The Great Serum Race: Blazing the Iditarod Trail

The Great Serum Race: Blazing the Iditarod Trail

In the winter of 1925, Nome, Alaska, was hit by an unexpected and deadly outbreak of diphtheria. Officials immediately quarantined the town, but the only cure for the community of more than 1,400 people was antitoxin serum and the nearest supply was in Anchorage-hundreds of miles of snowbound wilderness away. The only way to get it to Nome was by dogsled. Twenty teams braved subzero temperatures and blizzard conditions to run over 600 miles in six days in a desperate relay race that saved the people of Nome. Several of the dogs, including Togo and Balto, became national heroes. Today their efforts, and those of the courageous mushers, are commemorated every March by the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Jon Van Zyle's stunning oil paintings capture the brutal conditions, pristine wilderness, and sheer guts and determination demonstrated by the heroic mushers and dogs. DEBBIE S. MILLER is the author of Survival at 40 Below , an NTSA/CBC Outstanding Science Trade Book; Arctic Lights, Arctic Nights ; The Great Serum Race ; and Big Alaska . www.debbiemilleralaska.com JON VAN ZYLE is a noted children's book illustrator and the official artist of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race. His recent books include Survival at 40 Below , The Great Serum Race ¸ and Arctic Lights, Arctic Nights. www.jonvanzyle.com The Great Serum Race Blazing the Iditarod Trail By Debbie S. Miller Walker & Company Copyright © 2006 Debbie S. Miller All right reserved. ISBN: 9780802777232 Chapter One On a dusky January afternoon in 1925, Dr. Welch walked quicklytoward the outskirts of Nome. Sled dogs howled from their yards.Outside a small cabin, a worried Inupiat Eskimo mother greetedthe doctor. She led him into her home where two small childrenlay in bed, struggling to breathe. "Can you open your mouth?" Dr. Welch asked the three-year-oldboy. The weak child tried to open his mouth, but it was too painfulfor his swollen throat. His fever was extremely high. Dr. Welchcomforted the mother and children, but there was little he coulddo. The next day, both children died. Soon after, another girl, Bessie Stanley,was miserable with the same symptoms.But this time, Dr. Welch could examine Bessie's throat. He immediately recognizedthe symptoms of diphtheria. Poor Bessiewould not live through the night. Diphtheria. Dr. Welch had not seen a case intwenty years. This fast-spreading disease couldwipe out the entire community of more than1,400 people. Dr. Welch immediately met with thecity council and recommended a quarantine. Theschools and other public places were closed.Community leaders told people to stay in theirhomes. There was only one way to fight diphtheria.The town needed a supply of antitoxin serum. Dr.Welch sent out a desperate plea for help by radiotelegraph. The message soon reached GovernorBone in Juneau and other important officials.Newspapers across the nation picked up word thatthe historic gold rush town needed emergencyhelp. The nearest supply of serum was at a hospital in Anchorage, 1,000 males away, across a snowbound wilderness. Officialsconsidered flying the serum to Nome, but it was too dangerousto operate open cockpit planes in extreme-cold temperatures.In those days; planes were used only during the summer. Nomewas an icebound port, so boats were not an option. The serumcould travel partway by train, and then the only safe means oftransport was by sled dog team. On January 26, an Anchorage doctor carefully packed theglass bottles of serum for the long journey. The bottles had tobe protected to keep the serum from freezing. He gave thetwenty-pound bundle to the conductor at the train, station.Soon, steam engine 66 began to chug its way north to Nenana,the closest railroad link to Nome. Nenana lay nearly 300 milesaway, beyond the tallest mountains of North America. On the frozen Tanana River, five-year-old Alfred John could hear the distantroar of the steam engine. His Athabaskan Indian family lived in a cabin nearthe train station in Nenana. Although it was late at night and nearly fiftydegrees below zero, Alfred and his mother bundled up in their warmestcaribou legskin boots and fur-lined parkas and walked to the station togreet the train. As they waited by the tracks in the moonlight, Alfred watched the hugelocomotive hiss steam into the frozen sky and slow to a screeching halt. Hesaw men unload the freight, and the conductor hand the serum package toBill Shannon. Bill was the first of twenty mushers to carry the serum in adog team relay to Nome. These brave men and their best dogs would travelnearly 700 miles on a snow-packed mail trail. Bill covered the serum with a bear hide and lashed it to the sled. Hisstrongest team of nine malamutes harked and were anxious to move. Justbefore midnight on January 27, Bill waved good-bye to Alfred and shoutedto his dogs. Swoosh! Into the winter night, the dog team sped towardTolovana, the first relay stop some fifty-two miles away. Bill knew every turn of