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TOG O THE SLED DOG
Saves an Alaskan Town agree one hero stood out above the rest: Togo, lead dog of renown musher Leonhard Seppala, who crossed the longest and most dangerous leg of the relay. Togo’s 91-mile race crossed the frozen Norton Sound, where unstable ice could break apart and claim the lives of a musher and their dogs. But this route saved a day of travel, and Seppala and Togo carried on. In a whiteout blizzard, with temperatures at -85 F and winds up to 65 mph, Togo’s incredible stamina and ability to sense danger led his team to safety. Thanks to their bravery, the serum arrived in Nome in 5½ days. The official death toll for Nome and the surrounding Native Alaskan encampments was less than 100 — far below the 100,000 predicted. Today, a statue of Balto, the lead dog of the relay’s last leg, stands in Central Park, New York City, though it’s worth mentioning the award on the statue was not actually given to Balto, but to Togo. As Seppala said himself, “I never had a better dog than Togo. His stamina, loyalty, and intelligence could not be improved upon. Togo was the best dog that ever traveled the Alaska trail.”
I n the winter of 1924– 25, the Alaskan town of Nome suffered a deadly outbreak of diphtheria. Facing an epidemic, with no medicine on hand, the
entire population of Nome and the surrounding areas could’ve been wiped out. The doctor sent a plea to the U.S. Public Health Service in Washington, D.C., for help. Due to the harsh Alaskan winter, ships couldn’t reach the Nome port, and it was too dangerous for planes. Sled dogs were the only method of transportation available. They decided to send a shipment of serum by train to Nenana, Alaska. The serum was then transported to Nome by sled dog. The fastest trip from Nenana to Nome was nine days. Due to the brutal conditions, the serum could only last six days before it would expire. What followed was the Great Race of Mercy — a desperate relay to deliver the serum 700 miles across northern Alaska. Twenty mushers and 150 sled dogs participated in the relay, but most historians
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