Back in the day when vehicles were rarely seen in the village of Kalskag the Yupik/Eskimos used dog teams for work, hauling supplies, and getting wood. It isn’t easy owning a group of dogs. It is a lot of responsibility, everyday hunting and fishing for the dogs. When summer time comes, people go drifting with a set net for dog salmon. Make you’re sled for the dogs with good slide runners. Training might be a problem, if not experienced.

    The people of Kalskag think about work first, and then play. Work or starve, that’s how it was. No free nothing, you have to work for what you want. Winter Time is the only time they use their dogs for work and traveling to different villages. So they could trade in some fur for supplies or sell fur for money in their pockets. They did a lot of trapping back in the day. They used their dog team to get to their traps or to set traps. Getting wood was an every day thing in winter if they didn’t have enough. They didn’t have a chainsaw; they used hand held saws to saw their wood. Summer time comes and they go drifting on the river with a set net for all kinds of salmons, dogs, kings and silvers. They’d go hooking for white fish also, making sure that they have enough for the winter. Training dogs for some natives took awhile for the dogs to know the words to stop go, left and right, but eventually they’d learn the trail.

    So transportation is very important back in the day, because it help us, the Yupik /Eskimos get around the Yukon/Kuskokwim area. By hauling wood, getting supplies from different villages. Getting work done around the village. Travel to there trap line. It’s a lot of work, but being a hard worker can do it.