About a year ago, veteran dog musher Tim White of Colvill graciously shared an interview he conducted with the late fur trapper Mike West, a patriarch of Minnesota mushing, which was published in Winter 1972-73 issue of Northwoods Journal. West ran long, canoe-country traplines and trained sled dogs and drivers for the Army during World War II. The entire interview was a bit long to reprint, so, with full credit to White, a paraphrased version follows here.