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90 years ago today, at 5:30am, 2 huskies named "Balto" & "Fox" lead a team of dogs up the main street in Nome with medicine that had travelled 674 miles by sled. Many teams had taken part using different breeds of dog and many including the champion Togo had sustained injuries as a result. Most mushers ended up with frost bite and 5 of dogs had died as a direct result from the run.

Balto who described as a scrub dog by his owner may have become the public face of the serum run but every dog & musher was a hero that day.

Wow...dude, I am sorry I missed your topic here!

That was very nicely-said, Ac! And it was nice to see that at least one other person who still remembers and understands the historical importance of the serum run (though I know there are some others)!

I can't think of any words to put here, but I did paint of a picture of Togo ahead of time for the occasion.

http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2015/ ... 8ep0a2.png

Very nice, M!

The Cleveland Museum of Natural History also celebrated the 90th anniversary of the first serum run by having a "Balto Day" event.

https://www.cmnh.org/about-the-museum/p ... /Balto-Day

http://www.wkyc.com/story/news/local/no ... /22243979/

In the second link by the Cleveland TV station, notice the reporter wrote, "Balto led a team of dogs on the final leg of the expedition to deliver life-saving serum. The expedition inspired the modern Iditarod Race. Did you know that?" The statement about the relationship between the serum run and the Iditarod race is a fairly common misconception. See paragraph 5 (in bold lettering) of the history section of the official Iditarod website.

http://iditarod.com/about/history/

Another reference also supports the reasons for the actual creation of the Iditarod race. The book Iditarod, The First Ten Years (2014) by The Old Iditarod Gang. In the history section, the book credits the All Alaska Sweepstakes races as being the inspiration for the Iditarod race.

http://www.iditarodfirsttenyears.com/order.html

Isn't it just amazing that we'll get to see 100 years later in just ten years?

What? I don't understand what you mean.

Meaning in 10 years there will be a 100 year anniversary.

Every anniversary is worth the commemoration and remembrance. Marking a century may be a specific point, but it also denotes that it's been an entire century. In a way, that's a bit sad. Every year takes us one more further away from the historical events.

It was 90 years ago today that Gunnar Kaasen and his dog team arrived in Cleveland, Ohio as part of their nationwide tour. A little less than a year and a half later seven of the dogs on the team would arrive in Cleveland again where they would spend the rest of their lives.

While in Cleveland the first time, the Cleveland Press newspaper took several photos of Balto. At least one website says that one of these photos was taken at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, but it was actually taken in Cleveland in mid-November, 1925. Notice the description information in the following link. There's a possibility it was taken at the Hotel Statler where Kaasen was staying while in Cleveland.

http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm/sing ... /218/rec/5

Here is a link to some details about the Hotel Statler.

https://coolhistoryofcleveland.wordpres ... ler-hotel/

It was 90 years ago today that Gunnar Kaasen and his dog team started making appearances in what would turn out to be the last stop of their nationwide tour. This took place in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. After that was the dedication of the Balto statue at Central Park in NYC on December 15. And not long after that Kaasen would part company with the remaining dogs on his serum run team.

Since I will be on vacation from tomorrow until the first of the year in an area with no computer access/capability, I will post this a couple of days ahead of time. As of December 25, Gunnar Kaasen was reunited with his wife in Everett, WA and they were staying with some of her relatives in that area.

Some accounts say that Gunnar Kaasen left the dogs in NYC and they were subsequently sent to Los Angeles. Others say this happened in Chicago. However, other accounts from Kaasen's descendants say that he brought his dog team to Everett and they were later sent to California by a long time friend. Interesting details about this are found in Part II of the following story:

https://siberiandoghistory.com/Gunnar_Kaasen_Tour.html

Thank you for posting all of this Kougarok - very interesting