Charlie Biederman (November 11, 1918February 22, 1995) was a

musher Mushing is a sport or transport method powered by dogs. It includes carting, pulka, dog scootering, sled dog racing, skijoring, freighting, and weight pulling. More specifically, it implies the use of one or more dogs to pull a sled, most commonly ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

best known for being the last surviving

dog sled A dog sled or dog sleigh is a sled pulled by one or more sled dogs used to travel over ice and through snow. Numerous types of sleds are used, depending on their function. They can be used for dog sled racing. Traditionally in Greenland and the e ...

mail The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letter (message), letters, and parcel (package), parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid ...

carrier in the United States.Balzar, p. 170 Charlie was born in Alaska as the son of Ed Biederman, a musher born in

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

who immigrated to the United States in 1874 and also delivered the mail via dog sled. The date of Charlie's birth is unclear, but contemporary U.S. Censuses indicate it likely was around 1919. Charlie had four siblings. Charlie was raised in

Eagle, Alaska Eagle ( in Hän Athabascan) is a city on the south bank of the Yukon River near the Canada–US border in the Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, Alaska, United States. It includes the Eagle Historic District, a U.S. National Historic Landmark. The ...

, but lived in an isolated cabin on the

Yukon River The Yukon River (Gwichʼin language, Gwich'in: ''Ųųg Han'' or ''Yuk Han'', Central Alaskan Yup'ik language, Yup'ik: ''Kuigpak'', Inupiaq language, Inupiaq: ''Kuukpak'', Deg Xinag language, Deg Xinag: ''Yeqin'', Hän language, Hän: ''Tth'echù' ...

for most of his life. From an early age, he assisted his father and brother in their winter deliveries of the mail to isolated cabins in central Alaska. In winter, the family lived in Eagle and ran the mail route between that town and

Circle A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is const ...

, another small settlement approximately downriver. In the summer, the family lived at their Yukon River cabin, harvesting fish for

subsistence A subsistence economy is an economy directed to basic subsistence (the provision of food, clothing, shelter) rather than to the market. Henceforth, "subsistence" is understood as supporting oneself at a minimum level. Often, the subsistence econo ...

and boarding the dogs of fellow mushers. In 1938, the family were underbid for the main contract for mail delivery in the area by a

bush pilot Bush flying refers to aircraft operations carried out in the bush. Bush flying involves operations in rough terrain where there are often no prepared landing strips or runways, frequently necessitating that bush planes be equipped with abnormally ...

. Ed Biederman retired shortly afterward and died in 1945. The final dog sled mail route was replaced in 1963. That final route was from

Gambell Gambell ( ess, Sivuqaq, russian: Гамбелл) is a City (Alaska), city in the Nome Census Area, Alaska, Nome Census Area of the U.S. state of Alaska. Located on St. Lawrence Island, it had a population of 640 at the 2020 United States Ce ...

to Savoonga and was run by Chester Noongwook. In January 1995, he donated the mail-delivery sled he used to the

National Postal Museum The National Postal Museum, located opposite Union Station in Washington, D.C., United States, covers large portions of the Postal history of the United States and other countries. It was established through joint agreement between the United S ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, where it hangs today.National Postal Museum
"Alaskan dog sled"
Arago.si.edu. March 20, 2006. In February, 1995, He served as the Honorary Race Marshall for the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race, but was unable to attend the race start due to deteriorating health conditions. He died at Denali Center, Fairbanks, Alaska one day prior to the First Musher, Frank Turner crossing the finish line in Fairbanks. Accessed March 11, 2009. One month after making the delivery, he died on February 22, 1995.Cox, Melanie
"Obituaries of Alaska's pioneers, A–D"
USGenWeb Project. April 5, 1997. Accessed March 11, 2009. Today, the cabin that served as Charlie Biederman's home for most of his life is a hospitality stop of the

Yukon Quest The Yukon Quest, formally the Yukon Quest 1,000-mile International Sled Dog Race is a sled dog race scheduled every February since 1984 between Fairbanks, Alaska, and Whitehorse, Yukon. Because of the harsh winter conditions, difficult trail, and ...

, a 1,000-mile sled dog race between

Whitehorse, Yukon Whitehorse () is the capital of Yukon, and the largest city in Northern Canada. It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1426 (Historic Mile 918) on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's downtown and Riverdale area ...

, and

Fairbanks, Alaska Fairbanks is a home rule city and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska and the second largest in the state. The 2020 Census put the po ...

Notes

References

*Balzar, John. Yukon Alone: The World's Toughest Adventure Race. Henry Holt and Co, January 2000. pp. 169–170. *Historic American Buildings Survey
"Ed Biederman Fish Camp"
(PDF), National Park Service. Accessed March 11, 2009. *Killick, Adam. Racing the White Silence: On the Trail of the Yukon Quest. Penguin Global, May 2005. pp. 225–226

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Biederman, Charlie 1918 births 1995 deaths Alaskan Athabaskan people Dog mushers from Alaska