January 22nd, 2010
Balto and Togo in Alaska
You might be surprised to find many luxury hotels in the Alaskan frontier, but they are definitely there, so that travel to the largest and most Northern state in the union is easier than one might imagine, despite its rugged climate and landscape, but you’ll find places to stay in Fairbanks and Anchorage and, even Wasilla, the home of Sarah Palin. Wasilla is a town of about ten thousand people, and the fourth largest town in the state (Alaska has a total population of about seven hundred thousand people, most of whom reside in Anchorage). Before it became famous and made history as the home of the first Republican woman to run for the office of Vice President of the United States, it was also the home of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Headquarters, where the memories of two life-saving sled dogs, Balto and Togo, are preserved.
In the winter of 1925, two dogs helped pull a sled carrying serum to stop Nome, Alaska’s diphtheria epidemic. Balto the Wonder Dog received the majority of acclaim because he was the dog who completed the journey, carrying the needed medicine to the sick. However, it was Togo that led the team of sled dogs, along with Leonhard Seppala, a famous musher in Alaska, over the longest and roughest miles in the relay across a stretch of land known as the Norton Sound. This Siberian Husky can still be seen today, as his taxidermied body is on display at the Iditarod Headquarters. Togo and a team of dogs traveled hundreds of miles, and would be as famous as Balto the Wonder Dog is today in Alaska, but the then governor of Alaska gave an order at the last minute to speed up the delivery, adding extra relay teams, and thus obscuring Togo’s role in the drive to get the needed drugs to Nome, and thus diminishing his role in the history of dogs.
If you wish to pay your respects to Togo now, the only way to do so is to drop by the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Headquarters. For those who don’t know, the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is an annual tradition in Alaska, where sixteen dogs pull along their musher or driver, across a trail over one thousand one hundred and sixty-one miles, over eight to fifteen days. While the race used to start out from Wasilla, it now goes from Willow, near Anchorage, to Nome. The race started in 1973 in order to test out the finest sled dog mushers and teams around. Currently, the fastest record was set by Martin Buser in 2002 of eight days, twenty-two hours, forty-six minutes and two seconds. You can watch the race itself on the first Saturday in March; this year, the race will begin March 6th.