The greatest sports teams of the past have competed to secure the trophy, wear the medal, and experience the glory that marks the success of winning. Blood, sweat, and tears are the price these teams must pay to see the victory. A collaboration of 20 teams, almost 100 years ago, performed a heroic display of courage. Frostbite, windchill, and death was the sacrifice they willingly paid to complete the mission set before them. These teams raced over a combined 650 miles in the brutal Alaskan winter, not to secure trophies, medals, or glory, but to save human lives. 

     On the far northwest coast of America’s last frontier sat the quiet little town of Nome. This peaceful Alaskan town was harshly startled in 1925 by a fatal diphtheria outbreak (Crane). “The residents’ only hope: a sketchy plan to relay vials of treatment from a distant railhead hundreds of miles over mountains, across frozen inlets and through a storm. By dog sled” (Ingram). All other forms of transportation were incapable of fulfilling this treacherous undertaking. Twenty brave men and their daring dog sled teams accepted the challenge to venture across the frozen north to deliver the desperately needed medicine to Nome. This truly incredible feat was accomplished in less than a week, which began over 900 miles away in Anchorage.

     Dr. Curtis Welch, the head medical professional in town, took charge of the situation by quarantining the residents and encouraging needed safety measures. Working around the clock, Dr. Welch had protected the town to the best of his ability, but the deadly threat would remain imminent without the arrival of the medicine (“Life-Giving Serum”). “Dr. Curtis Welch had only a limited supply of antitoxin when the diphtheria outbreak emerged in Nome, so messages were quickly wired south to Anchorage for help. Dr. J.B. Beeson of Anchorage immediately started all the antitoxin he had for Nome. It left Anchorage by rail at 11 o’clock Tuesday night for Nenana, the end of the line of steel, 297 miles to the north” (“Run With Death”). The first segment of the adventure was swift and successful, but now 650 miles of the most unforgiving stretches of Alaskan wilderness still needed to be crossed by man and dog.

            A journey that was to be written in the history books began on January 27, 1925. “‘Wild Bill’ Shannon was waiting with nine crack dogs straining at the leash. Shannon mushed the first leg of the 650-mile journey across the frozen tundra, sixty miles to Tolovna, in twelve hours” (“Run With Death”). Taking the reins from Shannon at Tolovna, Jim Kallan, outfitted in a Yukon sled and dog team of his own, raced onward down the snowy track. This second segment in the race with death completed 60 miles before arriving in Hot Springs 12 hours later (“Run With Death”). The first two runs were met with blistering, bone-chilling winter conditions as they traversed over frozen inlets, streams, and rivers where the wind whipped the bare faces of both human and husky alike. “Roadhouse keepers at 30-mile intervals provided food for the men and fish for the dogs” (Nome’s Hero”). Day after day and through the nights the serum was speeded tirelessly toward Nome. “From Hot Springs to Ruby, Edgar Kallan, Dan Green, John Folger and Titus Nicolai did their share, the four men covering two hundred miles” (“Run With Death”). “The succor of dying children stimulated them to supreme effort. Every moment meant the possible saving of a life” (“Nome’s Hero”). Speed was of the essence and the precious paws on which hope rested, kept running and blazing a trail through the snow. 

     Changing hands in Kaltag, the serum continued on with Leonard Seppalla who held the record for the fastest time on the next 300-mile stretch. With an elite sled team, Seppalla traveled over the rough terrain at breakneck speed, attempting to produce a new world record (“Dog Team Races”). “Seppalla had been warned by officials not to cut across Norton Sound, of which Norton Bay is a part, because the ice was reported breaking up and drifting to sea. They told him to take the much longer way around, by circling Norton Bay. Apparently, Seppalla, champion musher of the North, preferred speed to safety” (“Balto, Dog Hero”). This daring veteran and his team braved some of the most difficult terrain of the entire journey on their 300-mile trek before transferring the antitoxin to the next team. When Charlie Olsen, the journey’s next musher, and his team concluded their run, the cargo was nearly in sight of Nome. Eagerly anticipating the medicine from Olsen, Gunner Kasson and his dogs, spearheaded by Balto, prepared to leave (Ingram).

     Because the vials of antitoxin were exposed to such extreme cold temperatures every day, they were taken inside at several relay points to warm so as to avoid being rendered useless when they reached their destination. “Once the vials were warmed in Bluff, ‘Kasson cracked the whip and the dogs sped toward Nome. Out of the Bluff, the driver encountered a blizzard. The temperature was 28 degrees below zero, with a stiff wind blowing’” (“Run With Death”). Kasson’s stretch of the trail wasn’t supposed to be the last leg to Nome, but the Alaskan winter had other ideas which put the mission in danger. The snow was coming down so thick that it made the night seem pitch black, so Kasson carried right on past the final musher, Fred Rohn, who was waiting in the shelter of the town of Solomon (“Run With Death”). “In Kasson’s own words, ‘It was blowing snow so hard I could hardly see my hand in front of my face. I couldn’t even see the wheel dog’” (“Balto, Dog Hero”). It was in those frigid hours that Balto, Kasson’s lead dog, saved the day.

      In a team effort against death, Alaska, and winter each member had a role to play and in his finest hour, Balto pushed through. “According to Kasson, ‘That’s where Balto came in. I didn’t know where I was. I couldn’t even guess. He scented the trail through the snow and kept going straight on the glary ice of the frozen lagoons’” (“Balto, Dog Hero”). “He followed his instincts, where the mind of man could not help” (“Tribute To Balto”). Barely distinguishable between ice, snow and dog, Balto led his team up the streets of Nome at 5 o’clock in the morning to the hospital doors. Relieved, smiles shown on the faces of the doctors and nurses as the treasure was unloaded successfully into the hospital. “The entrance to Nome marked the end of a five and a half day, 674-mile dog sled journey, which is claimed to be a world record” (Ingram). After the antitoxin was dispensed to the sick, there were no more deaths, and the quarantine was lifted just three weeks later: Nome was saved.

     It was a daring finish by Kasson and his sled team, of which four dogs lost their lives, that helped claim the victory. “The arrival in Nome of Kasson at 5:30 o’clock Monday morning, four of his dogs frozen as a result of the 28-degree-below-zero temperature, wrote the last chapter of an epic of the Northland—one of the most heroic feats of this outpost of red-blooded pioneers” (“Run With Death”). These valiant trailblazers triumphed over the vast and treacherous expanses of the Last Frontier to receive the reward of saving human lives. Even though this adventure was nearly 100 years ago and the dogs are gone, their paws will always be remembered on the trail that completed their mission of mercy. 

Works Cited

“A Tribute To Balto, Dog Hero, And National Character.” The News [Patterson, New Jersey], vol. 35, no. 39, 5 Feb 1925, p. 4. Newspapers.com. 

“Balto, Dog Hero, Directs Serum Race When Snow Blinds Driver.” Evening Star [Washington, District of Columbia], no. 29,499, 4 Feb 1925, p. 2. Newspapers.com.

Crane, Louise. “In 1925, a remote town was saved from lethal disease by dogs.” BBC Earth, 17 Oct 2016, www.bbc.com/earth/story/20161014-in-1925-a-remote-town-was-saved-from-lethal-disease-by-dogs.

“Dog Team Races Across Alaska To Save Lives.” Wausau Daily Herald [Wausau, Wisconsin], vol. 18, no. 53, 31 Jan 1925, p. 1. Newspapers.com.

“Dogs Win Run With Death.” The Weekly Kansas City Star [Kansas City, Missouri], vol. 35, no. 51, 4 Feb 1925, p. 1. Newspapers.com.

Ingram, Simon. “When a deadly disease gripped an Alaskan town, a dog saved the day – but history hailed another.” National Geographic UK, 5 Nov 2020, www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/history-and-civilisation/2020/05/when-a-deadly-disease-gripped-an-alaskan-town-a-dog-saved-the-day. 

“Life-Giving Serum Due In Stricken Alaskan Town Early This Afternoon Following Record Trip.” The Indiana Gazette[Indiana, Pennsylvania], vol. 21, no. 135, 31 Jan 1925, p. 4. Newspapers.com.

“Nome’s Hero Nears City.” The Kansas City Star [Kansas City Missouri], vol. 45, no. 136, 31 Jan 1925, p. 1. Newspapers.com.