 |
|
Copyright ©2003 J. Jeffrey Bragg |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Copyright ©2003 J. Jeffrey Bragg |
|
|
|
|
TO PLACE THE KENNELS of Alec Belford and his son Charlie (Laconia, NH) accurately within the Seppala milieu is somewhat of a challenge. They made crucial contributions, yet they never founded a major bloodline of their own as Wheeler, Shearer, Frothingham or McFaul did. In a way the Belford operation can with justice be said to have been central to the development of Seppala strain, and in a way it was largely peripheral. The Belfords were certainly "in on the ground floor" -- the photo above of their dog yard in 1932 already shows some crucial animals. The Belfords had a very complex interaction with the Wheeler kennel, so Byzantine in its complexity that probably nobody but the Belfords has ever understood it accurately. The dogsledding career of Charles "Sonny" Belford lasted from the early 1930s well into the 1970s. Yet who ever heard of a "Belford bloodline"? From time to time in the history of Seppala sleddogs the Belford name surfaces, with a crucial interaction here, a strategic individual dog there. Yet many of the Belford dogs are unfamiliar names to all of us, and throughout the Belford history there have been "Alaskans" running right alongside the Siberians. What was an "Alaskan" in 1932, you well might ask, long before Keith Bryar and Roland Lombard started bringing Alaskan village dogs out of the interior into New England Sled Dog Club territory? I cannot answer that question -- one such animal is in the photo above, and Charlie Belford identifies him as an Alaskan.
SO
TO ATTEMPT to trace the course of Belford père et
fils in detail from 1929 through the 1970s is really
somewhat beyond the scope of the SSSD Project's website. But
we cannot fail to mention their crucial contributions to our
history, although the account may well sound a bit
disjointed. Perhaps the most accurate statement I could make
would be to say that a majority of the crucial Seppalas of
the 1930s passed through the Belford Kennels or raced in
Belford teams, though very few of them are known to us
through Belford breeding.
The unregistered Poland Spring
male NUTOK (by OLAF ex NAN), for example, was purchased by
Alec Belford, but he is familiar to us today as the sire of
PEARL sold by Mrs. Ricker to Harry R. Wheeler; NUTOK
obviously sired PEARL before he was sold to Alec Belford.
NUTOK was bred at Belfords' kennel to the Poland Spring
bitch MONA (by SMOKY ex DUSHKA), but just one pup survived
and was never registered. NUTOK then passed on to other
hands.
The best-known and most
crucial Belford Seppala is undoubtedly NANNA. Belfords bred
BELFORD'S WOLF (another Poland Spring dog by SMOKY ex TOSCA)
to MONA in 1932, producing the white bitch NANNA, considered
by Dr. Charles Belford as one of the finest Siberians he
ever saw, as well as the white male NANKI who was Charlie's
first leader. NANNA was sold by Alec to Wheeler, much to the
distress of young Charlie. However, the sale of NANNA
triggered an intense relationship with the Wheeler kennel
that brought many fine Wheeler dogs into the Belford teams.
The Siberia import brothers TSERKO and KREE VANKA raced on
Alec Belford's team in 1935, for example.
SO
MANY OTHER well-known dogs raced on the Belford teams that
it becomes bewildering. SAPSUK and UGRUK OF SEPPALA. VANKA
OF SEPPALA II ("Cossack"); FRITZ OF SEPPALA; MATTE and
BIJOU. BIJOU was bred to MONA, producing four fine pups that
raced on Charlie's team but were never registered, and were
sold when he went to college. KEGSTED passed through; so did
TONY OF FOXSTAND, and even the remarkable bitch SIGRID III
OF FOXSTAND, sold to Bill Shearer for a sum that financed
one year of vet college for Charlie! Charlie raced in the
World Championship at Laconia, NH, in 1936 and 1937, running
the first-string Belford team, before he went off to
college. Most of the dogs were sold during that hiatus.
Charlie graduated in 1943 from
Middlesex University (now known as Brandeis) veterinary
school, the same year in which he married his wife Barbara.
But the war years produced a general suspension of sleddog
activities, and the new Dr. Belford had in any event to
establish himself in veterinary practice.
Following the war, he
commenced getting a team together, making the rounds of
racing kennels assembling a group of other people's
second-string dogs. TESLIN, a Siberian, and MOLLY (1/4
Malamute) came from Doc Lombard; a couple of US Army Search
and Rescue veterans from Jack Frost. The bonanza proved to
be three Seppalas from Bill Shearer, MINKA, MAJIC and ZOAR,
all out of N'YA N'YA OF SEPPALA; their sire was uncertain
but could well have been POLARIS OF SAPAWE. Charlie says
that MINKA was the best dog on that team and the finest
Siberian he had ever driven.
