Henry Jackson Sr.: Interview Outline: Section 2 Training dogs for upriver travel Tape Reference Number: H2002-09-01 Henry Jackson Sr. talks with Bill Schneider, Hazel Apok, and Eileen Devinney in Kiana, Alaska on February 27, 2002.

Bill Schneider: Can you tell us how you train the dogs to do that?

Henry Jackson, Sr.: Well, they know. Once they are trained with the team, you know, they -- all you need is a good leader. That leader will lead them, you know. The man behind the rope, pulling -- holding the rope, you know, mushing all day long. Pulling the boat all day long. I was about 16 years old when I took my mother and dad up the river one summer. We have nothing but dogs, you know. Swift current there. Hard work sometimes. But them days was golden days, you know. No smoking, no nothing. I wasn't drinking them days.

Bill Schneider: How did you -- how did you handle that swift current with the dogs?

Henry Jackson, Sr.: Well, I --

Bill Schneider: Did you have to help them?

Henry Jackson, Sr.: Yeah, we -- yeah. If you got three or four dogs, well, they don't-- if they are not strong enough, you could add more dogs to that -- to the -- to the team, you know. Four, five. That will pull a heavy load, five -- five dogs.

Bill Schneider: Uh-hum.

Henry Jackson, Sr.: With --

Bill Schneider: I'm going to pull up a little bit on your tie here. Can I move it down?

Henry Jackson, Sr.: Huh? What's that?

Bill Schneider: I'm not picking up in the microphone here.

Henry Jackson, Sr.: Oh, oh. Don't know much about picture of me.

Bill Schneider: That's okay. But how did you -- how did the dogs run on the bank? Was there a trail that they followed, or --

Henry Jackson, Sr.: Well, the bank, yeah. Once you had a good leader on, no problem. But with no leader, you have a problem right there. We use -- we used to have good leader, though. All day long, in hot sun, month of August, run all day long. I won't do it anymore.

Bill Schneider: And then how did you get them to cross the river when the bank changed?

Henry Jackson, Sr.: Well, sometimes we put them in the boat and then row across. And sometime we just let them go swimming across. Turn them loose, you know.

Bill Schneider: Uh-hum.

Henry Jackson, Sr.: Just the harness on. And watch your dogs, follow them across the river. We used to have 16 dogs sometimes, you know.

Bill Schneider: That's a lot of dogs to feed.

Henry Jackson, Sr.: Yeah. Yeah. Of course, that -- they haul lots of wood in the wintertime. That's the only transportation we have is them dogs, wintertime.

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