If you happened to hear the name Balto, you’d likely picture the Disney movie about the brave husky’s journey.
But it wasn’t just the cartoon pooch who led a team of sled dogs for miles to deliver lifesaving medicine — he was a real dog who, along with many other huskies, helped to stop a deadly disease outbreak in Nome, Alaska.
In 1925, the small town’s only doctor was concerned when he began noticing that multiple residents were showing signs of diphtheria, an extremely contagious infection affecting the nose and throat. About 15,520 Americans died from the disease in 1921, so you can imagine how worried he was about it turning into an epidemic. In fact, several children had already died.
The only way to treat diphtheria was with an antitoxin, and the closest city that had it was Anchorage, which is more than 500 miles away from Nome. Unfortunately, the only aircraft that could have delivered it was out of commission.
Though the serum was able to be transported by train from Anchorage to Nenana, it was still hundreds of miles away. City officials decided that their only chance to get the medicine in time would be to break up the journey between multiple sled dog teams made up of 20 mushers and 150 dogs.
The historic 1925 serum run to Nome, also known as the Great Race of Mercy, began on January 27 with Wild Bill Shannon and his team of sled dogs. After picking up the serum in Nenana, they traveled in brutal temperatures that reached negative 62 degrees Fahrenheit. By the time they met the next team, Shannon’s nose had turned black from frostbite and four of his dogs had died.
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