On this day 80 years ago, Balto, one of the most celebrated canine's in history, died at the age of 14.
Balto was just one of many heros who saved the town of Nome, Alaska from total extinction in the winter of 1924-25. Lying two degrees south of the Arctic Circle, Nome's population had dwindled from 20,000 during the gold rush to less than 2,000. Mail from the "outside world" had to be brought by train from Sweard to Nenana and then by dog sled to Nome, a total exceeding 1,000 miles.
At the beginning of winter, 1924, Curtis Welch, the town doctor, noticed that his supply of 80,000 containers of diphtheria antitoxin had expired. The ports had closed for the winter season, and symptoms of the illness were already being reported. Four people would be dead by the end of January. Welch sent a telegram to every major town in Alaska:
"An epidemic of diphtheria is almost inevitable here STOP I am in urgent need of one million units of diphtheria antitoxin STOP"
Only four aircraft were available for the mission: a DeHavilland DH-4 and three Standard J biplanes. Temperatures had plummeted to -10?F, making the water-cooled engines inoperable.
The call went out for willing mushers and their teams. In all, 20 men and about 150 dogs contributed. Linking up in the various towns that peppered the wilderness, the packages were handed off one by one. After the 1,000,000 units were located, the cache was broken into packages of 300,000 doses in a cylinder that weighed about 20 lbs. It wasn't enough to defeat the epidemic, but would stall it long enough for other shipments to arrive.
The total distance covered by the sled teams a total of 674 in 127.5 hours (5.5 days). The speed with which this was accomplished, the hazardous weather (wind chill often dipped to ?70?), the coordination involved, and the number of lives saved make this one of the greatest logistical feats in American history.
Balto achieved national fame because he was the lead dog on the team that actually delivered the first package to Nome on February 2. The media attention that he received deeply divided the sledding community, as many of the other participants were largely ignored. In reality, Balto's rival, Togo, had covered the longest single stretch of the run in the worst terrain (91 miles compared to Balto's 53). It would be several years before the other mushers were given any significant credit.
The 1925 serum run was the last hurrah for the dog sled. Within the decade, airplanes technology had rendered them obsolete. The last sled team to deliver mail in Alaska ran in 1938. The last of the mushers died in 1999.
The story of Balto and Togo led to the immortalization of the Iditarod Trail, which had been used to for racing long before the serum crisis. Only a portion of the modern racing route was used in the serum run, but the competition has attracted racers from all over the world. As of 2013, the oldest person to win the competition was 53.
Balto's remains were mounted by a taxidermist, and is now on display at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Togo had died in 1929, eulogized by newspapers around the nation, and is now displayed at a museum in Wasilla, Alaska. The story of these animals led to a great craze for Siberian Huskies as household pets. Today, many owners trace their pet's lineage to see if they came from one of the historic sled dogs.
The 1925 serum run to Nome is better known by its popular name: The Great Race of Mercy.
