In the hay days of the Chisana Gold Rush, men walked into Chisana carrying big and heavy packs on their backs.

Dog teams were used and the mushers traded goods for the labors of their teams and themselves. This was the way of life.

Horses were used extensively to carry great packs and heavy loads of supplies for the mining fields as well as riding and to pull wagons and sleds in the winter.

These, the dog teams, the horses, riding and packing, these were the life line of the Chisana Gold Strike.

I really do not know and never did hear about how many horses wintered here in the Chisana Valley, but I do remember seeing many small fenced in areas, maybe 12’ x 12’ or 16’ x 16,’ on the islands out in the middle of the Chisana River as well as on the East side of the river, back in the open grassy areas.

When I asked Bud Hickethier (my step-Dad) and Ivan Thorall what those little fenced in areas were for, I was told to keep grass in for the horses. We never used those penned in grass areas, we had no need in those days.

It seemed, that the old prospectors would cut the wild grasses with sickles and scythes and stack it up, inside the fenced in areas to have hay to supplement the horses if it was needed, I was told.

I do know, that when I first came to Chisana, in 1960, one of my jobs was to grind by hand, using an old coffee grinder, the whole barley and oats we fed our horses here in Chisana. I still have that old grinder.

If needed, we would supplement our horse’s diet of the natural grasses like pee-vine, willows and a few other things I see the horses eat but do not know what they are.

Our horses, back then, seemed to do fine for the most part. Once in awhile, there would be one or two that needed supplemented. Sure, there were always some horses that always seemed to get a little thinner than some of the others over the course of the winter months.

We never fed them hay. No one I knew of ever fed their horses hay. Larry Folger, Ray McNutt, Doug Vaden, Urban Rahoi or Lee Hancock. Our horses did fine on the range in those days without us feeding them for the most part, with only a few of them needing the supplement grains.

So what has changed?

Weather has changed. Especially the last three years. I am sure there is a lot of evidence to substantiate this and not only my own observations that I am sharing with you.

The weather patterns all over the United States, the entire world, has seen some dramatic weather shifts in patterns. This is not only in Chisana.

You must know, that bad winters compromise the survival conditioning of all the free range ungulates, the moose, Caribou, Dall sheep, deer, goats and horses as well, begins not in the wintertime, but the spring and summer of that or any year.

However, I know on this side of the Nabesna River (For those that do not know where this side of the Nabesna River is, it is South Southeast, Chisana, Horsefelt, White River, Ptarmigan Lake.)

I have fed my horses tons of hay. Tons and tons and tons of hay. Much more hay than anyone else in this entire, Chisana- White River- Nabesna River- Ptarmigan Lake- Horsefelt Lake, COMBINED.

Now, this may sound to you, a contradiction to what I have said or a conflict of information, but it is not.

This, as I am telling it to you, is the ABSOLUTE TRUTH, the way it was and still is.

We used to raise horses, here in Chisana, from time to time. In 1961 Bud Hickethier, myself, Gillam Joe went down to Fort Saint John, where Bud had a guiding area on Touchody Lakes, BC. Bud’s family lived there and Bud having been an Outfitter knew a lot of Outfitters, native people from around that area.

Bud, Gillam and myself stayed with Bud’s family on the ranch while we gathered up 17 head of good mountain horses, including a young and testy little stud, and allow me to STRESS, Bud knew horses.

At this time, we were also working on firing up an old Dodge truck so that we could haul the horses up to Beaver Creek in the Yukon, and ride the horses into Chisana from there.

We finally rounded up the horses and Bud thought they were good horses including that young, well built stud, loaded the trucks up and headed for Alaska.

At that time, the “Alcan” was not paved and it was 1,200 miles of muddy roads at 35mph, that was as fast as we could or dared to go. We would stop every night, unload the horses, walk them around and let them feed and graze as well as feed them some of the couple hundred pounds of grain.

It was a long, long trip. Gillam Joe rode with me in a very old 2.5 ton Dodge truck. We carried 10 horses and Bud carried 7 in a 1.5 ton International. Hunting Season was just around the corner.

Bud left Gillam and I in Beaver Creek with the horses and headed back into Chisana to meet the hunters coming in to hunt with us.

Gillam Joe and I rode and trailed all 17 head of those horses into Chisana in three days. Gillam and I had a saddle each but no pack saddle at all. We tailed the horses to each other and started off. Gillam and I each had a small burlap bag twisted to our saddle horns with some trail grub my Mother, Elizabeth Hickethier packed for us at the little store in Beaver Creek, a Trading Post and Store. (The store is no longer there.) We didn’t even have sleeping bags and for sure no tents.

That was the way of things in those days.

The little stud was a real pain in the butt, however we did have great plans for him. He sired many horses and his blood lines are still in some of my horses to this day.

So, I guess the point at least kind of, of this long story was to show the history of OUR horses in Chisana area (including and encompassing the White River, Horsefelt, Ptarmigan Lake, as well as Nabesna).

Sheila Vaden, at the White river, raises colts and has had studs, and ranges them on open range, just like the old timers, the gold prospectors and the pioneers of the Chisana Gold Mining days did.

We here at Pioneer Outfitters, have raised colts that have turned into great range horses, for years, on and off since 1960, that I know of.

The locally born and raised horses do excellent in this country, just as well as the moose, caribou and sheep. However, bad winters are hard on large ungulates. All of them.