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William
"Wild Bill" Shannon
Nenana
to Tolovana Wild Bill mushed a team of nine malamutes 52 miles from Nenana
to Tolovana.
Around
11:00 p.m. Jan. 27, 1925 Shannon received the Serum and written
instructions from the conductor. The temperature was -40 degrees below
zero. Only a few people gathered to see him off. He was greeted in
Tolovana by Dan Green. I don't have the exact time but one text does
mention that he figured he could make it by noon. Since it sounded like he
had a cold but uneventful trip, I assume he made as planned, in 10 to 11 hours.
(Wild Bill was killed by a Grizzly bear years later, while prospecting
alone.)
Dan
Green
Tolovana
to Manley Hot Springs 32 Miles
Dan faced
temperatures warming to -30 degrees below zero, but had a 20 mph wind for a
while which made it cold running. After pulling his mittens of to free a
tangle he found his fingers slightly frosted. He made journey without any
significant difficulty meeting Johnny Folger at the roadhouse. I don't
have a time for Dan.
Johnny
Folger (Athabascan Native)
Manley
Hot Springs to Fish Lake 28 miles
Johnny
made his run at night and is reported to have made 'good time', but I didn't
find anything about his time or team. He met Sam Joseph and his team at a
Fish Lake cabin.
Sam
Joseph (Tanana Tribe Native, 35 years old)
Fish
Lake to Tanana 26 miles
Sam
mushed a team of 7 malamutes for the 26 miles night run to his home in Tanana.
The temperature in Tanana was recorded as -38 degrees below zero, yet Sam
covered the trail in 2 hours 45 minutes, better than 9 mph. He was met by his
family Titus Nickoli
Titus
Nickolai (Athabascan Native)
Tanana
to Kalland's 34 miles
There is
not mention of Titus's team, time or travel along the trail. He met musher
Dave Corning at the Kalland's.
Dave
Corning
Kalland's
to Nine Mile Cabin 24 miles
Dave's
team covered the trail at a fast pace. He is reported to have averaged 8
mph for the 24 miles. Again no mention of exact times or the team.
He was met my Edgar Kalland at the Nine Mile Cabin.
Edgar
Kalland
Nine
Mile Cabin to Kokrines 30 miles
Edgar had
been a musher for the mail service and covered the 30 miles without fail.
He was greeted by Harry Pitka at Kokrines.
Harry
Pitka (Part Native)
Korkrines
to Ruby 30 miles
Harry ran
a fast team of seven dogs over a fast trail in good condition. It was a
night run and he averaged greater than 9mph.
Bill
McCarty
Ruby
to Whiskey Creek 28 miles
Lead dog:
Prince
Ran at a
good pace despite a severe snow storm that he spent about an hour traveling
through. He arrived at Whiskey Creek about 10:00 a.m. where the
temperature was -40 degrees below zero. He was met my Edgar Nollner at
Whiskey Creek.
Edgar
Nollner
Whiskey
Creek to Galena 24 miles
Lead dog:
8 year old Dixie.
Edgar was
21 year old from Galena. He mushed a team of seven malamutes to Galena
where the Serum was taken over by his brother George.
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George
Nollner
Galena
to Bishops Mountain 18 miles
George
was a newly wed at the time and left his new wife in Galena while he took part
in the great race. It appears that George made the trip using the same
team Edgar used to cover the previous 24 miles.
Charlie
Evans (Half Athabascan Native)
Bishops
Mountains to Nulato 30 miles
Charlie
at the time was 21 years old. He left Bishops mountains at 5:00 a.m. with
a reported temperature of -64 degrees below zero. He pulled into
Nulato at 10 a.m. covering the 30 miles in 5 hours. He ran a 9 dog team.
Two dogs were borrowed and suffered frozen groins on the trip.
Tommy
Patson (Patsy) (Koyukuk Native)
Nulato
to Kaltag 36 miles
Patsy as
he was called lived in Nulato. He ran the fairly straight trail on a
regular bases carrying mail. He set the fastest speed noted during the
Serum Race. He covered the 36 miles in three and a half hours with
an average speed of slightly more than 10 mph.
"Jackscrew"
(Athabascan Native)
Kaltag
to Old Woman Cabin 40 miles
Jackscrew
was a small man known for his unusual strength. Darkness and light snow fell on
him. He jogged to lighten the sled until he passed the Kaltag Divide and
began the downhill trail toward Norton Sound. He arrived at Old Woman
Cabin at 9:10 p.m. Friday evening. He averaged almost 6 mph for 40 miles
of difficult trail.
Victor
Anagick (Eskimo Native)
Old
Woman Cabin to Unalakleet 34 miles
Victor
was sent from Unalakleet with an 11 dog team. He covered the 34 mile trail
in 6 hours arriving at 3:30 Saturday morning. The Serum was now 207 miles
from Nome.
Henry
Ivanoff (Part Russian Eskimo)
Shaktoolik
starts to Golovin, passes serum to Seppala a short distance out of town.
About a
half mile out of Shaktoolik had to settle a fight in his team. While he was
stopped he saw Seppala's Siberian husky team approaching form the other
direction. The Serum was transferred to Seppala's sled on the trail.
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Leonhard
Seppala
Shaktoolik
to Golovin 91 miles
Lead dog:
Togo and Scotty
At 48
years old, Leonhard mushed a team of Siberian Husky's. He had left Nome
with the intent of intercepting the serum at Nulato. He wasn't aware that
the relays had sped the serum along the trial. Leonhard had left Isaac's
Point on the north side of Norton Bay that morning. Having traveled the 43
tough miles with a tail wind he almost passed Henry Ivanoff outside of Golovin.
They passed the serum on the trail and Seppala now turned his team around and
headed back up the trail into the wind. The temperature was -30 degrees
below zero as he faced a strong wind and darkness. To save valuable
time Leonhard risked the 20 mile sea ice crossing between Cap Denbigh and Point
Dexter in a blinding blizzard. He relied on Togo to keep them safe and on
course and was not disappointed. On the North shore of Norton Bay he
stopped at an Eskimo sod igloo he had spent the previous night at. He put
the dogs in the kennel and fed them well, then took his sled inside and warmed
the serum and himself hoping the storm would lessen. Early Sunday morning
the temperature was -30 degrees below zero with a raging wind. Once again
he headed out in conditions that otherwise would not have been tempted unless a
matter of life and death. When he reached Dexter's Roadhouse at
Golovin his dogs dropped in there tracks from exhaustion. The serum was
now 78 miles from Nome, and it was Charlie Olson's responsibility to take it to
Bluff.
Charlie
Olson
Golovin
to Bluff 25 miles
Lead dog:
Jack, team of 7 malamutes
Charlie
had left Gunnar Kaason at the Olson Roadhouse and traveled to Golovin at await
the serum. Charlie left Golovin at 3:15 Sunday afternoon with the
temperature at -30 degrees below zero and an estimated 40 mph wind. He was
hit by gusts more than once that hurled him, sled and team off the trail.
His dogs starting getting stiff due to the cold. He stopped and put blankets on
each dog to keep them from freezing and suffered with freezing fingers as he had
to remove his mittens for the task. Two of his dogs ended up badly
groin-frozen. Despite the storm, Charlie arrived at Olson's Roadhouse
about 7:30 p.m. where Gunnar Kaason was wondering if Charlie had held up to wait
out the storm or not.
Gunnar
Kaason
Bluff
to Nome 53 miles
Lead dog:
Balto
Gunnar
was sent from Nome to wait for the serum at Bluff, while Ed Rohn was sent to Pt.
Safety. Chest deep snow drifts to glare ice. For miles he was unable to see the
trail and relied on Balto to get them through. A message was sent to Solomn for
Kaason to wait out the storm there. However the storm was so sever that
Kaason did not see Solomn as Balto kept them on the man trial that passed
to the south. It wasn't until miles later that Kaason could see landmarks
that told him they had passed Solomn. Crossing Bonanza flat his sled was
flipped by the wind, after righting the sled and untangling dogs he found that
the Serum wasn't in his sled. He searched on his hands and knees in dark
blowing snow until he found the package and resumed. After crossing
Bonanza he had a quartering wind at his back and covered the last 12 miles
to Safety in 80 minutes, arriving sometime after 2:00 a.m. Sunday. Ed Rohn
was asleep in the cabin, expecting Kaason had held up at Safety to wait out the
blizzard. Kaason decided not to wake Ed Rohn, who was suppose to take the
Serum the final leg into Nome. The worst of the trail was behind him, the
dogs where running good, so he began the final 21 miles run to Nome. He arrived
in Nome around 5:30 a.m., covering the last 53 miles of the trail in seven and a
half hours.
The
initial serum shipment arrived frozen without any harm and was used to stem the
epidemic. Five days later a second larger shipment of serum traveled the
same route and the epidemic was ended.
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