 In the northwest bush land,
carryalls were built locally. They generally were built to a standard design dictated to a large degree by the conditions under which they were used and by the materials available for construction. The size and length were limited by the nature of the trails. Trails that snaked between trees limited the length of the carryalls. Anything longer than 4 or 5 m was very difficult to handle in tight turns. While the trails could have been
made wider, this required considerably more effort, and in the end it was a trade-off between the size of carryall and the amount of trail work required to accommodate it. A further consideration in the design and construction of carryalls was the limited availability of larger timber needed for longer and wider carryalls.
The builder of the carryall had to be aware of the particular nature of the bush where the carryall was to be used. Trapline trails off the main routes were cut by the trapper-hunter (who was also the
dog musher). These trails led through the bush in passageways that had carryalls maneuvering around trees, peat-moss clumps, willow stumps and dense underbrush. Longer carryalls needed more careful steering by the dog musher to avoid being hung up between obstacles along the side of the trail. The
trapper-hunter did only enough trail cutting and clearing in dense bush to permit easy access for the standard size of carryall. In dense bush and underbrush, the curves in the trail at times were so short and so sharp that the dog musher might temporarily lose sight of the lead dog.
The carryall was basically a container riding on a flat platform on the snow. The platform was curved up at the front and had vertical sides and a back. A typical carryall platform comprised two boards about 5 m long and 250 mm wide, for a total width of 500 mm. The board length included three sections: (a) the curl at the front, (b) a main flat traveling surface under the load, and (c) a space for the driver to stand on at the back.
Traditional builders used native wood from either tamarack or birch trees. Tamarack was the most commonly used. It is also know botanically as larch, and in the native culture it is referred to as Indian
hardwood. In the northern region it is the only cone-bearing tree that sheds it's needles in the fall. In the spring, the delicate green leaves (needles), together with the young reddish cones, give this tree an elegant charm enhancing the foliage of the bush. The grain of this tree is often twisted, but straight-grain trees can be found, and it is these that are required for toboggan building. Indian hardwood is very durable and well suited for toboggan platforms because it withstands rough, icy and bumpy terrain even when heavily loaded.
Pulling heavily loaded toboggans was hard work, and dogs - like their people - needed regular meals. It was customary, however, for dogs to be fed only one full meal per day, and this was done at the end of the workday. However, a noon-hour snack of
tallow (beef fat) and a bit of fish or mead was always given to refresh the dogs for the remainder of the day . There were two main reasons for giving a dog a full meal only at the end of the workday. One was that after a feeding at the end of the day they relaxed, rested well at night and seemed to be more alert at the beginning of the next day's work. Another reason was that dogs were inclined to take "toilet breaks" after feeding. As a result, feeding in the morning usually resulted in as many stops as there were dogs, and each required that the toboggan to be physically moved around the dog droppings to avoid fouling the underside of the carryall. Such fouling, when it froze, impeded the smooth sliding of the toboggan on the snow surface, and it increased the load on the dogs. It also annoyed the dog musher, who had to scrape the mess off the bottom of the toboggan. Usually with night feeding the day toilet breaks were fewer.
Sleigh dogs fed on fish, fowl or meat, which could be frozen or dry, cooked or raw. When travelling, dried meat and fish were preferred because they were lighter to carry. On the day of a fishing catch or a hunt, fresh fish or meat was given. In lieu of having freshly caught dog food during the winter, most trappers and hunters preferred to catch fish in the late summer and early fall and dry-cure it for winter dog food.
 Most sleigh dogs were dedicated to work only. They were not pets and were not very kind to one another. They had a very natural canine tendency to attack if their food supply or territory was threatened. For this reason it was a rule that all dogs were tethered, usually by chain, at the home base, while travelling and on overnight stops. This rule was followed particularly when other dogs were in the same area. They were never allowed to run free.
Approaching a dog required considerable care. When a dog was approached by a stranger, and even sometimes by its own dog musher, care had to be taken to allow time for the dog to see and sniff at the person or at a hand. Once it had done that, it could usually be safely touched for harnessing or unharnessing without snapping or biting. Sleigh dogs were not necessarily mean, but they were work animals, not pets.
A good dog team always has a good lead dog. The dog at the front of the team was the one that heard the commands of the dog musher and acted on those commands. A lead dog could sense a change in pace of the dogs following it and would adjust its pace quickly to keep up the pull on its own traces. A well-trained lead dog would turn at the command of its driver and even double back on its own trail. It would swing sharply around obstacles, such as trees and rocks.
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Reprinted from Bush Land People
with the permission of the author. Copyright Terry Garvin, 1992-2002.
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