Husky News

Balto is a name many people are familiar with. There is a statue of this famous Siberian husky in New York City, and a cartoon children’s film was released in 1995 titled Balto. Balto’s story is one worth being told, and it can serve as a wonderful example of several communities working together for a saving cause; however, without heroic mushers and faithful sled dogs such as Balto, there would not even be a story worth telling. Here is the story of the heroic efforts made by men and dogs in the 1925 serum run to Nome, AK.

The story begins in January of 1925 in the small town of Nome, Alaska, when the town’s only doctor, Curtis Welch, discovered the highly contagious symptoms of diphtheria in a 6-year-old boy. At the time, Dr. Welch only had enough serum to vaccine a total of 5 people; the town of Nome had a population of 1,429 people. This did not bode well for Nome. Caught in the thick of an Alaskan winter, the only available resource for travel were mushers and sled dogs, though even for them traveling was treacherous.

Dr. Welch sent out pleas of help by telegraph to Fairbanks, Seward, and Anchorage. Anchorage was the only town of the three that had enough serum to stop the spread of Diphtheria, and it was over 1000 miles away. The territorial governor decided to send out a relay of mushers and dogs to transmit the 20 lb package of vaccine in nearly –40 degrees Fahrenheit weather. The serum was first transported by train from Anchorage to the town of Nenana. There, on January 27, the train’s conductor handed the packaged serum to the first musher in a line of 20.

The antidote was handed off from musher to musher. These dog sled teams labored through treacherous terrain, moving through mountains, windy valley’s, and rushing rivers. They survived and pressed on through blizzards, whiteout conditions, and unbearably cold weather, day and night. As each day progressed, these dog teams and their mushers gained ground closer and closer to Diphtheria stricken Nome.

The musher who drove the longest stretch of the journey, as well as the most treacherous distance was the Norwegian Leonhard Seppala and his lead dog, Togo. They came from Nome and picked up the serum from musher Henry Ivanoff. Leonhard and Togo later handed off the serum to Gunner Kaasan, another Norwegian, who actually drove the serum into Nome with his dog sled team led by Balto. Due to these determined mushers and their loyal dog teams, the antidote made it to Nome in a total of 5 days, 7 hours, and roughly 30 minutes. On February 21, 1925, Dr. Welch was able to lift the quarantine off of Nome, nearly one month after he first noticed the symptoms in a patient.

Though Balto and Kaasan received the majority of praise and recognition for this relay, there were 19 other heroic mushers and hundreds of loyal, hard-working sled dogs that made this valiant feat possible, that saved hundreds of lives in a rural Alaskan town.

Sharon Michaels writes articles for Discount Pet Mall, a site featuring pet carriers and dog steps.