January 1925. Alaska.
Norwegian musher Leonhard Seppala and his team of sled dogs led by a 12-year-old Siberian Husky, Togo, dash through a relentless Alaskan blizzard on the Iditarod Trail. The temperature reaches down to a bone-chilling -85° F (-65° C). Their cargo, precious glass vials of Diphtheria antitoxin, clink and rattle as the dogs pull Seppala’s sled across the ice of Norton Sound with gale-force winds howling in their ears as well as the eerie echoing sounds of ice cracking underfoot. Chunks of ice had begun to float apart, pushed out to sea by the biting winds of the blizzard. The dogs whimper as the cracking ice gives way to the swirling water beneath while Seppala urges them to continue on, the shrill wind silencing the sound of his voice. Fearless Togo bravely leaps across the chasms and crevices while the freezing ocean water threatens to swallow the team and the precious serum needed to save the town of Nome from the impending Diphtheria epidemic.
By completing this heroic leg of the journey across the Sound, Togo, Seppala, and his dogs shortened the Alaskan Serum Run by over a full day.
In the Alaskan prospecting town of Nome in December of 1924, several children began to complain of sore throats. The town doctor, Curtis Welch, misdiagnosed their ailment as tonsillitis, not suspecting the much deadlier alternative: Diphtheria. Often called the “strangling angel of children,” the highly contagious bacteria caused respiratory infections and brutal death within days. It could not be eradicated by any means other than the Diphtheria antitoxin; otherwise, the disease had a near 100% mortality rate. As more children living in Nome and nearby areas began to contract the disease and die, Dr. Welch soon realized his mistake, properly diagnosing emerging cases as Diphtheria.
A dire situation faced the town: the hospital’s antitoxin supply had expired several years prior, and the only nearby supply was located in Anchorage, hundreds of miles away from Nome. Additionally, air travel was deemed unsafe as the primitive bush planes were no match for the hurricane-force winds of over 70 miles per hour approaching the coastal town in a high-pressure blizzard system.
Facing the potential of over 10,000 Diphtheria deaths, the mayor of Nome devised a plan: a train would carry 300,000 units of life-saving serum to Nenana, and a dog sled relay would traverse the 674-mile trail between Nenana and Nome to deliver the medicine.
Upon the train’s arrival in Nenana on January 27th, 1925, musher “Wild Bill” Shannon set off at once with his team of 9 dogs. Over the next two days, the serum package would be passed between six teams, each of them facing severe frostbite, whiteout conditions, and hurricane-force winds.
After Leonhard Seppala and his team led by Togo happened to find driver Henry Ivanoff, who had been untangling his dogs after an unplanned reindeer chase, he would retrieve the serum and embark on the longest and most dangerous leg of the journey to Nome. While the previous drivers had traveled shorter segments of 30 to 50 miles, Seppala and his team led by Togo would complete an incredulous 260-mile odyssey in only three days. The enduring and fearless lead
dog bravely picked his way across the waters gushing below the fragments of ice covering Norton Sound and led his team through a 5,000-foot climb of Little McKinley Mountain, traversing the Alaskan wilderness even through the darkness of night. At last, Seppala completed his leg in Golovin at 3 a.m. on February 1st, handing the antidote to musher Charlie Olson.
After Olson suffered severe frostbite, driver Gunner Kaasen and his team led by the famous Balto would take over and complete the final leg of the journey. Rather than stopping to rest on the evening of February 1st, Kaasen continued on. His team set out in the middle of the night, the snow and wind so heavy that Kaasen could not even see the two dogs closest to him. A hefty gust flipped his sled, sending the vials of serum flying into piles of snow. Searching for the priceless medicine, Kaasen removed his gloves, digging through the snow with his bare hands to find it as the cold ruthlessly bit at his skin. After finding the vials, he pressed on, at last arriving in Nome at 5:30 a.m. on February 2nd. Allegedly, upon arrival, Kaasen stumbled to the front of his team, throwing his arms around Balto as he collapsed in the snow. Not a single vial of antitoxin had shattered.
Without the work of Balto, Togo, and the 20 teams of sled dogs and mushers who heroically completed the 674-mile journey in the Great Race of Mercy, the entire town of Nome and its nearby Inuit villages likely would have faced thousands of Diphtheria deaths.
Works Cited
“The 1925 Serum Run To Nome.” 1925 Serum Run to Nome – Alaskaweb.org, http://alaskaweb.org/disease/1925serumrun.htm.
“1925 Serum Run to Nome.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 15 Feb. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1925_serum_run_to_Nome.
Hank, Will. “Togo: Siberian Husky & Sled Dog Hero of the 1925 Nome Serum Run.” American Kennel Club, American Kennel Club, 27 Aug. 2021, https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/news/togo-siberian-husky-sled-dog-hero-of-1925/.
“Togo (Dog).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 6 Feb. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Togo_(dog).