In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Ed Whitehouse had the contract to carry the winter mail between Dawson City and Stewart Island using his sled. Whitehouse and his dog team carried up to 500 lbs (227 kg.) of mail from the main post office at Dawson to Stewart, then on to Scroggie Creek up the Stewart River – a distance of about 100 miles (161 km). On the return trip, the load was much lighter, consisting of letters and sometimes, bales of fur.

Five or six Alaska malamutes pulled the mail sleigh. For exceptional loads of up to 900 lbs (408 kg.) Whitehouse added extra dogs to his team. Whitehouse fed his animals a snack of dog biscuits at noon and at night, he gave each a meal of two lbs. (1 kg.) of dried salmon cooked up with cornmeal. Every night he brought the dog harnesses indoors so they would be soft in the morning.

Whitehouse never lost any mail and never lost a dog. On one occasion, his sled did break through the Yukon River ice. Whitehouse was saved by his dogs. They hauled Whitehouse and his sled out of the water, then pulled Whitehouse to the nearest cabin. According to Mr. Whitehouse, as long as you could crawl and get into that sleigh, the dogs would bring you home. A skidoo wouldn't do that.