Husky News

Lin Vanskike just turned 90, but he remembers the dog sled races in the 1920s and ’30s like they were yesterday.

The only way into town in winter was by sleigh, skis or dog sled. Homesteaders from all around the prairie gathered on Saturdays to socialize, pickup their groceries, and take in a dog sled or skijoring race. Local businesses contributed prizes of a new pair of gloves, a hat or a sweater.

“Those were the good old days for me,” Vanskike, now of Truth or Consequences, N.M., said Thursday. As a lad, he owned the fastest sled dog on the Camas Prairie. A big shepherd cross, Towser, pulled the young musher to victory in many races. Once, he and Towser made the six-block loop through town in a minute, 35 seconds - a record for the course.

This weekend, dog sled teams from throughout the West will gather here just like in the old days to test their speed. Camas County resident and race marshal Dennis Stitt partnered with fellow mushers, the City of Fairfield, the Camas Chamber of Commerce, and the Camas County School District to bring an early-season dog sled challenge he thinks could become an annual event.

 Courtesy of Lin and Terrie Vanskike
Lin Vanskike circa 1928, at about age 11, with his shepherd cross Towser in downtown Fairfield, where they won many dog sled races.

Local businesses donated to a $1,000 purse - an upgrade from the old days - and any profit will go to Camas County Schools, whose mascot is the Musher. Stitt said Wednesday he hopes the event will boost school spirit.

No Camas County residents have registered for any of the four race categories, but Stitt offered to sponsor a high school student. Although some students were interested, safety concerns won out.

“I just didn’t see putting a kid out there on a sled without any training,” Stitt said.

Several Idaho mushers have registered including Twin Falls resident Shannon McLimans. Other teams hail from Utah, Montana and Oregon.

“We’ve had great community support,” Stitt said Wednesday. “Fairfield’s really come together. We even had some people out there breaking in the trail with sleds.” The trails start on Camas Avenue and lead north toward Wells Summit with the longest loop totaling 30 invigorating miles.

Before paved highways, snowmobiles and four-wheel drive, dog sledding could mean a whole lot more than just winning a race in the crisp winter air. Dog sleds linked a snowbound community with mail and supplies. Roads to the prairie were inadequate even in summer. In winter they were impassible, except to a few postal workers who braved the elements by dog sled to get the mail through.

In 1912, the Oregon Short Line came to Fairfield, and carried with it a mail contract. In the early 1940s, however, the trains stopped coming through six days a week. The Gooding mail contract went to Lowell Fields, a local trucker who shipped groceries between Fairfield and Boise.

Fields was an avid musher, and the sport stood him in good stead in his new job. Many residents still recall the winter of 1949 when it snowed so hard the trains couldn’t get through and school was out for 14 days. Twice, Fields harnessed his dogs and brought Fairfield the mail.

Fields and his team made many snowy trips from Corral to Hill City with the mail, and not just in the blizzard of ‘49.

Mary Fields of Gooding, Lowell’s daughter-in-law, recounted a story about Verla Ruby, a Hill City resident at that time. “Verla was out riding and Lowell’s dogs scared her horse and it ran off,” Fields said Thursday. “Lowell gave her a ride home on his sled.”

Frank Burton, now of Gooding, was a close friend of the late Lowell Fields. “I used to go with Lowell when he had the dog sled team, and my daughter, too, when she was little,” Burton said. “We had good times.”

Fields once entered his team in the American Dog Derby in Ashton, Idaho.

With new snow and beautiful Soldier Mountain in the background, Stitt feels Fairfield has something to offer the sport of dog sled racing. “It’s a perfect location for beginners to get started,” he said.

Source: Magicvalley.com