History
The World was Changing…
Original document by Don
Bowers, Edited 2012
Even after the advent of
the airplane, dog teams continued to be widely used for local transportation
and day-to-day work, particularly in Native villages. Mushers and their teams
played important but little remembered roles in World War II in Alaska, particularly
in helping the famous Eskimo Scouts patrol the vast winter wilderness of
western Alaska.
After the war, short and
medium distance freight teams were still common in many areas of Alaska even
when President Kennedy announced that the United States would put a man on the
moon. During the 1960′s, however, it was not space travel but the advent of the
“iron dog” (or snowmachine or snowmobile) that resulted in the mass abandonment
of dog teams across the state and loss of much mushing lore.
In 1964, the Wasilla-Knik
Centennial Committee was formed to look into historical events in Alaska,
specifically the Mananuska-Susitna Valley, over the past century. 1967 marked
the 100th anniversary of Alaska being a U.S. Territory after being purchased
from Russia. Dorothy Page, chairman of this committee, conceived the idea
of a sled dog race over the historically significant Iditarod Trail. Joe
Redington Sr. was her first real support for such a race. Joe and his
wife Vi had deep historical interests in the Iditarod Trail since the mid-1950′s
and felt this centennial race would help in their quest to preserve the
historic gold rush and mail route and get it recognized nationally. The
Redingtons and Pages joined forces. Dorothy poured her heart and soul
into research as a historian and Joe Redington worked non-stop to put together
a new sprint sled dog race.
With much volunteer labor
(the start of a fundamental Iditarod tradition), the first part of the trail
was cleared, including nine miles of the Iditarod Trail. The two heat, 56
mile Centennial race between Knik and Big Lake was held in 1967 and 1969.
Then, interest in the race was lost. However, Joe Redington never lost
interest, instead his vision grew into a never conceived of before long-distance
race. Countless hours of discussions with fellow mushers followed.
Two of these mushers were teachers, Tom Johnson and Gleo Hyuck. These
three men spirited this first-ever, long-distance race into reality and in 1973
a new race was born. The U.S. Army helped clear portions of the trail and
with the support of the Nome Kennel Club (Alaska’s earliest, founded in 1907),
the race went all the way to Nome for the first time. Even so, the mushers
still had to break much of their own trail and take care of their own supplies.
The winner of the first Iditarod was Dick Wilmarth, taking almost three weeks
to reach Nome.
Redington had two reasons
for organizing the long-distance Iditarod Race: to save the sled dog
culture and Alaskan huskies, which were being phased out of existence due to
the introduction of snowmobiles in Alaska; and to preserve the historical
Iditarod Trail between Seward and Nome. To promote both goals, Redington
asked Dorothy Page to be the editor of an Iditarod Annual. Her
enthusiasm, drive, and love of history opened the world’s eyes to the Iditarod
Trail Sled Dog Race®.
The race is really a
reconstruction of the freight route to Nome and commemorates the part that sled
dogs played in the settlement of Alaska. The mushers travel from checkpoint to
checkpoint much as the freight mushers did eighty years ago—although some
modern dog drivers like Doug Swingley, Martin Buser, Jeff King, Susan Butcher,
and Rick Swenson move at a pace that would have been incomprehensible to their
old-time counterparts, making the trip to Nome in under ten days.
Since 1973, the
race has grown every year despite financial ups and downs. The Iditarod has
become so well-known that the best mushers now receive thousands of dollars a
year from corporate sponsors. Dog mushing has recovered to become a
north-country mania in the winter, and some people now make comfortable livings
from their sled-dog kennels.
