The Iditarod and Sled Dogs

Togo the Siberian Husky was the lead dog during a critical phase of the 1925 serum run to Nome.

You’ve heard of the Idtarod Trail Sled Dog Race, but do you know the history behind it?

Alaska went through one gold rush after another beginning in the 1880s. There were major gold strikes near Juneau, the Klondike, Nome, and Fairbanks. There was even one at a little place called Iditarod in 1909, 629 miles west of the future site of Anchorage and half way to Nome. The strike at Iditarod was a full-scale, old-fashioned, frontier-style gold rush — the last in the United States or its territories.

Getting around in Alaska was difficult. Some areas were accessible by water in summer, but the most practical way to travel was the way the the native peoples did it — by dog sled. Native peoples in Alaska had been breeding dogs for this purpose for centuries. The Malemiut Inupiat people had developed a very hardy breed of sled dog that now bears their name — the Malamute.

The Russians and Americans who settled in the Alaskan country discovered that dog sleds were the only practical way to travel long distances when river travel wasn’t possible. They discovered that dogs were perfect for winter travel. The typical traveler on the Iditarod Trail was a musher driving a team of twenty or more dogs pulling a massive freight sled capable of carrying a half ton or more. It took dogs who could pull a lot of weight and handle hard, cold weather conditions to cover the trail.

Sled dogs are terrific athletes. Pound for pound they are said to be the most powerful draft animal on earth, able to pull many times their weight. A team of dogs averaging 75 pounds can easily match a team of horses weighing twice as much. A single dog has pulled more than half a ton in the canine equivalent of a tractor pull. As late as the 1960s Yup'ik Eskimos of Nelson Island moved much of their town, including entire houses, to a new site 24 miles away with hundred-dog teams.

Sled 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. (Owners of Arabian horses and endurance riders might dispute this information!) Dogs can also be fed from the land on meat such as moose, fish or caribou in the winter, while horses or oxen require expensive hay or grain. In addition, heavy draft animals cannot use the snowpacked winter trails.

It’s certainly true that no other animal has adapted so well to traveling in the winter conditions of Alaska.

Early mushers used a mix of breeds, from native types such as the Malamute and the Siberian Husky to various domestic dogs from the contiguous States. (One person I know swears that she has seen a team of Irish Setters being used as sled dogs.) Some mushers even used wolves as sled dogs.

By 1900 dog teams were a common sight. But, with the coming of the airplane, the use of dog sleds and the Iditarod Trail fell off.

There was one last hurrah for dog sledding. In 1925 a diphtheria epidemic broke out, threatening the isolated town of Nome. The nearest serum was in Anchorage. The initial idea was to fly the serum to Nome. However the only pilot considered capable of making the flight in unpredictable weather was in the Lower 48 States and not available.

The only recourse was to organize a Pony Express-style relay of dog teams to take the serum to Nome. Every village along the route offered its best team and driver for its leg of the journey to speed the serum to Nome. The critical leg across the treacherous Norton Sound ice was taken by Leonhard Seppala, with his Siberian Husky Togo. Seppala was the territory’s premier musher and Togo was his lead dog. Gunnar Kaasen drove the final two legs into Nome behind his lead dog Balto, an Alaskan Malamute, through a blizzard hurling 80 mph winds.

Balto the Alaskan Malamute was the lead dog on the final two legs of the serum run, through a blizzard.

The serum arrived in time to prevent the epidemic and save hundreds of lives. The 20 mushers had covered almost 700 miles in little more than 127 hours (about six days) — a trip that normally took three weeks — in temperatures that rarely rose above 40° below zero and winds sometimes strong enough to blow over dogs and sleds. The serum run received worldwide press coverage and the mushers received special gold medals. A statue of Balto, the heroic lead dog, was erected a year later in New York’s Central Park (it’s still there). Togo’s preserved body is on display in a glass case at the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Museum Headquarters in Wasilla, Alaska. He is credited with single-handedly bringing recognition to Siberian Huskies as a breed in the United States.

However, the day of the mushers was largely over. Alaskans quickly came to depend on small planes for their travel needs. (Because of the weather conditions in Alaska, the state has fewer miles of roadways than any state except Rhode Island.)

The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, begun in a small way in 1967 for Alaska’s centennial and fully operational in 1973, honors the 1925 diphtheria run. It commemorates the mushers and dogs who raced from Anchorage to Nome to save hundreds of lives. And, it honors the past, when sledding and sled dogs were a daily part of life in Alaska. It honors dogs like Togo and Balto, and all of the sled dogs before and since, who have helped people live in the North Country.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 8th, 2007 at 9:26 am and is filed under Famous Cool Dogs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.