Mushing
Dogs Help Humans Conquer the Snow
It is a remarkable relationship that dogs and humans have. Without the dogs, it seems hardly possible for humans to have gotten anywhere in the Arctic. This dog harness and whip were owned by Samuel Entrikin, probably in about the 1890s. We hadn’t looked at these things for a while and so were pleased to notice what we think was the dog’s name painted on to it. “Ningo” has become a sort of exhibit mascot and somehow gives personality to this four-legged adventurer who lived more than a century ago. In fact, a life-sized plush dog in one of our exhibit interactives, has been dubbed Ningo in his honor. Among the favorite photographs in the exhibit are those with dog sled teams.
Peary, Entrikin, and crew spent the month of July 1893 travelling from Boston, to Newfoundland, to Labrador, and up the West Coast of Greenland to Bowdoin Bay. From Labrador on, they continually bought and traded for dogs. Entrikin’s diary states bought dogs in Hopedale, Labrador, and in Greenland, 17 dogs in Holsteinborg, 21 dogs in Godhaven, 5 dogs in Upernavik, 17 dogs in Tassiusak, and so on and so forth (places may be spelled wrong based on today’s spelling - this is how Entrikin spelled them in his diary).
Interestingly, Peary experimented with taking Burros along on this journey too. Brought from the Southwest, eight burros provided the means for hauling supplies across the northern landscape. Even the press recognized the oddity of the animals, as the “poor little fellows” stood “munching continuously on their hay” in the New York harbor. Looking back years later, Peary admitted that the “ragged-coated, long-eared, pathetic-eyed burros” were a “somewhat novel experiment in Arctic methods.” Only four actually made it alive to Bowdoin Bay. Used for carrying supplies to the ice cap camp, the group shot the remaining burros during the first winter and fed them to the dogs.
-Rob Lukens, Guest Curator
Peary tried a unique experiment in 1893, when he, Entrikin and the others brought another peculiar creature along. Brought from the Southwest, eight burros provided the means for hauling supplies across the northern landscape. Even the press recognized the oddity of the animals, as the “poor little fellows” stood “munching continuously on their hay” in the New York harbor. Looking back years later, Peary admitted that the “ragged-coated, long-eared, pathetic-eyed burros” were a “somewhat novel experiment in Arctic methods.” Only four actually made it alive to Bowdoin Bay. Used for carrying supplies to the ice cap camp, the group shot the remaining burros during the first winter and fed them to the dogs
Add your comment