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HARDSHIPS
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[Mail runs] . . . were not made without the spice of excitement. Many are the stories told of those stirring days; the rivalry of dog-teams, the betting, and the more serious side from the ever uncertain river. This last was always a source of menace to the traveller. No one could tell when the thick ice beneath his feet would suddenly give way and engulf him in a watery grave below.58
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Mail from White Horse, Livingstone Creek, Lower Laberge and Big Salmon Crossing Lake Laberge, Yukon, 1923
© Public domain
National Library and National Archives
of Canada, PA-062002
The driver and his team could travel more than 350 miles [563 kilometres] every month on new trails and always arrive on time.
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Life was difficult for the mail carriers – and for their dog-teams – and each journey was a new challenge. In Yukon during the gold rush, the carrier's first obstacle was the shortage of dogs and the exorbitant cost of those that were available. In 1897, the prohibitive price of dogs in Dawson and the late arrival of those purchased from the exterior meant that the winter mail was sent out infrequently.59 When dogs could not be bred fast enough in the North to accommodate the demand, many were imported from the southern parts of Canada and the United States. However, many such dogs did not survive the journey into Yukon, due to extreme weather conditions or the distance they had to travel to reach remote areas. As NWMP Superintendent Samuel Benfield Steele reported: "I would have been able to have two dog trains at each detachment, were it not for the fact that en route to Skagway by Vancouver, about a hundred fine dogs unfortunately died."60
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