Editing Mushing (section)

==History==
[[File:Alaska musher in 1909.jpg|upright|thumb|An [[Alaska]]n musher in 1909]]
The practice of using dogs to pull sleds dates back to at least 6000 BC. Remnants of sleds and harnesses has been found with canine remains in Siberia which carbon-dated to 7800–8000 years ago.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Pitul'ko|first1=Vladimir V.|last2=Kasparov|first2=Aleksey K.|date=1996|title=Ancient Arctic Hunters: Material Culture and Survival Strategy|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40316394|journal=Arctic Anthropology|volume=33|issue=1|pages=1–36|jstor=40316394 |issn=0066-6939}}</ref> Native American cultures also used dogs to pull loads.{{cn|date=May 2025}}

For the better part of the 1600s, the [[Iroquois]] and French clashed in a series of attacks and reprisals.<ref>Douglas Hunter, ''God's Mercies: Rivalry, Betrayal and the Dream of Discovery'', Random House of Canada Limited, 2000, pp. 240–242</ref> For this reason, [[Samuel de Champlain]] arranged to have young French men live with the natives, to learn their language and customs and help the French adapt to life in North America. These men, known as {{Lang|fr|coureurs des bois}} (runners of the woods), were the first European mushers in North America, extended French influence south and west and in 1609, New France controlled all the Canadian Shield. In 1680, the [[intendant of New France]], [[Jacques Duchesneau de la Doussinière et d'Ambault]], estimated that there was not one family in New France who did not have a "son, brother, uncle or nephew" among the {{Lang|fr|[[coureurs des bois]]}}.<ref>"The Coureur de Bois." The Chronicles of America. Accessed February 11, 2012 <http://www.chroniclesofamerica.com/french/coureur_de_bois.htm></ref> During the winter, sled became the ordinary transportation in the north of New France.<ref>''[https://books.google.com/books?id=fsxDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PT592 Dictionnaire Universel De Commerce: Contenant Tout Ce Qui Concerne Le Commerce Qui Se Fait Dans Les Quatre Parties Du Monde ... L'Explication De Tous Les Termes, Qui Ont Rapport Au Negoce, Les Monnoyes De Compte .... A - E]'' by Jacques Savary des Bruslons, Philémon-Louis Savary, 1723 - "C'est avec ces canots, qui sont construits d'écorces de bouleau que se fait tout le Commerce du grand fleuve & des lacs, pendant l'été. En hyver, on se sert de traîneaux tirez par des chevaux ou par des chiens; & c'est la voiture ordinaire pour aller de Quebec à Mont-real pendant cette saison, lorsque la riviere de S. Laurent est glacée." Translation in English : "It is with canoes, which are built of birch bark that is done all the trade of the great river and lakes during the summer. During winter, we use sleds pulled by horses or dogs, it is the ordinary car to go from Quebec to Montreal when the river St. Lawrence is frozen."</ref>

In 1760, the British Army completed the [[conquest of Canada]] and gained control of the Canadian Shield. Many {{Lang|fr|coureurs des bois}} accepted British rule and continued to use the [[sled dog]]. The French term {{lang|fr|Marche!}} became ''Mush!'' in English.

During the [[Klondike Gold Rush]], many prospectors came in the Yukon with sled dogs. This "Last Great Gold Rush" has been immortalized by American author [[Jack London]] in ''[[The Call of the Wild]]''. Sled-dog became the common mode of transportation in [[Yukon]] and in the new US [[Territory of Alaska]].

In 1911, Norwegian explorer [[Roald Amundsen]] used sled dogs in a race to become the first person to reach the South Pole. He succeeded, while his competitor [[Robert Falcon Scott]], who had instead used Siberian ponies, died.<ref>{{cite web|title=Roald Amundsen|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/ice/peopleevents/pandeAMEX87.html|publisher=[[PBS Online]]|access-date=2012-10-21}}</ref>

By the time of the First World War, mushing had spread to European countries such as [[Norway]], where dog sleds were used for nature tours, as ambulances in the woodlands and mountains, and to bring supplies to soldiers in the field.<ref name="International Nordic">{{cite web|last=Myhre|first=Knut|title=Nordic Dogsledding in Scandinavia|url=http://sleddogsport.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17&Itemid=30|publisher=International Federation of Sleddog Sports, Inc.|access-date=2012-10-21}}</ref>

During the [[1925 serum run to Nome]], 20 mushers and about 150 sled dogs relayed [[diphtheria]] [[antitoxin]] {{convert|674|mi|km}} by dog sled across the U.S. territory of Alaska in five and a half days, saving the small city of [[Nome, Alaska|Nome]] and the surrounding communities from an incipient [[epidemic]].

=== Etymology ===
France was the first European power established in the [[Canadian Shield]]; accordingly, the {{Lang|fr|coureurs des bois}} and the [[voyageurs]] of [[New France]] used the French word {{lang|fr|marche!}}, meaning "walk" or "move", to command to the team to commence pulling. {{lang|fr|Marche!}} became "mush!" for [[English Canadian]]s.<ref>''Discovering Denali: A Complete Reference Guide to Denali National Park and Mount McKinley, Alaska'' - Dow Scoggins - iUniverse - 2004 - {{ISBN|0595750583}}, 9780595750580 - p. 137 - ''Mush : This term is a misuse of the French word "marche" ("to go"). Dog mushers heard the French Canadian trappers using the word marche to make their dogs run. They interpreted it as "mush".''</ref> "Mush!" is rarely used in modern parlance.{{cn|date=November 2019}}