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GOLD RUSH TRAIL DOGSLED MAIL RUN and
THE CARIBOO JACK SKI TREK
SATURDAY JANUARY 23RD, 2010
The primary reason for staging the Gold Rush Trail Dog Sled Mail Run is to encourage the enjoyment of all that the Cariboo region of central British Columbia has to offer in the winter…..the weather, the terrain and all forms of winter recreation including back country skiing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling as well as dog mushing and skijoring.
Three years ago, Bill Horne of Wells B.C., along with local supporters, championed the notion of a commemorative ski trek over the Cariboo Waggon Road, from Barkerville to Stanley. This Trek is titled the Cariboo Jack, after a gold rush miner/pioneer who walked all the way from Yale to the town of Stanley.
The Ski Trek uses the same route (on Saturday) that will be followed by the mail carriers the next day (on Sunday). It is the original Cariboo Waggon Road. It is a lot of work to ensure that this trail is packed and usable; what better way to encourage as many people as possible to enjoy it than to have two different groups working co-operatively and having two events over the same trail on consecutive days.
The Cariboo Jack is a participation event, and is organized by the Cariboo Jack organizing committee. For complete information go to cariboojack.blogspot.com
CAPTAIN ROBERT A. BARTLETT…CANADA’S GREATEST DOG MUSHER?
In July, 2009, Canada Post released a stamp commemorating one of Canada’s greatest sea captains and explorers, Captain Robert A, Bartlett. Some very fortunate people will no-doubt find one of these "Bartlett stamps" affixed to their Gold Rush Trail Dog Sled Mail Run envelopes. A special First Day Cover of this stamp will be auctioned off at the Saturday night Mail Run dinner/auction to take place at Troll Resort. On the stamp there is an image of the Captain himself with a sturdy sailing vessel (the Roosevelt) as backdrop,. However if you look closely, you will also see an image of a dog sled (actually an Inuit komatik) being pulled by a dog team. It is perhaps not as well known that in addition to his sailing exploits, Captain Bartlett was also an incredible dog musher. We might also suggest (and we know this is up for debate) that Captain Robert Bartlett was Canada’s greatest dog musher of all time.
Bartlett was born in Brigus Newfoundland on August 15, 1875. When Robert was born, the Bartlett family was already well established in this community, the Bartletts were true sea-farers, and the sailing exploits of many members of this family are well documented. In fact there are many famous Captain Bartletts who were involved in the sealing industry, arctic exploration and arctic development and travel.
Robert A. Bartlett’s marine career spanned the period from 1892 to 1945, he died in April, 1946 of pneumonia. His sailing and exploration accomplishments have been well recognized and for these Bartlett was the recipient of many medals and citations. But what of his dog mushing exploits?
In 1905 and 1908, Bartlett captained Admiral Robert E,. Peary’s ship the Roosevelt into the Arctic, on two of Peary’s attempts to be the first to attain the North Pole. For Bartlett, it wasn’t enough just to captain the ship, he was also an instrumental part, along with several Inuit hunters and hundreds of their dogs in attempting to pave a route to the pole. Bartlett was a dog musher,
Peary’s chosen method of exploration was to send out heavily laden komatiks to establish a line of supply towards the Pole,. Once this was established, the fastest team (carrying Peary who had been crippled by the loss of parts of both feet due to frostbite) with the pick of all of the dogs and dog drivers and with a lightly laden sled, would speed along with the hope that they would be able to make it to the North Pole (and back). On the 1905 attempt it was Bartlett who was essentially at the head of the charge with a 10 dog team, determining the correct route using his navigational skills and literally hacking a route through the jumble ice. Bartlett spent one hundred and twenty-one days on the ice that year breaking trail. But time ran out, the weather and ice conditions were against them and the attempt on the Pole had to be abandoned.
In 1908 it was Bartlett once again leading the charge. He had obtained a prior commitment from Peary that when it came time for the last push to the pole, Bartlett would be among the final few to be included. When it came down to that final push, after Bartlett had blazed a trail to within 150 miles of the Pole , attaining a latitude beyond 87 degrees north latitude, Peary informed Bartlett that in fact he was being ordered to turn back. Peary was going to make the dash for the pole along with his assistant Mathew Henson and four inuit hunters. For Bartlett it was a bitter disappointment..
Peary went on to claim that in fact he did attain the Pole. This assertion has been surrounded in controversy for the past 100 years, Some theorize that Bartlett would have made the Pole without question, that his superior navigational skills and his relative youth and incredible stamina would have guaranteed this fact. History unfolded differently.
In 1915, Barttett was the captain of the Karkuk, an old and worn whaling vessel that had been purchased by anthropologist Villhjalmur Stefannsson to support his government funded Canadian Arctic Expedition. Off of the north coast of Alaska the Karluk became beset in ice, it was badly damaged and it eventually sank. Before the sinking, Stefannsson and some of the expedition scientists left the ship along with many of the 60 sled dogs that had been acquired from Scotty Allen for the expedition. Stefannsson went on to complete his expedition and to even discover three more arctic islands. After the Karluk sank, it was Captain Bartlett’s task to save the lives of the twenty five survivors.
Eventually the shipwreck survivors made it over the ice to the bleak and uninhabited Wrangell Island, but not before some of the group deserted (and died). From Wrangell Island, with a team of 7 dogs and accompanied by an Inuit hunter named Katakovick, Bartlett commenced the 200 mile journey over the sea ice to the east coast of Siberia, then the 400 mile journey by dog sled along the coast to Bering Straight, a truly incredible sled dog odyssey, Eventually word about the disaster got out to authorities and seven months after the sinking of the Karluk, 14 survivors were rescued from Wrangell Island.
Bartlett was honoured for outstanding heroism by the Royal Geographical Society and the marine historian Thomas Appleton summed up Barllett’s achievement as "the finest example of leadership in the maritime history of Canada". Might it also be said that upon looking at his total career with sled dogs that he was truly Canada’s greatest dog musher?
