Balto!
If you don't know the story of Balto, then my friend Amber is clearly not your friend and has not made you learn the history of what inspired the Iditarod dogsled race.
(CAUTION: I get a bit teary every time I think of this story)
In 1925, a diptheria epidemic was at risk of breaking out in Nome, Alaska, and the surrounding areas. The antitoxin serum could be delivered by train only as far as Nenana, 674 miles away. Thus begain the Great Race of Mercy, a 5½-day relay of 20 mushers and about 150 dogs, the most famous of which was Balto, the lead dog on the team that ran the final 50-some-odd miles of the relay. The run was made in treacherous blizzard conditions and hurricane-force winds that reportedly blew sleds over and off-course and, in at least one instance, reportedly sent the box of serum into a snowdrift. Balto's musher, Gunnar Kaasen, said he had to dig the box out of a drift with his bare hands. The wind chill at various points of the run reached -70 Farenheit, and at least one musher got frostbite on his hands while putting blankets on his dogs. Some dogs froze to death during the run.
Without the antitoxin, the mortatlity rate among the 10,000 people in the area surrounding Nome was expected to be near 100 percent.
The serum was delivered, however, and the reported death toll was somewhere between 5 and 7 people (depending on who you ask). It's suspected that the actual toll was around 100, as the native poplulation was known to sometimes bury their dead children without notifying anyone of the death.
A large statue of Balto can be found in New York City, and various smaller statues of Balto and Togo (another serum run lead dog) can be found in Palmer and Anchorage.
I dare you to tell me you're not a little teary, too.
(CAUTION: I get a bit teary every time I think of this story)
In 1925, a diptheria epidemic was at risk of breaking out in Nome, Alaska, and the surrounding areas. The antitoxin serum could be delivered by train only as far as Nenana, 674 miles away. Thus begain the Great Race of Mercy, a 5½-day relay of 20 mushers and about 150 dogs, the most famous of which was Balto, the lead dog on the team that ran the final 50-some-odd miles of the relay. The run was made in treacherous blizzard conditions and hurricane-force winds that reportedly blew sleds over and off-course and, in at least one instance, reportedly sent the box of serum into a snowdrift. Balto's musher, Gunnar Kaasen, said he had to dig the box out of a drift with his bare hands. The wind chill at various points of the run reached -70 Farenheit, and at least one musher got frostbite on his hands while putting blankets on his dogs. Some dogs froze to death during the run.
Without the antitoxin, the mortatlity rate among the 10,000 people in the area surrounding Nome was expected to be near 100 percent.
The serum was delivered, however, and the reported death toll was somewhere between 5 and 7 people (depending on who you ask). It's suspected that the actual toll was around 100, as the native poplulation was known to sometimes bury their dead children without notifying anyone of the death.
A large statue of Balto can be found in New York City, and various smaller statues of Balto and Togo (another serum run lead dog) can be found in Palmer and Anchorage.
I dare you to tell me you're not a little teary, too.
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