/ Iditarod Books / Iditarod and Mushing History

Iditarod and Mushing History

The Iditarod is set against the (much) bigger backdrop of Alaska. This category includes some selected general-purpose reference works to assist non-Alaskans (or even for Alaskans who are not quite familiar with their home state) to better understand the Last Frontier.

Dogs of the North - Vol 14, No. 1

by Alaska Geographic Society

Pages: 120

Publisher: Alaska Geographic, Anchorage (1987)

ISBN: 0882401807

Intended Audience: Grades 3 and up

An excellent reference work covering Alaskan working dogs and their rich history. Many photos and quick biographies of famous dogs and drivers.

Gold, Men, and Dogs

by Scotty Allan

Pages: 337

Publisher: Putnam, New York (1931)

Intended Audience: Middle school and up

Allan Alexander (Scotty) Allan was one of the most famous mushers in Alaska in the early part of the century, and was an especially good dog trainer. He dominated the 400-mile All-Alaska Sweepstakes, run from Nome to Candle and back, still considered by some to be the toughest race ever run in Alaska. This is his autobiography, and includes his service in World War I, when he trained 450 sled dogs for the French military to use in the Alps and the Ardennes (they served quite successfully, in fact). Long out of print, but still in some libraries.

Baldy of Nome

by Esther Birdsall Darling

Pages: 75

Publisher: Penn Publishing Co., Philadelphia (1916)

Intended Audience: Grades 6 and up

First of a series of stories about Alaskan dogs and mushing by the author stretching into the 1940s, also including Boris Grandson of Baldy (1936), Boris Son of Baldy (1944), Luck of the Trail (1933), Navarre of the North (1930), The Break-Up (1940), and No Boundary Line (1940). All out of print, but may be available through used-book dealers or lurking in libraries.

The Stars, the Snow, the Fire : Twenty-Five Years in the Alaska Wilderness, a Memoir by John Haines

by John Haines

Pages: 182

Publisher: Washington Square Press, New York (1977)

ISBN: 0671725262

Intended Audience: Grades 4 and up

John Haines was Alaska's official poet laureate for many years. This book is prose, but it is a rare jewel, so perfectly written and wistfully beautiful as to place it squarely in league with Thoreau, Muir, and Barry Lopez. This is the kind of book to savor one chapter at a time in your favorite chair by the fire on a snowy winter night, preferably by the guttering light of a kerosene lantern. Haines lived in the woods southeast of Fairbanks beginning in the late 1940s, trapping and doing whatever was necessary to survive in an unforgiving country. Some of his descriptions can be harsh, such as administering the coup de grace to an animal caught in one of his traps, but all are in context and nothing is done without reflection. He also paints vivid portraits of the other people in his world, a place where human contact came to have great value in and of itself. And he takes special care to point out the beauty all around him in things and events large and small. The link to mushing is that Haines kept a dog team for trapping, work, transportation, recreation, and companionship--just as did most people who lived in the Bush before the advent of the snowmachine in the 1960s. Haines doesn't focus on his dogs, but they're always there, a matter-of-fact, integral part of everyday living in the Bush. This book is a sensitive requiem for the older, simpler way of life in Alaska, one that was vanishing even as he lived it, a self-reliant lifestyle in which sled dogs were an accepted part of everyday life. This work received nationwide critical acclaim. It achieves the status of literature and can serve as a model for writers of all ages. It should be in every serious reader's Top Ten Alaskan bookshelf.

Mush, You Malemutes!

by Father Bernard Hubbard

Pages: 179

Publisher: America Press, New York (1932)

Intended Audience: Grades 4 and up

Father Hubbard was also known as the "Glacier Priest," and made a number of exploring trips in Alaska in addition to his Jesuit missionary work. This book is a collection of his accounts previously published in The Saturday Evening Post, including a dogsled trip from Nenana to the Bering Sea coast and back to the Catholic mission at Holy Cross on the Yukon River. Hubbard's writing and descriptions are somewhat dated, but fascinating and good reading nonetheless, and provide a telling look at the influence of missionaries on Alaska Natives. Any musher will understand exactly his experiences learning how to drive his dogs. And in a page taken directly from Jack London, Father Hubbard ends his book with a last entry from the Santa Clara Valley where he has brought two of his beloved malemutes to live in the "Valley of the Heart's Desire."

Alaska: Reflections on land and spirit

by Olaus Murie
Robert Hedin

Pages: 97

Publisher: University of Arizona Press, Tucson, AZ (1989)

ISBN: 0816510938

Intended Audience: Grades 5 and up

Olaus Murie was one of Alaska's pioneer naturalists, working for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on many surveys and expeditions in the early part of the century. He used dog teams in the everyday course of his work, and "With Dogs Around Denali" is a classic story of a 1922 trip to gather specimens in the Denali area. The first part of his trip was on the original Iditarod Trail in its heyday, including a stop at the now-abandoned Mountain Climber Roadhouse (near the present-day Finger Lake checkpoint). Fascinating reading and a glimpse into the "real" Iditarod. (The book is a first-rate collection of short pieces from a wide variety of writers, both Alaskan and others, new and old, and is highly recommended.)

The Cruelest Miles: The Heroic Story of Dogs and Men in a Race Against an Epidemic

by Gay Salisbury
Laney Salisbury

Pages: 303

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, New York (2003)

ISBN: 0393019624

Alaska. 1925: The diphtheria serum is 674 miles away. Without it, the people of Nome will not survive. Nome, Alaska, sits on the edge of the Bering Sea two degrees below the Arctic Circle, and there are few more forbidding places on earth, especially in winter. Dr. Curtis Welch knew the signs of diphtheria, knew that his patients -- many of them children -- would die without a shipment of fresh serum. The port was icebound and the nearest railhead was almost 700 miles away across mountains, rivers, and the treacherous ice of Norton Sound. A blizzard was brewing, and airplanes, in 1925, could not fly in such conditions. Only the dogs could do it. A relay was set up, and the drivers, many of them Native Alaskans, set off into the night, set out at 60 degrees below zero, often trusting their lead dogs to find the trail under feet of driven snow. The legendary heroism and endurance of the men and dogs in the Serum Run need no enhancement. Here, for the first time, their story is told in full

Dogs of the Iditarod

by Jeff Schultz

Pages: 76

Publisher: Sasquatch Books, Washington (2002)

ISBN: 1570612927

Alaska's famous furry citizens, the dogs of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race, are the most athletic canines in the world. From puppyhood to first days in the harness, from championship runs across a thousand miles of snow to years of pampered retirement, these spectacular dogs are indeed man’s (and woman's) best friends.

Ten Thousand Miles on a Dog Sled: A Narrative of Winter Travel in the Interior of Alaska

by Hudson Stuck

Pages: 420

Publisher: Scriber's, New York (1914)

Intended Audience: Middle school and up

Hudson Stuck was the Episcopal Archdeacon of Alaska and combined missionary work with adventure in the grand old-fashioned manner. He was fluent in a number of Native languages and traveled for eight years around Alaska's roadless interior. He also organized the first climbing expedition to summit Mount McKinley (in 1913). One of Alaska's legendary figures, Stuck was, like most turn-of-the-century travelers, an accomplished dog musher. This book describes nearly everything he saw and everyone he met along the way.

A Winter Circuit of Our Arctic Coast: A Narrative of a Journey with Dogsleds around the Entire Coast of Alaska

by Hudson Stuck

Pages: 360

Publisher: Scriber's, New York (1920)

Intended Audience: Middle school and up

The Rev. Stuck's winter 1917-18 trip from Fort Yukon to the Kobuk and then around the coast to Barrow and eventually back to Fort Yukon seems almost impossible even today. On this trip, Stuck was accompanied by Walter Harper, a Native who, as part of Stuck's 1913 Mt. McKinley expedition, had been the first person to stand on the highest point in North America. This journey is a fine example of how indispensable dogs were to early travelers in Alaska, especially in a time not so long ago when large areas of the charts were still marked "unsurveyed."

Sixteen in Nome

by Max Brand

Pages: 216

Publisher: Five Star, Thorndike, ME (1930)

ISBN: 0786205091

Intended Audience: Grades 6 and up

Here's something different--a reissue in novel format of a 1930-vintage magazine serial adventure story about a boy who grows up in a hurry on a dogsled journey across Alaska and Canada. Some kids will likely be fascinated by the old-time writing style and different perspective on life in general (as will some adults).

Scotty Allan, King of the Dog Team Drivers

by Shannon Garst

Pages: 238

Publisher: Julian Messner, New York (1946)

Intended Audience: Middle school and up

Scotty Allan was one of the premier early-day mushers (circa 1910-1930), in the days when companies owned their own dog teams and hired the very best mushers to drive them in races where the betting was intense.

Balto - Sled Dog of Alaska

by LaVere Anderson
Illustrated by Herman B. Vestal

Pages: 48

Publisher: Garrard, Champaign, IL (1976)

ISBN: 0811648591

Intended Audience: Grades 3-5

Famous Animal Stories Series. The text is reasonably factual and fairly well written, but some of the illustrations have glaring errors. Togo, the other famous Serum Run leader, is mentioned in the proper context.

The Call of the Wild

by Jack London
Illustrated by Philippe Munch

Pages: 126

Publisher: Viking, New York (1903)

ISBN: 0670867969

Intended Audience: Grades 4 and up

The Whole Story Series. This new rendition of London's classic may well be the best so far, for both kids and adults. All of the original text is included, but Philippe Munch has added hundreds of period photos, drawings, and maps, as well as special illustrations for the story line itself. Informative captions and sidebar notes by Philippe Jacquin complete the tour de force. The illustrations and notes answer almost every question the reader may have, from history of the Klondike Gold Rush to how to hook up a sled dog. Kids (and adults) will be instantly hooked on this book. Highly recommended.

White Fang

by Jack London
Illustrated by Philippe Munch, notes by Philippe Jacquin

Pages: 240

Publisher: Viking, New York (1903)

ISBN: 0670884804

Intended Audience: Grades 4 and up

Whole Story Series. If you liked the Viking Whole Story version of Call of the Wild, you'll love this innovative treatment of London's other Klondike classic. This is more of the same, and maybe even better. The entire unabridged original text is there, of course, but Munch and Jacquin have teamed up to provide an accompanying feast for the eye and the inquiring mind, whether young or old. Surprisingly, there seems to be no significant duplication of photos or information between the two Klondike-oriented books. Lots of information on dogs and mushing. Enjoy!

The Bravest Dog Ever--The True Story of Balto

by Natalie Standiford
Illustrated by Donald Cook

Pages: 48

Publisher: Random House, New York (1989)

ISBN: 039499695X

Intended Audience: Grades 1-3

(Step Into Reading series, Step 2). Large-format paperback, color. This Step Into Reading book will grab kids and hold them--plenty of drama. Good for kids who aren't ready for Ungermann's book

The Race to Nome

by Kenneth A. Ungermann

Pages: 171

Publisher: Harper & Row, New York (1963)

ISBN: 0938271040

Intended Audience: Grades 2 and up

Softcover chapter book. One of the "oldies but goodies", this is probably still the most factual and unbiased account for younger readers of the 1925 Serum Run from Nenana to Nome, the inspiration for the modern Iditarod. The book is well written and is a good read for student and teacher alike. If nothing else, it will undo some of the damage caused by recent animated treatments and associated books centering on Balto.