Emmitt Peters, Jr is the musher-in-residence at the Kantishna Roadhouse. He intends to put in another season and then leave for film school in California. The road there seems to be a very interesting one, indeed. As the son of the famous Iditarod winner, Emmitt Peter, Sr, known as "The Yukon Fox" he related the stories of his father as they wove themselves through his own lifetime.
Emmitt Jr grew up in Ruby, a former gold mining town with a population of 180. Ruby is on the Yukon River and the river is a mile wide there. In 1918, Ruby was bigger than Fairbanks. When they were building the railway, it was actually being built to go to Ruby but when gold was discovered in Fairbanks, it detoured. The only way in to Ruby is by river or bush plane. Four flights a day arrive in Ruby to serve the villages. Large goods come via the river. Because of this, food products are very expensive; soda costs $4, chips $11 and gas is $7 per gallon. Every 3-4 months, Emmitt's mother goes to Sam's Club and everything is then delivered to the airline to bring to Ruby.
Emmitt Jr is related to 30 out of the 180 residents. He grew up on a 20 x 25 foot single room cabin where he slept on the floor. He did not have a bed until he left for high school. His maternal grandmother was from Barrow and his grandfather was in WWII, stationed in Sitka for his Air Force duty. A flight to Sitka costs $100 more than a round trip ticket from Fairbanks to Seattle! Emmitt's paternal grandmother, Mary, was a medicine woman and unusual in the fact that she documented her knowledge. Junior attended the same High School as his father had, Mount Edgecumbe High School in Sitka. His Dad attended in 1960. Emmitt was pleased with the 3 girl to 1 boy ratio there! The school is named after a dormant volcano but in 1974 it was the subject of an elaborate April Fool's Day Hoax. A local businessman with a wicked sense of humor, flew in a bunch of tractor tires, dropped them in the rim and set them on fire! Some people were so frightened they move away and never returned!
Junior tells tales on his father and the love shines through, though there are is some question as to just how far below the dogs the children ranked! Mushing is very expensive and it sounds as if the family struggled for the sake of the father's dream. Junior does tell one humorous story about his first moose hunt with his father, unlce and friend of the family in which he was presented with a case of baby food to welcome him as a junior member of the group. On his last hunt with them he bought each one a walker!
Emmitt Jr has not raced the Iditarod, but he did race the Junior Iditarod and knows his way around a team of dogs. In fact, he didn't just race, he won. Would you expect anything less? He won the Junior Iditarod when he was 17 years old. He said the Rainy Pass, near Ruby, is the turn around spot for the Junior Iditarod and is his favorite part of the race. In the summer he runs a team of six dogs behind an ATV to demonstrate to visitors at Kantishna. The dogs are obtained from the local Humane Society. I was amazed to learn there is no selection test! They simply hand him six dogs. And they run! At the end of the season the dogs are put up for adoption. Last year, an 11 year old girl from Wasilla saw the demo and was inspired to try her hand at mushing. At the end of the season, she adopted the entire team, which she entered in the Junior Iditarod and won! This year she loaned her two leaders back to Emmitt to use in his summer program. He said admiringly that Reba, a small, light colored female wearing doggles (because she is a superstar!) is one of the best lead dogs he has worked.
By 1974 Emmitt Senior had won the two major sprint races and so he sought out the challenge of going the distance in the Iditarod. He approached it as a series of sprints. He would mush for 50 miles and then rest 2-4 hours, mush 50 miles, rest and repeat. His plan was to relay 24/7 like this until finished. He finished the race in 14 days, winning the race but losing 35 lbs in the process! He lives in Ruby and the Iditarod trail runs for a distance in both directions from RUby so his dogs are very familiar with the trail. That is why he decided to stop to rest in Ruby during one Iditarod. Unfortunately, his wife kept nagging that other mushers were passing him by so he left the house, bundled up on the sled and went to sleep, putting his dogs on auto-pilot! His dogs mushed 50 miles to the next checkpoint before Emmitt woke up, passing two other dog teams on the way! Imagine their surprise to see a musher-less team going about their business and passing!
They feed beaver meat to the dogs, as it is high in fat and the dogs digest it more easily so you don't have to wait an hour to run them as you do feeding beef based products. They are able to catch 50-200 fish in 8 hours using the fish wheel and the dogs love their salmon treats! Of course, using a fish wheel is not legal where I live. I'm not sure if it is only legal for Natives in Alaska or not. You must start the Iditarod with a maximum of 18 dogs, and a minimum of 12. The first year that Emmitt Senior ran the Iditarod he won, and he did it with 14 dogs. Being superstitious, he continued to run 14 dogs. Additionally, since there is a checklist of items you are required to carry and if you are missing something when you reach the check point you must go back and find it or you are disqualified, Emmitt Senior carried two of everything!
Emmitt Senior is an ingenious man. Since mushers spend so much time standing on the back of their sleds, he invented an fold-down chair attachment. With a coffee cup holder! Emmitt Junior worked on a prototype that I chose not to reveal because it sounds very viable, and meets Iditarod requirements. Hopefully he will press ahead with it. They make their own sleds out of white birch. I like that idea, rather than the slicked up, aircraft aluminum or whatnot. Long runners are for inexperienced teams because they are easier to turn but you only see the very short runners on competitive teams. The $5000 entry fee for the Iditarod is steep and you also need $25-50,000 in expenses, which almost requires sponsors. Through 20th place there are cash awards to ensure you make back your entry. The first dogs that Senior used were closer to Malamutes, but those were too slow so he crossed them with labrador. Huskies hate to get wet and he wanted a dog that didn't mind slogging through water. Next he added Irish setter because they will run and run. They are ADHD members of the dog world. However, they aren't too bright so he threw in border collie to the mix for intelligence. The dogs they use now in the races weigh 40-50 lbs and have a short coat, so they don't overheat. Wheel dogs are the big brutes of the team and females make the best leads. Females are the smartest. With a female in the lead, however, it does explain why it's so hard to stop a team!
After Susan Butcher won the Iditarod four times, she had a T-shirt made that read: "Alaska- Where Men are Men, and Women Win the Iditarod!" After her streak was finally broken by a man, he had a shirt made up that read: " Finally! Someone put the ROD back in IDITAROD!"
Ultimately, Emmitt Senior ran the Iditarod 13 times, finishing in the Top Ten 10 times. He came out of retirement so that he could race in each decade, beginning in the 70's. And although he has been retired now for ten years, PETA still calls their house to complain! Apparently there is a petition to include mushing as an Olympic sport if Alaska gets the bid for winter olympics. Keep your eye on Alaska
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