This is an excerpt from The Hope ‘91 Sled Dog Race, by Helen Hegener, with Jon Van Zyle, Frank Flavin, and Sandra Medearis (Northern Light Media 2023).
For the Third Edition of The Siberian Husky (1994), race co-founder and judge Jon Van Zyle wrote about the Hope ‘91 Sled Dog Race and the dog he greatly admired while traveling with the teams:
From the Chukchi With Love
by Jon Van Zyle
In June of 1988 I joined a group of Alaskans who were to make the first flight into the Soviet Union's Siberia in 40 years, called the Friendship Flight. I had been asked to document this event as the official artist--to record my impressions of this vast land and its people. My other mission was to try and locate the original cousins of today's Siberian Husky. Prior to leaving I had sent dozens of letters all over Russia to try and find a person who could help me... to my knowledge, at the time of the flight, none of my letters were received.
The day of the flight and the events that took place will be forever ingrained in my mind. Many of the people who flew with us on Alaska Airlines were Eskimo men and women who had not seen their relatives in Siberia for years. Brothers and sisters, Moms and Dads, all suddenly "Russian" when caught on the other side of the border, some scant two-and-a-half miles away from Alaska.
A great welcome awaited us in Provideniya. Tears in the eyes of many... lumps in our throats for those who were reunited, a sight I will never forget. The start of a long awaited truce between our countries.
During one of my many meetings that day an invitation was issued by Leo Rasmussen of Nome, for a sled dog race between our two countries. Also during the same meeting, I was introduced to Ludmila Bogoslovskaya, from Moscow. She had received one of my letters and was there to meet with me. She is a doctor of anthropology with studies directed to the Chukchi people and their culture, at the University at Moscow. She brought me several photos, three of which were of dogs she discovered in her studies. The dogs came from the villages of Uelen, Inchoun, and Lorino. The dogs pictured were in many ways very similar to the original dogs that came over in 1908 with Goosak. It is not hard to see some of these traits in American kennels today. The dogs appeared to be larger and heavier in bone than most of the ones in America today, but in her scientific studies for the university, she was convinced that these were some of the same breed that the Chukchi had developed eons ago. She mentioned that many of the earlier dogs had been killed off due to "problems," and that many of the hunters today use a smaller dog, but that a few of the older strain still existed in these villages. I suspect the "problems" she was referring to were communism but did not press the issue as we had a relatively short time together.
I came back to Alaska with a better knowledge of the word compassion, and friendship.... and a deeper need to see more of this bleak but beautiful country and its wonderful native people.
In the fall of 1991 we had Russians sitting in our living room talking about a dog sled race that Leo had proposed a couple of years back. We named our endeavor HOPE. Four of us, Leo Rasmussen of Nome; Jerry Tokar, Soviet translator and expert; Sandra Medearis, journalist; and myself organized the first HOPE '91--a 1,200-mile journey of sled dogs from Nome, Alaska to Anadyr, Siberia. Each of us had an area to cover. Leo because of his political background, Jerry because he spoke the language and is a recognized expert in the field, Sandra for her PR and journalistic skills, and me because of my sled dog knowledge, racing knowledge, and just plain interest in the thing. Nancy Wright was our able-bodied secretary and did it all.
There were 80 million, give or take, problems, from being the first people in history to make these inroads into this former enemy country. Political, both our government and theirs--although I will have to admit their government was easier to deal with than ours at times. The fundraising duties were terrific too, plus many, many more obstacles too numerous to mention. But through it all, inside of us we knew we could pull it off, and are happy to see our early efforts now make dealing with Russia easier today.
The mushers that signed up that first year were all veterans of the trail. Scott Cameron, Mary Shields, Kate Persons--all from Alaska. Frank Turner from Canada, Kajuro Kojima from Japan, Peter Fromm from Switzerland and Ketil Reitan from Norway and Alaska. Eight Chukchi mushers from various villages in their country came to make this a truly international and intercontinental event. Barbara Moore, from Nome, was our dog handler and judge. Frank Flavin, our photographer, Jim Leach was our excellent veterinarian, and of course, Earl Norris was our race marshall.
I had asked Earl to accompany us because I knew Earl, like me, would want to go back to the country from which his dogs came. He and his wife, Natalie, have devoted their entire lives to this breed and I wanted him, above any other, to experience this.
Our trip was great... it more than fulfilled my dreams. The real reason for HOPE '91 was peace, cooperation, and above all--HOPE for a better and friendlier world, and all of this was accomplished under the guise of man's best friend. But now, back to the real reason for this accounting. While over in Siberia in 1991, Earl and I were anxious to see as many of the dogs as we could. We'd scout out many areas of the villages and take snapshots of this dog or that one.
In reality, we saw very few that we could classify as "the types that came over on the boat." I don't know how many Earl saw, but I saw only two in the Chukchi dog teams. Most of their other team dogs were like the snapshots enclosed--smaller, extremely wooly--just huskies of no particular type. I saw one more, but it was obviously a pet. I wanted to purchase one of these two dogs but did not. My position of "being in charge" was extremely stressful and took a large toll on my psyche. I had to settle for seeing one of "my dogs" go home with Norwegian musher Ketil Reitan, who now lives in Kaktovik, Alaska. His name was Tom--strange name for a Siberian dog. I wondered at the time if it was a man's name, Tom--or did it mean something else in Chukchi. I am trying to find out. At any rate, Tom has since run on Ketil's 1992 and 1993 Iditarod teams. Ketil placed well in both races--10th in 1992. Tom was dropped mid-way through the race in 1993.
On my many trips to Siberia I managed to get quite a few collectables to help me remember our neighbors to the west. Hundreds of photos, snowshoes, many art objects--many old dog driving items; a Chukchi dog sled, reindeer clothing... lots of stuff, but I just couldn't get Tom out of my mind. I saw Ketil in Nome a few days ago just after his '93 Iditarod race. I inquired about Tom and was told he had been dropped. I said if he ever considered selling the dog that I would buy him. Two days later he said yes. I gave Ketil a check and now Tom is mine.
All of the visual data--what really makes up the original dogs--are in the old photos. Long, short, cobby, heavy, light, tall--everything in between. I've seen these photos for years. I've also seen the photos of a Russian anthropologist and heard her statements, and I think Tom is a fairly good representative of many of these animals. I believe that each animal is selected to endure on the type of trails or conditions they face, both in Siberia and here. A medium or fine-boned dog would not last long in the conditions they have over there. The trails are non-existent, all wind-blown, deep drifted, or cement hard, and the dogs don't know from one moment to the next what type of footing they will have.
The photos Ludmila gave me certainly match Tom. He was born and raised in Lorino. He is five years old, castrated (a common practice for all male dogs except a very few), he does not have blue eyes or even carry the red factor. They destroy all blue-eyed dogs, claiming they are poor workers. I wonder if these type of predictions are reality, or are they a traditional belief... which, of course, makes them a reality... anything is possible. I personally have had both blue eyes and brown eyes as good workers, as we all have.
I do know they use their dogs for a living. Tom was bred and owned by a Chukchi named Gennady Inankeyuyes. He is a hunter for his area. His job (remember this was communism) was to hunt for seal, walrus, etc., and supply his village and the local fox farms with meat. Gennady is a wonderful person, very understanding and nice. He was loyal to our cause and I liked him very much. Genna didn't speak English, my Russian is very little, and my Chukchi was NIL! But all in all, we communicated. His friendship and openness to us was great, and at least one musher quite possibly owes his life to him.
Genna and the Chukchi use their dogs daily. They aren't pretty, they aren't typy, they are pure work dogs--draft animals. If they don't work hard every day, all day, they are of no use. It is a totally symbiotic relationship--each lives because of the other. The control the drivers have of their dog teams is wonderful to watch. We in Alaska have very controlled dog teams--dogs that will turn on a dime, etc., etc. The Chukchi dog teams will turn on a dime and then some. For instance, while a musher is chopping up their daily ration of seal or walrus, each dog will sit perfectly still, even if a piece of it inadvertently lands near them, they won't even move their eyes until told to do so. This control comes from working with them every day, all day, all their lives.
Tom is 26 or 27 inches tall and weighs about 65 pounds. He is a buff color. I know his weight and height don't compare to American standards, but again, we're not talking about American Siberian Huskies. We are talking about a dog that quite possibly has endured through centuries, that was developed by a people who used them and developed them for their specific needs. As breeders of the modern Siberian Husky (the last imported ones came over in 1930 with Swenson) change the dog to suit their individual likes and dislikes, these modern traits come out, as I'm sure many of the older dogs were of various styles for individual preferences. The predominant large bone we saw over there would have been easily changed because we have groomed freight trails and the dogs generally didn't have to plow through a lot, as they do over there. Many of the changes we see today are but brand new, only five or six short years, or 20 or 15 years. Each individual sees something they like and goes about setting that trait to their liking, hopefully keeping within a standard.
I'm very happy that Tom has come to live with me.
This is an excerpt from The Hope ‘91 Sled Dog Race, by Helen Hegener, with Jon Van Zyle, Frank Flavin, and Sandra Medearis (Northern Light Media 2023).