Starting Chute in Nome, Alaska

The first prize for the All Alaska Sweepstakes Race was $10,000 dollars; that was a lot of money back in 1909, even if you did have to win a 408 mile race to get it.

Few people in Alaska had seen Sibeians at that time, although there were plenty of other dogs around. The rugged Alaskans were not particularly impressed with the newcomers.

Most Alaskans scoffed at the idea that the slender, 50 pound Siberians could be a match for the heavy boned bruisers competing against them. They seemed to refined and too short legged. The Nomers cheerfully dubbed the Huskies "Siberian Rats". Undettered, Goosack hired a mucher named Louis Thrustrup to pilot his team. Thrustrup then proceeded to come in third, at odds of 100-1. He probably would have won, had he not made a serious tactical blunder by not properly resting his dogs.

All sorts of nasty things were said about race fixing and the like, but none of it was ever proved. Besides, if one were going to fix a race, it seems as if one would fix it to win. At any rate, its probably a good thing the Siberians didnt win after all, for it was claimed that if they had, the Bank of Alaska would have gone broke, considering the number of bets laid against them.

Watching the race (and suitably impresse with the Siberians performance) was Fox Maule Ramsay, a young Scottish businessman. He had come to Alaska interested in mining possiblities but became entranced with the Huskies instead, so much so, in fact, that he chartered a schooner to Siberia and bought 60 of the best racing stock he could find. By the time of the 1910 All Alaska, Ramsay entered the race with not one but three teams. Ramsays's teams placed first and second, and suddenly everyone was talking about the little dogs with the big hearts - which is still true today.

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