Amazing Journey by the Sled Dogs

I have just been reading about the fantastic journey made by a man and his sled dogs to deliver some vital medication to the town of Nome in the 1920s. Amazing man and dogs xxxxx

Fabulous book!

Watch the BALTO cartoom - tis great

lol

It is, I LOVED it!!!

Dawn, you never cease to amaze me , lol xxxxxxxxxxxx

The Amazing Balto. . They still run this trail. Its known as the Iditarod.

Its was great!

http://www.selectcheaper.com/search/...785492_DVD.htm

Hate to shatter anyone's illusions, but the Balto movie is a very Disneyfied romanticised "version" of the real Serum run. The real story is no less amazing and heroic, but the real hero wasn't Balto, who only ran the last few miles from Bluff to Nome, but all the teams which took part in the 674 mile relay through some of the worst winter weather Alaska could throw at them. One team and dog in particular stands out - Leonard Seppala's team led by his little sibe/malamute cross Togo, who carried the serum for 340 miles, more than half the total distance - no other team ran more than 53 miles with the serum. Seppala and his team carried the serum to Golofnin, where he handed it to Charlie Olsen, who in turn ran it the 25 miles to Bluff, where it was handed on to Gunnar Kassen who would take it on to Port Safety, from where another team would deliver it to Nome itself, where dozens of sick children were in need of the diptheria vaccine.
Here is where the almost century old controversy starts........
Kasson, who had borrowed Balto (one of Seppala's second string dogs) to lead his team, did not stop at Port Safety, but continued into Nome and garnered all the press and public adulation (together with Balto) for delivering the serum. According to Kasson, he didn't stop at Port Safety because he saw no light at the cabin of the musher who was to take the serum the last few miles and decided that the situation was too urgent to wait around while children were possibly dying in Nome. According to his detractors, Kasson saw the possibilities in being the first to Nome and deliberately carried on to Nome in order to get the glory.
Whatever the truth, the serum saved many lives, all the teams and their drivers were heroes and Kasson and Balto became the public faces of the Serum Run.

Kasson was a very lucky man as during the run to Nome, his sled overturned and the serum package was lost in the snow. After an age scrabbling around in the deep snow, Kasson found the package and was able to continue on his way.

In 1973, the first Iditarod race was held to commemorate the serum run and the sled dogs which performed so bravely. The race, over 1049 miles is held annually from Anchorage to Nome.

Togo -

Balto -

Mick

Hi Mick , thanks for the pics. I am still reading the book. Ref Balto, Gunner Kassen must've singled out Balto otherwise why would Balto in particular have gotten so much press, media attention etc Of course I agree everyone involved did a remarkable thing but it is Gunner who chose Balto to stand out against all the other dogs, that indicates to me that he did/does deserve the fame/status he has been awarded.

Seppala did seem to harbour some dissatisfaction in that Balto and Kassen seemed to get all the glory and that he himself and Toga where righly or wrongly (I guess this is up to each individuals personal viewpoint) left in the limelight.