ALASKA AND THE WAR
A wireless message flashed the news to Alaska that our country had
entered the war. The effect was the usual one,--the one to which we in
Alaska have become accustomed. It aroused a patriotism which was both
ideal and practical. It is said that the man who went farthest to serve
his colors was a man from Iditarod. A man with his dog team drove by
his dwelling and told him the news. Like Israel Putnam of Revolutionary
fame who left his team standing in the field where he was ploughing and
went to join the Minute Men, so this man laid aside his work and
journeyed a thousand miles on a dog sled to enlist!
Every line of industrial, engineering, mining, agricultural and fishing
activity immediately was speeded to the top notch of energy and
production. The coal output increased from fifty thousand to a hundred
thousand tons. Fish food products jumped from twenty to forty-two
million dollars. There was an increase of twenty-two million pounds of
canned salmon shipped to the United States over the output of 1917.
The people of Alaska are hardy. They are patriotic. They are energetic
and practical. They understand fully what war means. They know that
although far removed from the scene of activity they are called upon to
help win the war just as much as if they were fighting in the trenches.
They know that the greatest good they can do their country is to feed
her fighting men. So they went about it in a business-like manner. The
result is that theirs is a practical, _organized_ patriotic
coöperation. Many of the pioneer gold seekers are now transformed into
farmers. The potato crop for this year is two thousand tons,--only one
item, but a significant one.
The Alaskan women, as always, came straight to the front. With that
practical knowledge born of residence in such a country as Alaska they
eliminated the sentimental and went to work at those things which
America asks and expects of her women. Mrs. Thomas J. Donahoe, of
Valdez, who is also President of the Federation of Women's Clubs, was
appointed Chairman of the Woman's Committee of the Council of National
Defense, and the Red Cross is represented and practically managed in
almost every locality in the territory. When the first Liberty Loan
was floated the response of Alaska was instant and generous and the
same is true of the succeeding loans.
In connection with the part Alaska is playing in the great struggle I
revert once more to the subject of the dogs. Our hearts were touched
when we learned that they, too, had been awarded the _Croix de Guerre_
by the French Government, the Cross having been sent to Mrs. Esther
Birdsall Darling who owned and sold many of them to France. "Scotty"
Allen took them over and left them there to do their "bit."
It was a French Reserve Officer, a mining engineer, Lieutenant René
Haas, who first called the attention of the French Government to the
services which could be rendered by the dogs. Mrs. Darling, good
patriot that she is and ever ready to promote the cause of the Allies,
promptly offered the best that the Darling-Allen kennels afforded.
Lieutenant Haas was commissioned to select them. He chose twenty-five
of the youngest, swiftest and best bred of these kennels. Then,
supported enthusiastically by Captain Moufflet, who also knew the
possibilities of the Alaskan dog service, the interest of their
superior officers was aroused and Lieutenant Haas was ordered to go to
Nome, there to select and purchase a hundred or more suitable for duty
in the Vosges. "Scotty" Allen was persuaded to go to France with the
dog contingent and the number was augmented by others from Canada and
Labrador. When he and Lieutenant Haas sailed they had four hundred and
fifty splendid dogs with them,--half a regiment! All were successfully
delivered at the front where they have rendered distinguished and
valuable service.
He would indeed be dead to emotion who could read the report which came
with the _Croix de Guerre_ and which was sent from headquarters on the
French frontier to far-away Alaska. We all knew that the dogs would
meet emergencies boldly, no matter what the circumstances, the
conditions or the weather. One specific incident which will be a part
of Alaska's written history when the war is over serves to emphasize
and justify our faith in them.
From a lonely post out on the frontier in the French Alps came to
headquarters a most urgent call for help. They were out of ammunition
and the situation was most critical. True to their reputation for valor
the French were holding the post, fighting against heavy odds, each man
saying in his heart the little sentence which has become the slogan of
the French army and the prayer of every man, woman and child in
France,--"_They shall not pass!_" To hold the post longer, however,
meant that ammunition _must_ be forthcoming at once. A terrific
blizzard was in progress. The trails were dangerous, almost obliterated
in places. Trucks and horses were of no avail. But there were the
dogs,--Alaska's heroes. To them France turned in her emergency. The
sleds were quickly loaded. The Malamuts fell to harness instantly on
command. Lieutenant Haas was ready for his perilous journey. A crack of
the whip, an encouraging shout to the dogs and they were off. For four
days and four nights they kept their steady gait. Up and down
precipitous mountain-sides, over treacherous trails and across the
snow-buried expanse, most of the time under shell fire from the enemy,
they went quietly, steadily on. Lieutenant Haas acknowledged that the
dogs seemed to realize quite as clearly as he did himself the necessity
of haste and a cool head, that they had in their eyes the "do-or-die"
look which he had so often seen in the eyes of his men. And every one
who knows anything about them knows how much victory means to a
Malamut.
On the morning of the fifth day, just at dawn, they reached the
post,--one more instance of a dramatic arrival in the nick of time. The
ammunition was now completely exhausted. One needs not a vivid
imagination to hear in fancy the ringing cheers which greeted them. A
pronounced trait of the Alaskan dog is glory in victory, mourning in
defeat. This has been observed many times in the races,--the downcast,
dejected air of the dogs that fail, the brisk and happy attitude of
those that win. So in this instance, the cheers and the Cross were but
episodes. The victory was the thing!
The French Government acknowledges that the dogs are quite as valuable
as any other branch of the service and those that made this hard and
perilous trip are to be painted and hung in the War Museum in Paris.
Mrs. Darling and "Scotty" are and have every reason to be proud of
their dogs. In the din of battle and the precariousness of life on the
frontier they doubtless miss their owners' kindness and attention. But
the sympathies of the latter go with them wherever they go. Lieutenant
Haas declares that these dogs have a "college education" and can be
trusted to do their work intelligently and fearlessly. When the time
comes for the history of the Great World War to be written, may the
deeds of the dogs of Nome who played no less courageous and conspicuous
a part than did her men be fittingly inscribed therein!