When Sled Dogs Saved an Alaskan Town
In 1925, 20 teams of sled dogs braved the harsh Alaskan winter to carry a package of diphtheria antitoxin over 1000 km to save a small town from a deadly outbreak! Hosted by: Michael Aranda...
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Even if you’re not big on Alaskan history, you might have heard of the Iditarod sled dog race. Every year since 1973, people have raced their dog teams across the 1500-kilometer stretch of Arctic tundra between Anchorage and Nome, Alaska. The race starts on the first Saturday in March, and to win, participants have to charge through some of the harshest conditions in the northern hemisphere. But it’s not an exercise in torture. It’s inspired by what’s sometimes called “The Great Race of Mercy”, where dog sled teams raced along much of the same trail to deliver an antitoxin that would save thousands of people from a deadly diphtheria outbreak in the winter of 1925. In the early 1900s, most of Alaska’s remote towns were pretty much inaccessible...
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Even if you’re not big on Alaskan history, you might have heard of the Iditarod sled dog race. Every year since 1973, people have raced their dog teams across the 1500-kilometer stretch of Arctic tundra between Anchorage and Nome, Alaska. The race starts on the first Saturday in March, and to win, participants have to charge through some of the harshest conditions in the northern hemisphere. But it’s not an exercise in torture. It’s inspired by what’s sometimes called “The Great Race of Mercy”, where dog sled teams raced along much of the same trail to deliver an antitoxin that would save thousands of people from a deadly diphtheria outbreak in the winter of 1925. In the early 1900s, most of Alaska’s remote towns were pretty much inaccessible...
