Eskimo's Fleet Dogs Have Winning Streak. |
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Alaska-to-White House Mush Made Good a 'Called Bluff' Six feet 2 inches tall," with a, rumbling voice, a nugget as big as a bobcat's eye in his necktie. C. C. (Slim) Williams, prospector, trapper, packer and Alaska dog team driver, breezed into town today to roll cigarettes and talk of the proposed Alaska Highway. The big Alaskan gained national fame almost overnight in 1932 when he "shot off his mouth so he couldn't back down" and drove a dog team from Copper Center, Alaska, to the White House in Washington, D. C. After that, "so scared" at first that he "just blubbered," he took the lecture platform as kind of unofficial spokesman for the Northland. Struck It Rich. On a furlough from his lecturing, he is in Seattle en route to Fresno, Calif., to see his "pets" -- the wolfdogs he drove on the long trail from the Arctic to the capital . "I went to Alaska in 1901, and I never left the North until I drove my dogs out," "Slim" said. "I did about everything. I propspected and I trapped. See this nugget in my tie? That's all I have left from a $75,000 strike I made on Slate Creek in 1910. How It Started "If anyone would have told me I'd be lecturing and seeing congressmen and senators, I'd have said they were plumb crazy. "It all started like this. I came in to a tading post, and heard that a man had started to drive a dog team to the Chicago Fair. I said he couldn't do it. I said there weren't any dogs but mine could make it. "I'd been breeding those dogs of mine for years. I'd rob a wolf den of its whelps and raise them and cross them with dogs. A dog will wear himself out running in the first day, but not a wolf. A wolf takes his time and don't get expcited, and he's pulling in the evening. Called His Bluff. "Somebody said, 'Well, if you're so hot, why don't you try it?' I told them I was going to. I said that was why I'd come in, although I hadn't thought of it before. I went back to my cabin and pretty soon newspapers and the radio were saying I was going to go. So what could I do? "Six men had tried it before. Two of them died and the other four turned back. The odds were 10 to 1 against me, and I bet everything I owned and everything I could borrow, and started out in November with nine dogs, a rifle, twenty pounds of rice, twenty pounds of flour, six pounds of tea and my sled. "Some men say, 'Give me a gallon of whiskey and a black cigar and I'll go to hell.' Most of them do. I'll take tea. There's more mileage in a cup of tea than any think I know. I took plenty. But no tent, and no blankets, and no other food." Williams circled northeast to Dawson, went to Whitehorse, then to Atlin, B. C. In temperatures as low as 60 degrees below zero he went on from Atlin to Hazelton, B. C. One of his dogs died with frostbitten lungs. Another three-quarters wolf, was killed by his wild brothers when he joined a pack. Williams reached Oroville, North Central Washington, in June with automobile wheels on his sled. Then he went to Washington, D. C. Now he wants to try the return trip to Alaska in the summer with horses. He'll bet anyone he can make it.
Object Description
Rating | |
Original index title | Northwest History. Alaska. Dogs, Dog Races & Mushers. |
Newspaper | Seattle Times ; 1936-05-02 |
Title | Alaska-to-White House Mush Made Good A 'Called Bluff.' |
Description | Alaska-to-White House Mush Made Good A 'Called Bluff.' |
Subject Keys | mush ; C. C. (Slim) Williams ; dog team ; Alaska Highway ; national fame ; Copper Center ; White House ; Washington, D. C. ; Fresno, Calif. ; Seattle ; Arctic ; Chicago Fair ; Atlin, B. C. ; Hazelton, B. C. ; Oroville ; North Central Washington |
Date.Original | 1936-05-02 |
Resource Identifier | nwh-sh-8-2-76 |
Subjects |
Northwest, Pacific -- History -- 20th century Alaska |
Resource Type | Text |
Genre | Clippings |
Source | Northwest History. Alaska. Box 8 |
Language | English |
Rights | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0 |
Rights Notes | Copyright not evaluated. Contact original newspaper publisher for copyright information. |
Description
Original index title | Eskimo's Fleet Dogs Have Winning Streak. |
Subject Keys | mush ; C. C. (Slim) Williams ; dog team ; Alaska Highway ; national fame ; Copper Center ; White House ; Washington, D. C. ; Fresno, Calif. ; Seattle ; Arctic ; Chicago Fair ; Atlin, B. C. ; Hazelton, B. C. ; Oroville ; North Central Washington |
Resource Identifier | nwh-sh-8-2-76-1 |
Resource Type | Text |
Genre | Clippings |
Language | English |
Rights | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0 |
Rights Notes | Copyright not evaluated. Contact original newspaper publisher for copyright information. |
Full-Text | Alaska-to-White House Mush Made Good a 'Called Bluff' Six feet 2 inches tall," with a, rumbling voice, a nugget as big as a bobcat's eye in his necktie. C. C. (Slim) Williams, prospector, trapper, packer and Alaska dog team driver, breezed into town today to roll cigarettes and talk of the proposed Alaska Highway. The big Alaskan gained national fame almost overnight in 1932 when he "shot off his mouth so he couldn't back down" and drove a dog team from Copper Center, Alaska, to the White House in Washington, D. C. After that, "so scared" at first that he "just blubbered," he took the lecture platform as kind of unofficial spokesman for the Northland. Struck It Rich. On a furlough from his lecturing, he is in Seattle en route to Fresno, Calif., to see his "pets" -- the wolfdogs he drove on the long trail from the Arctic to the capital . "I went to Alaska in 1901, and I never left the North until I drove my dogs out," "Slim" said. "I did about everything. I propspected and I trapped. See this nugget in my tie? That's all I have left from a $75,000 strike I made on Slate Creek in 1910. How It Started "If anyone would have told me I'd be lecturing and seeing congressmen and senators, I'd have said they were plumb crazy. "It all started like this. I came in to a tading post, and heard that a man had started to drive a dog team to the Chicago Fair. I said he couldn't do it. I said there weren't any dogs but mine could make it. "I'd been breeding those dogs of mine for years. I'd rob a wolf den of its whelps and raise them and cross them with dogs. A dog will wear himself out running in the first day, but not a wolf. A wolf takes his time and don't get expcited, and he's pulling in the evening. Called His Bluff. "Somebody said, 'Well, if you're so hot, why don't you try it?' I told them I was going to. I said that was why I'd come in, although I hadn't thought of it before. I went back to my cabin and pretty soon newspapers and the radio were saying I was going to go. So what could I do? "Six men had tried it before. Two of them died and the other four turned back. The odds were 10 to 1 against me, and I bet everything I owned and everything I could borrow, and started out in November with nine dogs, a rifle, twenty pounds of rice, twenty pounds of flour, six pounds of tea and my sled. "Some men say, 'Give me a gallon of whiskey and a black cigar and I'll go to hell.' Most of them do. I'll take tea. There's more mileage in a cup of tea than any think I know. I took plenty. But no tent, and no blankets, and no other food." Williams circled northeast to Dawson, went to Whitehorse, then to Atlin, B. C. In temperatures as low as 60 degrees below zero he went on from Atlin to Hazelton, B. C. One of his dogs died with frostbitten lungs. Another three-quarters wolf, was killed by his wild brothers when he joined a pack. Williams reached Oroville, North Central Washington, in June with automobile wheels on his sled. Then he went to Washington, D. C. Now he wants to try the return trip to Alaska in the summer with horses. He'll bet anyone he can make it. |
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