Facts About The Real Balto

Balto and Gunnar Kaasen at the unveiling ceremony of Balto's statue on December 16th, 1925.
 

Name: Balto was named after Samuel Balto, a laplander who had accomplished his expedition to Greenland.

Breed: Siberian Husky. Unlike the animated film produced by Universal Studios in 1995, Balto was not a wolf hybrid, and was not a stray living out on a boat. Balto was owned and raised by Leonhard Seppala.

Birth: There is no known documentation on Balto's birth, (or even who his parents were) so an exact date of birth is unknown. However, when Balto passed away in 1933, newspaper reports claimed that he was only eleven years old, when in fact he may have been fourteen. In the book The Cruelest Miles, Leonhard Seppala once claimed that Balto was only six years old during the time of the run.

Appearance: Unlike the mount you see today in the Cleveland museum of natural history, Balto was not brown (see more details bellow). Balto was actually jet black (described as black as night in The Cruelest Miles) and had brown eyes. He also had a white bib on his chest, white socks on his front legs (his back paws were also white) and a white underside. Balto was boxy in build and was barrel-chested, which made his front legs appear bowed.

Offspring: Due to his boxy body structure, Balto was neutered at six months of age.

Death: In the beginning March of 1933, the zoo keeper, Captain Curly Wilson, announced that Balto's health was deteriorating and had little time left. Balto was partially deaf and blind and, was turned over to the care of Dr. R.R. Powell, a veterinarian and trustee of the Balto committe, who offered to care for Balto in his remaining days. On March 14th, Balto passed away.

Team mates: Fox, Old Moctoc, Tillie, Alaska slim, Sye and Billy.

"Balto Dies-as he raced to Nome-Without Audience"

The above photo ran in Balto's obituary.

Balto's obituary ran in the Cleveland Plain dealer and the Cleveland Press on March 15th, 1933.

Leonhard Seppala and Gunnar Kaasen

Leonhard Seppala viewed Balto as second rate. Although Seppala gave Balto several chances to be on his fast team, but Balto was just not fast enough to qualify. As a result, Seppala put Balto on a slow working team that hauled freight short distances.

Gunnar Kaasen on the other hand saw more in Balto than what Seppala did. During the serum run, Leonhard Seppala stated that if Hammon needed a team for company business, to put Fox, a black and brown Husky who worked closely with Seppala at the gold fields during the summer, as lead dog. However, when Kaasen harnessed up the team, he ignored Seppala's advice and put Balto in the lead position.

On Tour

Only within hours of Kaasen's arrival to Nome, did the The local stringers for Associated press, and several other news organizations, sent out dispatches over the radio and telegraphs announcing the success of man and dog standing up against the worst conditions possible.

The public response was overwelming. Dozens of letters and poems that were adressed to Balto was pouring into Nome's post office. The local school children did their best to respond to these letters and poems. Meanwhile, the Nome Nugget was reciving more letters than what they could publish. As a result they issued an apology.

By late February, 1925, Kaasen had a movie deal and tour lined up in the states. With the team, Kaasen and his wife, Anna, aboarded a steamship to Seattle. Upon arrival, a hero's welcome awaited them.

Weeks after arriving, Kaasen and the dogs began in their brief movie career. Sol Lesser, a Hollywood producer, shot the dog and Kassen in a thirty minute film called Balto's Race to Nome. After the film was complete, they were hired to promote the film in LA.

While touring the West Coast, the parks commissioner of New York City announced that a statue of Balto was going to be constructed in Central Park. Fredrick Roth, a well-known designer, went to work designing the statue.

Nine months later on December 16th, 1925, Kaasen and Balto appeared for the unveiling of the statue. Balto took no interest and stood quietly next to Kaasen. However, a couple of dogs broke free and tried to join Kaasen and Balto, but Kaasen was able to prevent the dogs from getting into a fight.

After the unveiling, Kaasen left the dogs behind with the promoter who purchased the team when he received word that Seppala wanted him to get back to work.

Back in LA, Balto and his remaining team mates were struggling to survive. They were now apart of a sideshow where someone would pay a dime a ticket to walk into a stuffy room to see the dogs. Balto and his team mates sat in that room for months neglected and abused. Until one day a gentleman named George Kimble, a business man from Cleveland who recognized them. Kimble struck a deal with the owner and agreed to buy the team for $2,000. He had two weeks to raise the money and started a campaign with the Cleveland Plain Dealer. School kids donated their milk money, and various others chipped in as well. By the 10th day Kimble had raised the money to buy the team.

On March 19th, 1927, Balto and his six remaining team mates made it to Cleveland to live out the rest of their lives in peace, and were given a hero's welcome as they paraded through the town.

Balto and his remaining team mates lived out their lives at the Cleveland zoo. The first to die was Fox, Moctoc, Tillie, Alaska Slim and billy. The last dog to die was Sye. Sye missed his companions dearly, and reports claim that he howled out of loneliness. On March 25th, 1934, Sye passed away at the age of seventeen.

The Cleveland Museum

After Balto's death, he was mounted and put on display in the Cleveland Museum Of Natural History. But unfortunately Balto's mount was exposed to the bright lights of the museum, so his pelt faded from its original jet black to the mahogany brown it's today. Balto is now displayed in low-light conditions.

As you can see, the photo to the left is far more dark than the one to the right. If Balto were to be brown he would look like that in all of his photos. There is also this photo which was taken shortly after Balto was put up for display in the museum.  You can clearly see Balto's pelt was the same tone as it was when he was alive.

Siberian Husky color links:

http://www.kianasiberians.com/colors.htm 

http://cowgirl0216.hubpages.com/hub/Colors-of-Siberian-Huskies

http://www.huskycolors.com/mblack.html

www.huskycolors.com/mblack.html

 Photos

(click to enlarge)

Videos

Balto and Gunnar Kaasen at the unveiling ceremony of Balto's statue on December 16th, 1925.

This was an reenactment of the team bringing in the serum for the news media.

This was an reenactment of the team bringing in the serum for the news media.

Links:

http://www.baltostruestory.net

http://www.amazon.com/The-Cruelest-Miles-Against-Epidemic/dp/0393325709