Native Alaskan, Palmer Sagoonick, was born in 1946. As he was growing up, winter travel was by dog team only. His summer chore was to water and feed the team dogs. In the winter he was occasionally allowed to drive the dogs out to haul in wood or to go to fish camp and haul in dried fish. He says those dogs were tough, steady and slow.

As time moved by, things began to move faster. Soon there were snowmachines and the dogs all but disappeared. Electricity came to rural Alaska, as well as telephones, radio and television. Then came the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Cannonball, Yukon Fox, Father of the Iditarod and Loafer all became common names in rural Alaska.

Every time Joe Redington, Sr. came through Shaktoolik, he said we needed dogs back in rural Alaska. Then, one year, he sent a pregnant female to a local musher. Puppies were born and sled dogs were back in Shaktoolik.
The speed of dogs became much faster. I have some of that bloodline in my team. Joe Garnie and Tony Jones have really helped me have the team I have today. The media will refer to these dogs as “village dogs,” but that’s fine.

A number of dog books have come out, these have helped me be a better musher. I especially think of Back of the Pack by my late friend, Don Bowers, who was going to race with me to Nome this year. Now he’ll be on the trail with Joe Redington and others in a different realm.

“As an Iditarod volunteer, I got to know the mushers and have learned a lot from them. Since I lost my reindeer herd due to the caribou migration, I have had time to raise and race dogs competitively and now feel it is time to set a higher goal – the Iditarod.

I would like to extend encouragement to all of rural Alaska and tell you that if you have ill loved ones, send me the name and I will carry that name to Nome to be an encouragement to myself and hopefully to you and your loved ones.” Palmer is a commercial fisherman and has been a big game guide for a year. He has been a member of city organizations for the last 12 years and local, regional and state school boards for 16 years. Palmer is married. He enjoys sled building, boat building and ivory carving