Balto
In 1925 a diphtheria epidemic threatened the population of Nome, Alaska. Children and young adults who had never been vaccinated or exposed to the disease, which can easily be fatal, were at risk. The disease was controllable and an epidemic preventable by the use of an antitoxin, but the nearest source for the serum was Anchorage. Health officials commissioned an airplane to fly the serum to Nome, but the frigid weather had frozen the aircraft’s engine. The only viable alternative, though one which carried grave risk, was transportation of the serum by sled.
Multiple dog sled teams were prepared to cover the route from Nenana to Nome, a distance of nearly 700 miles. The 20 teams acted as relays for the serum, which arrived at Nenana by train and the sled travel began along what was known as the mail route. Blizzard conditions prevailed and the temperature was nearly thirty degrees below zero before considering the wind chill.
Several of the sled drivers – called mushers – suffered from hypothermia on the trek, despite jogging alongside the sled as it was pulled by the dog teams. Visibility was poor, and often full whiteout conditions existed. The most hazardous section of the run was led by a dog name Togo, mushed by Norwegian Leonhard Seppala, who came out from Nome to pick up the serum. On the return leg, Seppala turned the serum over to Gunnar Kaasen, another Norwegian, whose team was led by Balto. It was the second to last leg of the trip, Kaasen was to turn the serum over to another team who would deliver the serum to Nome.
Kaasen later said that the blizzard conditions were so bad that he could not see the back of the sled, or his hand held before his face. The trip was in complete darkness. Balto had to find his way, and lead the team, completely blind. He stayed on the trail though he was well past a checkpoint before Kaasen realized it. When they reached the rendezvous point with the musher for the final leg, Ed Rohn, they found him sleeping, believing the weather conditions were so bad that the sleds would never get through to reach him. Kaasen, rather than wait for another team and sled to be prepared, decided to cover the final leg himself.
Thus Balto led the team bearing the serum into Nome, and became famous. His fame was amplified when it became known that several dogs had died from weather conditions and exhaustion during the run. All of the serum arrived at Nome safely. Today a statue of Balto stands in New York’s Central Park. Balto himself, or rather his stuffed remains, reside at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and frequently tour other museums.