THE HINMAN / IRWIN DOGS

Differently from the Kotzebues and M’Loots, the Hinman-Irwin dogs are often defined as ‘the third strain’. Some influential people, above all Robert Zoller, coined the definition, as there were too few of them to be recognized as a proper strain (Barbara A. Brooks and Sherry E. Wallis, "Alaskan Malamute - Yesterday and Today"). Nevertheless, the Hinman-Irwin dogs’ contribution to the history of the breed is remarkable.
Their ancestors, Igloo and Lynx, were imported in New Hampshire from the area of Baker Lake in Canada by a man called Dave Irwin. From the mating of Igloo and Lynx came a dog called Irwin's Gemo (also known as Erwin, Gimo o Chimo). Gemo was brought to Craig Burt’s Ranch in Vermont, where the dog worked as a teamdog. Whenever Dick Hinman (who was a barber) had the opportunity, he would go to the ranch to drive the sleddog team, and Gemo was used by Dick Hinman for reproduction, too. The Hinman-Irwin dogs, however, would never have become a part of the official history of the Alaskan Malamute, hadn’t it been for a man called Robert Zoller.
Robert Zoller (or rather, Bob Zoller) had served as a navy officer in World War II and, while on service in Newfoundland, he was deeply impressed by an Alaskan Malamute he met there. When the war was over, Zoller decided to contact a few breeders so as to see this magnificent breed again. He was first addressed to the Seeleys’ Chinook kennel, which was at the time run by a man called Dick Moulton. Zoller saw the Kotzebue Malamutes, but he found them a bit too small. So Moulton suggested that Zoller should go and see Dick Hinman’s dogs, which were probably more similar to what Zoller had on his mind. Zoller went to see the Hinman/Irwin dogs, and from that time on they were involved in a remarkable breeding program and became a part of the history of the Alaskan Malamute.
When Bob Zoller went to see Dick Hinman, Hinman was working and was busy, so he sent Zoller to his kennel to see the dogs. There Zoller saw two specimens he described as “the two most impressive Malamutes” he had ever seen in his life. The two dogs were Hinman's Alaska and the sire Irwin's Gemo. Zoller, who had met both the Seeleys’ Kotzebues and Voelker’s M’Loots, thought that these Hinman-Irwin dogs were better than any other dog he had seen before. He decided to purchase a puppy from the litter Dick Hinman had currently available. The sire was Hinman's Alaska.
The puppy, Kayak Of Brookside, was later crossed by Robert Zoller with Ch. Artic Storm Of Husky-Pak (Zoller decided to call his kennel Husky-Pak) and from this mating Buccaneer, Black Hawk and Banshee were whelped. They all became champions. Zoller thought he was lucky he had met the Hinman-Irwin dogs; they offered additional quality to his breeding program.
Thanks to the Husky-Pak Alaskan Malamutes, the Hinman/Irwin dogs became very popular among other breeders and effectively contributed to the evolution of the Alaskan Malamute

Reference:
Barbara A. Brooks e Sherry E. Wallis, "Alaskan Malamute - Yesterday and Today", Alpine, 1998.
Joan McDonald Brearley, This is the Alaskan Malamute, T.F.H., 1975.