrived, the towns people become concerned and started gathering a rescue party, when a friend stated Dad was a veteran mountain man and if  he was lost or couldn't make it up there no body else could either, when the storm let up  they went on to the mine.

[Idabooner]

1st pic. was the biggest load they hauled, it was 432 lbs of pay freight, it was machine parts I think. There's 12 dogs pulling this load. The sleds were hand made from native wood and held together with raw hide, the runners were hand planed birch, the bow was made from service berry and wrapped with raw hide. Notice the shovel is always handy.

Reply #1  Is breaking trail, after every good snow fall the trail had to be walked over with snow shoes so the dogs could pull the sled through, if it was drifted it would have to be shoveled on the upper side to level it, in the 1st pic. the trail around the side hill has been shoveled level, or as in the 2nd picture if it was steep it would have to be shoveled out.  Notice how these dogs are acting compared to the dog teams you see now days.

Reply #2 Another load into the mine. That's Dad (Boneaddict's Grandpa) on the first sled as well as the other 2 pic's. Notice the dogs are all pulling.

[actionshooter]

cool, please show more

[Wea300mag]

That is really cool stuff. Avalanches must have been a real problem. Hell, today they close a major pass with less snow than that.

[Ray]

Love it. Want to see more 

[searchnfor]

Thanks for posting, what great pics and memories!

[boneaddict]

I'll get some more when I get back to work, I have a couple there.  Thanks Dad for the narration and stories.  I sure love my family history, it couldn't be more rich with the outdoors.  No onder I alwasy have an urge to strap on the snowshoes.

[Ironhead]

Thanks Idabooner and Boneaddict, I really enjoy reading about your family history. Amazing how people handled adversity back then.

[Idabooner]

That is really cool stuff. Avalanches must have been a real problem. Hell, today they close a major pass with less snow than that.

Yes, Wea300mag, snow slides and potential slides (weather and snow conditions) dictated when they could go, some times that alone made 4 trips a month almost impossible, there was several slide shoots they had to cross. It was not unusual to get part way through the trip and get hung up for days in the middle some place waiting for the snow conditions to change, the weather can change real fast in the mountains. As far as I know they never got hit with a slide with the dogs, but Dad got caught one time on skis while trapping, he managed to swing in on the lower side of a big fir just as the snow caught his skis, then was able to keep on top as the snow deepened.