Alaska Native Collections – Sharing Knowledge

This is a full-sized Gwich’in toboggan or “Yukon sleigh,” used for hunting, hauling meat, wood, and water, and carrying passengers.(1) Long boards run the length of the sleigh and turn up in a curve at the front. They are tied back to the bed of the toboggan with cords of babiche (leather thong). The sides are heavy moose hide, and moose hide ropes criss-cross the top. A steering bar is mounted at the back. The driver would also have a drag brake that he could stand on to stop the toboggan or keep it in control when going downhill.

Birch is the best wood for making a toboggan, and one traditional method of shaping the planks was to hew them with an adze from a standing tree. To bend the curve in front, the wood had to be softened with steam.(2)

Toboggans ride on top of deep snow rather than sinking into it, making them easy to propel. Originally they were human-powered, with men pulling in front and women pushing from the back.(3) After European contact toboggans were pulled by dog team.

Today, large toboggans are towed behind snowmobiles; these are up to 14 feet long, compared to 10-12 feet for the traditional design.(4) Toboggans became part of Gwich’in culture after contact with Hudson’s Bay Company traders, but they were used in earlier times by some Athabascan groups of eastern Alaska and western Canada.(5)

1. Hadleigh West 1963:239-242; McKennan 1959:91-92; Nelson 1973:173-175

2. Hadleigh West 1963:241; McKennan 1959:91

3. McKennan 1959:91

4. Nelson 1973:177

5. Hadleigh West 1963:239-242; McKennan 1959:91-92; Nelson 1973:173-175