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It is fairly well known that three of Bill Shannon's dogs died in connection with the first serum run. Page 168 of The Cruelest Miles book (and other sources) say that his dog Bear was "in pretty bad shape, and it looks like I may lose him. No record exists of Bear's fate." Notice the William Shannon section of this link.

https://siberiandoghistory.com/Seattle_Voyage.html

Shannon reported that Bear was still alive in New York City in July, 1925. There is also a rare picture of his team in Tacoma, WA with lead dog Blackie. Bill Shannon's widow, Anna gave the account about the sale of the dogs (and much more) in a two part story in the November and December, 1942 editions of The Alaska Sportsman magazine. The articles also have photos of the Shannon serum run dogs. Also notice the photo of Bill Shannon and some of his dogs at the top left of the photo array at the beginning of this next link.

https://siberiandoghistory.com/Second_Serum_Run.html

Blackie was later acquired by a Dr. Francis D'Avignon. The Seppala-Ricker kennel had sold Fritz to Dr. Beverly Sproul during the latter part of 1928. Sproul loaned Fritz to Dr. D'Avignon to be used on his team in the 1929 Lake Placid NY race in mid-January. Fritz was the leader of this team and Blackie was also a member. A photo of that team is found in the new Seppala book mentioned in another topic on this forum.

Here's the rest of the story about Bill Shannon. His real name was Willard J. Shannon. Page 254 of The Cruelest Miles book says Shannon was killed by a bear, but official Alaska government records (such as from the dept. of vital statistics) do not support that claim. The attached article from Mushing Magazine tells the real story surrounding the disappearance and fate of Bill Shannon.

http://www.mushing.com/articles/content ... =2,,5,1881