Photograph of Nome, Alaska from Baldy of Nome
Photo of Scotty Allan from Baldy of Nome

Esther Birdsall Darling was an American author and poet; she also opened and ran a sled dog kennel in Alaska.

She studied at Mills College and traveled in Europe in her youth. After her marriage in 1907 she moved to Nome, Alaska, where her husband ran a hardware and expedition outfitting business.[1]

Darling and Scotty Allan established a sled dog kennel in Nome and organized the first long distance dogsled race. Descendants of Baldy, and other dogs from the Darling-Allen Kennel, were purchased by the French military in World War I and transported to Europe where they worked pulling vehicles and carrying messages and cargo. In 1917, the dogs were awarded a military medal, and Darling received it on their behalf.[2][1]

Her books include Baldy of Nome, about a champion sled dog, and a series of followups.[2] She also wrote a poem about Alaska's state flower, the forget-me-not.[3]

In 2009, at the Mushing History Conference, a presentation on Darling was given by Jane Haigh.[4] The Anchorage Museum of History and Art has a picture of her with three sled dogs.[5]

Bibliography

  • Up in Alaska (1912)
  • Baldy of Nome: An Immortal of the Trail (1913)
  • Navarre of the North (1930)
  • No Boundary Line (1942)

References

  1. 1 2 McDonald-Loomis, Art Sommers, John Knox, and April (October 13, 2015). Early Auburn. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 9781467132763 – via Google Books.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. 1 2 "Esther Birdsall Darling" (PDF). placercountyhistoricalsociety.org. Retrieved 2021-04-16.
  3. ↑ "Forget-me-not". Alaska.org.
  4. ↑ "Esther Birdsall Darling". 2010 Mushing History Conference.
  5. ↑ "Memoirs of Scotty Allan, includes historical photographs" (PDF). anchoragemuseum.org. August 5, 1994. Retrieved 2021-04-16.
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