All ampules of the antitoxin were intact, and Kaasen handed them over to be thawed for use by mid-day. He traveled the remaining 25 miles (40 km) to Nome and arrived at Front Street at 5:30 a.m. The last team and its driver, Ed Rohn, had believed Kaasen and the relay were halted in nearby Solomon due to inclement weather, and so were asleep when Kaasen and Balto made it to this final relay point – Kaasen decided to continue on, in order to save time it would take to change sleds and hitch up a new team. They arrived in Port Safety shortly thereafter, where the final leg of the relay was to begin. On February 2, 1925, the Norwegian Gunnar Kaasen, a family friend of Leonhard Seppala driving a team of Seppala's dogs which he had left behind in case they would be needed, led by Fox and including Balto among others, was handed off the serum package by Charlie Olson in Bluff. News coverage of the event was worldwide. More than 20 mushers took part, facing a blizzard with −23 ☏ (−31 ☌) temperatures and strong winds. The serum was transported by train from Anchorage to Nenana, where the first musher embarked as part of a relay aimed at delivering the serum to Nome. After considering all the alternatives, officials decided to move the treatment via multiple dog sled teams. The engine of the only aircraft that could quickly deliver the medicine was frozen and would not start. The only serum that could stop the outbreak was in Anchorage, Alaska. In January 1925 doctors realized that a potentially deadly diphtheria epidemic was poised to sweep through the young people of Nome, Alaska. Following his death, his body was mounted and displayed in the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, where it remains today. īalto lived in ease at Cleveland Zoo until his death on March 14, 1933, at the age of 14. He achieved fame when he led a team of sled dogs driven by Gunnar Kaasen on the final leg of the 1925 serum run to Nome, in which diphtheria antitoxin was transported from Anchorage, Alaska, to Nenana, Alaska, by train and then to Nome by dog sled to combat an outbreak of the disease. Eyes were dark brown.īalto (1919 – March 14, 1933) was a Siberian Husky and sled dog belonging to musher and breeder Leonhard Seppala. United States of America (Territory of Alaska)īlack with white "socks", "bib", and partial white markings on belly and tip of the muzzle, which advanced with age (including white markings around the eyes when he was old). Balto with Gunnar Kaasen, his musher in the 1925 Serum Run.
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