Emmitt Peters Sr. (October 1, 1940 – April 2, 2020) the "Yukon Fox", was an

Alaskan Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the norther ...

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

hunter Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products ( fur/ hide, bone/tusks, ...

fisher Fisher is an archaic term for a fisherman, revived as gender-neutral. Fisher, Fishers or The Fisher may also refer to: Places Australia * Division of Fisher, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives, in Queensland *Elec ...

trapper Animal trapping, or simply trapping or ginning, is the use of a device to remotely catch and often kill an animal. Animals may be trapped for a variety of purposes, including for meat, fur/feathers, sport hunting, pest control, and wildlife man ...

, and dog musher. The last rookie to win the 1,049 mile

Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, more commonly known as The Iditarod (), is an annual long-distance sled dog race held in Alaska in early March. It travels from Anchorage to Nome. Mushers and a team of between 12 and 16 dogs, of which at lea ...

(in 1975), he and his lead dogs Nugget and Digger shattered the previous speed record by almost six days. Peters was an

Athabaskan Athabaskan ( ; also spelled ''Athabascan'', ''Athapaskan'' or ''Athapascan'', and also known as Dene) is a large branch of the Na-Dene language family of North America, located in western North America in three areal language groups: Northern, ...

Alaska Native Alaska Natives (also known as Native Alaskans, Alaskan Indians, or Indigenous Alaskans) are the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples of Alaska that encompass a diverse arena of cultural and linguistic groups, including the I ...

who was born in

Ruby Ruby is a pinkish-red-to-blood-red-colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum ( aluminium oxide). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapph ...

, deep in the

Alaska Interior Interior Alaska is the central region of Alaska's territory, roughly bounded by the Alaska Range to the south and the Brooks Range to the north. It is largely wilderness. Mountains include Denali in the Alaska Range, the Wrangell Mountains, and ...

. He became a hunter, fisher, and trapper, and grew up around

sled dog A sled dog is a dog trained and used to pull a land vehicle in Dog harness, harness, most commonly a Dog sled, sled over snow. Sled dogs have been used in the Arctic for at least 8,000 years and, along with watercraft, were the only transpor ...

s. Mushing was the primary means of transportation in the rural parts of the state, far from the road system that spans southern Alaska, but the advent of the

snowmobile A snowmobile, also known as a snowmachine (chiefly Alaskan), motor sled (chiefly Canadian), motor sledge, skimobile, snow scooter, or simply a sled is a motorized vehicle designed for winter travel and recreation on snow. Their engines normally ...

(known as snowmachines in Alaska) in the 1960s almost drove mushing into extinction.

Iditarod

Peters entered the Iditarod as a rookie in 1975, and won the race with a time of 14 days, 14 hours, 43 minutes, and 45 seconds. The two previous races in 1973 and 1974 were slower and more measured, and both were won in just over 20 days. The 1975 race was a close one, and he placed in the top 10 in the next five races. According to Peters, he earned the "Yukon Fox" nickname, "because I'd sneak away from all my competitors and have five or six teams chasing me" ( Rozell, 2003). Even with a weak team of

s, he regularly placed high in the standings. The race changed as corporate sponsors began to fund top competitors, who ran large

kennel A kennel is a structure or shelter for dogs. Used in the plural, ''the kennels'', the term means any building, collection of buildings or a property in which dogs are housed, maintained, and (though not in all cases) bred. A kennel can be made o ...

s and bred faster dogs. Peters gradually fell behind, and until he broke his

knee In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...

in a training accident in 1986 and stopped racing. He returned briefly in 1990 and 1991, but only placed 41st in the first year, and scratched in the second. Peters raced his final Iditarod in 2000, and finished in 12 days, 2 hours, and 42 minutes, which was his fastest time ever. He earned the Most Inspirational Musher Award, which is given based on a vote by the other finishers. Afterwards he said, "that's it. No one is going to talk me into anything else" ( Pemberton, 2000). Peters served as a

volunteer Volunteering is an elective and freely chosen act of an individual or group giving their time and labor, often for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency ...

checker at Ruby, which is an official checkpoint of the Iditarod on even-numbered years.

Alaska Native mushers

Peters had to sell his dogs to cover his debts after the races in the 1990s, and was only able to race his final race because two friends donated USD $10,000 each, and he leased a team from

Rick Swenson Rick Swenson, sometimes known as the "King of the Iditarod", (born 1950 in Willmar, Minnesota), is an American dog musher who was first to win the 1,049-mile (1688.2 km) Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race across the U.S. state of Alaska five times, a ...

. While Alaska Natives won the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Iditarods, and accounted for roughly a third of all the racers, by the 1980s the costs had become prohibitive and the native presence almost vanished from the race. Expenses faced by modern teams include lightweight gear including thousands of booties and quick-change runners, special high-energy

dog food Dog food is specifically formulated food intended for consumption by dogs and other related canines. Dogs are considered to be omnivores with a carnivorous bias. They have the sharp, pointed teeth and shorter gastrointestinal tracts of carn ...

veterinary Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in non-human animals. The scope of veterinary medicine is wide, covering all animal species, both ...

care, and

breeding Breeding is sexual reproduction that produces offspring, usually animals or plants. It can only occur between a male and a female animal or plant. Breeding may refer to: * Animal husbandry, through selected specimens such as dogs, horses, and rab ...

costs. According to Athabaskan musher Ken Chase, "the big expenses or rural Alaskansare the freight and having to buy dog food". ( Hutchinson) Most modern teams cost $10,000 to $40,000, and the top 10 spend between $80,000 and $100,000 a year. Sponsors are hard to solicit without access to roads, and for most purposes snowmobiles are more economical. A minor resurgence saw

Ramy Brooks Ramy "Ray" Brooks (born December 24, 1968"1996 Iditarod Mushers: B", para. 11. in Fairbanks, Alaska) is an Alaska Native kennel owner and operator, motivational speaker, and dog musher who specializes in long-distance races. He is a two-time run ...

and

John Baker John Baker or Jon Baker may refer to: Military figures *John Baker (American Revolutionary War) (1731–1787), American Revolutionary War hero, for whom Baker County, Georgia was named *John Baker (general) (1936–2007), Australian Chief of the ...

place 5th and 6th in the 2005 Iditarod. Ramy Brooks placed 2nd twice, and his second place finish after

Martin Buser Martin Buser (born March 29, 1958) is a champion of sled dog racing. Born in Winterthur, Switzerland, Buser began mushing at age seventeen in Switzerland. In 1979, he moved to Alaska to train and raise sled dogs full-time. His training operati ...

's record-setting run in 2002 is the second fastest time in the history of the Iditarod.

Iditarod awards

References

* ''Anchorage Daily News'' (February 12, 2002). Participation of Native mushers falls as the cost of being a competitive Iditarod racer rises. * — (February 24, 2005)
A 'fox' behind a dog sled
Retrieved March 18, 2005. * Kristan Hutchison

Retrieved March 18, 2005. * Mary Pemberton (March 19, 2000)
Peters runs his best Iditarod: 1975 winner cuts previous mark set 20 years ago
Retrieved March 18, 2005. * Ned Rozell (February 20, 2003)

University of Alaska Fairbanks. Retrieved March 18, 2005. {{DEFAULTSORT:Peters, Emmitt 1940 births 20th-century Alaska Native people 21st-century Alaska Native people American people of Dutch descent Dog mushers from Alaska Iditarod champions 2020 deaths Koyukon people Native American sportspeople People from Yukon–Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska