Decline of the Dogsled in Villages of Arctic Alaska: A Preliminary Discussion

Decline of the Dogsled in Villages of Arctic Alaska: A Preliminary Discussion Karl E. Francis* The acceptance of innovation by the indigenous people of arctic America has been a subject of some interest to students of the North for over half a century. Firearms, steel cutlery and other steel implements, cloth and rubber garments, petroleum stoves, outboard motors, and wooden boats are among the major items which were quickly incorporated into the paraphernalia of the arctic hunter and fisher. While the people in general retained their hunting and fishing economy, their ready acceptance of foreign implements to aid them in their normal pursuits has been an instrument of change. The impact of each innovation is quite complex, with ramifications which spread broadly through the entire ecosystem. Moreover, cause and effect relations are frequently clouded by coincident impact of independent factors. Nevertheless, it does seem abundantly clear that certain items, such as firearms and outboard motors, have strongly attributed to considerable changes in the ecosystem.1 As each innovation came into the system, it imposed such stress that the system shifted to a new position of equilibrium, as if in accord with the LeChatlier-Braun principle of chemical equilibria. In this case the shift is irreversible. In addition, frequently remnants of the older systems, for one reason or another, fail to convert to the innovation and cease to be functional units. In industrial economies * Dr. Francis is Assistant Professor of Geography, San Fernando Valley State College, Northridge, California 91324. This paper was read at the 31st annual meeting of the Association. Field work in Alaska in 1961 and 1966 was supported in part by the Office of Naval Research Arctic Research Laboratory. 1 D. C. Foote and H. A. Williamson, "A Human Geographical Study," especially p. 1047, in: Norman J. Wilimovsky and John N. Wolfe (editors), Environment of the Cape Thompson Region, Alaska (Oak Ridge, Tennessee; U. S. Atomic Energy Commission , 1966); Charles Campbell Hughes, An Eskimo Vilhge in the Modern World (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1960), pp. 109-111. 69 70association of pacific COAST GEOGRAPHERS such terms as "poverty cycle" and "technological unemployment" have been applied to this phenomenon. Currently a change is takingplace in the villages of arctic Alaska which may be of considerable significance to the indigenous people of the area. It appears that the demise of the venerable dogsled is at hand. Because of the importance of the dogsled both historically and presently to transportation in arctic Alaska, the event warrants attention . Because of certain implications of the change, it warrants some concern. This paper presents the results of a preliminary inquiry into the decline of the dogsled and some thoughts on the implications of the event. It follows field work in arctic Alaska on related subjects2 leading to the questions raised here and preliminary study preparatory to anticipated field investigations. Until quite recently the dogsled was the principal surface transport system of the indigenous people of arctic Alaska. In its class it had no serious competition. It provided economical and dependable mobility and carriage during most of the year. When it could not be used, land travel was greatly curtailed. In the late 1950's and early 1960's the mechanized toboggan appeared. This device is a small, motorized, track-propelled, skidirected vehicle having approximately the same capacity range as the dog sled. There is a variety of models of the mechanized toboggan , but most are quite similar to the ones in Figures 1 and 2. These machines were quickly recognized to be competitive with the dogsled (Figures 3 and 4). By the mid-1960's mechanized toboggans had made noticeable incursions into the realm of the dogsled. They were common in nearly all the villages of arctic Alaska, and the dog population seemed to this observer to be down. In any case, the question of the competitive position of these two systems was raised, particularly since it had begun to appear that the dogsled might soon be entirely replaced by the mechanized toboggan. To initiate inquiry, questionnaires were sent in the spring of 1968 to persons in a number of villages in interior, northern, and western Alaska. The questionnaire was designed to determine...