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Copyright ©2003 J. Jeffrey Bragg |
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Copyright ©2003 J. Jeffrey Bragg |
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COLD RIVER KENNELS had a history that is somewhat difficult to characterise. Like Wheeler, Belfords, Shearer, Mosely and Lorna Taylor and Seeley, Marie Frothingham and her daughter got their start in the sleddog mania that seemed to seize New England circa 1930. Like Foxstand, Cold River had a thriving quarter-century existence as a pure-Seppala kennel, part of the strong main trunk of Seppala sleddog tradition. Yet it concluded by being assimilated into the mainstream show-dog Siberian Husky culture, its bloodline forever lost to Seppala strain.
The
Duchess and her daughter lived in Beverly Farms, MA;
however, the kennel name comes from the river that ran
behind their property in North Sandwich, NH and the kennel
photo above identifies that location on its back side. THE
MID-1930S saw the acquisition of a major body of Wheeler
stock; this must have been expensive, because some top-notch
stock was involved. The centrepiece was SAPSUK OF SEPPALA, a
leader who had raced the 1934 and 1935 seasons on the Alec
Belford team and was the son of TSERKO the Siberia import. A
son of KREE VANKA the other import was also obtained, VANKA
OF SEPPALA II, called "Cossack," who became another prized
Cold River leader.
Mrs. Marie Lee Frothingham
bought her first Siberian from the Oliver Shattuck kennel in
Alton, NH, a sable male named DOCTOR DAWSON (by Yukon ex
Riga) who became the first Cold River leader. The photos and
clippings all show a tall, forceful-looking eccentric woman
very much in the tradition of the eastern US aristocracy of
"old money" -- no wonder everyone called her "The Duchess"!
Photos and clippings of her daughter Marie Turner portray a
tight-lipped, unhappy-looking girl, perhaps driven by her
mother's strong-willed personality. The sleddogs putatively
belonged to "Millie" Turner, or so the transfers of
ownership pertaining to the Wheeler dogs state: Cold River
acquired a substantial body of stock from the St. Jovite
kennel early in the game. Millie Turner raced the Cold River
second string team; the first-string was driven by a hired
professional driver.
But the
Shattuck stock (derived from Judge Julien Hurley's Northern
Light Kennel in Fairbanks, AK) was the real beginning of
Cold River. WOLFE DAWSON, a son of Shattuck's CH. NORTHERN
LIGHT KOBUCK, was purchased. Another of the many famous Cold
River lead dogs was Rollinsford Nina of Marilyn, a
granddaughter of KOBUCK. This early leader occurs in Seppala
pedigrees today through BAYOU
OF FOXSTAND,
bred by Joe Booth from Cold River dogs. (BAYOU has more
history in her pedigree than any other dog I can think of!
The linked page discusses this interesting dog.)
(Mrs. Marie Lee Frothingham)
Click here for press clipping of Millie and Cossack!
