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Okay, so something you may not know about me is I like to read Wikipedia a lot, specifically

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I get like cravings, is that the right word, to research specific topics.

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I have mentioned that I have ADHD before and I think it's sort of related to that.

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I get kind of like hyper focused on one specific thing and I need to know everything about

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it and I need to learn as much as possible in a very short period of time and nothing's

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going to stop me.

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So today at work, I wanted to learn more about Balto.

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And if you're a 90s kid like me, you might remember that animated movie about Balto where

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it's Balto the dog delivers medicine to kids in Alaska is basically the premise of it.

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Now I didn't watch that yet in research, but I have watched exactly one and a half documentaries

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and read about four different Wikipedia pages, so I am ready to talk about this.

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So also, if you want to know how I got kind of the craving to research about this, I was

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doing my normal thing at like the lull of today at work.

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I was looking in the news and I was just like, what's interesting going on in the world today?

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And that CEO of that, I don't think it's Thanos because that's the guy from the Infinity Wars

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is Thanos, right?

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But it's like Theranos, remember that that CEO, she wears the black turtlenecks.

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She had that really like low voice.

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But the article was saying that she had a dog and was claiming that it was a wolf.

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So I read the article and it was just she had a husky and like all huskies, they have

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a bit of wolf in them and she was like, it's a wolf, and then I was like, what about Balto?

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So and then I got on Wikipedia and I typed in Balto and then I was like, oh, there's

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so much more to this story than I ever knew.

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So what I'm going to be talking about specifically is the 1925 serum run to gnome.

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So in 1925, there was this outbreak, I don't really want to call it outbreak, but there

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was diphtheria that was going around this town in gnome in Alaska.

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And why this was kind of an issue is because it was in January.

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And in January, they are cut off from the rest of the world pretty much.

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They're right by the what's it called?

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It's one of the sounds.

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The Norton sound, they're right by the Norton sound, and they're just cut off from the world

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when it's really cold and everything freezes.

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And pretty much the only method of information is the mail.

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And the mail is carried by, I read so much on this topic, but I can't remember the name.

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They're like the mushers of the dog, dog sled, dog sleds.

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The mail is carried by dog sleds across this route.

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It's called the Editarat National Historic Trail.

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I don't know.

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No, that's not it.

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It's just a route.

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It's just the route of the mail and it takes 30 days to get mail.

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So this town, also important information about this town, it's less than 2000 citizens there.

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And there's actually only one doctor and four nurses for the entire town and the towns around

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it.

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They're all native, native Alaskans.

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Also they're only just one doctor, just that.

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So this doctor starts seeing these cases of what he thinks are tonsillitis, I believe

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it is.

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And he kind of keeps it, just keeps believing it's tonsillitis for a little while, a couple

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days, because he doesn't really want to believe it's diphtheria, because that is pretty, uh,

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mortal.

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What's it called?

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When you die.

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Yeah, I'm just going mortal.

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It is pretty deadly.

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Nearly 100% of people who don't get treatment for diphtheria die of it.

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So he treated the children for what he thought was tonsillitis.

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And diphtheria is extremely contagious.

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So this town went on without being quarantined with these kids having diphtheria.

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He's saying, no, it's tonsillitis and four children died.

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He had not been able to autopsy them, but at this point he's kind of gets really concerned

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that it's diphtheria.

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And he, I think he tells his wife, and then there, he goes out to the, uh, a native Alaskan

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person who is also sick and he's like, fuck, it's diphtheria.

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So he writes a letter, um, well, not really a letter.

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It's a telegram.

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He writes a telegram to the public health service saying that, Hey, we need help.

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So here is the telegram.

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An epidemic of diphtheria is almost inevitable here.

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Stop.

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I am in urgent need of 1 million units of diphtheria anti-toxin.

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Stop.

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Mail is only form of transportation.

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Stop.

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I have made application to commissioner of health of the territories for anti-toxin already.

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Stop.

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There are about 3000 white natives in the district.

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So that was the telegram that he sent.

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And he's asking for 1 million units of this diphtheria anti-toxin, which is the treatment

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for diphtheria.

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This anti-toxin, it's actually developed from horse's blood, which I, I had no idea.

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One of the documentaries said that, but he actually had, uh, a couple.

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Yeah.

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Treatments worth amount of this diphtheria anti-toxin, but it was expired by about four

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years and he got a little desperate because obviously, um, and he actually tried to administer

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some of the expired anti-toxin, uh, he thought it might still have an effect.

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Uh, the first girl he administered it to actually died a few hours later, but then, um, later

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he was able to administer it to some people that actually did get better, it seemed.

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There was a family that there was the mother, the son, and a daughter who were all sick.

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And originally the daughter had gotten sick and she was administered 3000, um, units of

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the anti-toxin.

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And then, um, the doctor actually wanted to administer the mother with what he had remaining

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of this expired anti-toxin, but she instead decided to wait for the shipment because at

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this point they had been told that they would be getting more of the serum.

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Um, and she asked the doctor to instead give it to her son.

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I don't know what happened to that family.

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I super hope that they all survived and it was all great.

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Um, but in the documentary I watched, they were interviewing the daughter and she never

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said if her mother survived or if her, uh, brother survived, so I'm like, uh, um, okay.

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So that's setting up the story, um, what's going on in this town of Nome in Alaska.

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Okay, so like I said, pretty much these dog sleds were the only way to get anything to

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this place during January.

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Um, there was actually planes that were invented at this time.

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They were completely open, uh, cabin planes and they actually had to, sorry, my throat.

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All right, that's better.

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So the pilots of these planes actually had to be all bundled up with all the snow gear

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because it's so fucking cold and they're going fast in the plane and they're high in the

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plane, it's freezing.

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So they had to be so bundled up that it was pretty much impossible to operate these planes

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and there were actually crash landings all the time with these planes and the actual

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distance that they had to get this antitoxin to travel was 674 miles, um, and planes kind

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of only went half that distance, so it was like, um, and actually this, the serum that

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was coming was only 30, no, 300,000 units, uh, instead of the million he had originally

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asked for the, the, there was a million units that were being sent from Seattle via ship

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that were coming, um, I believe they were coming to Anchorage maybe.

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And then they were going to also go by, um, a train to where, to Nina, yeah.

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So, um, the, the commission gets his messages telegrammed, they're like, fuck, okay, we

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got to get, got to get these units to Nome before it becomes an epidemic and it spreads

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to the outlying towns, towns.

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So they have a million units, it's in Seattle, they're going to send it on a ship and it's

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going to get to Anchorage January 31st.

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So that's our best plan.

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But then in Anchorage, some doctor finds 300,000 units just lying around, I guess.

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And he finds this, I believe on the 25th of January.

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So they send those up to Nina, Nina, it's not Nina, but it's Nina on the railroad.

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Um, that's just north and it's on, I think it might be on the Yukon River.

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Yeah, it's on one of the legs of the Yukon River, I think.

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And from this train depot, as far north as they can get with the train, they have to

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have a relay of 20 different dock slides to bring it to Nome.

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Now I've told you about this route.

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This is a 30 day route that is a mail carrier, mail carrier route.

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They want to do it in six days.

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So normally it takes one person 30 days, but they're going to have 20 people do it in six

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days.

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So it's going to be night and day, they are going to be riding this serum to Nome.

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An interesting thing about this serum is it can't freeze, not that it like physically

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can't freeze.

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It's just, it wouldn't be useful for it to freeze.

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It would be bad, more wine.

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So it was all packaged in these glass vials and then it was wrapped up in quilts.

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So it would be nice and insulated for the travels and it was altogether about 20 pounds

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of a package.

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So we get it to Ninan, Ninana, I'm so sorry, I think it's Nin, excuse me while I breathe

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into mic, Ninana, Ninana, let's call it Ninana.

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So this, oh God, my clicker, I'm on the Wikipedia page just so I don't forget anything.

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So this relay starts at Ninana and it starts with Wild Bill Shannon.

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So this guy, Bill Shannon, he starts the relay off on January 22nd at 11pm and he only has

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to go, look at me, I'm an asshole.

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He has to go 52 miles or 84 kilometers to get to the next relay person.

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Now he was called Wild Bill Shannon because he was a bit of an alcoholic.

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And it's actually really sad.

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He started with, I believe, how many dogs did he start with?

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Eleven dogs.

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Eleven dogs, Alaskan Mellemutes, which are larger than Huskies, I believe.

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And the temperatures that he went through ranged from negative 40 to negative 62 degrees

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Fahrenheit.

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And so he started at 11 and then he on his sled went until 3am where he arrived in a

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roadhouse and at this roadhouse he rested for four hours before setting off again to

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the next stop.

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But during the time between the beginning to the roadhouse, he actually lost three dogs,

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Cub, Jack, and Jet.

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These dogs ended up dying later from the lung injuries because the air being so cold can

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actually scald, is called, their lungs.

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So these poor dogs died and he took, he actually had to take lead to make it to the roadhouse.

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His lead dog had died so he strapped himself in and he ran with the dogs to make it.

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He also suffered from phasal frostbite, which I guess is to be expected at 62 degrees below

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Fahrenheit.

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Okay.

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So then it's Dan Green.

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Dan Green has to go 31 miles or 50 kilometers and he goes from Tolovanna to Manly Hot Springs

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and temperatures actually weren't to negative 30.

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Ugh, but it was 20 miles an hour wind.

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Now I believe to actually get his hands to release from the sled because he had his hands

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on the sled.

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They had to pour hot water on his hands to get them to release from the sled at the end

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of this at Manly Hot Springs.

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I believe that was the story I read.

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I read that somewhere.

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I can't find it now, but I believe it was him.

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Then it was Johnny Folder and he ran from the hot springs to Fish Lake.

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He had to go 28 miles or 45 kilometers and he made his run at night and it was actually

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reported to be good time.

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He made good time with it.

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A lot of these early men, apart from the wild-billed Shannon, were actually Alaskan natives, which

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is really interesting.

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You don't really hear about them, but they were Alaskan natives.

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Then it was Sam Joseph.

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He was another native who was a 35-year-old and he had a team of seven Malamutes.

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Same as the first guy, really big dogs and the temperature at that point was negative

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38 Fahrenheit.

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He averaged nine miles an hour, but actually better than that.

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It was one of the faster runs, so good for him.

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He made 26 miles.

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Then this is January 29th, Titus Nicolai, another native, ran 34 miles.

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There's really no information on him, but he was met then with Dan Corning, who averaged

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eight miles an hour for 24 miles.

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No really information about his team either.

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Then Edgar Calliant.

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He was actually a musher for the mail service also, so he knew the... Excuse me, I'm talking

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too much.

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I never talk this much.

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He was a musher for the mail service, so he knew the trail pretty good.

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He went 30 miles.

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Then it was Henry Pitca.

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He has seven dogs and he actually had a trail that was in good condition.

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He ran night and his speeds were greater than nine miles an hour for 30 miles.

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Then it was Bill McCarty.

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His lead dog was named Prince and he actually had a severe hour long snow storm during his

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ride.

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He arrived at Whiskicreek about 10 a.m. and the temperature was negative 40.

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He went 28 miles in that severe snow storm.

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Then it is the brothers, Edgar Nulliner.

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His lead dog was five-year-old Dixie and he was actually a 21-year-old from Gallina.

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I don't know where that is.

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I assume it's in Alaska, Gallina.

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He had seven malamutes and he was met by his brother George after 24 miles.

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George Nulliner, he was actually a newlywed and he used the same team as his brother to

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cover the next 24 miles.

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Now Edgar Nulliner, the guy before George, claimed that he had a girl in another town,

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so that's why he did this trip.

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He wanted to go to Gallina to see his girl.

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All right, after the two brothers is Charlie Evans.

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Oh, Charlie Evans.

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He hurts.

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This story hurts my heart also.

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He actually was 21 years old.

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He left Bishop Mountains at 5 a.m. with a reported temperature of negative 64 degrees

228
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Fahrenheit.

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00:20:37,980 --> 00:20:48,800
He borrowed dogs and during the run, he neglected to put furs on the dog's groins.

230
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They ended up having frozen groins and I believe they later died from their injuries.

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Really upsetting, I think he also he also ended up running, running along the sleigh

232
00:21:03,320 --> 00:21:12,240
in order to stay warm and also to kind of lift his weight.

233
00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:21,880
He went 30 miles and then Tommy Patsy Patterson, Patsy Patterson, and also a native and a male

234
00:21:21,880 --> 00:21:23,620
carrier.

235
00:21:23,620 --> 00:21:29,520
He ran a pretty straight trail, setting the fastest record, and he covered 36 miles in

236
00:21:29,520 --> 00:21:35,000
three and a half hours, averaging a speed of more than 10 miles an hour.

237
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All right, then Jack, Jack Screw and Nikolai, another native.

238
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He was actually a small man and he was very strong.

239
00:21:45,720 --> 00:21:47,440
Oh, he was the one who jogged.

240
00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:48,440
My bad.

241
00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:52,800
He was the one who jogged to lighten the load.

242
00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:59,760
So he headed towards the Norton Sound.

243
00:21:59,760 --> 00:22:08,840
He only averaged 60 miles, six miles an hour for his 40 miles, a very difficult trail.

244
00:22:08,840 --> 00:22:16,920
And then there's Victor Anagik, another native.

245
00:22:16,920 --> 00:22:24,240
He had an 11 dog team and he covered 35 miles, 34 miles in six hours.

246
00:22:24,240 --> 00:22:32,720
And at this point, the serum was now 207 miles from Nome and it is the 31st of January.

247
00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:40,440
So now at this point, the 31st of January, the serum will have just made it to the large

248
00:22:40,440 --> 00:22:41,440
amount of serum.

249
00:22:41,440 --> 00:22:46,040
The one million units of the doctor originally wanted will have just made it to Anchorage

250
00:22:46,040 --> 00:22:51,040
and be ready to do its train ride up to Nenon.

251
00:22:51,040 --> 00:22:57,480
But we have the 300,000 serum going to Nome right now.

252
00:22:57,480 --> 00:23:01,520
And our next one was Miles Gogan.

253
00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:04,880
No information on him, but he went for 40 miles.

254
00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:08,280
And then Henry Ivanov.

255
00:23:08,280 --> 00:23:19,000
He actually only went a half a mile and he actually had to settle a fight with his team

256
00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:20,000
of dogs.

257
00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:21,320
They were fighting.

258
00:23:21,320 --> 00:23:29,420
And another interesting part is he was the one who transferred off to Lenonard Seppala.

259
00:23:29,420 --> 00:23:42,000
So this guy, Lenonard Seppala was originally going to cover half the trail.

260
00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:51,240
So it was a 674 mile trail and he was originally just going to cover half of it.

261
00:23:51,240 --> 00:23:56,720
So all these men that came before him, he was going to basically do all their work.

262
00:23:56,720 --> 00:24:02,200
But people had better plans and they intercepted him.

263
00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:07,040
So that's why this Henry Ivanov only did half a mile because he was in charge of intercepting

264
00:24:07,040 --> 00:24:15,240
the Seppala because Seppala had left Nome.

265
00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:24,160
He left Nome and he rode his dogs to the meeting point that he was supposed to meet.

266
00:24:24,160 --> 00:24:27,200
So he was completely not in contact with anyone.

267
00:24:27,200 --> 00:24:29,200
He was just like, this is where I'm supposed to be.

268
00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:30,200
This is what I'm doing.

269
00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:38,440
I'm going to go do it.

270
00:24:38,440 --> 00:24:45,320
And he was a very renowned musher.

271
00:24:45,320 --> 00:24:52,240
So he had what is thought to be the hardest portion of trail.

272
00:24:52,240 --> 00:24:56,360
And he actually went 91 miles with the serum.

273
00:24:56,360 --> 00:25:02,640
Though in total, I believe he rode about 200 miles because like I said, he went from Nome

274
00:25:02,640 --> 00:25:06,480
to meet the serum and then he went back with the serum.

275
00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:13,440
So his lead dogs were Togo and Scotty and he was 48 years old.

276
00:25:13,440 --> 00:25:20,080
And he was originally going to intercept the serum at New Lato, but they, like I said,

277
00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:25,080
decided to do relays instead.

278
00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:32,600
So he left Isaac's Point on the north side of Norton Bay and traveled 43 miles just outside

279
00:25:32,600 --> 00:25:35,880
of Chautauk where he met Ivanov.

280
00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:39,560
So he had already traveled 43 miles that day.

281
00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:45,740
He gets the serum, he turns around, he goes right back where he had been coming from.

282
00:25:45,740 --> 00:25:53,680
He turned around into temperature of negative 30 degrees Fahrenheit and also dark.

283
00:25:53,680 --> 00:26:02,000
Then with this serum, this precious life saving serum, the dog's letters were told to be very,

284
00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:03,560
very careful.

285
00:26:03,560 --> 00:26:10,140
And instead of going for a fast route, go for the safe route, he decided, fuck that.

286
00:26:10,140 --> 00:26:15,860
And he took the 20 mile C-cross.

287
00:26:15,860 --> 00:26:21,980
So he crossed the, what's it called, I knew it earlier, the Norton Sound.

288
00:26:21,980 --> 00:26:27,180
He crossed the Norton Sound for 20 miles instead of going around the safe route.

289
00:26:27,180 --> 00:26:28,340
He just, fuck it.

290
00:26:28,340 --> 00:26:33,960
He's like, I go right through the ice with his dog, Tongo.

291
00:26:33,960 --> 00:26:41,560
And he stopped after that and he took a break, I believe, yes, yes, yes.

292
00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:42,560
Okay.

293
00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:47,880
So during, while he was crossing the sea, it was actually a blizzard, a blinding blizzard.

294
00:26:47,880 --> 00:26:52,160
He couldn't see his hand in front of him, white out sort of thing.

295
00:26:52,160 --> 00:26:59,960
And the only thing that got them across the sound was Tongo's sense of smell and knowledge

296
00:26:59,960 --> 00:27:02,340
of the course.

297
00:27:02,340 --> 00:27:06,440
So he finally got across and he stopped at a sod igloo.

298
00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:11,360
He fed the dogs and he warmed up the serum because at every stop they were supposed to

299
00:27:11,360 --> 00:27:15,640
take out the serum and warm it up and get it as far away from freezing as possible.

300
00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:20,780
Because like I said, the serum cannot freeze, it is very dangerous.

301
00:27:20,780 --> 00:27:24,900
So he was stopping and hoping that the blizzard would kind of stop.

302
00:27:24,900 --> 00:27:27,740
But as it turned out, the blizzard would not stop.

303
00:27:27,740 --> 00:27:33,100
So early Sunday morning, negative 30 degree temperatures again, deadly winds and the storm

304
00:27:33,100 --> 00:27:35,080
not lessening.

305
00:27:35,080 --> 00:27:43,920
He went out and he finished his leg, which was, like I said, 91 miles and the serum was

306
00:27:43,920 --> 00:27:46,960
78 miles from no.

307
00:27:46,960 --> 00:27:53,640
So when he did go back out after taking that break in the sod igloo, he had actually saw,

308
00:27:53,640 --> 00:27:59,560
he turned around and saw that the sound, the ice that he had just traveled over had floated

309
00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:01,040
away.

310
00:28:01,040 --> 00:28:07,520
So during his time, he had actually cracked the ice or the ice had cracked.

311
00:28:07,520 --> 00:28:14,400
So while he did make it over the sound, he may not have made the safe decision.

312
00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:18,340
And then it is Charlie Olsen.

313
00:28:18,340 --> 00:28:26,020
The lead dog of Charlie Olsen was Jack and he had a team of seven.

314
00:28:26,020 --> 00:28:28,720
He had to go 25 miles.

315
00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:35,760
He left at 7.15 Sunday afternoon, temperatures from negative 30 and estimated 40 miles an

316
00:28:35,760 --> 00:28:37,000
hour wait.

317
00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:41,320
He was actually hit with gusts that drove him off the trail.

318
00:28:41,320 --> 00:28:47,840
And he stopped and put blankets on each dog because it was that cold.

319
00:28:47,840 --> 00:28:49,920
He needed to cover them again.

320
00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:52,560
Two dogs suffered badly frozen groins.

321
00:28:52,560 --> 00:29:02,200
And when he stopped, he actually suffered from, um, what's it called?

322
00:29:02,200 --> 00:29:03,200
Freeze on his hands.

323
00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:04,200
I forget.

324
00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:05,880
I was just talking about it all, but freeze on his hands.

325
00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:08,320
He also frost frostbite frostbite.

326
00:29:08,320 --> 00:29:13,240
He also suffered frostbite in his hands.

327
00:29:13,240 --> 00:29:20,600
And then he arrived at the roadhouse at 7.30 and he surprised Gunnar Cason.

328
00:29:20,600 --> 00:29:27,840
He thought Gunnar had thought that Olsen might've stopped to wait out the storm, but he didn't.

329
00:29:27,840 --> 00:29:33,960
So they're making great pace and Gunnar Cason has the serum.

330
00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:42,040
They are 53 miles from Nome and the lead dog is Balto.

331
00:29:42,040 --> 00:29:54,520
So he, um, Cason was actually not supposed to be the last of the leg.

332
00:29:54,520 --> 00:29:58,000
There was somebody else who was supposed to bring it in to Nome.

333
00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:00,240
That was Ed Rohn.

334
00:30:00,240 --> 00:30:07,160
But when Gunnar Cason had gotten to the, the roadhouse where Rohn was supposed to take

335
00:30:07,160 --> 00:30:15,720
the final leg, um, he was early and Rohn still had his lights out and he decided to just

336
00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:21,440
keep pressing on instead of waiting for Rohn to wake up or waking up Rohn and getting him

337
00:30:21,440 --> 00:30:24,400
to saddle up his dogs and get going.

338
00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:30,100
He just pressed on and decided to deliver the serum to Nome himself.

339
00:30:30,100 --> 00:30:33,760
Also before that, I completely skipped his entire journey.

340
00:30:33,760 --> 00:30:43,240
So he traveled through very severe storm and, um, he was crossing through places that had

341
00:30:43,240 --> 00:30:49,320
very strong winds and they were just like straight line winds and at one point his sled

342
00:30:49,320 --> 00:30:53,560
was flipped over and the serum was injected.

343
00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:58,960
He had to search in the dark in the snow on his hands and knees and he actually took off

344
00:30:58,960 --> 00:31:08,080
his gloves to feel around for the serum because this was going to save people's lives and

345
00:31:08,080 --> 00:31:09,080
he found it.

346
00:31:09,080 --> 00:31:15,000
Thankfully he found the serum and he kept going on his leg and he delivered it to Nome

347
00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:25,880
at 5 30 a.m. in his 53 mile journey took seven and a half hours.

348
00:31:25,880 --> 00:31:32,400
So that is the whole serum road to Nome.

349
00:31:32,400 --> 00:31:43,520
Now the more interesting part of the story is kind of the the dogs in my opinion that

350
00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:49,560
the dogs really the two dogs that are of most interest to me are Balto who was the head

351
00:31:49,560 --> 00:32:02,120
dog of the last leg of the run, which was Gunnar Kason and then Togo, which was the

352
00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:05,440
head dog of Lienard Seppala.

353
00:32:05,440 --> 00:32:09,800
So these two guys, Lienard Seppala and Gunnar Kason actually knew each other.

354
00:32:09,800 --> 00:32:16,040
They worked for the same mining company and like I said before, Lienard Seppala was kind

355
00:32:16,040 --> 00:32:25,360
of the big guy in charge of like he was he was like a really superstar musher.

356
00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:31,680
He was well known for it and he had this amazing dog Tongo.

357
00:32:31,680 --> 00:32:41,240
So this dog Tongo, he he was originally not thought that he was going to be a sled dog.

358
00:32:41,240 --> 00:32:43,840
He was actually really small.

359
00:32:43,840 --> 00:32:50,400
He grew up to only be 48 pounds, which is small compared to typical sled dogs.

360
00:32:50,400 --> 00:32:53,920
And he kind of always looked dirty, which is cute.

361
00:32:53,920 --> 00:32:59,880
But when he was a puppy, he was ill and he was nursed a lot by Seppala's wife.

362
00:32:59,880 --> 00:33:06,160
And then he grew up and he was very kind of rowdy and difficult and mischievous and showing

363
00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:12,720
all the signs of becoming as Wikipedia says a canine delinquent.

364
00:33:12,720 --> 00:33:18,040
So he he did not seem to be suited to be a sled dog.

365
00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:24,520
So Seppala sent him away as a pet when he was six months old.

366
00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:30,640
And then a few weeks later, this dog straight up fucking jumped through a plate glass and

367
00:33:30,640 --> 00:33:35,840
runs back to Seppala's kennel.

368
00:33:35,840 --> 00:33:40,320
And Seppala is so impressed by this dog just running through fucking glass to get back

369
00:33:40,320 --> 00:33:41,920
home.

370
00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:42,920
He's like, fuck it.

371
00:33:42,920 --> 00:33:43,920
I'll keep him.

372
00:33:43,920 --> 00:33:49,580
Maybe he'll I don't know, maybe he'll make some good of a sled dog.

373
00:33:49,580 --> 00:34:00,360
And then this dog continued to be trouble because he would attack other leaders that

374
00:34:00,360 --> 00:34:10,000
other dog leaders sled dog leaders when Seppala is running with them.

375
00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:15,960
He eventually actually attacked somebody that was much larger than him and he was severely

376
00:34:15,960 --> 00:34:18,400
injured after this attack.

377
00:34:18,400 --> 00:34:21,500
He never did again.

378
00:34:21,500 --> 00:34:27,000
And then when he was eight months old, so he was originally given away at six months

379
00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:37,240
of age and then he run back at eight months, he actually sneakily goes and follows Seppala

380
00:34:37,240 --> 00:34:44,000
where he's doing a sled run and he follows him, I guess, sneakily for a whole day and

381
00:34:44,000 --> 00:34:46,640
he sleeps in the nightmare, the cabin.

382
00:34:46,640 --> 00:34:54,920
The next day, Seppala sees him and he's kind of like, oh, that's why my dogs were so rowdy.

383
00:34:54,920 --> 00:35:11,120
And his dogs have been difficult and yeah, sorry, Tongo kind of attacks a reindeer and

384
00:35:11,120 --> 00:35:14,920
kind of instigates the other dogs to do that too.

385
00:35:14,920 --> 00:35:21,200
So Seppala decides to harness him up with the other sled dogs to try and control them.

386
00:35:21,200 --> 00:35:26,920
And as soon as he's harnessed with the other sled dogs, it's like a little switch is flipped

387
00:35:26,920 --> 00:35:33,480
on his breath on his head and he's like, I'm a sled dog, I'm happy.

388
00:35:33,480 --> 00:35:36,920
And he is just like a great dog after that.

389
00:35:36,920 --> 00:35:42,040
And then throughout that entire run, Seppala keeps inching him closer and closer to being

390
00:35:42,040 --> 00:35:51,600
the lead dog until at the very end, he's actually the lead position with the lead dog, Reski.

391
00:35:51,600 --> 00:36:00,680
And that first day as a sled dog, he logged 75 miles and that is unheard of for a young

392
00:36:00,680 --> 00:36:06,840
sled dog, especially one of nine months, eight months, especially one of eight months and

393
00:36:06,840 --> 00:36:08,600
known as a puppy.

394
00:36:08,600 --> 00:36:14,160
So Seppala called him an infant prodigy.

395
00:36:14,160 --> 00:36:25,640
So that was, that's a story of Tongo, he's, Seppala called him as the best dog that had

396
00:36:25,640 --> 00:36:29,700
ever traveled the Alaska trail.

397
00:36:29,700 --> 00:36:32,300
And then there's Balto.

398
00:36:32,300 --> 00:36:50,360
So like I said, Balto, sorry, goodness.

399
00:36:50,360 --> 00:36:55,920
It's Friday so I'm having a little wine while I tell this story.

400
00:36:55,920 --> 00:37:07,400
Okay, so Balto, he was the lead on the second, the last leg with Gunnar Kaysen.

401
00:37:07,400 --> 00:37:14,480
Now Gunnar Kaysen wasn't actually much of a sled dogger, musher.

402
00:37:14,480 --> 00:37:16,760
He wasn't much of a musher.

403
00:37:16,760 --> 00:37:26,680
He actually didn't even have his own dogs, so he had to borrow from Seppala.

404
00:37:26,680 --> 00:37:36,000
So he borrowed from Seppala's, what's it called, crib, like where canines live.

405
00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:39,480
I don't remember, kennel, kennel.

406
00:37:39,480 --> 00:37:44,320
He borrowed from Seppala's kennel and he found Balto.

407
00:37:44,320 --> 00:37:53,280
Balto was actually also not really destined to be a sled dog.

408
00:37:53,280 --> 00:38:09,200
He was, where is it, yeah, so he was actually neutered, pretty young.

409
00:38:09,200 --> 00:38:16,960
And he was a, like a, he was a freight dog basically, he was just like a heavy worker

410
00:38:16,960 --> 00:38:24,360
dog but for some reason Gunnar Kaysen decided to pick him as his lead dog.

411
00:38:24,360 --> 00:38:29,080
I don't really understand why but he did.

412
00:38:29,080 --> 00:38:35,960
I'm honestly not as interested in Balto as I am in Togo now.

413
00:38:35,960 --> 00:38:41,640
As a young child I think I was more interested in Balto because obviously he's the one who

414
00:38:41,640 --> 00:38:53,640
the movie was about and he's the one who gets revered but truly he wasn't the star, he wasn't

415
00:38:53,640 --> 00:38:54,640
the star dog.

416
00:38:54,640 --> 00:39:01,520
It was Togo even though Balto's the one receiving all these accolades and recognition.

417
00:39:01,520 --> 00:39:09,120
But Balto's story after the serum run is really quite sad.

418
00:39:09,120 --> 00:39:20,200
He was, like I said, neutered at a very young age so he was never going to be used for breeding.

419
00:39:20,200 --> 00:39:27,960
And after he received all these accolades, he got a statue, he was, he had a wreath laid

420
00:39:27,960 --> 00:39:39,320
on him by a silent film star, he was kind of relegated to the vaudeville ring and with

421
00:39:39,320 --> 00:39:49,560
his team and he was really treated quite poorly there and his entire team was nearly mistreated

422
00:39:49,560 --> 00:40:01,080
to death but then George Kimball discovered the dogs in this vaudeville thing and he worked

423
00:40:01,080 --> 00:40:06,600
together with a newspaper called the Plane Dealer and they brought Balto and his team

424
00:40:06,600 --> 00:40:16,480
to Ohio to the Cleveland Zoo, Berkside Zoo, now the Cleveland Metro Park Zoo and they

425
00:40:16,480 --> 00:40:20,360
kind of remained out their life there.

426
00:40:20,360 --> 00:40:32,040
Now Balto was actually euthanized at age 14, it doesn't say why, for some reason I think

427
00:40:32,040 --> 00:40:41,200
that these dogs are just euthanized when they get air quotes old, which is weird and kind

428
00:40:41,200 --> 00:40:52,600
of sad because Togo didn't even run the serum run until I believe he was 12 so that's two

429
00:40:52,600 --> 00:40:58,800
years before he would have been euthanized if he was Balto but Togo was actually euthanized

430
00:40:58,800 --> 00:41:03,880
when he was 16.

431
00:41:03,880 --> 00:41:11,160
Like I said, I don't know why exactly they euthanized them but both these dogs were euthanized

432
00:41:11,160 --> 00:41:26,120
so at the end of the day in this town of Nome there were only, there aren't quite confirmed

433
00:41:26,120 --> 00:41:33,240
numbers but Wikipedia said there were five, six, or seven deaths that were on the books

434
00:41:33,240 --> 00:41:39,760
for people that had died of diphtheria but they believe there were at least a hundred

435
00:41:39,760 --> 00:41:47,240
of the native citizens, the native Alaskans who may have died because the native Alaskans

436
00:41:47,240 --> 00:41:57,360
tend to bury their children and not tell doctors about it so we don't know how many native

437
00:41:57,360 --> 00:42:04,840
Alaskans had died in Nome from diphtheria but there were between five and seven of the

438
00:42:04,840 --> 00:42:14,600
white citizens of Nome who had died and that is all really truly thank you to the dogs

439
00:42:14,600 --> 00:42:21,000
that had delivered the medicine.

440
00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:29,280
Obviously the mushers played a vital role but during a lot of these conditions they

441
00:42:29,280 --> 00:42:35,960
relied heavily on the dogs because once you bring a dog down a path that dog always knows

442
00:42:35,960 --> 00:42:44,720
that path even if it's a whiteout condition they can manage so it is said that how you

443
00:42:44,720 --> 00:42:54,400
know if it's a good musher is if they know when to turn it over to the dog and luckily

444
00:42:54,400 --> 00:43:05,560
all these men knew when to turn it over to the dog and now the vaccines, the serum made

445
00:43:05,560 --> 00:43:17,800
it safe to the citizens so all's well that ends well for the citizens, another story

446
00:43:17,800 --> 00:43:24,840
for the dogs but that's kind of the way of the world.

447
00:43:24,840 --> 00:43:31,040
Something that I thought was a little ironic is one of the documentaries I was watching

448
00:43:31,040 --> 00:43:36,320
when they were talking about Balto receiving all these accolades they were saying movie

449
00:43:36,320 --> 00:43:46,280
stars and furs came and recognized him and it's just like furs really it's a fucking

450
00:43:46,280 --> 00:43:54,360
dog why are you wearing your furs to meet him like dude have some but it's a different

451
00:43:54,360 --> 00:44:05,400
time I guess they maybe didn't have faux fur back in the 20s, diphtheria it's actually

452
00:44:05,400 --> 00:44:14,640
an infection and it's highly contagious and actually spread either through direct contact

453
00:44:14,640 --> 00:44:23,160
or the air and it can also be spread by contaminated objects there is a diphtheria vaccine it is

454
00:44:23,160 --> 00:44:32,000
effective and available in a number of formulations there are normally three or four doses and

455
00:44:32,000 --> 00:44:42,560
you get them along with tinnitus and pertussis vaccine and they're recommended in childhood

456
00:44:42,560 --> 00:44:53,200
and also the diphtheria tinnitus vaccine is recommended every 10 years I believe that's

457
00:44:53,200 --> 00:45:02,560
the Tdap vaccine I had the Tdap vaccine twice recently I had to have it the every 10 years

458
00:45:02,560 --> 00:45:06,640
and then it's just one of those ones that you have to get when you're pregnant now your

459
00:45:06,640 --> 00:45:13,720
pharmacy if you're in America can give you this vaccine if you are of a certain age and

460
00:45:13,720 --> 00:45:20,120
everybody on here should be at least of a certain age so if it has been 10 years since

461
00:45:20,120 --> 00:45:27,800
you got your Tdap vaccine maybe think of it and get it because we don't need diphtheria

462
00:45:27,800 --> 00:45:34,800
coming back also your pharmacy can give you your flu vaccine as well you can actually

463
00:45:34,800 --> 00:45:44,520
get them at the same time if you have two arms one in each arm that's my little soapbox

464
00:45:44,520 --> 00:45:55,680
I don't know if this was quite followable I hope it was I hope you learned a little

465
00:45:55,680 --> 00:46:03,440
bit as much as I could give you about this topic that I just like got fascinated with

466
00:46:03,440 --> 00:46:13,600
randomly today maybe you'll find it fascinating too I don't know yeah have a good day