Post in Winter Carnival Legend

2007 Jan 29 22:53 UTC

I'm going to cheat and combine two posts in one.  First, while we're on the
subject of winter and history, and since "Iron Will" Steiger was in town,
preparing to head to Baffin Island:

MINNESOTA SLED DOG HISTORY

Sled dog activities, as recreation and friendly competition, may have
existed for almost as long as the relationship between dogs and humans,
in the regions where snow was a seasonal probability.
 The first written account of a race was an informal challenge between
travelers on the route from Winnipeg to St. Paul in the 1850's.
In 1886, the first Saint Paul Winter Carnival featured sled dog races
and ski competitions to glorify the attractions of winter in Minnesota.
Sled dog races have been part of the Winter Carnival to the present day.

The most memorable event was the 1917 race from Winnipeg to Saint Paul,
on which a recent Walt Disney movie (Iron Will) was loosely based. In
reality the race that year was won by Albert Campbell, a Metis from The
Pas, Manitoba followed by his brother in second place.

*Taken from IFSS "mushing a brief history of the sport."

Additional triva:
The Winnipeg-to-St.Paul Dog Sled Derby was the 1st International sled
dog race in history.
It was also the 1st organized sled dog race in the United States.
(Alaska had organized racing, but it was still a territory, not a
state.)
At 522 miles, it was the longest dog sled race in the world. (The
Iditarod and Quest had not yet been started)
The year 1917, was the 23rd Annual St. Paul Winter Carnival.
The race started in Winnipeg on January 24, 1917 with eleven mushers,
only 5 of which would complete the journey.

The real-life "hero" of the 1917 race was not the winner, Albert
Campbell, but a New Yorker living in Canada named Fred Hartman.
Despite many setbacks, "Iron Fred" Hartman, a 26 year old gold
prospector, led his own dog team and finished in fifth and last
place(Red Lantern) but only 4 hours behind his competition.

Lieutenant Fred Hartman, World War I Army pilot, was killed in airplane
crash in France in 1919.
The Winnipeg-to-St.Paul Sled Dog Derby was never run again.

*Information taken from an article in Mushing Magazine (July 1994)
titled "Iron Fred", written by Jerry Vanek DVM

Second, (and this is wintery and historic, too) I was driving to work this
morning and was at the top of the Warner Road Hump when I saw an eagle LOWER
than me, flying  a few feet over the river.  Then I saw another, and then
another.  I pulled over into that gate thingie at the bottom of the Hump and
watched them for ~5 minutes.  There were two "teenagers", probably 3 years old
or so, and an adult.  It was as though the adult had told the children to "Go
play in the flight path!"  I was glad none of them was sucked into an engine
and that no jet aircraft crashed into the Hamm's Brewery.  It would not have
seemed like a very Darwinian way to strengthen the species.  I didn't see any
of them catch a fish, but it was very cool anyway.

Then there was a hawk of some kind at the Old DNR Buffet.

Too bad we don't have an Audubon Center or viewing area or something around
here...

A M Hine
Shepard-Warner Roads commuter