The Race for Life E.D

The Race For Life E.D. STOKES Tn Central Park, in New York City, there stands a bronze statue ofBalto, Gunnar Kaasen's lead dog. The statue commemorates a fascinating event in which the Public Health Service (PHS) played a significant role. On its base is the following inscription: Dedicated to the indomitable spirit ofsled dogs that relayed anti-toxin six-hundred miles over rough ice, across treacherous waters, through Arctic blizzards, from Nenana to the reliefofstricken Nome in the Winter of 1925. Endurance... Fidelity... .Intelligence... In 1925 the remaining and per- haps most steadfast ofNome's citi- zenry numbered around 1800, down from the 1894 heyday ofthe Gold Rush, when the population numbered 20,000. Then, gold nuggets were to be had for the taking on the shore ofthe Bering Sea. Now, the tent city, the booze halls, fast ladies, and faster card games were gone with the gold on the '~isr, '- 7 tx .d..,........... ¢. 3* beach. Their replacement, however, _O, ..^ ;l.._Pt took the form ofthe traditionally Balto and Musher Gunnar Kaasen solid, Main Street store fronts common to any American small town of freeze and the spring thaw that didn't child. The symptoms, sore throat and that time. A church at one end ofthe have to do with just staying warm. high fever, could mean almost any- street and a school at the other with Dr. Curtis Welch was Nome's only thing, but the growth ofwhite mem- drygoods and hardware stores, tele- physician. He, with his wife and a branes in the throat shouted "diphthe- graph and post office, and hospital couple ofassistant nurses, staffed the ria" and made the doctor take notice. spread out between. hospital. He administered to the com- His diagnosis was cause enough to be At the time ofthis story, it was munity's sick, patched their occasional anxious, but his anxiety was com- business as usual and the usual, in wounds, and splinted whatever they pounded by his knowledge that diph- Nome, Alaska, in January, was a study broke. Welch also served as an Acting theria antitoxin did not exist in Nome. in survival. Forty degrees below zero Assistant Surgeon for the Public With a two-to-five day incubation was common and sixty below a very Health Service, in charge ofPHS period, the disease could achieve epi- real possibility. The wind offthe Relief Station No. 295 in Nome, the demic proportions before antitoxin Bering Sea had an edge like a trapper's most northerly outpost ofthe PHS. could be obtained. Later that day the sheath knife. Not much happened for On January 20, 1925, Welch second case turned up and still later the seven months between the fall answered a call to look at an ailing the third. 272 Public Health Reports May/June 1996 * Volume I I I The people ofNome did have a responded to the plea. All ofthem Shannon bolted into the darkness, telegraph, and the dots and dashes of were seasoned trail veterans: mail dri- with 10 dogs out front and the 20- their appeal for help went out to "all vers, trappers, or freight haulers. What pound package ofserum lashed to his points." Not surprisingly, PHS head- they were about to do would be looked sled. It was 30 below zero and Tolo- quarters in Washington, D.C. was upon as heroic. It would become an vana was 53 miles away. Wild Bill contacted, and the Service located American legend. At the time it was stopped at Old Minto at three in the 300,000 units ofserum in an Anchor- the usual. morning to give the dogs a break and age hospital. Since the passage ofthe At about 10:30 on the night of to take a breather himselfand then 1902 Biologics Act, the PHS had been January 27, the Alaska Railroad's spe- pushed on to Tolovana. He arrived the responsible for the regulation ofvac- cial train arrived at the Nenana depot, next morning, 14 hours and 25 min- cines and antitoxins (see the "PHS its locomotive encased in frost, spew- utes out ofNenana. Chronicles" article in the November/ ing steam and smoke into the frigid Edgar Kallands was there to meet December 1995 issue ofthis journal). air. Thirty minutes later "Wild Bill" him. Edgar was a 21-year-old native The 1925 annual report ofthe PHS emphasized that many lives were lost to diphtheria each year "which might be saved by the use ofwell-known means ofprevention or by timely use ofdiphtheria antitoxin after the disease develops." "Timely use" was the key problem with respect to the situation in Nome. Unfortunately, the magic ofcommuni- cation that had identified a supply of the antitoxin could not handle the problem oftransportation. There were two open cockpit biplanes in Anchor- age, both dismantled for the winter. Even assembled, they would have very little to offer against 50-below tem- peratures and 50 to 60 knot winds. The Alaska Railroad offered access only as far as Nenana, a railhead town 674 treacherous miles from Nome. The last resort was the Alaskan Mail Route, known as the Iditarod Trail. The traffic thereon was limited by conditions to sled dog teams and men able enough to guide them. Dr. Welch knew, since he now had three children dead and five more cases positively diagnosed, that the usual 20-day trek from Nenana to Nome might be futile. The chance that there might not be any children left in Nome by then was very real. The normal sled dog discipline ofrun awhile and rest awhile would not work. The 20-pound package of serum had to keep moving. A relay was the answer. Twenty teams and drivers May/June 1996 - Volume III Public Health Reports 273 ."m ofAlaska, born somewhere singing Athabascan love along the Yukon River, and a songs to his dog team. mail carrier for the Northern January 30 and the Commercial Company. He weather was .... ..0 deteriorating. and his team of nine dogs had Charlie Evans took the place come down the 25 miles from ofhis two lead dogs when Minto to meet Shannon the froze to death in har- .. they day before. He'd had a good ness. Charlie finished his supper at Mrs. Martin's road- 30-mile stretch leading the house and a good night's team himself. It was 45 sleep. He woke up about 10 below zero. Tom Patsy took AM and waited for Shannon over for the 36 miles to to show up. Kaltag and Jackscrew, a Koyukuk Indian, was next I hooked up my dogs and with 40 miles to Old took the package of Woman Cabin. The weather serum, which had been continued to deteriorate, and brought into the road- the wind was rising when house and warmed up, Victor Anagick took over and headed for [Manley] and continued the brutal Hot Springs. trek 34 miles to Unalakldeet. The 40 miles between Manley Hot Springs was Unalakleet and Shaktoolik 32 miles away, temperature hosted Myles Gonangan minus 35 degrees, wind 20 to with 50 below and 30 miles 25 mph. But it wasn't all that tough, he made it in five hours. What is cold? Probably everyone north of the Mason-Dixon Line has expe- rienced ten degrees below zero. It is something to be upset about temperature was down to minus 40. and uncomfortable, but handleable. News ofNome's problem, and its Twenty degrees below zero is a totally hoped-for solution, was being flashed different experience. Things that nor- across the United States. Newspaper mally don't freeze, begin to: like fin- headlines and front page stories gers and toes and indoor plumbing. detailed the adventure. Reports ofthe Automobiles become balky and refuse dog teams' progress were punctuated to start, schools are certainly closed, by the names ofheretofore unheard of and nobody goes outside without seri- places: Fish Lake, 9 Mile Cabin, ous forethought. Thirty below is Whiskey Creek, Nulato, Shaktoolik. unforgiving, and at 60 degrees below Johnny Folger, an Athabascan zero, terror begins. A lost glove means Indian, averaged nine miles per hour a lost hand. Life is touch-and-go at on his 28-mile run to Fish Lake, and sixty below. passed the package on to Sam Joseph. Dan Green was waiting at the Sam handed it to Titus Nikoli, heroes Manley Springs Roadhouse, and the all, and each with his own story to tell. priceless package was transferred At Galena Edgar, Nollner passed the almost on the run. It was early eve- serum to his just-married younger ning, 5 or 5:30 PM, dark, and the brother, George. George kept warm 274 Public Health Reports274 Public Health Reports ~~~~~~~~~~May/June1996 * Volume Ill per hour winds. Shaktoolik is 169 his call, Togo and Scotty and the rest of into the drift ofsnow. For a few miles east ofNome and Henry Ivanoff the team shook themselves out ofthe frightening moments he thought the knew the moon was an as-easily- snow drifts and started again for Nome. serum was lost, but find it he did. attained destination, but he headed Although credited with 90 miles of Gunnar was to have met Ed Rohn, west to meet Leonhard Seppala. progress toward Nome with the serum, but in the blizzard that surrounded Because ofhis success racing sled Seppala andTogo actually covered 268 them they missed each other and dogs, Seppala was already a legend in miles in its quest, and these induded Gunnar continued on to Nome. Alaska. His recently imported Siberian two trips across Norton Sound. With sled dog Balto leading the huskies, with his fabled lead dog Togo, Charley Olson was waiting for them at team across 53 miles, Gunnar arrived, had already won everything winnable.

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