Alaska History: Susan Butcher

It’s Women’s History Month, and a perfect time to honor women in Alaskan history! Today, I’ll introduce you to Susan Butcher, beloved musher and Iditarod champion.

Photo courtesy of Alaska Sports Hall of Fame, source  https://alaskasportshall.org/inductee/susan-butcher/

Susan Butcher was born in Massachusetts in 1954, started dog mushing in Colorado, then came to Alaska at age 19. After she started Trail Breaker Kennel in Eureka, Iditarod founder and famed musher Joe Redington, Sr. took her under his wing and announced that she’d win the race one day. She didn’t disappoint.

Susan won the Iditarod four times, in 1986, 1987, 1988, and 1990, including being only the second woman to win the race. She also worked with Redington and the mountain guide Ray Genet to drive dogs up to the summit of Mount McKinley (what we call Denali today).  Alaskans loved Susan for her positive, friendly personality, and how she took great care of her dogs.

Susan and her husband, musher David Monson, moved Trail Breaker Kennel to Fairbanks. They had a family, and the kennel was featured in the Riverboat Discovery tour. Unfortunately, Susan was diagnosed with leukemia in 2005 and died in 2006. The family still operates the kennel—see their website at https://trailbreakerkennel.com.

Laureli Ivanoff recently wrote a lovely tribute to Susan Butcher in the High Country News. Check it out at https://www.hcn.org/issues/58-3/a-champion-iditarod-musher-proved-that-caring-and-trust-win-races/.

Want to see more stories about women in Alaska History? I often feature them here in my blog posts, and also in my quarterly newsletter. You can sign up for the newsletter on Substack at https://substack.com/@lynnlovegreen.