Topic: Uncle Joey's dogs (long)
Uncle Joey's dogs (long)
I will preface this story by telling you about my ancestor's driving (sled) dogs. They were really very small dogs. Not much bigger than the spaniels you see today. They were very strong, loyal beasts. They were not pets and the only person who took care of them was the person who drove them. They were often beaten and whipped by some of the men but there were some who would never raise a hand to them. They were small and easier to feed a small animal. They ate food the owners did not eat. Animal carcases', fat from animals and when in the trapline the owner would kill things for them to eat. Keeping the dogs fed was vital to his survival. These dogs never lived more than 6 or 7 years. Once no longer able to pull the sleds, they were killed or they died other ways.
Uncle Joey loved his dogs. He never raised a hand to them and often spent hours out talking to them and being with them. He called them his kids. He had never married. He was a sickly young man. He lived with his brother and his wife (my grandparents). He would have to take to bed for up to a week at a time and was always a frail. Still he owned a 3 pack dog team and would help grandfather out wherever he could. He had his own trapline and would go there when he felt up to it. He was a gentle lovely man.
It was January, cold, bitter days and long long cold nights. grandfather was back from the trapline and getting ready to go again. He was cutting wood for his family and for a couple of the old people who could no longer get their own wood. Grandmother was running low on flour and grandfather did not have time to go 45 miles to the store to get flour but he could not go back to the trapline and leave her with no flour. Uncle Joey said he was feeling good and he would take both his dog team and grandfather's team too because it would be faster going with 2 teams and get supplies. Uncle Joey would always have a parting statement whenever he left to go away. Usually he'd say "I'll be back tomorrow night if the weather don't turn, Gertie" (grandmother).
This day he harnessed up both dog teams and left about 5 am to go get flour and supplies. Bitter cold but they were used to that. He was wearing his sealskins so cold would not be a big problem. Before he left this day he said to grandmother "If I'm not back by midnight Gertie, I won't be back" Off he went.
By 6 pm a squall had blown up. That is not a real big deal because everyone knew enough to hunker down and wait for it to pass if you get caught out in the open. You put the sled on its side and get behind it out of the wind. Unharness the dogs and they will lie beside you and you will not freeze untill the squall passes. Midnmight came and went. No Uncle Joey. 2 more days pass, no Uncle Joey and no dogs. Dogs get fed at night and are extremely hungry and need to eat.
The next afternoon, all of the men not not gone back to their trapline went to look for him but found nothing.
Day 3 and people 5 miles away came to grandfathers with his 3 dogs in tow. They said they found his dogs out beside their dogs eating their food. They fed the dogs and brought them back to grandfather. Grandfather harnessed the dogs and started back to where they were found. 2 other men went with him. The dogs led him right back to Uncle Joey's sled.
He had been caught in the squall and had turned his sled on it's side and got behind it. His 3 dogs were lying on top of him. He was dead. The dogs would not leave him even though they were starving themselves. When grandfather tried to move the dogs to get Uncle Joeys body, the dogs would not allow them near the body. they growled and refused to move. Even trying to coax them with food did not work. They loved him as much as he had loved them.
The men had to shoot and kill the dogs to get Uncle Joey. So sad. Uncle Joey was 24 years old when he died. No doctors around but I guess had had a heart condition.
They took Uncle Joey's body back and put it in a shed. It was frozen solid. Word was sent to the traplines that Joey had died . The trappers could not drop everything and come back. Some never even found out until many weeks later.
Mom told me this story and I crept behind the stove and cried. I never knew Uncle Joey. There are no pictures of him. He died when Mom was a young girl, but Mom had always told me of what a wonderful kind man he was. He lived vividly in her memory and she tried to pass him on to me. I imagine how he must have looked and the kind of young man he must have been. I have passed it on to you now.
Last edited by inuit; 06-30-2010 at 01:00 PM..
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