True Story Of How A Husky Scrub Dog Saved an Entire Alaskan Town From Certain Death

Life became easier after modern technology and different modes of transport came into play. But in earlier times, life wasn’t this easy, especially in countries like Alaska, where people had to depend on husky dogs for their every need. Let’s also remember that Alaska experiences extremely cold temperatures with mercury dipping as low as −62.2 degrees Celcius. According to Wikipedia, about 9,000 years ago sled dogs were introduced in the Artic and they quickly became an important mode of transport for people who lived there at that time.

It was only in the 20th century that semi-trailer trucks, snowmobiles, and airplanes were introduced to help haul supplies in areas that were otherwise unreachable by other methods. Back then sled dogs were used to bring in supplies to Alaskan towns and deliver mail to rural communities, and while they’re still used as a mode of transport by some locals, they’re no longer the only mode of transport for people who live there. But can sled dogs bear the bitter cold Alaskan weather? Yes, Siberian husky dogs are bred to be tough and can withstand temperatures as cold as -51 degrees Celcius. However, they should be allowed to spend as much time indoors as they spend outdoors, after all, they need warmth too.

This is a story of an Alaskan husky called Balto, who was usually seen roaming alone in the bitterly cold streets of a small town in Alaska called Nome. He had no friends and was often overlooked when mushers positioned their dogs to lead specific teams. But in 1925 tragedy hit Nome – people required a miracle to save them from certain death. In January 1925, physicians declared that some townspeople had developed symptoms of Diptheria and that the only way to survive was to get an antitoxin to help fight the disease that claimed the lives of 15,000 people in the U.S. in 1921.

The problem was that the antitoxin was located 674 miles away in Anchorage, a journey that, today, would take about 1.5 hours by flight. But let’s remember that back in 1921, there were no flights and people had to depend on sled dogs to lead the way and bring them back home safely. The journey, that started on January 27th, 1925, was divided into multiple stretches to bring back the antitoxin and was termed the Great Race of Mercy. There was one catch, though. According to Dr. Curtis Welch due to the extreme weather condition, the serum had to reach Nome in six days, after which it would be ineffective.

A group of 20 mushers began their journey starting with “Wild Bill” Shannon powering through the -46 degree temperatures with his sled dogs to pick up the 9.1 kg serum from Nenana. Shannon lost four of his dogs and parts of his face had succumbed to frostbite before handing over the serum to another team led by Leonhard Seppala and his 12-year-old sled dog Togo. Seppala’s team journeyed over 91 miles in -62 degree temperatures and handed over the serum to Charlie Olson, who passed it to Gunnar Kaasen to complete the remaining journey of 53 miles to Nome.

Kaasen chose Balto to lead his team home. Balto, the scrub dog, who was often overlooked when mushers positioned their husky dogs, became a hero for the people of Nome. Balto led the team through an extremely nasty blizzard and didn’t steer off course even when his team couldn’t see clearly through the storm. It took the 20 mushers five and a half days (127.5 hours) to return home with the lifesaving serum. Thanks to Balto and his determination to lead his team home, the lifesaving serum was handed over to Dr. Curtis Welch on February 2nd, at 3 am. Unfortunately, on March 14th, 1933 Balto passed away at the age of 14 and his statue was mounted in the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.