Certainly, Leonhard Seppala could never handle the fact that Kaasen’s dog Balto became a hero. Some say he did it to secure his status as a hero and media favourite. In total Leonhard Seppala and his lead dog, Togo had travelled more than 400 kilometres to save their city and their family.Īnother driver was meant to do the last stretch of the relay, but Kaasen drove past the house where he was resting. The journey between Nenana and Nome was done in an amazing five and a half days through the worst possible weather. Not a single bottle of the serum has been broken or lost. The serum they are carrying is enough to treat 30 people, but on February 2, Gunnar Kaasen arrives with the serum in Nome and is received as a hero. The same day the 28th patient falls ill in Nome. By then Leonhard Seppala and Togo have managed 146 kilometres in a blizzard, across the Norton Strait and up a mountain pass, three times further than any of the other mushers during the relay. They now ascend the pass at Little McKinley Mountain, a neat little climb of 1,500 metres, before they hand the serum to Charlie Olsen. Togo has led the team and his musher to safety through darkness, cold and blizzards. Seppala reaches shore again on February 1 and leaves the sea ice behind. And Leonhard can only trust his 12-year-old dog Togo. It’s simply awful out there, on the rocking ice. During the night and out on the ice, temperatures drop to minus 40☌, and the wind increases further. But as news reached him, about the serum running out and the town being almost lost, he chooses to fight the ice again. With winds of up to 25 m/s, the sea ice is breaking up and there is the open sea in many places. So Seppala, who already have crossed the Norton Strait on his way to the rendezvous with the serum, knows that the conditions are terrible. They are heroes of their world, coming to save a town basically on the outskirts of the world. People and dogs make an average of 50 kilometres at record times, despite all circumstances against them. It’s a frozen journey through the valley of death. When the temperature drops to -30☌, a storm breaks out. There he hands the serum to Dan Green, who continues the journey once the serum has been warmed for a while. Wild Bill reaches Tolovana after 82 kilometres, his face severely frostbitten by the cold. When he’s due to set off, three of his dogs have problems with their lungs and must be left behind. It’s minus 52☌ when he stops in Minto to catch a couple of hours’ rest. Wild Bill Shannon runs next to his team so he won’t freeze to death. Wild Bill sets off straight away and the temperature drops even further. It’s nine o’clock at night, and outside it is minus 46☌. On January 27 the first musher, Wild Bill Shannon, picks up the serum at the train station in Nenana. The most difficult stretch was awarded a middle-aged man born in the Torne Valley called Leonhard Seppala. It would be a trip of more than 1,000 kilometres through the interior of Alaska, in the merciless cold. A relay involving 20 mushers and around 100 to 150 dogs was organized. The record was nine days – now they had to do it in six days to get there before the serum expired. It normally took 30 days for a dog sled-team to travel between the towns Nome and Nenana. Instead, a relay of dog teams was to accept the mission. It was minus 50☌, and the aircraft meant to carry supplies to Nome stood frozen on the ground. The new vaccine was on its way on the train from Anchorage, but when the train was due to depart the worst cold in the memory of living individuals had struck Alaska. Reading Dr Welch’s telegram, it seems perhaps they weren’t the highest priority, as the doctor concludes his emergency message with “There are 300 whites living in the area”. The residents of Nome were mostly indigenous people. But collecting it took time, and the governing politicians probably delayed in deciding whether it was worth the money. The frozen town could only be saved if the new serum arrived in time.Īlready a month prior to the outbreak the provincial physician Curtis Welch in Nome had asked for a serum to be sent to the town. Leonhard Seppala lived there with his family, and his eight-year-old daughter Sigrid was now in mortal danger because the vaccine available in town had expired and probably wouldn’t be enough in any case. In January 1925 the deadly disease diphtheria had broken out in the coastal town of Nome, by the Pacific Ocean.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |