That's Just the Way It Was

Elder
Lloyd Charlie

Interviews & Video Transcription
Teacher: Mickey Kenny
Kanye J, Grade 6
Roland S, Grade 6
Clayton W, Grade 8
Mercedes F, Grade 9
Aiden W, Grade 10
Kaiyuh J, Grade 10

Narration
Chad R, Grade 8
Robbie D, Grade 8
Kanye J, Grade 6
Mercedes F, Grade 9

Page Illustrations
Teacher: Peggy Bruno
Instructional Aide: Lynnessa Baker

Page Illustrations (continued)
Tayla B, Grade 2
Brielle B, Grade 3
Reese G, Grade 4
Jonathan D, Grade 5
Maddison F, Grade 5
Andrew D, Grade 7
Robbie D, Grade 8
Clayton W, Grade 8

Thanks To
Principal Vicky Charlie and Superintendent Kerry Boyd for their leadership in making the Minto Book Slam possible.

Book Slam Project Management
Steve Nelson, Project Coordinator, Consortium for Digital Learning, Association of Alaska School Boards
Cheryl Bobo, Site Facilitator

© 2019 Yukon-Koyukuk School District

Moving Minto

After annual patterns of erosion and flooding, the people of Old Minto decided to relocate the village in 1969. There were a few sites being considered, all offering different environments and conditions. The selected site, our current home, is well protected from river erosion atop a bluff at the edge of Minto Flats.

The relocation didn't change lifestyles in major ways, but it did make things a little harder for running dogs. Old Minto had easier access to fattier fish and more protected woods for running dogs out of the winds coming across the flats.

Read by
Kanye

Dogs were for work. They used the dogs for hauling wood and trapping. They also used them to travel. Once they had to take someone to a medivac in Nenana. It was -50 degrees. Lloyd said, “Dogs took care of us.”
That’s just the way it was.

Read by
Mercedes

Later, dogs were trained for racing. You either chose to train your dogs for sprint races or for mid-distance races. The mid-distance races were the Cantwell 110, The Gold Miners 140 in Nenana, Backwoods 70 in Nenana, and Lloyd’s favorite was the Tour de Minto each year. You had to choose what kind of team you wanted to race. Sometimes the kind of dogs a person had determined what races they would do. That’s just the way it was.

Lloyd explains what was used for dog bedding.

Read by
Mercedes

Trap dogs had to be trained to run faster and longer without stopping.
Lloyd ran Huskies for mid-distance racing on his team. They were not very good for sprinting. Later, many racers started to run hounds on their teams because they were faster. They get colder so you have to feed more and provide them with grass bedding, which you gather out in the flats. That’s just the way it was.

Read by
Chad

There was no store bought dog food in the early days of Old Minto. Most people fed their scraps to dogs. Lloyd said, “I had a friend and I gave him some dogs and he fed them moose, sheep, and caribou. They grew to be as big as wolves.” The meat was not cooked, they just give it to them raw. They grew big and strong. That’s just the way it was.

Read by
Clayton

Moose were often on the dog trails. One Thanksgiving, Lloyd was heading down the trail and ran into a moose. That moose kicked up about three of the dogs. He had to shoot the moose and it fell into the sled. Some days, a Thanksgiving moose would just fall into your sled. That’s just the way it was.

Lloyd recalls chasing horses into Rampart with his dog team.

Read by
Chad

Strange things happen on the trail. There is a story about a herd of horses being chased into Rampart by a man on a dog team. Lloyd Charlie says he was mushing his dogs and came upon farm animals. The horses were startled by the dogs’ barking and the horses started running up the trail. A goat jumped off the trail into deep snow with only his head sticking out. The dogs chased the horses and finally the horses were out of sight. Lloyd said, “Those darn horses were waiting at the end of the airstrip for me”. The dog team chased the horses through Rampart. They still tease Lloyd about that. That’s just the way it was.