The Cruelest Miles: the Heroic Story of Dogs and Men in a Race Against an Epidemic
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160 "A dog so devoted to": Thompson, Seppala's Saga, 2:14.
161 "Like a lot of humans": Ibid., 15.
161 "squealing like a little pig": Ricker, Alaskan Dog Driver, 285.
162 an "infant prodigy": Ibid., 287.
162 "Steady, Hurricane": The account that follows is drawn from Elsie Noble Caldwell, Alaska Trail Dogs (New York: R. R. Smith, 1945), 116-17. Caldwell's work has an amazing array of lead dog stories.
164 "crossed the ice on the big crack": Willoughby, Gentlemen Unafraid, 161.
164 "You can't tell me that a dog": Ibid., 162.
165 "pretending indifference": John O'Brien, By Dog Sled for Byrd; 1600 Miles Across Antarctic Sea Ice (Chicago: Thomas S. Rockwell Co., 1931), 180. Colonel Norman D. Vaughan continued to drive dogs after the expedition and became an active member of the mushing community and the author of My Life of Adventure and With Byrd at the Bottom of the World.
165 "Thus completely foiled in this": Edgerton Young, My Dogs in the Northland (London: S. W. Partridge & Co., 1902), 170.
166 "He was my dog": Edgar Kallands, 14.
166 "...when I go away and come back": Ibid., 50.
167 "I want you to go back": Ibid., 45.
167 "It was 56 below, but I didn't notice": Bill Sherwonit, Iditarod: The Great Race to Nome (Anchorage: Northwest Books, 1991), 35.
168 "Antitoxin departed Tolovana": Wetzler to Bone, January 28, 1925, National Archives.
168 would be weeks before he would once again: Unidentified newspaper, Seppala Collection, Rasmuson.
168 "What those dogs did": Tacoma News Tribune, n.d.
168 "If ever their master comes": Ann Mariah Cook, Running North: A Yukon Adventure (Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 1998), 98.
Chapter Nine: Red Tape
171 Usually at this time: West, "I Remember Nome," Alaska Sportsman (April 1962).
171 yet by that evening: Various newspaper reports and telegrams indicate that town officials had thought, or at least hoped, that the epidemic had been contained.
171 Daniel Kialook: Medical Reports.
172 Even without Schick Tests: Welch requested Schick Tests in his telegrams to Washington.
173 "The situation is bad": Contents of telegram printed in "Authorizes Flier to Make Nome Dash," The New York Times, January 31, 1925.
173 This third batch: A "third batch" of serum is referred to in several telegrams sent between Nome and Nenana and Juneau on January 28, 1925, January 29, 1925, and February 4, 1925.
174 "I am a physician": Welch to Public Health Service, January 21, 1925, National Archives, RG 90.
175 "who suffered for the sufferers": Bone to C. R. Hope, Universal News Service, article, January 30, 1925, National Archives, RG 90.
176 In 1922, some 60,000 households: Robert Hughes, "Passion for the New," Time magazine, March 9, 1998.
177 "...It is an unpeopled country": Scott C. Bone, Annual Report, 1924, microfilm, Rasmuson.
177 "Help immediately!": Associated Press, January 30, 1925. The plea appeared in several newspapers.
Source Notes
178 "There is no denying": Editorial, Alaska Daily Empire, February 3, 1925.
178 "Epidemic Grows Graver": The Washington Post, January 31, 1925.
179 "the greatest humanitarian service": The New York Sun, January 30, 1925.
179 "Aviator Darling of Fairbanks": Sutherland to Maynard, January 29, 1925, "Telegraphic," Nome Nugget, January 31, 1925. 181 "Even so, the flight": Seattle Union Record, January 30, 1925.
181 "would take longer": Ibid.
182 a "cruiser carrying airplane": Loring Pickering to Surgeon General Cumming, January 30, 1925, National Archives, RG 90.
182 "not permit this epidemic": Ibid.
183 "We have been conferring": "Navy Officials to Rely on Dog Teams for Rescue," The New York World, February 1, 1925. The story was written on January 31.
184 "from what I know": Seattle Times, January 31, 1925.
184 "...suggest aviator Darling": Sutherland to Thompson, January 30, 1925, reprinted in Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, January 31, 1925.
185 "use his discretion": Acting Surgeon General to Bone, January 30, 1925, National Archives.
185 "Nome looks to Fairbanks": Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, January 30, 1925.
187 to "spare no expense": Summers to Traeger, January 30, 1925 (contents of message printed in the Nome Nugget, January 31, 1925). Some sources report that Nome's health board initially made the decision to speed up the relay. We believe it was Governor Bone, who was the ultimate authority in Alaska on the rescue mission.
188 gloved hands froze to the sled's: Associated Press, January 29, 1925. 188 details on Charlie Evans's run: Jeffrey Richardson, "Serum Runner Remembers," Senior Voice (1986); Charlie Evans, interview by Tom Beck, transcript, September 12, 1980, Iditarod Trail Project Oral History Program, Bureau of Land Management, Rasmuson; Matthew Donohue, "All in a Day's Work: Mushers Recall Serum Run of 1925," Alaska Magazine (March 1980); Ungermann, Race to Nome, 80-82; and Don Bowers, Iditarod Trail Notes 2000, Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, www.iditarod.com (August 2000).
190 "It would come over me": Hansen, Tundra, 282.
190 "let the dogs go": Richardson, "Serum Runner Remembers."
191 "I can't stop": Ibid.
191 he moved to the front of the team: Coppinger, World of Sled Dogs, 63.
192 "It was real cold": Ibid.
192 the "big animal": Sidney Huntington, as told to Jim Rearden, Shadows on the Koyukuk (Portland, OR: Alaska Northwest Books, 1993), 172. Huntington describes the bear hunt in these memoirs of living along the Koyukuk River in Alaska's Interior.
Chapter Ten: The Ice Factory
195 "the ice factory": William Stringer, Professor Emeritus, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Dept. of Geology and Geophysics, interview by the authors at Fairbanks, August 2000.
199 Gonangnan run: Ungermann, Race to Nome, 106-10. Ungermann is the main source for Gonangnan's experience on the trail. The driver left little record of his trip. Detail on the trail comes from Don Bowers's Iditarod Trail Notes 2000, www.iditarod.com (August 2000), and his book Back of the Pack: An Iditarod Rookie Mushers Alaska Pilgrimage to Nome (Anchorage: Publication Consultants, 1998), 334-35.
199 Over the past few days: The wind direction is based on anecdotal accounts. These accounts contradict weather maps of the time, which are not fully reliable. Both the anecdotal accounts and the weather maps, however, confirm that on the day of Gonangnan and Seppala's run, the wind was blowing offshore. Given the wind's strength, the ice would have been under threat of breaking up with or without the past few days of an onshore breeze.
203 "blowing so hard": Ungermann, Race to Nome, 107.
203 "the edge of the planet": Bowers, Iditarod Trail Notes 2000, www .iditarod.com (August 2000). The Web site is a comprehensive source for further information on the Iditarod and its participants.
204 the whiteout conditions cleared: It is not exactly clear at what point the whiteout conditions cleared. Most likely Gonangnan regained reference points when he reached Norton Sound.
204 at gale force, about 40 miles per hour: This is an estimated wind speed based upon the prevailing wind conditions along this stretch of coast, anecdotal accounts by other drivers, and the strength of the storm brewing to the south. The drivers referred to gale-force winds, which are between 39 and 54 mph. The storm, which had not reached its height during Gonangnan's run, was packing winds in excess of 55 mph, according to weather maps of 1925. These are located at University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Geophysical Institute.
2o5 "Would advise keeping all": Welch to Bureau of Education, January 31, 1925, National Archives.
205 "Nome Situation Critical": Seattle Post-Intelligencer, February 1, 1925.
206 "...have received information": Welch to Surgeon General, January 31, 1925, National Archives.
206 The wind was behind him: Leonhard Seppala, with Raymond Thompson, "When Nome Needed Ser
um," Alaska Sportsman (May 1961). Seppala describes his round-trip journey in detail.
207 "The serum! The serum! I have it here.*": Ibid.
208 had his own daughter to worry about: The reports vary as to whether or not Sigrid contracted diphtheria. One account said she suffered a severe sore throat in late December, another that she contracted the disease during the epidemic. In an interview with the authors in early 2002, Sigrid said she did not catch diphtheria.
208 "ready to bet their final ounce": Berkeley Gazette, January 31, 1925, Seppala Collection, Rasmuson.
208 "always argued that there's nothing": Ibid.
208 "There isn't any quit in him": San Francisco Bulletin, January 31, 1925, Seppala Collection, Rasmuson.
209 but drive as if he were in a race: Ricker, Alaskan Dog Driver, 292.
210 "Togo seemed to understand": Leonhard Seppala, interview in Boston Sunday Post, January 27, 1927.
210 "until it was twice looped": Ibid.
211 Occasionally, he leaned out: Ungermann, Race to Nome, 123. Another technique Seppala may have used was to lay his hand on the ice and let it glide across the rough surface, on the alert for any vibration that would indicate ice was piling up or coming apart in the distance.
211 fed them salmon and seal blubber: Seppala, "Needed Serum," Alaska Sportsman (May 1961).
Chapter Eleven: Cold Glory
213 "Maybe you go more closer": Ricker, Alaskan Dog Driver, 293.
213 details of Seppala's run: Ricker, Alaskan Dog Driver, 293-94; Ungermann, Race to Nome, 129-31; Seppala, "Needed Serum," Alaska Sportsman (May 1961); Coppinger, World of Sled Dogs, 64. Detail on the trail comes from Bowers, Iditarod Trail Notes and Back of the Pack, 353.
215 "even if the dogs manage": Seattle Star, February 2, 1925.
216 Mayor Maynard picked up the phone: It was not fully clear who made the call to the roadhouse keeper in Solomon, but over the course of the epidemic Maynard became increasingly involved in the rescue mission. The call could also have been made by Summers, who was officially in charge of the relay in Nome. '
217 "Violent blizzard now on is delaying": Welch to Bureau of Education, passed on to Public Health Service. The date of the message is unclear. It appears to have been sent on February 1. There is no doubt about the blizzard occurring on the date.
217 in "constant motion from a heavy": "Last Relay Driver Arrives at Nome with Serum," Seattle Daily Times, February 3, 1925.
218 "Either you listened to him": Jack Strege, Kaasen's great-nephew, interview by the authors, March 2002.
219 "They couldn't have gone much": Kasson (sic), The World, February 4, 1925-
220 "I had seal mukluks": Ibid.
220 "We are up against it": Stuck, Ten Thousand Miles, 104.
220 "you don't know whether to pray": Willoughby, Gentlemen Unafraid, 117.
221 "air thick as smoke": Ibid., 90. 221 "sturdy and brave": Ibid., 120-22.
223 "Topkok is hell": Kasson, The World, February 4, 1925.
223 the course of the trail: Bowers, Back of Pack, 360-61.
224 "I didn't know where I was": Kasson, The World, February 4, 1925.
224 He patted the sled down: Ibid.; Ungermann, Race to Nome, 152.
224 "boosted" him along: Kasson, The World, February 4, 1925.
225 "Damn fine dog": "Heroic Mushers Fasten Curb on Nome Epidemic," The New York Sun, February 4, 1925.
Chapter Twelve: Saved!
227 The serum would have to be thawed: Welch to Beeson, February 2, 1925, Telegram, National Archives.
227 Welch went first: Ibid.
228 Margaret Curran's case: "Disease Spreads in Nome," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, February 2, 1925.
229 "I should feel much safer": Welch to Beeson, February 2, 1925, Telegram, National Archives.
229 a test drive down the main street: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, February 2, 1925. 229 those who were seriously ill would recover: Medical Reports.
229 "I'm carrying on": Unidentified newspaper, "Nome Correspondent, Stricken, Is on Job," February 4, 1925, dateline.
230 "Six Dead As Plague Gains": San Francisco Chronicle, February 5, 1925. 230 "She was known to every sourdough": "Nome Epidemic Is Checked," Seattle Star, February 5, 1925.
230 "If this rate continues": Sutherland to Bone, February 4, 1925, National Archives, RG 90.
231 "This bureaucracy stands idly by": The Washington Post, February 6, 1925.
231 "Alarming reports sent": "Governor Bone Takes Issue on Flight to Nome," Alaska Daily Empire, February 6, 1925.
231 "as many spare engine parts": North American Newspaper Alliance, carried in several newspapers, February 5, 1925.
232 "It is most gallant of Darling": "Serum to Be Taken by Plane," Seattle Star, February 3, 1925.
232 officials in Nome were in "hysteria": Bone to Wetzler, February 7, 1925. National Archives, RG 90.
233 "solved between themselves": "Darling Standing By with Mackie to Fly to Nome," Anchorage Daily Alaskan, February 3, 1925.
234 "Our plane will pass the dogs": "Airplane Hopes to Overtake Nome Dog Team Relay Today," Seattle Daily Times, February 9, 1925.
234 would be "no great difficulty": Darling to Bone, February 6, 1925, National Archives, RG 90.
235 the number of recoveries was beginning: It appears that Welch had first told DeVighne that the number of recoveries was beginning to outpace new cases in Nome on February 3 or 4, 1925.
236 "We believe in the airship": Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, February 10, 1925.
237 "First Trip Air Mail Nome": Nome Nugget, June 20, 1925.
238 "Dilapidated shingled buildings": Anne Morrow Lindbergh, North to the Orient (New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1935), 124.
238 By the 1960s, the sled dog population: Coppinger, World of Sled Dogs, j6.
240 "distance is over ten miles": Coppinger and Coppinger, Dogs: A New Understanding, 157.
240 "Siberians are kind of like": Bob Thomas, International Siberian Husky Club, interview by the authors, June 2001.
Epilogue: End of the Trail
244 "goaded on to the last": "Epic Struggle Brings Serum to End Plague," San Francisco Chronicle, February 3, 1925. 244 "Science made the antitoxin": Editorial, The New York Sun, February 3, 1925-
244 "that classic, heroic dog team": "Lauds Rescue Dogs in Senate Speech," The New York Times, February 7, 1925. Senator Dill's comments on the serum run from the Senate floor were widely reported in newspapers across the country.
245 "in honor of Gunnar Kaasen's": Harry J. Harrcort to Bone, undated letter, National Archives, RG 90.
246 "I was praying you'd be here": " 'Protect Me' Says Kaasen, Nome's Hero," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 22, 1925.
247 Balto sculpture unveiling: "His Effigy Unveiled, Balto Is Unmoved," The New York Times, December 16, 1925.
247 "He would rather make his hard mush": Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, February 9, 1925.
247 "the shrinking modesty": Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 22, 1925.
248 "Nonsense," Kaasen snapped: Tom Mahoney, "Arctic Dash Against Death," Coronet Magazine (October 1958).
248 "in Alaska, our dogs mean": Ricker, Alaskan Dog Driver, 281.
248 "It was almost more than": Ibid., 395.
249 "I hope I shall never be": Ibid., 281.
250 "They probably considered it": Thompson, Seppala's Saga, 2:36; Thompson wrote extensively about Seppala's tour through the states.
252 "he had worked his hardest and his best": Ricker, Alaskan Dog Driver, 295.
252 "It was a sad parting": Ibid.
252 "Every once in a while a dog": "Dogs That Rank as Heroes Have a Hall of Fame," The New York Times Magazine, January 5, 1930.
252 "in the depths of his keen gray eyes": Bruce Wilson, "The Champions of the Northland," n.d., Seppala Collection, Rasmuson.
253 "While my trail has been rough": Thompson, Seppala's Saga, 2:60.
253 He returned to Cleveland and began: Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper a
ccounts, March 1927.
254 "This hero business is big blah": Unidentified newspaper, Seppala Collection, Rasmuson.
254 "I wouldn't take a million dollars": Churchill Fisher, "Lone Travelers in an Empty World," Alaska Magazine (November-December 1942).
255 "I got more in gratitude": "Notes and Reviews," Alaska Journal (Spring 1979).
255 "During the serum run I was": Matthew Donohue, "All in a Day's Work," Alaska Magazine (March 1980).
256 "if the situation had not been so dire": T. A. Badger, "A Race to Save Lives," Anchorage Daily News, January 23, 1995.
256 "I just wanted to help": "Edgar Nollner, 94, Dies; Musher in Alaska Relay," The Washington Post, January 20, 1999.
Appendix A
257 "right and wrong": Northland News (September 1987).
258 "I'm going to tell you this once": "Balto Film Triggers Memories of Musher," The Herald (Everett), January 9, 1995.
258 "You had to be able to walk": Edgar Kallands, 53.
258 "It made me feel good to know": Donohue, "All in a Day's Work," Alaska Magazine (March 1980).
259 "They pulled them three dead": Ibid.
259 "smiling, hearty and proud": "Leonhard Seppala, Alaska Dog Team Champ," Tacoma Sunday Ledger-News, February 22, 1959.
260 "In spite of his protestations": Lula Welch, "Northland Doctor's Wife."
261 "the very commendable way": Surgeon General to Welch, April 11, 1925, Telegram, National Archives, RG 90.
261 "Nome is on a slow retreat": Edward Curtis, Log Book, June Metcalf Collection, Rasmuson. 261 the town "that would not die": Cole, Nome: City of the Golden Beaches, 161.
Selected Bibliography
Major Collections of Primary Sources
Alaska State Archives, Juneau
Alaska Governor's Chronological Correspondence
Alaska Territorial Government, Governor's Annual Reports
Record Group 101, Territorial Governor's Office, General Correspondence, 1925
Alaska State Library, Juneau
Governor Scott Bone Papers
Mary Greene Papers
Carrie McLain Memorial Museum, Nome