Visit a Dog Mushing Museum

The only Dog Mushing Museum in Fairbanks is in the same building asthe Fairbanks Community Museum, located in the historic City Hall at 410 Cushman Street. Containing the most comprehensive dog mushing exhibit in the world, the museum features a 15-panel exhibit of photo essay materials entitled The Driving Spirit: A Salute to Our Sled Dog Tradition. The museum has sleds used in the major races; Siberian skin clothing and state-of-the-art cold weather expedition gear; several harnesses showing the progression of style; trophies and other miscellaneous mushing memorabilia.

Other exhibits, which take up several rooms, give an interesting and exhaustive look at the history of dog mushing in Alaska. The displays take in everything from when gold miners used dogs to transport gold across the tundra, to the birth of the renowned Open North American sprint sled dog championship and the two longest-distance sled dog races in Alaska: the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. A theater features mushing videos. The Museum gift shop carries items relating to dog mushing. For more information, or to learn when and where to see a real sled dog race, go to http://www.fairbanks-alaska.com/fairbanks-museum.htm.