Chinook's Legacy - From Mutt to the New Hampshire State Dog

Part 4 of this series:

These signs and plaques are all located on Route 113A "The Chinook Trail" in Wonalancet, New Hampshire. 

ADMIRAL BYRD MEMORIAL

TO

ALL NOBLE DOGS

WHOSE LIVES WERE GIVEN ON DOG TREKS

DURING THE TWO EXPEDITIONS TO

LITTLE AMERICA ANTARCTICA

TO FURTHER SCIENCE AND DISCOVERY

1928 - 1930           1933-1935

DEDICATED OCTOBER 8, 1998

CHINOOK KENNELS

Purchased and moved to this site in 1930 by

Milton and Eva B. "Short" Seeley, these kennels

produced sled dogs for exploration, racing, and

showing.  For almost 50 years Chinook kennels

exerted a profound influence upon the Alaskan

Malamute and Siberian Husky breeds, and many

champions were born here.  With Milton directing,

dog teams were sent on to the Byrd Antarctic 

Expeditions and to the Army's Search and Rescue

units.  After his death in 1943, Eva continued

alone.  An author, sled dog racer, and dynamic

contributor to the sport of dogsledding, "Short"

was named to the Musher's Hall of Fame in Alaska.

Mrs. Seeley died in 1985 at age 94.

The Evening Star, Washington D. C,
9 June 1930, page 12

"BYRD DOGS' LEADER

HONORED BY STATE

--------------

New Hampshire Dedicates Road as

"Chinook Trail" as a Tribute

to Four-Footed Hero

-----------------

Special Dispatch to the Star and to the

New York Times.

TAMWORTH, N.H., June 9. -  While

medals are being struck for Admiral

Byrd and the men of his Antarctic

expedition, now rolling homeward on 

their two ships off the coast of their 

own country, an enduring honor has

been paid to one who is not coming

back, a four-footed hero of the great

adventure who died alone out on the 

desolate ice barrier.                            

     "Chinook Trail" is the name given

by the Governor of New Hampshire and

his council to the new stretch of road

leading from Tamworth to Wonalancet,

past the homestead of Arthur T.

Walden, veteran of the Yukon, who was

Admiral Byrd's chief dog driver.  It

commemorates the loyalty of a dog to

man, the faithful service of the noble

Chinook, the leader of the teams that

hauled the burdens over the pressure

ridges and round the crevasses, and

made possible the flight over the South

Pole.                                                

     Already a mile and a half of the 

$10,000 six mile highway has been

graded, and it will be ready for the 

Midsummer traffic of motorists making

the pilgrimage to the Walden farm to

see the veteran dogs of the Antarctic

and the fast-growing puppies who were

born at Little America on the edge of

the Ross Sea."                                      

The Walden farmstead still stands on Route 113A, the "Chinook Trail" in Wonalancet (Tamworth), New Hampshire.  

The original Chinook kennels were established by Arthur Treadwell Walden, who raised the original dog named Chinook, and bred the puppies that led to the dog breed of the same name.  After his Antarctic expedition of 1929 - 1930, Walden lost interest in breeding, and his kennel managers Ava and Milton Seeley became breeders of sled dogs and bought out the kennels.  They did not work on the Chinook breed, but on Alaskan Malamutes and Siberian Huskies. Julia Lombard took over the breeding of the Chinooks at Hubbard Kennels, and she also lived in this neighborhood of Wonalancet.  Julia worked with Perry Greene, who became a Chinook breeder, too. 

Katherine Sleeper Walden, Arthur's wife, maintained the farmhouse in Wonalancet as a summer home. In 1948 there was a tragic fire at the homestead, and Arthur died trying to put out the fire.  Katherine and Arthur are buried next to the Wonalancet Union Chapel, next door to their homestead.  

In 2009 the New Hampshire House of Representatives voted on Senate Bill 13 to designate the Chinook the official state dog of New Hampshire.  Governor John Lynch signed the bill at the Lurgio Middle School in Bedford, New Hampshire.  The seventh graders at the Lurgio School Spearheded the campaign to put the Chinook bill before the statehouse.  The Guiness Book of World Records lists the Chinnok as the rarest dog, with less than 100 puppies born each year.  All Chinooks descend from the famous "Chinook" who accompanied Walden and Byrd to the South Pole in 1929 - 1930, who descended from a Mastiff, and a Greenland Husky descended from "Polaris", Admiral Peary's lead dog on his expedition to the North Pole. 

For the truly curious:

Chinook and His Family: True Dog Stories, by Martha A. L. Seeley and Eva Brunell Lane, Boston: Ginn and Company, 1930

The Tamworth Narrative, by Marjory Gane Harkness, Silver Mountain Press, 1958 (this book is available from "The Other Store" in Tamworth, New Hampshire  603-323-8872)

For another famous Chinook dog, see the story of "Charger", who was a Vietnam War hero:  http://www.intervalechinooks.net/Charger.html

Watch the New Hampshire State House vote on making the Chinook the New Hampshire State Dog:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTVHBnwC-ao 

A 1940 newsreel "Chinook's Children"  (about ten minutes long):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFnDas6-9_I


My previous blog posts in this series:

Part 1 "Who was Chinook?":
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2020/05/who-was-chinook.html

Part 2 "Chinook's Operation":
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2020/05/chinooks-operation.html  

Part 3  "Chinook's Final Great Adventure at the South Pole"
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2020/05/chinooks-final-great-adventure-at-south.html   


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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Chinook's Legacy - From Mutt to the New Hampshire State Dog", Nutfield Genealogy, posted June 4, 2020, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2020/06/chinooks-legacy-from-mutt-to-new.html: accessed [access date]).