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"About the Iditarod-Iditarod." Iditarod.com. Iditarod Trail Committee, Inc., n.d. Web. 31 Dec 2013.

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You can’t compare it to any other competitive event in the world! It’s a race over 1,150 miles of the roughest, most beautiful terrain Mother Nature has to offer! She throws jagged mountain ranges, frozen river, dense forest, desolate tundra, and miles of windswept coast at the mushers and their dog teams. Add to that temperatures far below zero, winds that can cause a complete loss of visibility, the hazards of overflow, long hours of darkness, and treacherous climbs and side hills, and you have the Iditarod, a race extraordinaire—a race only possible in Alaska!

From Anchorage (in south central Alaska) to Nome (on the western Bering Sea coast), each team of twelve to sixteen dogs and its musher covers over 1,150 miles in twelve to seventeen days.

It has been called the “Last Great Race on Earth” and it has won worldwide acclaim and interest. German, Spanish, British, Japanese, and American film crews have covered the event. Journalists from outdoor magazines, adventure magazines, newspapers, and wire services flock to Anchorage and Nome to record the excitement. It’s not just a dog sled race, it’s a race in which unique men and women compete. Mushers enter from all walks of life. Fishermen, lawyers, doctors, miners, artists, natives, Canadians, Swiss, French, and others all compete. These are men and women—each with his/her own story, each with his/her own reasons for going the distance. It’s a race organized and run primarily by thousands of volunteers including men, women, students, and village residents. They man headquarters in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, Nome, and Wasilla. The volunteers fly volunteers, veterinarians, dog food, and supplies. They act as checkers, coordinators, and family supporters of each musher.

The race pits man and animal against nature, against wild Alaska at her best and as each mile is covered, a tribute to Alaska’s past is issued. The Iditarod is a tie to, or a commemoration of, that colorful past.

The Iditarod Trail, now a National Historic Trail, originally started in Seward as a mail and supply route from the coastal towns of Seward and Knik to the interior mining camps at Flat, Ophir, Ruby, and beyond to the west coast communities of Unalakleet, Elim, Golovin, White Mountain, and Nome. Mail and supplies went in; gold came out—all via dog sled. Heroes were made, and legends were born.

The trail was used every winter through the World Word I ear and well into the 1920’s, with parts of it being used as late as the 1940’s.

The typical traveler on the Iditarod was a musher driving a team of twenty or more dogs pulling a massive freight sled capable of carrying half a ton or more. These mushers followed in the ancient traditions of Alaska natives, who mastered the fine art of using dogs for winter transportation many centuries ago. Different Native people bred dogs for their particular needs over the centuries. The Malemiut Inupiat peole of the Seward Peninsula developed a particularly hardy breed of sled dog that today bears their name: Malamute.

When Russians and eventually American arrived in the North Country, they quickly discovered that dog teams were practically the only way to reliably move across long distances in Alaska when river travel was not possible. Indeed, they found that dogs were ideally suited for winter travel for a number of reasons.

In 1925, part of the Iditarod trail became a life saving highway for epidemic-stricken Nome. Diphtheria threatened lives, and serum had to be brought in by intrepid dog mushers and their faithful, hard-driving dogs. The Iditarod is a commemoration of those yesterdays, a not-so-distant past that Alaskans honor and are proud of.

Bowers , Don. "Booms and Busts-Iditarod." Iditarod.com. Iditarod Trail Committee, Inc., February 2012. Web. 31 Dec 2013. <http://iditarod.com/about/booms-and-busts/>.

The Iditarod Trail sled dog race first ran to Nome in 1973, after two short races on part of the Iditarod Trail in 1967 and 1969. The Iditarod Trail soon became a major “throroughfare” through Alaska. Mail was carried across this trail, people used the trail to get from place to place and supplies were transported via the Iditarod Trail. Priests, ministers, and judges traveled between villages by dog team because that was their only means of travel in the winter time.

Gold rushes were a major part of Alaska history beginning in the 1880’s. The strikes near Juneau in 1880, the Klondike in 1896, and Fairbanks in 1902 helped define Alaska’s very character. In fact, they directly resulted in the founding of three of the state’s largest cities.

However, these bonanzas were only the best known of more than 30 serious gold rushes in Alaska from 1880 to 1914. In fact, the last full-scale, old-fashioned, frontier-style gold rush in the United States roared into life in 1909 at Iditarod (629 trail miles west of the future site of Anchorage and half way to Nome). By the next year, Iditarod eclipsed Nome and Fairbanks to briefly become the largest city in Alaska with 10,000 inhabitants. It boasted several banks and hotels and even a newspaper, all supplied by regular sternwheeler service up the Innoko and Iditarod Rivers, tributaries of the mighty Yukon River.

Many gold districts in Alaska could be served by steamboats in the summer plying the many rivers lacing the Alaska interior. Nome, on the coast, had regular ocean going steamship service. Nonetheless, there was virtually no way to travel to any of these places when freeze up stopped the river and ocean traffic from October to May. By 1910, the need for year-round mail and freight service to the miners in western Alaska lead the federal government to survey and construct a winter trail from Seward to Nome for use by sled dog teams.

All too soon the gold mining began to slack off. People began to go back to where they had come from and suddenly there was less travel on the Iditarod Trail. The use of the airplane in the late 1920’s signaled the beginning of the end for the dog team as a standard mode of transportation, and of course with the airplane carrying the mail, there was less need for land travel. The final blow to the use of the dog team came with the appearance of snowmobiles in Alaska.

By the mid 60’s, most people in Alaska didn’t even know there was an Iditarod Trail or that dog teams had played a very important part in Alaska’s early settlement.

"About the Iditarod-Iditarod." Iditarod.com. Iditarod Trail Committee, Inc., n.d. Web. 31 Dec 2013. <http://iditarod.com/about/>.

Every musher has a different tactic. Each one has a special menu for feeding and snacking the dogs. Each one has a different strategy—some run in the daylight, some run at night. Each one has a different training schedule and his or her own ideas on dog care, dog stamina, and his or her own personal ability.

The rules of the race lay out certain regulations which each musher must abide by. There are certain pieces of equipment each team must have—an arctic parka, a heavy sleeping bag, an ax, snowshoes, musher food, dog food, and booties for the dogs’ feet to protect against cutting ice and hard packed snow injuries.

Some mushers spend an entire year getting ready and raising the money needed to get to Nome. Some prepare around a full-time job. In addition to planning the equipment and feeding needs for up to three weeks on the trail, hundreds of hours and hundreds of miles of training have to be put on each team.

There are names which are automatically associated with the race—Joe Redington, Sr, co-founder of the classic and affectionately known as “father of the Iditarod.” Rick Swenson, the only five time winner, as well as the only musher to have entered twenty Iditarod races and nave finished out of the top ten, is well-known for his accomplishments. Dick Mackey beat Swenson by one second in the 1978 race to achieve the impossible photo finish after two weeks on the trail. Norman Vaughan finished the race four times and led an expedition to Antarctica in the winter of 1993-1994. Why is Vaughan’s accomplishment worth noting? He was the oldest musher to ever compete. Four time winner, Susan Butcher, was the first woman to ever place in the top ten. And of course, Libby Riddles was the first woman to win the Iditarod back in 1985.

"Iditarod.com." Portrait of a Musher. Iditarod Trail Committee, Inc., n.d. Web. 31 Dec 2013.

On the first Saturday in March, anywhere from fifty to eighty mushers leave the starting gate in Anchorage. Of these, at least half have no hope of winning or even finishing the in the top twenty. Their main goal is simply to complete the race. Crossing under the famous burled arch at the finish line in Nome with their dogs is more than victory enough.

Running the Iditarod is a grueling test of dogs and drivers that can last as long as three weeks and can involve head-on encounters with some of the most forbidding weather and terrain on earth. Nevertheless, any musher worth his (or her) salt wants to run the Iditarod someday, just as runners want to do the Boston Marathon, even if they have no chance of winning.

Because of its difficulty, the Iditarod places strict qualifying restrictions on people who would take the long road to Nome. Of course, anyone who has previously finished the race is eligible to sign up. Rookies, however, must complete at least two Iditarod-approved races of their choice totaling 500 miles or more within the previous two years. (The word “rookie” can be misleading when speaking of the Iditarod: some rookies have finished or even won major races such as the Yukon Quest. Naturally, they have little difficulty qualifying for the Iditarod.)

Training for the race usually begins in July of the preceding year, when the dogs are hooked up to ATV’s for short runs of three to five miles. These four-wheeler runs will lengthen to ten or fifteen miles by the time snow falls in mid-October. Once the sleds are hooked up (which pull much more easily than the ATV’s), the runs rapidly increase to thirty and forty miles. Some mushers will have their teams routinely making fifty-mile runs by Christmas.

The first “mid-distance” races (meaning anything between 200 and 500 miles in length) are in January. Most mushers will try to run their teams in at least a couple of these races for good training. Some of the better drivers, of course, also have an eye toward the prized money in these early races. By the time the Iditarod rolls around in March, many teams will already have 1,000 or 1,500 miles or even more behind them. Since the training is usually done with smaller teams, the mushers themselves may have more than 2,500 miles on the runners.

Each Iditarod team is limited to sixteen dogs (of which at least five must be on the gangline at the finish). This constitutes an incredibly powerful pulling machine, fully capable of dragging a pickup truck with its brakes set on packed snow. Hooked up in pairs, a sixteen-dog team stretches more than eighty feet from the leader’s nose to the musher on the back of the sled—longer than a highway eighteen wheeler.

Pound for pound, the sled dog is the most powerful draft animal on earth, and a team of twenty dogs averaging perhaps 75 pounds each can easily match a team of horses weighing more than twice as much. As a matter of interest, one dog has pulled more than half a ton in the canine equivalent of a tractor pull. As late as the 1960’s, Yup’iK Eskimos of Nelson Island moved much of their own, including entire houses, to a new site two dozen miles away with hundred-dog teams.

Dogs are faster than horses over the long haul, capable of maintaining average speeds of eight to twelve miles an hour for hundreds of miles (including rest stops), and can exceed twenty miles an hour or more on shorter sprints. Even better, dogs can be fed from the land with moose, fish, or caribou in the winter, while horses or oxen require expensive hay or grain. Moreover, heavy draft animals cannon use the snowpacked winter trails.

The musher’s only real control of this juggernaut is voice commands to the lead dogs (the sled has a brake, but it is sometimes not much more effective than dragging a foot in the snow). This cleverly takes advantage of the dogs’ wolf heritage: a dog team is basically a pack, and a pack always follows the leader, who in turn follows the commands of the driver. Most mushers run a pair of leaders up front (one of which is usually primary), while a few run a solo leader. Iditarod mushers will include as many leaders as possible in their teams, rotating them to take advantage of each dog’s particular strengths as the trail conditions vary. Regardless of how many leaders are in the team, the “pack” will always follow the dog(s) in the actual lead position.

Lead dogs (like all good sled dogs) are superbly well bred and trained and are considerably smarter than average. The best leaders are especially good at following commands under all conditions. The basic commands for the leaders are “gee” (turn right), “haw” (turn left), “on by” (pass or go straight), and “whoa” (stop). The usual command to start the team is “hike, okay, or let’s go.” Only Hollywood believes that the drivers shout “mush!”.

The dogs just behind the lead dogs are called the swing dogs. They are often leaders in their own right. Just in front of the sled are the wheel dogs. They are very important in helping to guide the sled through turns. Wheel dogs have as much responsibility as leaders in that they must keep the sled from hitting trees or boulders when making turns or just to bring the sled around without tipping it over. Wheel dogs are usually a little larger or more muscular than the other dogs of the team. The other dogs are team dogs, although most of them can handle swing or when or even lead when needed.

By the way, there is no special breed of dog used in the Iditarod. Some mushers run specific AKC recognized breeds such as Malamutes and Siberians, but most sleds are called by the generic term “Alaska husky,” which means any critter with four legs and a tail capable of pulling a sled.

Over the years, mushers have mixed all sorts of breeds in attempts to find the perfect sled dog. Some have been quite successful. Nowadays, when referring to sled dogs, most mushers don’t talk about what breed they are, but form whose kennel and what lineage they descend, such as, “That’s a Buser dog,” or “That one’s from Diana Moroney’s Ruby line.” In short, the average Iditarod sled dog is basically a mutt—albeit a carefully bred and highly prized one.

Once underway, the team will run virtually on autopilot, almost always choosing the correct tail. Indeed the musher’s job on long runs with good trails and fair weather often involves hours of merely monitoring the team’s progress and making commands when needed. There is usually plenty of time to enjoy the scenery and appreciate the smooth workings of the finely tuned machine that is an Iditarod dog team.

The mechanics of a dog team are fairly simple. The dogs are hooked up in pairs on either side of a central gangline of heavy braided rope with a cable core. A stout tugline connects to the rear of each dog’s harness to the gangline. Each dog also has a neckline hooked to its collar to keep it from straying too far away from the gangline; the neckline is made of thin rope and is designed to snap if the dogs should get wrapped around a tree or other obstacles that might cause choking. Dogs also will usually wear booties of tough fabric to protect their feet on the often rough trail. Sled dogs are never muzzled and are free to jump back and forth across the gangline as the sled cuts across sharp curves.

The sled weighs no more than thirty or forty pounds empty and can be built of traditional materials such as birch or ash, or of modern plastics and composites. The runners are built to accommodate special plastic bottoms that can be slipped off and quickly replaced when they wear out. The musher stands on the rear part of the runners, behind the basket (or body) of the sled. The rear part of the basket is the handlebar, which is the driver’s only hold on the sled. Some mushers warp a cord around their wrist in case they inadvertently depart the sled for some reason. (Losing a team is the ultimate sin for a musher—an additionally usually makes for a long, cold, embarrassing walk, not to mention the dange of being in the winter wildnerness with no food or gear).

In the sled bag (a sort of super backpack tied to the sled railings) is an assortment of items. Mandatory gear for the Iditarod (and most other races) includes essential survival gear: snowshoes, an ax, an arctic sleeping bag, at least two pounds of food and two sets of booties for every dog, and an alcohol stove with a four or five gallon pot (for melting snow and making hot water for dog food).

Mushers will also include warm clothing items (temperatures can range from 40 above to 60 below), medicine and ointments for the dogs, food for themselves, spare lines and snaps, a small tool kit, and a sewing kit to repair harnesses. A thermos of drinking water is critical. Dehydration is a major threat in the cold, dry climate. Most mushers will also include a camera and a Walkman with their favorite music to fight the interminable hours of boredom on the long, wide-open stretches of the trail.

"Iditarod.com." Trivia & Facts-Iditarod. Iditarod Trail Committee, Inc., n.d. Web. 31 Dec 2013. <http://iditarod.com/about/trivia-facts/>.

The Story of the Widow’s Lamp

During the days of Alaska sled dog freighting and mail carrying, dog drivers relied on a series of roadhouses between their village destinations. Since these mushers ventured out in most all kinds of weather, for safety reasons they found the idea that pilots rely on, known today as the flight plan. Word was relayed ahead that a musher and team were on the trail, and a kerosene lamp was lit and hung outside the roadhouse. It not only helped the dog driver find his destination at night, but more importantly, it signified that a team or teams were somewhere out on the trail. The lamp was not extinguished until the musher safely reached his destination. In keeping with that tradition, the Iditarod Trail Committee will light a “Widow’s Lamp” at 10:00 a.m., on the first Sunday in March, in Nome at the trail’s end. This lamp, which will be attached to the Burled Arch, our official finish line, will remain lit as long as there are mushers on the trail competing in the race. When the last musher crosses the finish line, officials will extinguish the “Widow’s Lamp” signifying the official end of the Iditarod for that year.

All too often, public and media think of the race as being over when the winner crosses the finish line, yet there are still teams on the trail. Let it be remembered, Iditarod is not over until the last musher has reached Nome and is off the trail.

*Iditarod staff member, Greg Bill, was instrumental in starting this tradition for Iditarod.

"Iditarod.com." Trivia & Facts-Iditarod. Iditarod Trail Committee, Inc., n.d. Web. 31 Dec 2013. <http://iditarod.com/about/trivia-facts/>.

What are microchips? The “microchip” is a tiny computer chip programmed with an identification number and encapsulated by a biocompatible material. Microchips are about the size of a grain of rice. They are usually implanted under the dog’s skin either in the shoulder area, back of the neck or behind the ear, where they stay for the life of the animal. The process is quick and easy. Microchips are small enough to fit inside of specially designed hypodermic needles, which enables them to be injected in a manner similar to vaccinating. The needles are sterile and disposed of as clinical waste. Microchip use is not restricted to dogs, but is applicable to all animal species. Animals of any age may receive a microchip implant. They are safe and do not cause any discomfort.

How do the chips work? Special low powered readers have been designed to send a radio signal, which empowers the chip to transmit a specific code. Each chip has its own eight digit number, and extreme care is taken in the manufacturing of the chips to ensure that there are no duplicates.

Animals of any age can be injected with the microchip. Puppies and kittens are can have their chips injected during their initial vaccine series or at any time in their life. Other animals can be treated the exact same way.

There are several companies that are presently making microchips. AVID (American Veterinary Identity Devices) is one of the largest and provides the microchips used by the Iditarod International Sled Dog Race. By race rule, all dogs preparing to compete in the Iditarod are required to be identified by a microchip. Those not already having a chip from previous races will receive one at the time of their pre-race blood work and ECG recordings.

Veterinarians or veterinary technicians perform Microchipping. Typical costs to the owner include the veterinary charges for implanting the chip and a registration fee. A registry is maintained by AVID for locating owners of found animals. Access to this information is attained via an 800 number, twenty-four hours a day. The AVID registry is called PETtrac. Owners pay a one-time fee for registration. There are no annual fees; but there is a charge for information changes such as change of address. Change of ownership requires a new registration.

Since your pet is unable to ask directions or tell anyone who he/she belongs to, we always suggest to our fans that they have their pets microchipped.

In the Iditarod Race, dogs are marked in two ways, by the microchip identification system and by collar tags.

Upon establishing the starting position of each musher, they are given a packet of items at the pre-race banquet that includes their handlers’ armbands, truck passes to get into the chute area and the all-important dog tags. Each tag has the bib number of the musher and a letter of the alphabet. The musher puts the tags on the dogs prior to the start in Anchorage on Saturday. At the start, he/she will turn in a list showing the dog that corresponds with each tag number. For example: ‘Chopper 20-D’. The dropped dog coordination office at the Millennium Hotel has a copy of this list and if for any reason they cannot get a scan on a dog, they can use the tag. However, the musher must be careful to make sure that the information is accurate.

When a musher leaves (drops) a dog at a checkpoint, he fills out a form on that dog and the checker scans the dog for the microchip and checks the collar tag. This information is noted on the ‘dropped dog paperwork’ which will remain with the dog as it is moved back to Anchorage. The dog collar and microchip is rechecked each time the dog is moved along his/her trip to Anchorage. Once in Anchorage, the information is checked by the crew that will transport the dogs to the Eagle River Correctional Institute where a group of inmates care for them until the mushers’ handlers arrive to take them home. The prisons also have a copy of the paperwork and a microchip reader. Each dog is rechecked when picked up to insure the correct dog is released to the handler.

"Mushing Terminology-Iditarod." Iditarod.com. Iditarod Trail Committee, Inc., n.d. Web. 31 Dec 2013. <http://iditarod.com/about/mushing-terminology/>.

Common Terminology

Booties: A type of sock that is made to protect the dog’s feet from small cuts and sores. These are made out of various materials, i.e., denim, polar fleece, trigger cloth, etc.

By-Pass Mail: Service provided by US Mail System for remote villages to get mail and goods delivered. By-Pass Mail has been used to ship everything from toilet paper to refrigerators. Service only in Alaska provided by US mail System.

Dropped Dog: A dog that the musher has dropped from his team at a checkpoint. The dog is cared for at the checkpoint until it is flown back to Anchorage to the musher’s handlers.

Last Frontier: Alaska’s State motto. Alaska was the last frontier in the United States

Lead Dog or Leader: Dog who runs in front of others. Generally must be both intelligent and fast.

Line Out! Command to lead dog to pull the team out straight from the sled. Used mostly while hooking dogs into team or unhooking them.

Neck Line: Line that connects dog’s collar to tow line and between the two collars of a double lead.

Overflow: When the ice gets so thick that the water has nowhere to go, it pushes up and over the ice. This overflow often gets a thin layer of ice when the temperature drops making it dangerous to cross.

Pacing: Leading a team with some sort of motorized vehicle that can set the ‘pace’ at a specific speed.

Pedaling: Pushing the sled with one foot while the other remains on the runner

Picket Line: A long chain with shorter pieces of chain extending from it. Used to stake out a team when stakes aren’t available

Rigging: Collection of lines to which dogs are attached. Includes tow line, tug lines and neck lines

Rookie: A musher who is running the race for the first time or who has never completed the race.

Runners: The two bottom pieces of the sled which come in contact with the snow. They extend back of the basket for the driver to stand on. Runner bottoms are usually wood, covered with plastic or Teflon. This plastic or Teflon is usually replaced at least once during the race.

Siberian Husky: Medium sized (average 50 pounds) northern breed of dog, recognized by the American Kennel Club. Siberians usually have blue eyes.

Slats: Thin strips of wood which make up the bottom of a wooden sled basket. Note: Toboggan sleds have a sheet of plastic as the bottom for their basket

Snow Hook or Ice Hook: Heavy piece of metal attached to sled by line. The snow hook is embedded in the snow in order to hold the team and sled for a short period of time.

Snub Line: Rope attached to the sled which is used to tie the sled to a tree or other object.

Swing Dog or Dogs: Dog that runs directly behind the leader. Further identified as right or left swing depending on which side of the tow line he is positioned on. His job is to help “swing” the team in the turns or curves.

Termination Dust: The first snow that covers the top of the mountain in the fall. So called because this is a sign of the termination of summer in Alaska.

Toggles: Small pieces of ivory used by Eskimos to fasten tug lines to harnesses

Wheel Dogs or Wheelers: Dogs placed directly in front of the sled. Their job is to pull the sled out and around corners or trees.

Whoa!: Command used to halt the team, accompanied by heavy pressure on the brake.

Note: It should be thoroughly understood that as dogs are not driven with reins, but by spoken commands, the leader of the team must understand all that is said to him and guide the others accordingly. An intelligent leader is therefore an absolute necessity. At times it appears that there is ESP between musher and lead dog. Don’t be surprised if you hear a musher have an in-depth conversation with his lead dog.

Bowers, Don. "History-Iditarod." Iditarod.com. N.p., February 2012. Web. 31 Dec 2013. <http://iditarod.com/about/history/>.

Even after the advent of the airplane, dog teams continued to be widely used for local transportation and day-to-day work, particularly in Native villages. Mushers and their teams played important but little remembered roles in World War II in Alaska, particularly in helping the famous Eskimo Scouts patrol the vast winter wilderness of western Alaska.

After the war, short and medium distance freight teams were still common in many areas of Alaska even when President Kennedy announced that the United States would put a man on the moon. During the 1960′s, however, it was not space travel but the advent of the “iron dog” (or snowmachine or snowmobile) that resulted in the mass abandonment of dog teams across the state and loss of much mushing lore.

In 1964, the Wasilla-Knik Centennial Committee was formed to look into historical events in Alaska, specifically the Mananuska-Susitna Valley, over the past century. 1967 marked the 100th anniversary of Alaska being a U.S. Territory after being purchased from Russia. Dorothy Page, chairman of this committee, conceived the idea of a sled dog race over the historically significant Iditarod Trail. Joe Redington Sr. was her first real support for such a race. Joe and his wife Vi had deep historical interests in the Iditarod Trail since the mid-1950′s and felt this centennial race would help in their quest to preserve the historic gold rush and mail route and get it recognized nationally. The Redingtons and Pages joined forces. Dorothy poured her heart and soul into research as a historian and Joe Redington worked non-stop to put together a new sprint sled dog race.

With much volunteer labor (the start of a fundamental Iditarod tradition), the first part of the trail was cleared, including nine miles of the Iditarod Trail. The two heat, 56 mile Centennial race between Knik and Big Lake was held in 1967 and 1969. Then, interest in the race was lost. However, Joe Redington never lost interest, instead his vision grew into a never conceived of before long-distance race. Countless hours of discussions with fellow mushers followed. Two of these mushers were teachers, Tom Johnson and Gleo Hyuck. These three men spirited this first-ever, long-distance race into reality and in 1973 a new race was born. The U.S. Army helped clear portions of the trail and with the support of the Nome Kennel Club (Alaska’s earliest, founded in 1907), the race went all the way to Nome for the first time. Even so, the mushers still had to break much of their own trail and take care of their own supplies. The winner of the first Iditarod was Dick Wilmarth, taking almost three weeks to reach Nome.

Redington had two reasons for organizing the long-distance Iditarod Race: to save the sled dog culture and Alaskan huskies, which were being phased out of existence due to the introduction of snowmobiles in Alaska; and to preserve the historical Iditarod Trail between Seward and Nome. To promote both goals, Redington asked Dorothy Page to be the editor of an Iditarod Annual. Her enthusiasm, drive, and love of history opened the world’s eyes to the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race®.

The race is really a reconstruction of the freight route to Nome and commemorates the part that sled dogs played in the settlement of Alaska. The mushers travel from checkpoint to checkpoint much as the freight mushers did eighty years ago—although some modern dog drivers like Doug Swingley, Martin Buser, Jeff King, Susan Butcher, and Rick Swenson move at a pace that would have been incomprehensible to their old-time counterparts, making the trip to Nome in under ten days.

Since 1973, the race has grown every year despite financial ups and downs. The Iditarod has become so well-known that the best mushers now receive thousands of dollars a year from corporate sponsors. Dog mushing has recovered to become a north-country mania in the winter, and some people now make comfortable livings from their sled-dog kennels.

While the Iditarod has become by far Alaska’s best-known sporting event, there are a dozen other major races around the state every winter, such as the grueling thousand-mile Yukon Quest, the Kobuk 440, the Kusko 300, the Klondike 300, and the Copper Basin 300. In a revival of age-old tradition, some entire villages and towns in rural Alaska become swept away in the frenzy of sled dog racing, and sled dog are now common in many rural areas where they were eclipsed by “iron dogs” only a few decades ago.

Alaska is the world Mecca for sled dog racing, which has developed into a popular winter sport in the Lower 48, Canada, Europe, and even Russia. Mushers from more than a dozen foreign countries have run the Iditarod, and Alaskan mushers routinely travel Outside to races such as the John Beargrease in Minnesota, the Big Sky in Montana, the UP 200 in Michigan, and the Alpirod in Europe. A number of Alaskan mushers have even run races in the Russian Far East. The Winter Olympics are considering adding sled dog racing as an event and several sled dog races were held in Norway in conjunction with the 1994 games.

Although the race’s fame causes many people to think of the Iditarod Trail when they think of traveling to Nome, the trail is actually impassable during the spring, summer, and fall. Moreover, its routing is far from a direct course, taking about 1,150 miles to go the 650 or so airline miles from Anchorage to Nome. In addition, the race committee has routed the race to pass through a number of towns and villages missed by the original trail, and has adopted a northern route for even-numbered years to include more villages along the Yukon.

The checkpoints for the first half of the current race are Anchorage to Campbell Airstrip, Willow, Knik, Yentna Station, Skwentna, Finger Lake, Rainy Pass (Puntilla), Rohn Roadhouse, Nikolai, McGrath, Takotna, and Ophir. In odd numbered years the middle part of the race largely follows the original trail, from Ophir through Iditarod, Shageluk, Anvik, Grayling, and Eagle Island to Kaltag. In even years, it swings north from Ophir to Cripple, Ruby (heart of another old mining district), Galena, Nulato, and on to Kaltag.

From Kaltag, the home stretch is the same every year: Unalakleet, Shaktoolik, Koyuk, Elim, Golovin, White Mountain, Safety Roadhouse, and Nome. True to their predecessors, the mushers still run down Front Street past the still notorious saloons into the heart of the Last Frontier’s last frontier town to the burled arch. Every musher’s arrival is heralded by the city’s fire siren and every musher is greeted by a crowd lining the “chute”, no matter the time of day or night, or if he or she is first or fifty-first across the line.

Bowers, Don. "History-Iditarod." Iditarod.com. N.p., February 2012. Web. 31 Dec 2013. <http://iditarod.com/about/history/>.

In the mid 1950′s, Jo and Vi Redington were writing letters to bring rememberance to the old Iditarod Trail and it’s important historical significance to Alaska’s history.

There were two short races using nine miles of the Iditarod Trail in 1967 and 1969. (Sprint races).

The idea of having a race over a portion of the Iditarod Trail was conceived by the late Dorothy G. Page. In 1964, Page was chairman of the Wasilla-Knik Centennial Committee and was working on projects to celebrate Alaska’s Centennial Year in 1967.

Page was intrigued that dog teams could travel over land that was not accessible by automobile. In the late 1890′s and early 1900′s, settlers had come to Alaska following a gold strike. They traveled by boat to the coastal towns of Seward and Knik and from there, by land into the gold fields. The trail they used is today known as The Iditarod Trail, first surveyed by the Alaska Road Commission in 1908 and now one of the National Historic Trails as so designated by the Congress of the United States. In the winter, their only means of travel was by dog team.

The Iditarod Trail soon became the major “thoroughfare” through Alaska. Mail was carried across this trail, people used the trail to get from place to place and supplies were transported via the Iditarod Trail. Priests, ministers and judges traveled between villages via dog team.

By the mid 60′s, most people in Alaska didn’t even know there was an Iditarod Trail or that dog teams had played a very important part in Alaska’s early settlement. Dorothy G. Page, a resident of Wasilla and self-made historian, recognized the importance of an awareness of the use of sled dogs as working animals and of the Iditarod Trail and the important part it played in Alaska’s colorful history.

Page presented the possibility of a race over part of the Iditarod Trail in celebration of Alaska’s Centennial celebration in 1967 to an enthusiastic Joe Redington, Sr., a musher from the Knik area. Soon the Pages and the Redingtons began promoting the idea of the Iditarod Race to the extent that Joe and Vi Redington moved to the Knik area from their homestead at Flat Horn Lake and they have never moved back. (Flat Horn Lake is approximately 30 miles out of Knik.)

The Aurora Dog Mushers Club, along with men from the Adult Camp in Sutton helped clear years of over-growth from a nine mile section of the Iditarod Trail. The sprint race from Knik to Big Lake and back again was a two day event covering 56 miles. Their hard work was finished in time for Alaska’s 1967 Centennial celebrations and the first race along part of the Iditarod Trail. A $25,000 purse was offered in that race, with Joe and Vi Redington donating one acre of their land at Flat Horn Lake adjacent to the Iditarod Trail to help raise the funds. (The land was subdivided into one square foot lots and sold with a deed and special certificate of ownership, raising $10,000 toward the purse.) Contestants from all over Alaska and even two contestants from Massachusetts entered that first Iditarod Race, but a newcomer, Isaac Okleasik, from Teller, Alaska, won the race with his team of large working dogs. The sprint race was put on only one more time in 1969.

Joe never gave up on looking for a way to preserve the history of the Iditarod Trail and began talking to friends about a long distance race. The goal was to have the race go to the goldrush ghost town of Iditarod in 1973. However, in 1972, the decision was made to take the race the 1,000 miles all the way to Nome. Howard Farley and the residents in Nome were instrumental in getting the northern portion of the race organized. Meanwhile, the U.S. Army reopened the southern portion of the trail between Fairwell Lake and Knik as part of a winter exercise. Two teachers ,Tom Johnson and Gleo Hyuck believed in Redington’s vision of a long-distance race and worked with Joe to incorporate the Iditarod Race and plan it. Then others volunteered. The “Last Great Race on Earth” was a reality – all amidst comments that it couldn’t be done. Joe’s determination and vision along with many volunteers led to what we know today as the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

There were many who believed it was crazy to send a bunch of mushers out into the vast uninhabited Alaskan wilderness. But the race went! Twenty-two mushers finished that year and to date, there have been over 400 finishers. Mushers have come from Canada, Czechoslovakia, France, Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Italy, Japan, Austria, Australia, Sweden and the Soviet Union as well as from about 20 different states in this country.

For Joe Redington, the Father of the Iditarod, there were two most important reasons for the Iditarod Sled Dog race. He is quoted in Nan Elliot’s book, I’d Swap my Old Skidoo for You,“When I went out to the villages (in the 1950′s) where there were beautiful dogs once, a snow machine was sitting in front of a house and no dogs. It wasn’t good. I didn’t like that I’ve seen snow machines break down and fellows freeze to death out there in the wilderness. But dogs will always keep you warm and they’ll always get you there.” He was determined to bring back the sled dog to Alaska and to get the Iditarod Trail declared as a National Historic Trail.

Dorothy G. Page, the “Mother of the Iditarod” is quoted in the October 1979 issue of the Iditarod Runner on her intent for the Iditarod: “To keep the spirit of the Iditarod the same. I don’t ever want to see high pressure people getting in and changing the spirit of the race. We brought the sled dog back and increased the number of mushers. It is really an Alaskan event. I think the fact that it starts in Anchorage and then ends in Nome has opened up a whole new area for people in Alaska. I think they appreciate that. It puts them in touch with the pioneer spirit.” At this time, Dorothy was fairly ‘new’ to Alaska, and the conversations that she and Joe had blended with Joe’s knowledge and goals to create a common recognition of the importance of the Iditarod Trail.

Page, Dorothy, on. "History-Iditarod." Iditarod.com. N.p., 02/20/2012. Web. 31 Dec 2013. <http://iditarod.com/about/history/>.

Joe Redington, Sr. arrived in Knik, Alaska, on June 2, 1948, with $18 in his pocket and high hopes in his heart. He’d left his home in Pennsylvania in May and had driven over the still primitive Alcan Highway seeking a new home in the far north.

Fate stepped in just after he’d crossed the Alaskan border, too. Someone gave Joe a sled dog pup. Perhaps it was a sign that he would launch a new career in Alaska dealing with raising sled dogs, racing, and promoting racing. A ‘career’ that would make him famous throughout Alaska, the rest of the United States, and other parts of the world.

Redington headed for Knik to check on homestead land. Soon after he arrived in the scenic spot overlooking Knik Arm of Cook Inlet, he chose his land and filed on a homestead. The filing fee was $13. All Joe had left now was $5 and his new sled dog friend.

On his second day, Joe shot a black bear for meat. Also, three old-timers, Heinie Snider, Fred Hurd, and Jay Lavan, brought him 100 pounds of potatoes and a sack of canned goods. It was their idea of a welcome and extending a helping hand to a new Alaskan. Joe never forgot their kindness. In turn, he’s helped others.

Along with his “gift” groceries, Joe charged other groceries at Teeland’s Country Store in Wasilla until he could get his feet on the ground. But he was well on his way to being an Alaskan.

Soon, Joe had his homestead cabin built and had acquired more sled dogs. He started “Knik Kennels” in 1948 and was going strong until he passed away June 24, 1999. By his second year in Alaska, he had over 40 dogs. It appeared even then that dogs would be big in his future. Perhaps because of his early upbringing, Joe took naturally to raising sled dogs.

Redington had been born in Kingfisher, Oklahoma at the end of World War I. He lived in Oklahoma with his father and brother until he was six years old. His father was a farmer, rancher, and an oil field worker, among other things.

At the age of 10, Joe, his Dad and brother joined a group of Irish gypsies traveling throughout the central part of the United States. They remained with them for two years and Joe says, “It was the best education a young boy could have, it taught me a lot about people.”

In 1930, the Redingtons moved to Jersey City, N.J., for a year or so, but didn’t like the city life. They later moved to Kintersville, Pennsylvania, where they settled on a farm. It was in Kintersville that Joe first met Violet — who was to become his wife many years later.

In 1940, Joe enlisted in the U.S. Army. He joined the 6th Field Artillery — the horse artillery — at Fort Hoyle, Maryland.

During World War II, Joe was transferred to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and joined the Infantry and Field Artillery Jump School. After he completed his training, he was assigned to the Pacific Theater and was part of General McArthur’s Special Assault Troops.

Joe returned to Okinawa on December 6, 1945, and was discharged at Fort Dix, N.J., after almost six years in service. He went back to Kintersville, Pennsylvania., and began preparing for a trip to Alaska. He sold Jeeps and farm machinery to help raise money for the trip.

Joe’s army background helped him get his first “big” job in Alaska. He obtained a special job with the U.S. Air Force, 5039th Maintenance and Supply Group — commonly known as Rescue and Reclamation — whose main concern was the recovery of wrecked aircraft and the rescue of service personnel; or the bringing out of their remains.

From 1949 to 1957, Joe and his dog teams brought out millions of dollars of aircraft and hundreds of U.S. servicemen from the mountains. The only part that Joe didn’t like was the recovery of dead fliers.

One bad crash Joe recalled happened in the spring of 1955 when a Navy Neptune bomber crashed into Mt. Susitna across Cook Inlet from Anchorage, killing all of its 11 man crew. Three separate attempts were made to bring out the remains, but the first two were foiled by bad weather. Finally, in May, after 42 days of rigorous work locating the scattered bodies, some covered in 12 foot of snow, the job was completed.

Unable to destroy the Neptune because of the deep snow, the reclamation crew returned that summer and finished the job.

During rescue work, Joe used teams of as many as 20 or 30 big huskies. Most of the dogs weighed between 75 and 100 pounds and could go all day at a steady trot pulling sled and freight.

Redington also mushed his dog teams to remote sites along the Dew Line in the Arctic. The use of high powered helicopters for rescue and reclamation eventually put an end to the need for dog teams and Joe’s work with the army ended.

http://d3r6t1k4mqz5i.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/joesled.jpg

On February 18, 1953, Joe and Vi were married in Wasilla by the U.S. Commissioner, May Carter, who served as postmaster in Wasilla for many years.

The Redingtons moved to Flat Horn Lake along the old Iditarod Trail, and established a new homestead and guiding service. For a few years, they lived in a tent until their frame home was built. The house ended up being 70 feet long.

By this time, Joe had his big game guiding license and his pilot’s license and was busy building up a new business. But he still used the dog teams. His kennel now housed 270 dogs. Everything Joe needed for building and all supplies had been hauled into Flat Horn by dog team.

Only after he accepted the job of promoting a $25,000 centennial year spectacular sled dog race, did Joe and Vi Redington return to Knik as it was easier to work from there. Promoting the race became a full time job.

The 1967 Centennial Race, (a sprint race) was named in honor of Leonhard Seppala and was called the Iditarod Trail Seppala Memorial Race. This was a 56 mile race between Knik and Big Lake and back along nine miles of the Iditarod Trail.

To raise funds for the race, Joe and Vi donated an acre of their land at Flat Horn Lake to the cause. The land was subdivided into lots one foot square. Along with the deed to the lot, the buyer also got a “Certificate of Ownership” — or as Redington once remarked — “about two dollars worth of paper!” because it didn’t cost a lot to subdivide the acre. The Iditarod Trail Committee was hard at work putting in the trail, raising money, and promoting the race.

In 1968, there was no race due to lack of interest and lack of snow. But for Joe Redington, that was not the case .

Joe’s vision of the race on the Iditarod Trail grew by hundreds of miles over the next several years. His vision was to bring the sled dogs back to the villages and to have the Iditarod Trail recognized as a National Historic Trail. The first Iditarod race to Nome was in 1973. Joe did not get to race, but his team driven by his son, Raymie Redington, did star n this first race. Joe had to stay behind and raise money for the purse. His vision has now become a world class sporting event, the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race®. It is truly “The Last Great Race on Earth®”.

In 1997, Joe Redington, Sr. took part in the 25 Anniversary Iditarod Race after celebrating his 80th birthday. The race was dedicated to this great sled dog racing pioneer. He is the only musher to have been given the first position to leave the chute without drawing, as well as to wear the #1 bib.¹

Joe never did win the race he loved so much, but that wasn’t as important to him as just being on the trail with his beloved sled dogs. He raced in 19 races and came in 5th place four times.

Joe Redington, Sr. died in June of 1999 of cancer. He was buried in Wasilla in his favorite dogsled in a specially made vault.

Joe’s name is called during roll call at every Iditarod Trail Board meeting. The Board President always excuses Redington’s absence because “Joe is on the trail.” This routine procedure at Iditarod Board meetings reminds us of the Iditarod spirit that Joe Rerdintong Sr. exemplified and lives on in the lives of all the mushers, volunteers, and fans of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

At 1 PM on February 1, 2003 at the Iditarod Headquarters in Wasilla, Vi Redington unveiled the life-size bronze statue to commemorate her late husband and Father of the Iditarod, Joe Redington Sr. The Friends of Joe Redington Sr. raised $35,000 in over nine months to make this statue a reality. Everyone in attendance agreed that the artist, Joan Bugbee Jackson of Cordova, did and outstanding job of capturing Joe’s likeness. The detail she put into the work, especially the Iditarod patches on his parka are “just exquisite,” said Iditarod Trail Committee director, Stan Hooley. The base for this statue was made by Dave Olson. Dave was and to this day, still is a backbone of the Iditarod.

#13 Serum Run, the Rest of the Story

Salisbury, Gay, and Laney Salisbury. "Iditarod.com." Serum Run, the Rest of the Story. Iditarod Trail Committee, Inc., 02/09/2013. Web. 31 Dec 2013. <http://iditarod.com/zuma/serum-run-the-rest-of-the-story/>.

Back in January of 1925 there seemed to be an outbreak of tonsillitis in Nome – except tonsillitis is rarely fatal. Nome’s sick children were dying. With more research into the symptoms of the children, Dr. Curtis Welch realized Nome was on the brink of an epidemic that could take as many lives as the influenza of 1918! What he thought and hoped was only tonsillitis was deadly diphtheria. Nome needed anti-toxin to cure those who were sick and prevent the disease from spreading – sooner rather than later.

Dr. Welch, as a preventive measure, ordered serum to be delivered in late 1924 on the last supply ship into Nome before the Bering Sea froze over for the winter. Somehow, the order wasn’t filled and now Nome was in trouble – BIG TROUBLE.

Besides comforting the families and caring for the sick children, there were two major tasks at hand. Number one was to FIND serum and number two was to quickly TRANSPORT it to Nome. While the search was on, many people came together to think up a plan for delivering the medicine to Nome. This is where the rest of the story comes in.

After a large quantity of serum was found in Anchorage the first part of the delivery plan was a given. The lifesaving medicine could travel north to Nenana by train where it would be 674 miles east of Nome. Options from Nenana to Nome were limited. The people who traveled and knew the route were the postmen. During the winter, they drove their powerful dog teams from Nenana to Nome on a regular basis. With deliveries and rest stops, the route took three to four weeks. The serum had to get there faster!

The next thought was an express delivery. A strong fast dog team with an experienced driver would leave Nenana with the serum. Halfway to Nome, he would hand the serum off to another experienced driver with a fresh team who would carry the precious cargo the rest of the distance. Surely this would be faster than the traditional mail route.

The mayor of Nome had another idea. In February of 1924, an airplane made the first winter flight in Alaska carrying mail from Fairbanks to McGrath, a distance of 260 miles. Would it be at all possible to fly the serum to Nome? Travel at 60 miles per hour through the air would be faster than dog team. For the children in Nome, speed was very important!

There were pilots willing to fly the dangerous rescue mission. There were three planes in Fairbanks all stored for the winter and badly in need of repair. In their book, The Cruelest Miles, the Salisbury cousins describe the condition of the three planes, “the wings had been dismantled from the dilapidated airships. The once tight fabric covering the wings and fuselage was weak from all the rough landings as well as the wind and rain. Dirt and oil caked the engine and prop. Wires for the rudders and elevators hung from the sides of the fuselage.” Even in such disrepair, the pilots and mechanics thought one of the planes could be ready to go Nome in just three days, a flight they thought would take no more than 6-hours.

At the same time, another plan was taking shape. Twenty drivers and their teams would be ready and waiting at roadhouses along the trail. When the serum reached the roadhouse, it would be warmed inside then the new dog team and driver would head to the next exchange.

Of course the aviation fans were certain their plan was the answer to saving the children of Nome. But not everyone was convinced that it was possible to fly that distance in bitterly cold weather and blizzard conditions. If the plane went down, the precious serum would be lost and the pilot would likely die. Get the serum to Nome fast or get the serum to Nome for sure – that was the decision left for the Governor of Alaska, Scott Bone.

The plane chosen for the flight to Nome had an open cockpit. The pilot would be exposed to frigid temperatures of minus 50 degrees and surely not survive. At that time of year daylight was limited, there weren’t lights on the ground to guide the way nor did the plane have navigational equipment except for a magnetic compass. Anti-freeze hadn’t been invented so the engine’s water-cooling system would most certainly freeze up. Snow and ice could clog the engine and ice could form on the exterior of the plane. As dangerous as it would be on the ground for the drivers and dog teams, it was even more dangerous and uncertain in the air. As we know, Governor Bone awarded the job of saving the children of Nome to twenty teams of dogs and their drivers.

Still the aviation enthusiasts felt they could help if not by delivering the first batch of serum, then by delivering a portion of the second batch. They prepared one of the three planes for flight, the wings were attached, the motor was tuned up, skies were attached, supplies were loaded and the pilots were dressed in many layers of warm clothing. They rolled it out of the hanger, spun the prop and the engine raced into action and kept on racing. Every attempt to idle it down failed due to a radiator problem. The flight was scratched. On the next attempt, the radiator froze and again the flight was scratched. On the third attempt the plane didn’t get off the ground either and efforts to deliver any serum to Nome by air were abandoned. Governor Bone had made the correct decision.

#4 Iditarod Air Force – The Trail Above the Trail

"Iditarod.com." Iditarod Air Force-The Trail Above the Trail. Iditarod Trail Committee, Inc., 02/17/2013. Web. 31 Dec 2013. <http://iditarod.com/zuma/iditarod-air-force-the-trail-above-the-trail-2/>.

The Iditarod Air Force is made up of pilots, both men and women, who are willing to donate their time, talents and ski equipped bush planes to support The Last Great Race. Call their collective efforts a lifeline, network or support system, but basically it would be impossible for the 1049-mile race to exist without these dedicated, skillful, resourceful and generous pilots. The Iditarod Air Force has been the trail above the trail since 1978. Iditarod XLI marks their 35th year of “going to the dogs.”

The IAF moves goods, people and dogs up and down the trail, into and out of isolated villages and checkpoints whenever or wherever they are needed as long as light and weather conditions permit. Their race starts long before the Ceremonial Start in Anchorage on the first Saturday of March.

When the team of volunteers arrives at Skwentna on Saturday afternoon before the race starts, the goods will be there. The musher drop bags will be in a pile covered by a tarp waiting to be counted, sorted and alphabetically arranged. There will be plenty of straw bales, one for each team. In a smaller stack, cases of Heet will be ready to fuel the cookers as the mushers concoct gourmet meals of many courses for their athletes. All of these necessities along with lathe trail markers delivered courtesy of the Iditarod Air Force.

Race personnel are flown out to the checkpoints along the trail then after the race has “gone through,” those folks are retrieved and flown by the Air Force to other locations further down the trail. Race personnel include communications volunteers, logistics coordinators, photographers, Insiders, cooks, checkers, judges, veterinarians and the race marshal.

“Going to the dogs,” describes the role played by the Air Force pilots as they transport dropped dogs out of checkpoints. The pilots are accustomed to having canine passengers and the canines are good passengers. Why wouldn’t they be good passengers, they all have window seats!

The 25 to 30 dedicated pilots that fly the trail above the trail have collectively logged 420,000 hours of bush experience. In an average year they’ll transport about 500 dropped dogs. They’ll deliver 124,800 pounds or 62 tons of dog food to checkpoints along the trail contained in some 3,200-drop bags. Along with all the food come 1,100 cases of bottled Heet. Nearly 400 bales of straw are waiting for the mushers at the checkpoints along the trail, courtesy of the pilots and planes of the Air Force. In addition, the Air Force delivers lumber and carpenters to construct the tent checkpoints along the trail such as Ophir and Eagle Island.

The 2013 Iditarod Teacher on the Trail™ uses the Iditarod and Iditarod Air Force to teach students about scientific principles that apply to flight. Linda Fenton from Waupaca, Wisconsin helps students discover and understand Bernoulli’s Law and the four forces of flight – lift, weight, thrust and drag using the infamous Iditarod Air Force as they support the race on the ground from the trail above the trail. Linda has provided lessons about surface area and the four forces of flight on the Iditarod Education Portal.

Airplanes in 1925 were not mechanically advanced enough to deliver the serum to the children of Nome. Three attempts to get a bi-winged open cockpit plane off the ground were unsuccessful due to mechanical failure, water cooled engines and lack of anti-freeze. Today, bush planes provide transportation and vital links for all of rural Alaska. The Iditarod Air Force is an essential connection for the mushers and dog teams traversing the 1,000-mile trail from Anchorage to Nome.

Aversano, Earl J., and . "Balto's True Story." Serum Run Synopsis--Balto's True Story. N.p., 2013. Web. 31 Dec 2013. <http://www.baltostruestory.net/serumrunsynopsis.htm>.

This synopsis, presented as a timetable of important or noteworthy events from the serum run, is condensed from various source materials. This is not an exhaustive description of the Serum Run itself. A more thorough description may be found in such literary resources as the book The Cruelest Miles, by Gay and Laney Salisbury (which also describes all the events which led up to it, which happened immediately after it, and in the years following).

December, 1924: A two-year old Inuit boy from the native village of Holy Cross, near the gold-mining town of Nome becomes the first person to display symptoms of diphtheria. Dr. Curtis Welch, Nome's only doctor, misdiagnoses the boy's condition as tonsilitis (dismissing the possibility of it being diphtheria because no one else in the child's family or the village shows any signs of the extremely-contagious disease). The child dies the next morning, but the child's mother refuses to allow an autopsy of his body. As a result, an abnormally large number of cases of tonsilitis are diagnosed through December, including another fatality on December 28th. Subsequently, two more Inuit children die.

January 20, 1925: The first case of diphtheria is properly diagnosed, by Dr. Welch, in three-year old Bill Barnett. Welch does not administer diphtheria antitoxin to the boy, fearing an already expired batch of 8,000 units (which Nome's 24-bed Maynard Columbus Hospital had in its possession for some time, and which was dated from 1918) would weaken Barnett. The boy dies the next day (Welch had placed an order for replacement anti-toxin during the summer of 1924, from the health commissioner in Juneau, but the order did not arrive before the port of Nome closed up for the winter that year).

January 21: Seven-year old Bessie Stanley is diagnosed with diphtheria, in its late stages. Dr. Welch risks injecting her with 6,000 units of the expired antitoxin, and she dies later that day. That evening, Welch contacts Nome Mayor George Maynard, and arranges for an emergency town council meeting. During the meeting, he announces that he will need at least one million units to stave off what is becoming an epidemic. The council immediately declares and implements a quarantine, and appoints Ms. Emily Morgan (one of the hospital's four nurses) as quarantine nurse.

January 22: Dr. Welch sends a telegram, via the U.S. Army's Signal Corps, to alert all major towns in Alaska, and Governor Scott C. Bone, in Juneau, of the public health risk. A second telegram is sent to the U.S. Public Health Service in Washington D.C., desperately explaining the situation and the need for the antitoxin.

January 24: There are two more fatalities. Welch and Morgan diagnose 20 more confirmed cases, and 50 more at risk. At a meeting of the board of health, superintendent Mark Summers (of the Hammon Consolidated Gold Fields...which owns several smaller gold mining companies, including the Pioneer Gold Mining Company of Jafet Lindeberg, John Brynteson, and Eric Lindblom...the "Three Lucky Swedes" of Nome's early days) proposes a relay of dogsleds, using two fast teams. One would start at the town of Nenana, and the other at Nome, and they would meet in the town of Nulato. Summers' employee, the now-famous Norwegian dogsled racer, and breeder of Siberian Huskies, Leonhard Seppala, was the ideal choice for the 630-mile round-trip trek from Nome to Nulato and back again.

At the meeting, Mayor Maynard proposes flying the antitoxin by bush plane. These were World War I-vintage Standard J-1 bi-planes from the Fairbanks Airplane Corporation. However, with open cockpits and water-cooled engines, they were deemed unreliable for flight in the winter, and lay dismantled. Additionally, the two pilots who operated these bi-planes were down in the continental United States at the time, and unavailable. An Alaska Delegate to the United States, Dan Sutherland, attempts to get authorization to use inexperienced pilot Roy Darling. However, the board of health rejects the airplane option, and votes unanimously for the dogsled relay. Leonhard Seppala is notified shortly after the meeting, and begins training his 20-dog team (including his famous lead dog Togo, and his half-brother Fritz. Togo is already an advanced 12 years of age, and will lead the team an incredible distance in spite of that. This is an amazing and substantial accomplishment for a dog of his age, even today).

January 26: Three hundred thousand units of diphtheria antitoxin are located at the Anchorage Railroad Hospital when the chief surgeon there, John Beeson, hears of the situation in Nome. Following the orders of Governor Bone, he packs up the antitoxin and hands it over to conductor Frank Knight. The serum is rushed up to Nenana by rail, and arrives on January 27th. While not sufficient to defeat the epidemic, this amount could be enough to contain it until more antitoxin arrives (the U.S. Public Health Service had located 1.1 million units of antitoxin in various west coast hospitals. These were to be shipped to Seattle, Washington, and then transported to Alaska. The steamship Alameda would be the next ship out of Seattle, but it would not arrive there until the 31st of the month, and then would take another week to arrive in the port town of Seward, Alaska, near Anchorage).

January 27: With temperatures across the Alaskan interior reaching down to -50° Fahrenheit (-45° Celsius), due to a high-pressure system blowing in from the Arctic, and a second system burying the Alaskan panhandle, most forms of transportation were shut down. Also, limited available daylight at this time of year prevented much flying. Governor Scott Bone gives final authorization for the dogsled relay, and orders Edward Wetzler, U.S. Post Office inspector, to arrange a relay of the best drivers and dogs across the interior of the territory (which is a change from the original plan of only one driver heading out of Nenana to meet Seppala half-way). The teams will travel by day and night until reaching Seppala at Nulato. This decision outrages William Fendtriss "Wrong Font" Thompson, publisher of the Daily Fairbanks News-Miner and airplane advocate, who had helped line up a pilot and plane for the initial antitoxin to be flown to Nome. He uses his newspaper to publish scathing editorials about the decision. Seppala leaves Nome for Nulato with his team of twenty dogs.

The first driver, William "Wild Bill" Shannon, is handed the 20-pound (9 kilogram) package at the train station. Despite the temperatures, Shannon leaves immediately with his team of nine dogs, led by five-year old Blackie. The other eight dogs, however, are inexperienced. Because of the dropping temperature, and bad conditions on the trail (ruts and pock-marks from horse-drawn carriages, which could easily tear up the paw pads of the dogs, and injure their ankles), Shannon diverts the team onto the smoother ice of the Tanana River, running alongside the sled himself to keep warm. He arrives at the roadhouse at Minto at 3 A.M., with parts of his face black from severe frostbite. The temperature is now -62° F (-52° C). After warming the antitoxin by the fire and resting for four hours, he drops three dogs from the team (leaving them at the roadhouse) and continues on. Two of the three dogs Shannon dropped at Minto die after he returns home with them after his part of the relay. The third's fate is not recorded.

The next driver in the relay, Edgar Kallands, had arrived at the Minto roadhouse the night before, but was sent back to Tolovana.

January 28: Shannon arrives at the roadhouse in Tolovana at 11 A.M., he and his team in bad shape. He hands over the antitoxin to Edgar Kallands who, after warming it again, heads into the forest near the roadhouse. The temperature has risen to -56° F (-49° C), and Kallands makes the 31 miles to Manley Hot Springs without much reported incident, arriving at 4 P.M. The owner of the Manley Hot Springs roadhouse, however, reports later that he had to pour hot water over Kalland's hands in order to get them free of the sled's handlebar. Two more drivers, Dan Green and Johnny Folger, run the antitoxin along from Manley Hot Springs to Fish Lake, and then from Fish Lake to Tanana, through the remainder of the day and night (respectively).

January 29: The serum is handed along between six drivers and their teams during the course of the day, passing from Sam Joseph, to Titus Nikolai, to Dave Corning, to Harry Pitka, to Bill McCarty, and then to Edgar Nollner...encompassing a total distance of 170 miles (from Tanana through to Galena). During the night, Edgar Nollner hands the package to his brother, George Nollner. Two new cases of diphtheria are reported. The crisis has become headline news in major cities across the United States, including in San Francisco, Cleveland, Washington D.C., and New York, and is talked about on the new and amateur radio sets which are becoming vogue. The storm system which is nearly paralyzing the Alaska territory begins to hit and effect the continental United States, bringing record low temperatures (and many problems) to places as far away as New York, and freezing New York's Hudson River.

January 30: George Nollner continues on the trail, carrying the antitoxin along another 18 miles to Bishop Mountain, arriving at 3 A.M. Musher Charlie Evans heads out into a patch of ice fog, created when the waters of the Koyukuk River break through the surface ice. Forgetting to cover the vulnerable areas of the mixed breed leaders on his team, he sees them collapse from frostbite, and ends up having to lead the team along to Nulato himself. By the time he arrives, at 10 A.M., both of his lead dogs are dead. The next driver, Tommy Patsy, departs within a half hour of Evans' arrival.

The number of cases in Nome reaches 27, and the antitoxin is depleted. According to a reporter living in the town, "all hope is in the dogs and their heroic drivers...Nome appears to be a deserted city." Another death in Nome is reported. Nome Mayor George Maynard and Alaska delegate to the U.S., Dan Sutherland, renew their campaign for flying the remaining antitoxin by airplane, and several proposals are suggested. They are again unanimously rejected by experienced bush pilots, the Navy, and Governor Bone himself (which results in more scathing newspaper articles). In response, Bone decides to step up the speed of the relay by authorizing the addition of more drivers to the latter half of the relay (Nulato to Nome). Seppala is still scheduled to cover the most dangerous leg of the route (the shortcut across the frozen pack ice of Norton Sound), and Hammon board of health superintendent Mark Summers arranges for more drivers...including Seppala's colleague and protege, young Norwegian driver (and also Hammon employee) Gunnar Kaasen.

Patsy runs 36 miles to the town of Kaltag, handing the antitoxin along to driver "Jackscrew", who carries it with his team over the Kaltag Portage to "Old Woman Shelter" on the 31st.

January 31: After receiving the antitoxin from Jackscrew early in the morning, driver Victor Anagick runs his team 34 miles to the shore town of Unalakleet, handing it then to driver Myles Gonangnan who's team carries it another 40 miles, through now even lower temperatures (-70° F/-57° C), driving snow, and now winds which have picked up to gale force, to the roadhouse at Shaktoolik. Seppala is not there, but he finds driver Henry Ivanoff waiting just in case. Ivanoff warms the antitoxin for a bit, and then heads out into the storm, intending (and hoping) to spot Seppala along the established (but now practically invisible) trail. The winds have driven the temperature down now to a bone-chilling and teeth-shattering -85° F (-65° C). During the run, his team stumbles upon a lone reindeer, and ends up getting itself hopelessly tangled in the confusion which follows. Cursing and doing his best to untangle his dogs (and now at a total standstill), he luckily spots Seppala's large team passing him nearby. He turns and shouts "The serum! The serum! I have it here!" Seppala stops his team and the transfer is made. Turning back around, Seppala heads again for the dangerous ice of Norton Sound.

January 31: (continued from p. 2) Starting out at Ungalik after dark, Seppala's lead dog, the famous Togo, leads the team straight through the dark, across the very dangerous ice of Norton Sound. The team arrives at the roadhouse at Isaac's Point, on the far side of the route over the sound, at 8 P.M. In one day, Seppala's team has traveled 84 miles (135 kilometers), averaging 8 miles per hour (13 kilometers per hour).

February 1: After resting, the team set out again at 2 A.M., into the full raging power of the storm. During the night, the wind increased to at least 65 mph (105 kph). Seppala had the team travel back down onto the pack ice of the sound, following the shoreline. It was risky as the ice was starting to break up. They returned to shore in order to cross over Little McKinley Mountain, a climb of 5,000 feet (1,500 meters). After descending to the next roadhouse at Golovin, Seppala passes the antitoxin to driver Charlie Olson...at 3 A.M. The number of cases of diphtheria, in Nome, are now at 28 (the antitoxin en route is enough to treat only 30). The winds by now are raging at 80 mph (129 kph), and Welch orders a stop to the relay until the storm passes, reasoning that a delay of the antitoxin's arrival is better than the risk of losing it entirely. Messages are left at Solomon and Port Safety before the lines go dead.

Olson is blown off the trail, and suffers severe frostbite on his hands while putting blankets on his dogs. The wind chill is now -70° F (-57° C). He arrives at Bluff at 7 P.M. in poor shape. The next driver, Gunnar Kaasen, decides to wait until 10 P.M. for the storm to break. However, with it only getting worse, and fearing that the trail would soon be completely obscured by snow drifts, he risks heading out into a strong headwind, with his lead dog, Balto, up in front. Kaasen travels through the night...through drifts and river overflow over 600-foot (180-meter) Topkok Mountain. Balto leads the team through visibility so poor that Kaasen could not always see the dogs harnessed closest to the sled. He was two miles past the town of Solomon, where he was supposed to pass the antitoxin on, before he realized it. Making a decision which will trouble him later, he decides to go on. The winds from this point onward are so bad, that the sled flips over, dumping the antitoxin into a deep snow drift in the dark. Stopping the team, Kaasen rights the sled and desperately begins digging in search of the antitoxin. Removing his gloves (and exposing his bare hands to the icy wind and snow), in order to better feel around for the package, he eventually manages to stumble upon it, but acquires frostbite on his hands in the process. Getting the team back up, he presses onward.

February 2: Kaasen arrives at Point Safety ahead of schedule, at 3 A.M. Ed Rohn, the next driver in the relay, believing that Kaasen and the relay were halted at Solomon, is asleep, which is how Kaasen finds him. The weather has improved a little, so Kaasen makes a second decision which will trouble him down through the years...he does not wake Rohn (figuring it would take time to get Rohn ready, and his team harnessed), but again decides to press on after a short rest (and a chance to warm the antitoxin). Kaasen goes back out to his team and drives them on the last 25 miles (40 kilometers) to Nome, arriving on Front Street in the town at 5:30 A.M., and pulling up to the Merchants & Miners Bank. He stumbles to the front of the team, collapses before a few early-risen witnesses, who report that his only words (about Balto) are "damn fine dog".

"Mushing Terminology-Iditarod." Iditarod.com. Iditarod Trail Committee, Inc., n.d. Web. 31 Dec 2013. <http://iditarod.com/about/mushing-terminology/>.

Common Terminology

#13 Serum Run, the Rest of the Story

#4 Iditarod Air Force – The Trail Above the Trail

"Iditarod.com." Iditarod Air Force-The Trail Above the Trail. Iditarod Trail Committee, Inc., 02/17/2013. Web. 31 Dec 2013. <http://iditarod.com/zuma/iditarod-air-force-the-trail-above-the-trail-2/>.