Musher from Alaska delivered at Big Creek

Published online on Sunday, Sep. 27, 2009

Question: On Kaiser Pass Road, there's a memorial plaque to Jerry Dwyer and his dog team. Who was he?

-- Leslie Downing, Fresno

Answer: Southern California Edison Co. looked to Alaska for help. There they found Jeremiah "Jerry" Dwyer, a seasoned musher and his 7-dog sled team. He was a quiet man who rarely talked about himself, but always had plenty to say about his dogs. His favorite, "Babe," the powerful lead dog, was three-quarters wolf. "Patsy" was part Alaskan Malamute and Gordon Setter, "Dooley," a cross between Malamute and Shepherd, and "Riley," half wolf and half St. Bernard. The last three, "Barney," "Whiskey" and "Trim," were part Staghound and Airedale.

Dwyer was a musher from Alaska who delivered mail, library books, medicine and emergency supplies from Huntington Lake to 500 men working on Edison's Big Creek project during the winter for several years starting in 1920.

The sign on the Kaiser Pass summit reads, "Whiskey, Babe and Trim of Jerry Dwyer's Dog Team, 1920-1925."

Babe, the powerful leader of the seven-dog team, died in Dwyer's arms in September 1922 and Dwyer buried the dog at the summit. Whiskey and Trim also are buried there.

In a Jan. 3, 1922, Fresno Bee story, Dwyer talked about the harsh winter weather: "We might as well have been in Alaska as in California, so far as drifts and storms were concerned."

But Dwyer still made daily deliveries, only missing one day that winter because of a violent storm.

After the Big Creek project was completed, Dwyer left Huntington Lake without telling anyone where he was going.

Dwyer sent friends a few postcards over the next few years, but never with a return address. The last card was sent from Seattle in 1931.

Q: I submitted the name "Dyer Straits" in the Fresno Police Department mounted unit's contest to name their new horse at the Fresno Fair last year. What was the winning name?

-- Melanie Wood, Fresno

A: The horse was named Chief, police spokesman Jeff Cardinale said.

Fresno Fair spokeswoman Danielle LeBouef said the name was submitted by 10 people and was one of three possibilities -- along with Fair-play and Catchem -- considered by a panel of four judges, which included representatives of the mounted patrol.

The judges selected the name after the fair ended. LeBouef said the 10 people who submitted the winning name will receive four admission tickets and a parking pass for this year's fair, Oct. 7-18.

Chief replaces Stagecoach, who was put down in March 2008 after he developed colic. Chief will be on duty at the fair, LeBouef said.

Q: When did the Bigfoot Drive-In in Oakhurst close, and what became of the Bigfoot relics on display?

-- Dirk Teichman, Fresno

A: Dick Poitras of Oakhurst said he tore down the Bigfoot Drive-In in the late 1970s and used wood he salvaged to build a gazebo at his house.

Poitras also has two 14 1/2-inch plaster molds of large bare feet. Other memorabilia from the cafe was thrown away years ago, he said.

The Bigfoot Drive-In was an Oakhurst landmark and favorite burger stop. The cafe had a wall of coffee cups painted with the names of customers who used their own cups for coffee service.

Dorothy Evans, 94, of Dinuba, said the Bigfoot Drive-In had been in operation for several years when she and her late husband, Wilbur, bought the cafe in 1964. They sold the Bigfoot in 1973.

Someone created the alleged Bigfoot footprint casts displayed at the cafe, said Evans, who was always skeptical about the legend of the large, hairy humanoid creature said to inhabit Western forests.

"I never believed it, but my husband really did," Evans said.