Making a dog sled

November is Native American Heritage Month, a time for acknowledging and celebrating the rich ancestry and continuing contributions of Alaska Native and other Indigenous peoples. In this clip, men demonstrate the techniques of cutting, steaming, bending, and binding wood to create a dog sled, circa 1955. The film was shot in the area of Unalakleet in western Alaska on the Norton Sound of the Bering Sea. Unalakleet has long been a major trade center between the Athabascan people of Interior Alaska and coastal Iñupiat (Color/Silent/16mm film). This sequence is an excerpt from AAF-1136 from the Machetanz Collection held by the Alaska Film Archives, a unit of the Alaska & Polar Regions Department in the Elmer E. Rasmuson Library, University of Alaska Fairbanks. For more information please contact the Alaska Film Archives. The Alaska Film Archives appreciates your support. Your donation in any amount will help us continue important preservation work. Please visit the “About” section of our YouTube channel to learn how you can help today. Thank you! For more information please contact the Alaska Film Archives.