Dog sledding has been used for hundreds of years as a method of transportation into the arctic places of the world. Dogs and sleds were used to pull cargo such as medicine, mail and food through areas that could not be traveled by people. Around the mid 1800s, dog sled racing became popular in arctic areas. According to the International Federation of Sledding, the first written account of a race was an informal challenge between travelers on the route from Winnipeg to St. Paul in the 1850s. In the 1950s to 1960s, dog sledding declined significantly with new means of transportation, such as snowmobiling.
The famous John Beargrease race, which was first just a beaten path from Duluth, Minnesota to Thunder Bay, Ontario in the 1800s, soon became very famous. For almost twenty years, between 1879 and 1899, John Beargrease and his brothers delivered the mail between Two Harbors and Grand Marais. The Beargrease brothers used many means of transportation, but their most famous was dogsledding. 1899 would be the last year John Beargrease delivered the mail. The Lake Shore Trail that he had traveled for twenty years became an actual road, one that could be traveled with horse and buggy. The John Beargrease race event started in the late 1970s, and is still going on today.
The famous John Beargrease race, which was first just a beaten path from Duluth, Minnesota to Thunder Bay, Ontario in the 1800s, soon became very famous. For almost twenty years, between 1879 and 1899, John Beargrease and his brothers delivered the mail between Two Harbors and Grand Marais. The Beargrease brothers used many means of transportation, but their most famous was dogsledding. 1899 would be the last year John Beargrease delivered the mail. The Lake Shore Trail that he had traveled for twenty years became an actual road, one that could be traveled with horse and buggy. The John Beargrease race event started in the late 1970s, and is still going on today.
