Probably the most famous sled dog story in history took place 100 years ago in Nome Alaska, when there was a diphtheria outbreak. Although this fatal bacterial infection affected some adults, it mainly affected children. The entire town became isolated. Back in 1925 Nome was home to only one doctor, that being Doctor Welch. Over the course of several days the doctor had examined several sick children and although he had his suspicions, he at first told no one.
Doctor Curtis Welch worked with a small team of nurses at the Maynard Columbus Hospital. When the children of Nome first started showing signs of the deadly virus, the doctor initially diagnosed them with tonsillitis. But as the cases grew and some became fatal, he began having his suspicions. Sadly his suspicion became reality and he announced that the town of Nome had a diphtheria outbreak, which was now affecting a lot of the town’s children. The situation then became worse when Dr Welch discovered the antitoxin which he needed to save the sick children, was not only out of date, but he had very little of it. He sent out telegrams to the U.S. Public Health Service and Governor Scott Bone urgently requiring more antitoxin.
The number of diphtheria cases increased rapidly. Children were already dying from the illness so the doctor decided to use what little antitoxin he had on some of his young patients and although he knew it may not work because it was out of date he knew he had to take the risk.
Then came more bad news. It seemed the bad weather meant that fresh antitoxin couldn’t be sent to Nome. The thick ice meant that no ships could cross any seas and the severe high winds and low temperatures meant that there was no way for planes to fly in the much needed medicine either.
Two Inupiaq children had now died and more and more children’s symptoms were becoming worse. With the situation becoming more dire by the minute and the infection spreading rapidly, it was agreed that the only chance of getting the all important life saving serum to Nome, would be by dog teams.
Twenty brave mushers along with their teams of huskies had agreed to a relay in order to get the medicine safely to where it was needed. The antitoxin needed was found in Anchorage, 1000 miles away. The emergency parcel would leave on the Alaskan railroad. A steam locomotive would carry the parcel to the small town of Nenana and from there the first musher would set off on his journey, risking unknown dangers and facing the elements in a quest to save the children of Nome. That man was William Shannon known to many as simply Wild Bill.
The tightly bundled bottles of serum would need to travel a total of 674 miles from Nenana to Nome. The parcel was passed from musher to musher along an old mail route. Some of the mushers that took place in the relay knew the route well as they worked for the postal service. All mushers were very experienced but still some had never faced the whiteouts and 60 below temperatures that they encountered on this journey. The importance of keeping the tiny bottles from freezing was of the utmost importance, so each musher would stop at road houses along the way to warm the medicine in front of an open fire.
When Wild Bill set off on his leg of the relay on Jan 27th 1925 he had no idea how rough his journey would be. Heading west led by his dog Blackie, Bill travelled in temperatures so bad that his face became black with frostbite. Then two of his dogs collapsed. So after traveling all night, he pulled into a road house at 3am so he and his team could rest. He then continued his trip and arrived at his destination at 11am the next morning. This was a roadhouse 52 miles from where he met the train back in Nenana. Bill handed the parcel to the next musher known as Edgar Kallands.
Back in Nome a very well known Norwegian musher named Leonhard Seppala had been volunteered to travel a much larger part of the trail. Leonhard had settled in Nome after moving there in the gold rush when he was invited by a friend. Leonhard started running dogs and became very well known when he won the All Alaskan Sweepstakes, a sled dog race known far and wide. Seppala was so good at racing dogs he became known as the king of the trail.
As the relay continued westward towards Nome, Leonhard would set off eastward from Nome and would travel 300 miles where he would meet up with Henry Ivanoff and take the all important antitoxin from him. Seppala was led by his 12 year old dog Togo. Sepp didn’t hesitate when choosing who would lead his team. Although Togo was twelve years of age, Leonhard knew he had what it takes to lead his team in treacherous conditions on such a long and important journey.
Once Sepp had the parcel safely in his sled he bid farewell to Ivanoff and turned around to head back on the trail towards Nome. However the brave musher now had a huge decision to make. The Norton Sound was always difficult to cross but there was a vicious storm approaching coming in from the Bering Sea. It would be possible to go round Norton Sound by dogsled but time consuming and Seppala knew time was of the essence. Because of the storm the Norton Sound ice could very easily break up. If this was to happen as Sepp was crossing it, the sea would claim him, his team and the much needed life saving serum. But he knew he needed to get the medicine to the children of Nome as soon as possible. So having every faith in Togo he set off on the most dangerous journey of his life. Once out on the ice it soon became dark so Sepp could no longer see, he tried to listen out but could only hear the sound of the ice cracking. He put all his trust in Togo who became his eyes and ears. Togo kept his head down and didn’t stop until the team reached the other side of the ice at 8pm. They had covered a total of 84 miles.
Both musher and dogs were totally exhausted so after feeding his dogs Sepp decided to rest for a few hours before carrying on his journey a further 50 miles to Golovin. The storm was getting a lot worse making it impossible for Sepp to see the trail and this part of the trail consisted of many steep hills. Togo didn’t hesitate to lead his musher and the rest of the team up and over each hill through one of the most treacherous storms known to man.
Together they battled the elements until at 3am they finally reached Golovin where musher Charlie Olson took the serum from Sepp and put the precious bundle into his own sled. Olson had 25 miles to travel to Bluff where he was to pass on the parcel to the next relay musher, Gunnar Kaasen. Although Olson had only mushed 25 miles the wind was so strong at times it blew his sled completely off the trail making it seem like a much longer journey. He encountered horrendous weather conditions trying to make his way through a raging blizzard. As Kaasen set off on his part of the trail he would head out into that same raging blizzard.
Kaasen decided to have two dogs in lead, Balto and Fox, who were actually owned by Leonhard Seppala. Because of drifting snow, Gunnar had to leave the trail at times and could have quite easily gotten hopelessly lost. If it had not been for Balto who had picked up the scent of other dogs that had travelled that trail only weeks before. Balto’s nose led Kaasen and the team safely back on the trail. The final musher in the relay, Ed Rohn was to take the antitoxin from Kaasen and mush the final miles to Nome.
Dr Welch and the town of Nome eagerly awaited Ed’s arrival. It was Monday 2nd February 1925 at 5.30am when the serum finally arrived safely in Nome and was very carefully handed over to the doctor. But to the towns disbelief it was not Ed Rohn who handed over the tiny package. Gunnar Kaasen had not stopped at the road house and handed the package over to Rohn as he was supposed to. For some reason he continued on until he reached Front Street in Nome where along with dogs Fox and Balto he got a very warm welcome.
The next day, Tuesday 3rd February, the headlines on the New York Times read how Gunnar had safely got the much needed serum to Nome and how he had taken part in the five and a half day sled dog relay and braved such a blizzard. The story also praised Seppala, giving him credit for traveling the most miles on the journey and how he had travelled the most vicious leg of the trail. In the days that followed Sepp was not heard from and so it was said he was probably resting his dogs somewhere on his way back home. All other 19 mushers were said to be recovering from the horrendous trip each had very courageously taken.
The word spread about Kaasen and Balto getting the serum to its final destination. Doctor Curtis Welch had administered the antitoxin to the sick children who had slowly started recovering. As the days went on and more headlines were printed people started to talk about how Balto was wrongly getting all the praise for saving the children and not Togo who had endured the most grueling miles on the trip and encountered the worst conditions along the way. Kaasen and Balto were invited out to Hollywood where they would film a re-run of delivering the serum. They also went out on a Vaudeville circuit during the summer months of that year and it was said that late that year a statue of Balto would be erected in New York’s Central Park to celebrate Balto’s bravery. Both Kaasen and Balto attended the unveiling of this beautiful bronze statue.
Not long after the unveiling of the monumental statue Togo was invited to a hockey game where along with his owner, Leonhard Seppala he would attend Madison Square Garden and receive a gold medal for heroism by Roald Amundsen, the former Arctic explorer.
In January of 1927 Seppala had traveled to Maine where he was to take part in a race. He made the decision to stay in Maine for a few years and it was here where Togo lived out the rest of his life.
Before returning to Alaska, Kaasen had sold Balto to a businessman from Cleveland who donated him to a zoo. Balto spent the rest of his life being visited by children visiting the zoo and he became a popular attraction.
What set out as a sled dog relay with 20 teams of dog mushers, became known as the serum run, a race against time, a race of mercy. These brave men and their four legged friends will forever be known in history to have tackled some of the worst weather conditions Alaska has to give. They endured miles of endless blizzards and snow storms known to man.
Years after the serum run people started talking more about how they thought Togo didn’t get the credit he deserved. Yes he was awarded a medal, but in comparison to the praise and recognition Balto got, it was nothing. Balto became known as the hero that saved the children of Nome yet without the 12 year old Togo covering over 300 miles over cracking sea ice and over hills and mountains the serum could quite possibly never of made it into the hands of Gunnar Kaasen
Having had Siberian huskies for 25 years now, they have become our whole lives. We both share the same passion for this amazing breed. Everything about huskies fascinates us both, dating all the way back in time to the historical serum run.
No matter how many times I hear the serum run story or tell the serum run story, I always get emotional. Every aspect of it makes me feel alive. Our passion for not only sled dogs but for running them makes me feel connected to each and every brave musher and dog that took part in the 1925 relay. I personally know how it feels to bring a dog into the world and bond with it. There’s something very special about running them though as a team all working in unison as one and to share every waking moment with that one special dog is a once in a lifetime thing. This is why Leonhard Seppala and his dog Togo so easily pull at my heart strings. I totally understand the strength of their bond. Two souls, two spirits, two heart beats coming together as one. That unconditional trust, respect and love shared between them was the same for me and my girl Storm. The true story of the serum run and the great relationship between Sepp and Togo was captured in the Disney movie Togo. Educating people on what became known as the race against time.
I for one want the story of the serum run to be known far and wide. I want the sled dogs of Alaska to never fade away and the mushers and dogs that took part in the 1925 journey from Nenana to Nome to be remembered forever as the true heroes that they were. I had a vision, a vision with a dream. I chased that dream and now along with my daughter we are making that dream become a reality. We are living the dream. The Serumrun Dream!!
After a lot of research into the breeding, history and bloodline of Togo I over time managed to track down a lady whose dogs were related to him. And not only that but at the time of me contacting her she had a litter of pups whose bloodlines showed that they were indeed traceable all the way back to 1925 and to Togo. It also just so happened that not only were these puppies a descendant of Togo but their grandad was none other than Diesel who played the part of the dog Togo in the Disney movie. My daughter and I talked about our future in huskies and of the future of this bloodline in particular. How wonderful would it be if we could actually get one of these puppies to the U.K. but to develop our very own racing team from it with the aim of keeping Togo’s memory, bloodline and bravery alive. It would be an absolute honour and dream for us both.
The pups had been born in Dec 2021 what for a long time seemed like nothing more than a pipe dream for us became reality just a few short months after the pups came into this world. We did everything we could to make our dream become a reality and in the summer of 2022 the surreal moment of our beautiful girl Deshka Magik came into our lives. I’ve never cried so much in my entire life, being a breast cancer survivor I now live for everyday and grab every opportunity I can. But this was overwhelming. Deshka was here with us, she was our future and also the history of the most famous sled dog known to man. She was the spitting image of her grandad with her wolf-like looks and bright blue eyes. She was Togo’s legacy and the legacy I will one day leave to my daughter. This was the exciting start to Serumrun Siberians.