There are more than a few real photo postcards out there depicting Patrick J. “Paddy” Carroll, his wife Beatrice, and their sled dog team on their transcontinental trip, but this one has no postcard markings on the back — making it technically just a photo. My notes say that I paid ten cents for it in 1998.

It’s difficult to find concrete information on the Carrolls. Supposedly, it was Beatrice who raised and trained the dogs, and that their trip was financed, at least in part, through the sale of postcards like these. Also, Paddy is said to have written a small booklet of poems entitled Ditties of a Dog Musher, again using the proceeds towards the trip. It also appears that their trip was successful, and that they returned the same way the following year.

After the trip, the Carrolls are said to have settled in Granisle, British Columbia, where Paddy Carroll became a prospector and did quite well in the copper mine trade.