Spitcicles: The 1925 Serum Run

0:16 oh, hey there, oh hey there I am already fogging up. Hey, I'm bradley I'm kate we're the history buffoons and it's very warm oh my gosh. Very warm, so we had a nice little um I. I don't want to call it a cold snap, but I guess that's what it kind of was. It was glorious. It got down to like. It was like low 40s in the morning, didn't get much past 71 ish give or take um. There was, I think, a couple days only in the 60s. It was so nice so beautiful and um, they had said that was going to happen. They said it was going to warm back up, I think it's for like the next week or so, but then they said it was gonna be another little cold spell.

1:00 So here's the hoping. Yeah, because we're recording. We have to turn off the ceiling, fan blast and instantly I got warm and started. We've also been laughing well, yeah, so not a trade secret to sync up the sound and the video. A tip I saw a while ago when, like preparing to do all this, is you do a clap and then what I have to do is I literally have to match the clap within the video and the audio. I apparently can't clap. Today I think we've done five or six like trying, and then we fucked around and went.

1:45 So anyways, unnecessary warmth coming through my body because I tried to clap too much. Holy balls. Okay so. Yeah. I know everybody's been waiting on Bated Breath to find out what our four KDs are named. Well, you can breathe again. Okay. Yeah, out what our four kitties are named. Oh, you can breathe again, okay, yeah. So for those who don't know, I put my senior cat down and within 30 minutes of being home from that appointment, that horrible appointment horrible four kittens showed up at me and my husband's back door which is just fucking wild. So wild it just I can't believe the timing that they showed up. Yes, I mean, what a sad day.

2:26 And then kittens. Yeah, what the fuck? How did that even happen? Yeah. That's just wild. So one of the calicos, calico females, and one. He is an orange male, very, very light male, like a blondish orange, an orange male a very, very light male, like a blondish. He went to our good friend tara and she named them, benny and june, yeah, which is great yes, and I was like I, I love benny, I can't quite see her as a june, and then my husband started calling her j bug. I was like oh my God, she's like okay, okay, I can, I got it I got it Like, it clicked for me, so not like June bug Freaking, love it.

3:11 That's awesome. And um so we have Bradley's two kittens still here. Yep, so we're waiting on a couple of things, um, because they got tested by the vet and everything. Yes. Being kittens. They were outdoors, obviously could get things. So we're letting some things clear up before they move down to my house, because I already have cats don't want to pass anything. We're almost there, not too much longer. Yeah, about two more weeks, I think Two more weeks, and we came up with names, though, yes. So we are big fans of the Brewers, so we watch a lot of games and I'm like I need to name one, sal.

3:52 So I have a male and a female that I'm getting as well, and so we named after Sal Freelick, the outfielder for the Brewers. So his name is Sal. So he is the black and white male. Yep, and then for the brewers. So his name is sal, so he is the black and white male. Yeah, and then, um, we have a, you have a darker, calico, uh, female yeah as well. I love like the half spot on her nose too. It's so cute, yeah, but uh, so I am a big fan of I've said this many episodes ago and rice. She did a mayfair witches series. Um, you and I were spitballing names and whatever, and I really like Stella and you're like that's the name on my list for old timey names for cats. I love Stella, so much.

4:33 There's a Stella in the Mayfair, which is a very prominent character actually and then she said that I'm like, well, fuck it, let's, I'll call her Stella, cause I I always liked that name too. Yeah. And, um, I like naming cats after characters I enjoy and such and whatever, so, uh, so Sal and Stella kept it in the S's, but, uh, they officially have names. Yeah, oh and they're so cute, so it's, it's funny because I don't know. I just weird like this. All my life with having animals, I've always uh given my animals middle names too. So we're gonna let the the kiddos uh give them middle names, because I just didn't want a weird random first name for for either cat, because I'm not gonna be like, hey, frickle puss, come here, you know, or whatever perfect perfect.

5:21 Yeah, you liked that one, didn't you hey? Purrface no Nope. Nope, nope, nope, nope, or Fluffy, or whatever. So I took charge of naming the animals. So the kitty cats, I should say. And that's okay, they can deal, they'll just all they'll have to know is they came with names. There you go they. All they'll have to know is they came with names. There you go. They don't need to know otherwise, and Sarah's all on board with both names. She likes them both, so she actually came up with the idea of letting the kids give them middle names. So I'm like. I'm good with that. My underarm itches. That's what.

6:05 Kate looks like out in the wild, okay, okay. So we decided on making ourselves a cocktail today for a change and nothing grandiose yeah. So I was like we don't, we don't like spending a ton of money. So I was like I really don't want to go, just buy a bunch of liquor. But my husband had some like rum and um a and w rip beer the other day. So I was like, oh, we've got rum at home yeah. So we decided to do something nice and simple. So I there's. I had I've gone through like liquor phases, yeah, and one of them was a rum phase and I had mentioned to you that one of them was um picardi limoneite. So we don't have limone, but we put lemon in there for the limone portion.

6:49 So I put a slice of lemon in and then a slice on the rim, but I did not squirt any of the lemon in. If you want to do, that for the one that's on the rim. I certainly do, yeah Same. Um, the funny thing is like limone and like Spanish is like lime or something. I don't know. Should we have gotten a lime? No, because I always thought it was like a citrusy taste, which lime is, but I don't know. I never got lime notes out of it. I could be wrong. I'm not Spanish. I went heavy on the rum. You did Wow. I did not expect that from you making these Goddamn. Normally you go pretty light. It's not bad.

7:29 It's no Bacardi Limon, but do you remember what kind of rum it was? By chance or no Bacardi? It was just straight up Bacardi rum, yeah, okay. I didn't see, I love the lime. I need more Sprite. You should have brought the Sprite in so you could have topped it off. That's okay, okay Anywho. So we started with cats, but now we're going to go to dogs. What the what, what the what. That doesn't make any sense. We are going to talk about. I'm glad you glossed over the scratch on my head. You have a scratch on your head More than a scratch. Okay fast story, because this is a long story, all right, well, go on.

8:11 No, um, so bradley has a chunk of his skull missing I don't know if you can, maybe I'll try and zoom in on this, but I don't know, if you can see it, or not it's there it hurts. It's a big chunk. Oh, it hurts too. Yeah, holy balls, it's warm, so I may have been mowing my lawn the other day. At least it wasn't anything nefarious. No, it wasn't anything nefarious. No, it wasn't anything crazy. But sarah and I have lived at this house for well over a decade. We've never done anything with this, but the previous owners and yes, I'm putting blame on them because, fuck them, a tree branch fell in this tree.

8:59 It got caught up by another branch that's still attached to the big branch, so it's sticking out. So all they did is they sliced it, but for some reason they sliced it into a fucking point. Now I have lived there for a while and, yes, it's my fault that I haven't taken care of it since we've been there. I can guarantee you now it is no longer in the tree, because I was mowing my lawn. I was going right around the branch, or the trunk, I mean, and when I got around to where that branch is is what I was going to say I thought I ducked, and you've made a good observation of me. Sometimes I don't know my size. I am what you would call a large man. Um, I'm six, three. Yes, I'm not the tallest, but still pretty tall, big dude, and I'm ducking.

9:43 And it went to a point, and I can tell you this. As soon as that happened, I was done mowing the lawn for the day. So I instantly drove to the house and I slapped a paper towel wet paper towel on it to try and sop up the blood. It blood pretty good too yeah, I mean you basically shaved off a layer of skin. Yeah, a large layer of skin I was trying to scalp myself, yeah and there is a cut to it, but there's also like shave, yeah, shaved marks. So the funny thing is like skid marks only no why'd you have to make it weird? Anyways, not like that, I know, I know.

10:24 So, uh, I, I, I cut my own hair cause I don't need to pay someone to do this. It's really fucking easy. And I did this on Wednesday and I always cut my hair on Thursdays every two weeks and I'm like, oh boy, that's gonna that's gonna be interesting. And I remember taking a shower Thursday morning. That fucking hurt. And I got home. Because I get home early, because I start early, I'm still doing it that hurt and now it's bruised as well as scabbed over, but yeah, sarah thought instantly I had a concussion and I'm like no, I'm good, I didn't. Didn't even see stars or anything, but fuck that hurt. Did you see moons? I did.

11:04 Yeah, it was the weirdest thing anyways okay, so you're going from cats should I? Should I put a remember that picture I sent to you that I took of the moon? Should I put that in in the video here so they can see that with the car chasing by? Remember it was really bright, full moon. Oh yeah, yeah, no you, actually, you did take a very nice picture. It was a good picture I, I can even put by bradley acres copyright, copyright bradley acres 2025. Okay, so we are going to talk about the 1925 serum run serum like s-e-r-U-M, mm-hmm. Okay. Made by Togo and Balto.

11:48 Oh Balto, like the Disney movie. Yes, this is really rummy. I'm so sorry. If you put some gin in it, would it be gin rummy Dad jokes. Am I right, jesus? No, it I right, jesus? No, it should have been cheesy. Cheesy Okay. Balto. And what was the first one? Togo, togo, okay. Yes, okay, so it's January 1925. Right. And this is up in Alaska. This is Nome Alaska, okay, yeah, so if this was Alaska and this is like the trail of you know, the islands, islands and Juneau's down here, nome is like right here.

12:35 I went to On the coast Right. I went to when I was in elementary Well, I think she was. No, she was. She moved, I don't remember what year, fourth grade maybe but there was a girl from Juneau, alaska, that came to my school and she ended up. I ended up graduating with her. But, um, yeah, her name was Crystal. I always remember that she was the girl from Alaska. Yeah, I've been to Fairbanks, which is right in the center of the state-ish. You've been to. Alaska state-ish. You've been to alaska? Yeah, oh, I didn't know that that's awesome. Um, I was dating someone and his parents had moved there, like the. Oh, I think you told me that yeah, his parents moved there for a job and he stayed in nebraska to finish out his college degree and him and I were dating and they invited me up, and that's right.

13:20 It was really great yeah, I, I would love to go. My parents did the whole alaskan cruise thing or whatever. Uh, once they said it was really great. Yeah, I, I would love to go. My parents did the whole Alaskan cruise thing, or whatever. Uh, once they said it was really cool. I'd love to do that. I'm not a big cruise guy, but, uh, I would just like I'd love to go up to Alaska someday. I hope. I hope to make it there. Yeah, and it's really weird that you bring this up, because at work, this guy, uh, keith, uh, at work, was showing some of the other people, so I just happened to be there too. He has a friend that he's known like almost 45 years or whatever. He said no, he actually said 45. I'm like that's how old I am anyways. Um, she lives up in alaska and she was just out for a run and took a whole bunch of pictures of just bears playing, jumping out of the water like a ton of fucking bears and that literally just happened today.

14:06 So, hey Alaska, that's amazing, it's like a kismet. Okay, so at night Jesus she is me. So January 1925 in Nome, alaska. It's a fairly tiny, isolated town right on the edge of the Bering sea. Now if you've ever watched Deadliest Catch on Discovery Channel. All these ships are going on the Bering. Sea fishing for crab. Crab fishing. Yes, so the sun crawls basically right above the horizon for a few hours each day in winter. Right, right, the air hurts your face.

14:46 Um, we're talking negative 50 degrees on. Like a good day it's. It's cold up there well, it is pretty fucking north and so and in fact it's only two degrees below the arctic arctic circle that was tough. It really was Arctic Circle. That's all I have to say about that. Nome is so remote that from November until July its harbor is sealed shut with ice. That's fucking wild. Cutting off any access for ships From when to July November. November until July.

15:27 So that's what? Eight months, nine months. I don't remember when I went there. It had to have been in the summer then. I would imagine. Yeah. That would make sense. Yeah, holy shit, so. So can you only get there by like little prop plane. Plane and sled dogs. Well, yeah. Sled, good old Balto. Yeah, would you just call them sled dogs. Sledding, yeah, sled dogs, sled dogs. I believe. I think that's the official term. Yeah, there's no boats, there's no roads. You can't get Amazon delivered up there Like you can't. You need. Doc Brown where we're going. We don't need bros exactly, so that's two in a row the only sorry, that's okay, you can just talk over me.

16:11 Great. So the only lifeline um in or out during winter is a 939 mile dog sled male trail called the I did a rod trail. Oh, the Iditarod yeah. You know that. Well, that's a famous. They do a race, the Iditarod Race. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so, and that winds through like mountain ranges and frozen tundra, yeah, and if something vital is a thousand miles away, you, just you literally cannot hop on a plane and just deliver it. It's a whole thing. Well, especially in 1925. Right, that's the year we're talking about, right? I mean, that's literally a hundred fucking years ago. So much rum, so much rum.

16:54 Do we need to do a quick pause? And you go get the Sprite. Hold please, hold please, and we're back. So we added some Sprite, so it's not as roomy, okay, so, oh my okay I was on purpose and I apologize no one necessary no, that point. Now, nome is home to about 1,400 people at this time. Okay, roughly 455 are Alaskan natives. Do you know how many people are there today for comparison?

17:35 I don't, but I can look that up real quick. That's fine, continue. And so 455 are about I can look that up Alaskan natives yeah, and about 975. That's very specific. That is extremely specific. Wow, I wouldn't have guessed that, but okay. They are of European descent, so most of them are toughing it out in these like wood heated cabins, trying to find reasons not to go outside until spring. So how many natives did you say about 455? but you said it was about 1400. That doesn't add up anyways, it's that would.

18:16 That would be more I said about I know I said about, that is about continue. I apologize, I didn't mean to derail your whole fucking brain so a few children started showing up at maynard columbus hospital okay with sore throats and fevers. Oh dear, in late 1924 okay and the town's only doctor, curtis, welch saw all this. He notices he was the doctor, he was the only doctor well, I can't imagine there was a plethora of doctors in gnome alaska how many people are we talking now? Uh, so the latest census from 2023, I guess this would be.

19:00 I don't know if it was an official census, but that's. What that shows is 3649. Nice, so in a hundred years it gained 2200 people, that's awesome. I mean that's not much, but again it's a remote area so it is so much better Okay. Yeah, it is definitely better. Okay. So at first he figured it was just tonsillitis or like a nasty cold, okay. But more kids started like falling gravely ill and none of them had like these, none of them were getting better with the usual treatments. Okay. Okay, so Dr Walsh was starting to grow some concern.

19:41 So I mean fuck. What. I said rightly so. Yes, are you okay? no, too much rum nah, nah what the fuck is happening right now what he discovers is it is diphtheria dip. I've heard of that, I'm unfamiliar. Uh, throw me some knowledge it is a bacterial infection. Okay, so nasty it, it earned the nickname the strangler, sorry, the strangling angel of children that sounds fucking terrible.

20:25 Yes, that sounds like a death metal band yes diphtheria it produces a toxin that creates a thick grayish film in your throat can you scrape it out? And it can literally choke off your airway from the inside boy, that sounds fucking awful yeah, victims and this only happens in kids. No, it can't happen in adults it can happen in adults okay just the kids were the ones getting sick first. Oh, I see okay so victims would struggle to breathe, um, as diphtheria would kind of squeeze their windpipes and without treatment they would suffocate.

21:07 Essentially. So in the early, early 20th century, diphtheria was pretty much the parents worst nightmare, a major killer of children, mostly children, some adults, but mostly children, because vaccines weren't hadn't come along yet right okay. So even with treatment, fatality rates could reach 20 for young kids damn so dr welch knew this. He also knew something that made his stomach drop gnome's stash of diphtheria antitoxin that he had was expired I was gonna say it was past its date.

21:48 The town's only supply of this serum, basically antibodies harvested from horse blood. I'm not really sure why. I'm not a scientist, but it had gone. That's, that's perfectly clear you're welcome, um, but it had gone bad months before okay, so he didn't order a new batch. I mean, shouldn't he be like on top of quality control and inventory hold the phone. Welch had ordered a new batch, oh, but the shipment didn't arrive before the port iced over oh shit, okay, yeah, at least he was on his game. We'll give him that he was. What's his name again? Welch, yes.

22:29 Okay, curtis, welch, yes. So by the time the first local child showed telltale signs of diphtheria in December, welch was essentially fighting with this deadly disease empty handed. Okay so how long. I don't know if you came up across this when you're looking at this, how long from when they get it. Obviously, I know things can be different for people until they really kind of showed signs of having this. I think it's fairly quick, is it Okay? Yes, signs of having this. I think it's fairly quick, is it okay? yes, and I think death could be like, within like a month, month and a half, two months, yeah, like yeah, it's, it's not a long time but it doesn't really go away unless you have this treatment.

23:16 Basically, yeah otherwise it just like, continues to grow, grow and like close off your, your windpipe. Yeah, more or less so. That's fucking terrifying so the town thinks that, with the like last shipments coming through, that someone had diphtheria and ended up passing it on to the people of gnome oh, so you can pretty much just pick it up from other people. So it's transferable oh gotcha okay. I mean that makes sense being a virus like that because it's considered a virus right. Bacterial infection Okay. So through December and early January a few people in Nome or, excuse me, a few children in Nome did die.

23:56 Oh, fever, throat swelling and a very quick decline Okay and a very quick decline. Okay, and Welch hesitated to call it diphtheria, because confirming that would mean a little bit more of a panic situation happening. So he was trying to alleviate that. Yes, and he wanted to alleviate like a full-blown epidemic and panic. Basically. Panic, exactly, okay. But after a three-year-old boy just two weeks after falling ill, and then a seven-year-old died just hours later, oh, boy. Welch tried administering the expired antitoxin.

24:39 Yeah. And basically he decided we can no longer deny that this is diphtheria, Right? Oh, I see it was in gnome. It was about to have a field day with these, this unvaccinated population, and Dr Welch alerted the town on January 22nd 1925. So some of these people felt ill in December. Right. And then, like by January 22, they're like we need to do something. Yes, gotcha um so uh, the gnomes mayor at the time um called an urgent meeting the council, if you will if you will, um the council enacted a quarantine that very same day, basically telling everyone stay in your cabins, don't share cups, don't spit in the street, don't do anything of that nature.

25:34 Have you seen a baseball game? They spit all the time okay, but let me. let me run this by negative 50. Is that going to be frozen by the time it hits the ground, spitzicles Stop it, stop it right now Should that, I know. So a little side note I'm getting to know Kate, one of the hosts here. She cannot so like we, like to watch baseball. She cannot stand. I like this drink. It's better now with a little more Sprite. You did little heavy-handed on the rum. My apologies now it's better anyways.

26:14 She does not like when people spit, so she has a hard time with sometimes in baseball games where she just sees the people spit all the time. So it's it's kind of funny. But I think the title of the episode is Spitzicles. What's ironic is I like sunflower seeds and I use them to keep me awake while driving. And you spit them out. And I spit them out. But that's you, that's yourself, yeah. You, seeing somebody else spit is a completely different thing. Or when someone has a cold and they're like, okay, let's move on. Hold on, I gotta spit real quick, please don't. So, quarantine or not? Dr Welch knew that isolation alone would not stop the disease's spread.

26:57 So more kids and even some adults were falling ill pretty much every day and by late January at least 20 cases were confirmed in Nome, with 50 plus more at risk of imminent infection. and that's just from like family members so they well, because so they were close quarters kind of thing, and they might have shown some symptoms or whatever, yeah, okay gotcha so 1400 people, a very short amount of 14 like 30 Of Mount of 14, like 30, but whatever. Jesus Christ Potential massacre. I mean, if, especially a hundred years ago, this gets any further.

27:37 1,400 people, this is fucking gone, gone. So it wouldn't take long, because they're so isolated too, yes, so it's like, oh fuck, what do we do? too, yes. So it's like oh fuck, what do we do? Without any antitoxin, the death cult could be near 100 catastrophic. Yeah, yes, not a statistic. We want to test. So no, so send in the dogs exactly so the only hope is to get fresh antitoxin serum to gnome ASAP. And what is the nearest town? Oh, there's lots of little tiny hubs here and there. What's the nearest big town?

28:18 How far away is that? Lord have mercy. It's probably at least 700 miles away. Oh dear. Well, you said the Iditarod is 939 miles. Is that what you said? The iditarod is 939 miles, something. Is that what you said? Something like? that and um that trail, which, um, I'll talk a little bit about, right isn't like straight across no, you know mountains and curves and whatever. It's just like a. A railroad track wasn't just fucking straight. They had to go around the terrain and everything. So really, it could be as much as that long to the next town, to the next big town that would potentially have this antitoxin. As the crow flies, though Is that an idiom?

29:01 I think so, all right. I'm starting to second guess myself sometimes when I say things. Is it an idiom or does it have something else? Yeah, because I feel like everything's a fucking idiom so gnome was a hub for many of the like native villages in the area. Yeah, so an outbreak, it really outbreak could. Could outbreak could explode across alaska jesus fucking. But if it wiped out an entire town, wouldn't it just die with that town? Not if villagers came in. Put up signs. Quarantine, quarantine. Get the fuck off of properties For those of you who do not know, please reference the bubonic play that we talked about.

29:47 What was it? 32 delta 32 was it I believe. So look at you go. Am I right? I don't know, let's find out oh no, I gotta fucking oh, I got it up already. Yeah, um, let's see here delta gene, delta 32. Keep an eye on your boob bombs it is episode 30 god, that was a lot of episodes ago episode 30 what episode are we on? Do you know? like 51, 52, 52 oh, my word doesn't matter. Moving on, we are getting on tangents today. This is is a long story. This is episode 59.

30:28 God, where have I been? Not with it. Dr Welch sent out radio telegrams on January 22nd. Yeah. So he said diphtheria epidemic raging in gnome no serum, urgently need help. Please advise, okay. And then I go stop the message reached Anchorage. Oh sure. And officials sprang into action right away, Like they had no qualms. They're just like, let's do it. Well, they need to. I mean these fucking people need help. It could go across Alaska for all we know. As far as we know, unless it freezes to death.

31:09 They located a small supply. Oh shit Around 300,000 units at a hospital in Anchorage. It wasn't a huge amount, but it could treat a few dozen people in Nome, 300,000 units could treat just a few dozen people. So how many units per person, then? I don don't. I did not look up that specific information because doesn't that seem like a lot of units for 1400 people? I mean it's a lot, I don't know just saying what's a unit? well, I'm seeing that's what I'm curious about is like I think a unit is only like a couple of milliliters.

31:51 Oh, so it's got a specific size, or? whatever Maybe. Okay, don't call me on this. Oh, I don't call you on shit. But yeah, this 300,000 unit, units and maybe not all 300,000 were available. Were were given? Yeah, Well, because maybe were given Right. Well, because maybe they kept some Exactly Case it got to them or something. But it was the difference between life and death for the patients of Nome. So Right. The challenge, of course, was how to get it to Nome. Oh, of course, it is roughly a thousand miles in absolute dead of winter. Right. So Alaska did indeed consider airplanes okay.

32:34 So governor scott bone and other officials debated flying the serum by aircraft just dropping it I. They would land. They wouldn't like airdrop it. You don't know that the only planes available were open cockpit black biplanes that hated cold weather I wonder why? because their pilot would freeze pretty much. I mean negative 50 on the ground. Think about it, you know, even a thousand feet up but also alaskan winters in 1925 are actually making new records oh, really for their temperature. Yes, so it was even colder, than normal, gotcha so the governor's staff looked at crazy options like flying a bigger aircraft from seattle or sending a navy ship to the edge of the ice and launching a plane from it oh boy, boy, sure, yes Wow.

33:29 But experienced navigators basically refused saying that, flying in an Arctic blizzard in the dark at negative 50 degrees, with 1920s aircraft. That's pretty much a death sentence there, exactly. Wow, that's crazy. So no planes, no planes that left railroads and dog sleds. Did they have a prominent railroad too? They had, or in the vicinity. Not near Nome. Okay, at least, but to Anchorage, I'm sure. So they had a train from Anchorage to Nanana. Nanana, yeah, sounds like someone's.

34:10 Nanana, nenana, nenana. Yeah, sounds like someone's. Nenana Bobana. Not where I was going, okay. So it is. So it's in the Alaskan interior, so Anchorage is South Alaska and then. Nenana is into the interior yes, and it is still about 674 miles from Nome. That's quite a distance yeah. Yes. Nanana. They could take the serum on the train to Nanana and then it had to be sled dogs all the way to Nome. Oh wow, really, yes, that's crazy. Gnome oh wow, really, yes, that's crazy.

34:55 I don't. I mean it's funny like thinking about this because obviously we've been, we've had cars our entire life so like to be like, fuck, how do we get this here? It's like we just drive it there. No, these people had to deal with a lot of weird shit. Yeah, I mean, that's just wild that you, you had to go through all this just to figure out how to get this shit to your remote town. Yeah, I don't know, it's just. I can only imagine what they had to deal with. So the plan of the dog sets. They basically created a relay, a real relay, a relay relay, and it is known as the Great Race of Mercy. Yeah. So Governor Bone and other officials approved the relay plan, released the hounds.

35:42 Unleashed the hounds. So they recruited 20 of the best dog mushers in the territory. Hey, do you not a mush Sure? Including several Alaska native male carriers and trappers who knew the trail back and forth. I'm sure. And they positioned themselves. At dinner. Different intervals along the trail. Oh, okay, okay. Cells at dinner. Different intervals along the trail oh, okay, okay. Each team would run a segment and then hand off the 20 pound package of serum. Like it, like it's one of those, like olympic batons, you know no, for sure. So setting this all up, I mean that that probably had to take some major coordination, because if you're putting these people all throughout, you know the territory the territory and to did they basically do that to like alleviate, so they could didn't have to rest?

36:41 Give it to the next person, cause they can go. Yes, okay, yes, yes, yes. The relay was so they didn't have to run from start to finish. That would be way too long and all those dogs would die Absolutely, oh for sure. So the relay was started, nanana. Nanana. Okay, after the train ride, and they would go all the way to Nome, covering 674 miles of forest, mountains and sea ice in the middle of the Arctic winter. Wow, a dog sled mail run from Nenana to Nome usually took 25 days in decent weather. Holy balls.

37:22 These guys needed to do it in five to six days, jesus Okay. Okay. So news of this plan spread. Newspapers around the world were following the story. 1925 radio is a newer thing, right, newspapers are king and the epic quest to save children was like making this a media sensation, right, um, as one gnome reporter dramatically put it, he said all hope is in the dogs and their heroic drivers. Gnome appears to be a deserted city. That's crazy. So Alaska in 1925 had plenty of tough mushers up to the task.

38:07 Tough mushers up to the task, tough mushers trappers, mail carriers, natives, uh, veteran racers they all stepped forward. Right, these men and their dogs were, were really the unsung heroes of this story? I mean, I feel like they are pretty sun already they delivered mail like Like. Jesus who, the fuck does that? Mail carriers. On January 27th the relay began. So remember, january 22nd is when Dr Welch sent out a telegram, yeah, basically. Yes, five days later the relay began. So how did they coordinate that?

38:48 Because obviously it had to start from the beginning and the get to gnome he may call. He made that call telegram or telegraph, excuse me, um, on the 22nd. So I mean, how did they set all those people up along the way? How did they communicate that? well, there's a dog sled like church. There's a dog sled church that they all attend in anchorage. And he went to the church and he was like hey, we need some volunteers. And they're all like I'm gonna go all the way to my section and I'm just going to wait.

39:28 Now open your hymnal to verse 23. Exactly so. Do you want to know the population of Nanana in 2023? 2025? 2023? . Yeah. What's your best guess? 500 or less. I need a number, not a fucking estimate 500. 342, I, I'm sorry. You were going on about some weird fucking dog church so I had to. I had to occupy myself because that was really weird okay yes a shipment of diphtheria. Did you say a shipment, a shipment, okay. Thank you for clarifying diphtheria.

40:10 Did you say a shipment? A shipment Okay. Thank you for clarifying. Diphtheria antitoxin was packed in a metal cylinder wrapped in protective padding and furs to prevent it from freezing. Do you know what kind of furs they were? Jesus Christ Bradley the questions. Beaver pelts Bear. What else you got? Maybe some deer, maybe some elk. Okay, nanana. The serum was rushed to Nanana by train. Our first musher is waiting.

40:55 What's his name? Wild bill shannon. Oh, at 9 pm that night is when it arrived in negative 50 50 degrees temperatures. That's wild. Shannon took possession of the cargo and hit the trail with his dog team. So you said it was wrapped. It was in the cylinder, wrapped in furs and stuff. Could this basically freeze? It can still freeze. Yes, okay. Gotcha. So he immediately plunged into the Yukon River ice, because the usual trail was destroyed and the ice was the only path and he, he sank no oh so you said plunge, so I I did say plunge he you can understand my confusion there he ran across the river the dogs ran.

41:45 He was on the sled so we've got howling wind, we have dogs, we have wild bill all running with the sled to keep warm, and in fact, shannon did get off the sled and run with the dogs to keep warm. Okay, he's jogging next to them how slow are they going? how many dogs did he have? Bradley I'm curious, was it eight, eight dog team we're gonna say two, four, six, seven. We're gonna say seven. That's weird, is it? It's odd so, despite shannon's effort of running by the sled I didn't pay attention.

42:27 Okay, go on. Fucking hell. So Shannon still developed hyperthermia and severe frostbite during his 52-mile run. That's not surprising. No, it's not. And by the time he handed off the serum at 3 am 52 miles. you said yeah, is where he went. Yeah, 3 am 52 miles. You said yeah, is where he went. Yeah, okay. And by the time he handed off the serum at 3 am, parts of his face literally had turned black from frostbite, I know. So 3 am, so he was doing this for six hours. And three of his dogs ended up collapsing, and they did end up dying from the cold. Succumbing to the cold that sucks.

43:08 This was the first leg of the journey. I know that's the sad part, because you can only imagine that this will continue so the the serum kind of zigzagged through the interior of alaska, changing hands and paws every few hours. The re the relay was so meticulously planned that no team had to run more than 50 to 70 miles okay, okay, so they had that many people set up. Yes, and it was normally like an extreme days type of run right, so like it wasn't super excessive or anything right okay well, I mean it makes sense, because if it was super excessive, these people would literally they'd have to rest, their dogs would have to rest, they would have to rest, especially the dogs, because they're they're just exerting so much effort to do this and if you relied on less teams you would be fucked, yes, so yes makes sense so at each handoff, the musher would warm up the serum by the fire just enough to keep it from freezing, and then they would tuck it back into the new sled, and then they'd go off again.

44:19 Oh wow, okay. So they drove through forests where the only light was literally the stars and the moon, that's crazy. Um, and hopefully the blizzard didn't have a bunch of clouds that would cut them off. If it's blizzarding out, I'm sure that I'm sure it was. The visibility wasn't very fucking great. And one of the earlier legs, a musher named Edgar Calland, arrived at his handoff. Edgar Okay. Edgar Calland arrived at his handoff with his hands frozen to the sled's handlebar. Oh my God, did he not have gloves on?

45:01 I'm betting he did. Oh, jesus Christ, I wonder if they got wet or something A roadhouse owner had to pour boiling water on his hands to free them just uh word of advice don't ever do that to a car windshield. Oh, do you know what happens cracks. Oh yeah, I've never done it, I've just seen videos and that would be bad I've. I've done hot water before, but not boiling water. You're not supposed to even do that. Don't ever do that. I think, yeah, I've done hot water before, but not boiling water. You're not supposed to even do that, don't ever do that? I think, yeah, I've done that once. Yeah, don't do it again. Okay, so another handoff, Charlie Evans. Okay, so this is the next guy after Edgar.

45:42 So I don't have the names of each musher but, eventually, there's just another musher named Charlie Evans. Okay, sure, gotcha. He was a negative 64 degrees Fahrenheit, without windchill, oh hey that's something. Two of his lead dogs were short haired, half breeds, had frostbitten groins. Oh boy. Because he forgot to put their little rabbit fur underpants on. Oh, did they actually put that on the dogs? Oh wow, I never knew that. Oh man, that's sad yeah. So the pups collapsed from pain and. Charlie had to hook himself onto the sled and pull.

46:26 So he forgot two of them but not the rest. I don't know if it was just the two that got frostbite. That's fine Either way, yeah, okay. So Evans made it to the next stop with both of the dogs badly injured, and they did not survive. They succumbed to their injuries. Yes, gotcha. And now we're only halfway through. Halfway through like to Nome Right. So back in Nome. The situation is still pretty dire. It's January 30th. Five people have died, a number are still sick. The local hospitals without antitoxin, completely helpless. The whole town is on lockdown.

47:07 No, schools no gatherings. Why would you allow that? That's insanity. It's like COVID. Whatever? I think you have to pee. You have to pee? All right, we are going to take a short pee break. Bradley needs another cocktail and we'll be right back. All right, bladder's emptied, emptied drinks filled. Let's do this, okay. So newspapers had picked up on the story and they kind of dubbed it the serum run, or the race against death, or the mercy race, or yeah, I mean even the lower 48,.

47:52 They were all experiencing like crazy cold winters, oh so it wasn't just North, it was it was everybody. It was in the States, the lower contiguous. I picked up Amos and now I'm like covered in hair. Yeah, imagine that. Okay, so the most dangerous section of the route was coming up it was a shortcut, crossed across the norton sound, which is water well, yeah, that's what a sound is. Yep, yes, frozen water oh boy an inlet of the bering Sea. Do you have any idea? Did you come up across anything like how thick the ice was?

48:35 No. However, it was thin enough to break. Oh, dear Cause, like I, the, I grew up in Pewaukee, wisconsin. We have a pretty, you have a good lake, big lake, yeah, and um, actually and I think I've said it on this podcast, maybe even, um, I know I've told you, but you probably forgot, so I'll tell you again real quick. Um, obviously, obviously, we're not very far from milwaukee. It's about 20, 25 minutes, whatever. Um, they used to come to biwaki lake and cut chunks of ice to bring to milwaukee for ice cubes, and you know ice and shit. So, um, why don't they? why don't they just go to lake michigan for that?

49:17 like michigan doesn't really freeze like that. Oh, I suppose because it's a giant fucking lake all right, all right anyways. Um so my brother, oldest brother, ryan, loves ice fishing. I do not like going on ice, I can't fucking do it. People who drive their cars onto ice to me are fucking dumb. To each their own, I just will not do it. I'm not saying they're actually dumb and my brain is like that's fucking dumb. I would not do it I want. The action is dumb it is because so I worked there's a main road that goes right by the front of the beach, basically the beach area of the of the lake, and I worked at a gas station across that street, so the beach is right there, or the lake, I should say.

50:01 I had to call the police and I saved a guy's life on us who went in on a snowmobile even so, imagine going in a car. So I luckily helped the guy live. I was in the paper and everything but were you really? yeah, that was on the paper once too. Oh, sorry for another time, maybe. So taking the ice could save the sea ice, excuse me, taking the sea ice could save a whole day of travel. Oh shit, that's pretty crucial at this point. Yes, the ice on Norton Sound was a little fickle. That's what it sounds like. It can crack and blow out to sea without any warning. Oh, really oh shit and blow out to sea without any warning.

50:48 Oh really, oh shit. So the relay coordinators, yeah, assigned their best musher for this leg of the trip so how did they determine it was their best musher? like, how did, how did they know that? I guess that's my question so his name is le Seppala. Okay. And he was already a living champion in. Alaska. He was a champion racer Gotcha, a gold rush veteran and by 1925, he was still like a spry 48 year old, with a decade of mushing experience behind him. Okay, okay, so he, he was accomplished, accomplished, we'll just say that he was an accomplished musher. Yeah, and sepala would be the one to cross this icy sound well, I mean, that makes sense.

51:35 You know, put your best guy at the hardest point. Yes, because otherwise you put some other joe schmoe who's? I've been doing this for three weeks. Yes, exactly, he's not going to fucking make it across. So Seppala had 20 of his best dogs on this leg. Holy fuck, that's a lot of dogs. Okay, including his prized lead, balto Togo. Togo was the lead, balto was a backup. Neither. No Tgo was lead. Yes, we will get to balto balto's not on this team. Correct gotcha okay. Correct gotcha, gotcha togo um is a 12 year old siberian husky sense.

52:21 And Seppala's undisputed favorite. Oh, it sounds that way. He has a pup. Actually, togo was so small and he was sickly, oh no, and Seppala actually tried to give him away. Oh, shit. Mm-hmm. There was at one point where Togo had a new owner and Togo jumped through a closed window to escape. To get back to sepala, wow, that's crazy. Yeah, so it's funny how sepala is like okay, you can stay, I'll take it, you can come back. It's just funny how dogs are like that yeah you know, it's just. I mean, I've even experienced that with cats though because, like I told you, wicked anyways.

53:05 She came back when came and went basically for a while before she became an official house cat. So yeah, she was gone for like what? five years no, that was. That was valentine. Valentine sway's brother. Um, both would be uncles toicket. Uh, he was gone for I think it was close to was it five years. That sounds right. I guess it's been a while since I've thought about it. He was gone for a long time and showed back up, that's crazy and I have no doubt. In my mind it was valentine. So yeah, yeah, yeah so as a as a pup, togo hyper. He was mischievous, he was constantly escaping, attacking other dogs on Seppala's team.

53:48 Yeah, Anyways. It earned him some scars. I'm sure. But it also proved something to Seppala he was a leader. He was an alpha male kind of. Thing. Yes, a leader, he was an alpha male kind of thing. Yes, on one trip after togo had repeatedly busted out to follow the sled. Sepala finally harnessed him in togo rounds. Ran 75 miles in one day. That's crazy on his first outing. Oh my god, fucking hell. Yes, that's insane. Sepala was like all right you, you be my lead boy all right, let's get up to the top rudolph, won't you lead my sleigh tonight? exactly togo.

54:29 Won't you lead my sleigh tonight? Yeah, exactly shit by 1925, togo had led seppala uh to victory in races and proven his, like his, instinct essentially for finding safe ground and sensing danger on the trail and you said he was 12 at this time. Yes, okay at 12 yeah he is actually old for an ancient excuse me, for a, um sled dog. Oh, he's old for a sled dog I mean that's old for a dog in general mm-hmm. But he was wise, he was tough and he was still willing to go. So he had seen some shit. Sepala trusted toga with his life and he wouldn't trust him with this anti -toxin, yeah.

55:15 So sepala had left gnome on january 27th with oh so he's actually from Nome and he went to his point. If you will, yes, gotcha, okay. He was heading eastward into the storm to meet the relay from the other direction, right. So, while most teams start from the Nenana side, seppala took off from Rome. Nome Nomenome Gnome Hold please. Gnome.

55:57 And then they went to the Vatican. What the fuck Rome get it? it rhymes on january 31st, near the settlement of shek to cook, shek, shek to lick shek to lick. Okay, shek to lick. I've heard of that it's on the north, the norton sound coast. Okay, seppo was mushing through wide out conditions when fate kind of intervened a little bit, oh dear another musher, henry ivanov ivanov okay had just picked up the serum from a driver coming from the north.

56:42 Had just picked up the serum from a driver coming from the north. Ivanov's team promptly ran into a reindeer. Oh shit. Reindeer is Caribou, is caribou, yeah, yeah yeah. Ivanov's sled tangledled with this reindeer Caribou, and he, he was so frantic he couldn't see through this blizzard. He was so frantic. Then, all of a sudden, seppala and Togo Appeared out of nowhere. We got you, bro. Seppala was surprised, ivanov was surprised. I'm sure they all were.

57:22 Neither of them were expecting the handoff yet. No, seppala thought he had like a hundred more miles to go. Oh shit, it was just weird. So it was just kind of like fate intervened yeah. But Seppala was actually was like you don't have the serum because it's way too soon for that. Yeah. So we're going to keep going. Oh, have the serum, because it's way too soon for that. Yeah, so we're gonna keep going. Oh, and I've been always like wait, I have the serum. So how did? How did they mess up? I don't know how they messed the timing up that's crazy, I don't know, but it was a good thing well, obviously it was very fortuitous that this happened, because he could have completely fucking went by him, yes, and then they would have been really fucked, and who knows how much time they would have lost yes, exactly especially if he's the one to go do this sound crossing, you know?

58:13 yeah, jesus so sepala faced a choice. It was late afternoon, it was getting dark, even though it was probably already dark, I'm sure winds were escalating. Temperature was around negative 30 at this time, wind chill making it feel like negative 85. Fuck, he was just on the edge of the Norton Sound. The safe call would be to stay on land. Of course. Hug the coast, yeah, but Gnome's outbreak was worsening by the hour and sepala knew that how did he know that? because sepala started in gnome I get that, but he's been gone for a bit now but? but he knows, he just knows he's got an intuition.

58:54 He's got a women's intuition well, I mean, he started in gnome so he knows that's fine so sepala turned back onto the ice of the norton sound, deciding to cut straight across the open expanse in the dark, in an arctic gale, so to save time I hope he at least had a compass with him I would imagine you. However, they put a lot of faith in those dogs no, and dogs are fucking smart especially those type of dogs that are are raised that way and, you know, bred that way and whatever they, they know how to navigate. I guess we'll call it but like could you imagine?

59:38 I mean that's fucking crazy yes I, I know I couldn't do that so this part was insanely dangerous. Right frozen ocean under your feet, with storm winds that could crack the ice or blow it out to sea while you're on it right but togo delivered that a boy. Through total darkness. This debt dog led the team on a 20 mile straight shot across the ice god damn, somehow sensing the way to a tiny little town called isaac's point on the opposite shore wow, okay yes, at this point you could barely see the hand in front of your face.

1:00:26 Oh, I'm sure. I mean I can't, I can't believe they could see literally that far, because a fucking alaskan gale, I mean you, can you imagine how much snow is coming down in that? That's got to be crazy, especially back then, because I mean global warming. We're good now they arrived at uh, the roadhouse on the far side, at 8 pm, having traveled 84 miles in one day through a storm 84 miles in one day. Yes, and remember, I said I said 50 to 70 miles was was fairly like typical yeah, but that 84 miles, that's insane I just closed down my screen.

1:01:06 Why would you do that, keeping you on your toes? So sepala togo and the team had earned a big rest. They took a few hours at isaac's point to eat and regain strength. And they set out again at 2 am. Oh geez Into an. Arctic maelstrom, like M-A-E-L Maelstrom. Maelstrom. There you go. What you doing. I was going to look up the population of Isaac's Point point. I'm guessing it's pretty, pretty small. All right, this is not in a fucking good list.

1:01:49 Anyways, I think if I kind of picture just a maelstrom, like a ups or a mail truck just blew up and mails everywhere anyways, I think there's a band called maelstrom, if I'm not mistaken the blizzard intensified overnight, temperatures plunged to negative 40 degrees, with winds gusting near 65 miles an hour. So they left at 2 am. How much rest did they have? well, they arrived at eight so eight to two not not long I mean that's six they had to do some certain things, I'm sure. Those poor dogs, holy fuck. They raced along the coastline.

1:02:29 Yeah, the storm literally tore the ice behind them. So your previous question how thick was the ice as soon as they would go over? it, it was opening up. You'd look behind you and the ice was gone wow, so do you think that because obviously storm big part of it, but because they're putting pressure on it, going over it, that was a factor and it kind of just ripping apart? yeah, in a way yes, wow that's wild, see. This is why it'll go on the ice? no fuck that. No. Togo naggett navigated through this stretch with sure intuition sure saving the team from an arctic swim.

1:03:11 Essentially, oh boy, oh yeah I mean, they all would have died if they fell through they would have. I mean, that's so fucking cold, that's just crazy. At one point Togo did save Seppala's life. Oh really, yes. When jumping an ice crack, seppala would have fallen into the sea had Togo not, like, anchored the line. Oh, wow, yeah, that's wild. So, as dawn broke on February 1st, the team faced another trial Okay, Little McKinley which is a 5,000 foot series of steep ridges. Oh Jesus, they had to cross this in order to reach the next relay point 5,000 ridges.

1:03:58 I feel like 5,000 feet ridges. I feel like that's a mini mountain, not a ridge that seems pretty high. It's a mini mountain not a ridge. That seems pretty high. It's a mini mountain, yeah. Jesus Christ. Togo was 12 years old, leading this climb in a blizzard, right Okay, they went through whipping snow ridges and they finally descended to the next roadhouse where, finally, seppala could hand off the serum to someone else do you so? how? How many total miles did sepala go with his team? I will share that okay cool. Yeah, so he passed the package to musher charlie olsen. Okay, on february 1st at 3 pm okay sepala and togo and other dogs had covered 261 miles.

1:04:49 Holy fuck in the worst conditions over a sound and water, all that ridges. god damn, it was the longest and most punishing leg of the entire relay. Well, it sounds that way. Yes, holy fuck. Charlie Olsen, who took over from Cepula, left the roadhouse and immediately got blasted by the blizzard which was now peaking. Of course. Gale force. Winds at 80 miles an hour, wind chill of negative 70. Olsen was thrown off the trail and suffered severe frostbite on his hands while trying to adjust blankets on his dogs.

1:05:33 After a grueling push, olsen made it to the next stop on the evening of february 1st okay he arrived with his hands useless and his face mostly white from frost, but the serum was still intact that's wild waiting at the bluff was gunner casein gunner casein a musher, originally slated to be the second to last in the relay. So what happened there? I won't tell you. Sorry, Cason was Norwegian and he worked with Seppala in Nome. Oh, so he knew him.

1:06:14 Mm-hmm, okay, his lead dog was Balto. Balto I was going to try and come up with something clever. I got nothing. Balto was actually one of sepala's dogs he stole him? No, okay he was three years old and sepala just hadn't picked him as the star leader well, because he had togo. Yeah, it makes sense. Balto had been mostly used for fright, not racing, oh yeah, so Balto ended up at the front of Kasson's team. Was he also a Siberian Husky?

1:06:56 He was. I've never actually watched the movie. I don't think I actually found what kind of dog he was in the movie, the animated movie balto. I think it came out in the 90s I believe so he was a calf wolf half dog. Oh, I mean, all dogs are wolves, eventually but I mean, it was previously anyways, more recent than that. Well, yeah, anyways. Um, okay, yeah, I, yeah, I never actually watched the movie. I know of it. I might have seen a clip or two, I'm just not sure what he was, so okay. So by now it was the night of February 1st, and the blizzard was so fierce that Kaysen could barely see his own hand, let alone his team of dogs in front of him.

1:07:36 Right, snowdrifts were like hills right next to them. Oh, I bet were like hills right next to them, like they just were huge. At one point the wind was so savage it actually upturned cass and sled. Oh, shit dumping him and his contents into the snow bank sure, so you gotta go search that shit out. Yes, which sucks he scrambled, he um, made the sled right up and then he realized the serum cylinder had fallen off and vanished into the snow. Oh fuck. Okay. After 600 plus miles, just miles from Nome, he loses the serum.

1:08:17 Oh, my God. Kasten frantically ripped off his gloves, oh no. Casson frantically ripped off his gloves oh no. Grubbed through the snow with his bare hands until he found the container well, I figured that was going to be the case, but why did? you have to take your gloves off to do that, because he wouldn't feel it, otherwise he's gonna hit it, I know, but like maybe it was just kind of an intuition thing, like I just kind of take off my hair, I don't know. Okay, kasson's leg was supposed to be, was supposed to end at the roadhouse where the last musher. I'm glad you finished with that, because you said his leg. I'm like what happened to his leg. The last musher, Ed Rohn, was waiting in a place called Point Safety, which was 20 miles from Nome.

1:09:03 Okay. When Kasson reached Point Safety in the pre-dawn hours of February 2nd, no one was around. I mean it was early but this fucker's supposed to be waiting. They're supposed to be waiting. Rohn assumed that no one would travel in this storm and was sheltering Cason faced a choice Wake Rome and spend time swapping out teams, or just do it myself, or just keep going to Rome. Fuck that guy. Obviously he was already full of adrenaline. Let's just keep fucking going, let's fucking do this also. So there's been a little debate.

1:09:46 Some say he was being heroic by not wasting time. Others whisper that he wanted the honor of bringing in the medicine himself. Whatever. Okay, whatever, Whatever, whatever, whatever. Fuck that Case and mushed on. Yeah. Blowing right past safety while Roan snoozed supposedly Blowing right past safety while Roan snoozed supposedly. Balto led the way to the final stretches, which included dodging driftwood and ice along the trail. I'm sure. Just after 5.30 am on February 2nd 1925, gunnar Kasson and his team slid into gnome. Wow yes, a few people emerged.

1:10:28 It was early morning. Sure. They finally realized oh my God, the serum. It's here is here, Okay, so do you have a number of people who have died by this time, or is it still five? I don't know. I have to read forward. Oh, I have to read on. I apologize. Casson had covered 53 miles in this last leg. The teams combined had covered 674 miles in 127 and a half hours. That's insane. Five days, seven hours, wow, okay, a new world record for overland travel. In those conditions, and partly water, not a single ampule of serum was broken.

1:11:14 That's amazing. By noon that day the serum was completely thawed, like it might have started freezing over. I mean, they've spent five days outside. Yeah, I'm sure the serum was thawed and was starting to be administered to the sick. Wow, yes, over the next couple of weeks the antitoxin worked its magic. Sure, the death toll could have been in the hundreds, but was limited to about five or six in known, proper, okay, or six to seven if you include, like the outlying areas. Yeah, okay, that's not bad at all.

1:11:57 Yes, dr Welch thinks that even further out, with the hub being known, could be up to 100. Oh, wow, that many. Yeah, okay, yeah, I suppose back in 100 years ago they didn't have the documentation, perhaps, okay. So the town of Nome finally went back to like a semi-normal life. Stepping outside wasn't as much of a fear. Kids were going back to school, sure, et cetera, et cetera. The mail resumed, stores reopened Wonderful. The newspapers turned the sled dogs and the mushers into overnight heroes.

1:12:43 I'm sure they did. Oh yes, and one name kept popping up. Balto, balto. So I'm really kind of pissed that the movie wasn't called Togo. I'll get to that. I know I figured you would. He was the lead dog of the final sprint into Nome. Which makes sense why his name would be first. He ran 55 miles Togo. Jump change. Togo around 260. Exactly, balto was the one photographed in Nome with Kasson, and he made a great story. I'm sure he did. He was a national celebrity. He was a national celebrity. He and his musher, gunnar Kaysen, toured the West Coast for months, appearing in theaters and events.

1:13:29 He starred in a short Hollywood film reenactment called Balto's Race Wow. In December 1925, 10 months after the relay, new York City unveiled a bronze statue of Balto in Central Park. Balto was actually present at that ceremony. Is that statue still there today? It? is, and I will insert a picture. Okay. Many of the relay participants were overlooked by the outside world. Of course. The native Alaskan drivers who covered nearly two thirds of the distance, distance got little fanfare. They probably didn't even get recognized. Yeah, that's terrible yeah, exactly.

1:14:12 Well, bill shannon, who nearly died on that first leg, had a kind of a brief taste of fame, um, when he toured with his lead dog, blackie, okay, but nothing like what happened with Balto Sure and Leonard Seppala and Togo, who had risked the most. They were overshadowed. Which is terrible. Seppala arrived in Nome a few days after the serum because he actually did continue mushing, helping deliver mail and and stuff he went back to the serum. Yeah, normal shit, if you will, exactly so so that by the time that he got back, cat casein and balto were already kind of hailed as saviors.

1:14:54 Yep um, in private, sepala was a little bit miffed he did love balto. It was one of his dogs, but he knew that balto was basically like a freight dog and he wasn't. He didn't do what togo did no, I mean he literally did almost like a fifth of it yeah, seppala said I never had a better dog than togo. Togo was the best dog that ever traveled the alaskan trail sure um. Seppala wasn't about to let his buddy fail. Uh, fade into obscurity in 1926, he and togo, along with their team of siberian huskies, went on their own tour of the lower 48.

1:15:39 Oh nice, they did draw in some huge crowds. Good. Thousands of people came to see the other hero dog and the Iron man musher from Gnome, mm-hmm. Seppala and Togo headlined at Madison Square Garden for about 10 days. That's awesome. On that tour, Roland Amundsen, who was like a South Pole adventurerurer okay um. He presented togo with a gold medal for heroism. Oh yeah, it was, yeah it was they got some of their due. If you will, yeah, okay togo um ended up retiring and he spent his final years in.

1:16:19 Oh I just, I just moved my shit you just moved your shit. Hold on, hold on, hold on hold please um. He spent his final years living with sepala, sepala's friend, in poland, spring maine. Poland, spring maine poland spring maine, uh, oh, so not the country Poland. No, no. Poland Spring Maine. You stopped at Poland. I did that on purpose. Why. Because I didn't read ahead. But he sired a lot of puppies, oh, good. And he continued the like Seppala Siberian sled dog lineage there.

1:17:01 Okay, yeah, how old was he when he passed? Do you know? um. He passed away in 1929 at the age of 16 that's pretty fucking good that's good for a dog, especially with all the exertion he put through his life that's crazy sepala had togo's body preserved and mounted and taxidermied his dog you can see. See Togo himself on display at the Diatrod Museum in Wasilla, Alaska. Okay. Wow. His skeleton is at Yale's Peabody Museum. Really that's weird For Balto. He also lived out his days in retirement, mostly happy.

1:17:46 He ended up in a sideshow in Los Angeles where he was neglected and poorly treated. Businessman named George Kimball saw what the situation was and he organized a campaign with local school children to raise money that rescued Balto and his team. They succeeded in March of 1927 and the heroes arrived in Cleveland to a hero's welcome and Balto lived out his remaining years at the Cleveland Zoo?

1:18:31 What the fuck is wrong with Balto's owner? What? a fucking dick. I don't think it was his owner. I think it was the people who bought Balto. I don't care why the fuck did he sell him? What the fuck is wrong with this guy? He just wanted the fame that this dog brought him and he they both didn't even deserve it. Togo and sepala should have got it. Fuck that guy and you just go and sell him. Hey man, here you go. What the fuck, balto? Why do you do this to me? You're like uplifting story. Brad fucking hates people. Oh my God. Balto died in 1933 at 14 years old.

1:19:11 He was euthanized due to health issues and, like Togo, he was mounted and placed on display. Where's his skeleton? Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Where's his skeleton? Cleveland museum of natural history. Where's the skeleton, though? I think it's one in the same, this one okay, that's why that was weird. That's uh togo. Yeah, here's his body, here's his skeleton. What the fuck? It was weird. They kind of go together in the aftermath of the serum run, honors were um given by president calvin coolidge oh good old coolidge he sent letters of commendation. Commendation to all the mushers did he send? some dog treats too we're gonna say yes.

1:19:54 The us senate paused its work to acknowledge them good job senate mm-hmm, the pharmaceutical company that made the anti-toxin, gave each relay driver a gold medal oh nice yep. The public's fascination with slug dogs had additional effects as well I'm sure the success of the relay helped spur congress to fund ale roots. Excuse me, ale nope. Air mail routes in alaska okay and within a decade, bush pilots were routinely flying supplies in arctic winters and dog teams once the only way to travel gradually became more of a sport than a necessity hence, hence the Iditarod Mm-hmm yeah.

1:20:43 But the 1960s snow machines replaced sled dogs. Mm-hmm, and most famously the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race became a thing. It became a sport. It became a sport? Yeah, because they still do it every year, don't they, mm-hmm yeah. It runs over 1,000 miles from Ingerton to Nome every March and it is said to commemorate the 1925 CRM run. I never knew that was the origin of the Iditarod, that's pretty cool. Exactly Now, Balto became a movie star. Sure.

1:21:23 There is a Balto movie made in 1995 by Amblin Entertainment. Yeah, not Disney. They took a lot of liberties. Are you surprised at? that he was a half-wolf outcast. He battled treacherous terrain, a rival dog, a grizzly bear, and he had a wise-cracking goose pair and polar bears as sidekicks, and Toga was written out of that story. See, knowing this now, I will never, ever fucking watch balto however, in 2019. Okay, disney oh, they actually made something released a film titled togo.

1:22:10 Oh, I didn't know that on their streaming platform oh, disney plus it is with willem dafoe I love, willem I love willem dafoe great and finally togo is put front and center as he should have been it's a little bit of a tearjerker right here a little bit of a nail biter right here, but we're gonna watch it. You know we are well, we'll give it a look, but we're not watching balto. Fuck that I liked balto as a kid. I don't care, I don't care no, nothing against balto. I kind of pissed at his owner and fucked them for getting the fucking recognition when they did literally, like I said, almost a fifth of what the fucking sepala and togo did.

1:22:52 Yeah, fuck them bitches it took 94 years, but togo finally got his hollywood moment yeah, good thing he was dead balto does make a cameo in Togo. Well, he's a part of the story. He is a part of the story, but he's not the main fucking thing. That's what's irritating about it. In Nome. The memory of 1925 is still absolutely cherished, as the town has commemorative sled dog races that they call the Togo Trek. That's awesome and that is the Tgo and balto story of the 1925 serum run it's the togo story. No, nothing against the dog.

1:23:32 Fuck that guy for selling his dog and making him live in a fucking circus, and then at least he got saved for the remaining years yes he did fuck that guy okay, so you haven't had a bacardi limon limon, limon in a while. What did you think of it? uh well, I still haven't. I've had bacardi rum with lemon and sprite. It's good I like it it's really good. I like the lemon. I especially like once we got the levels right. Yeah, because you were heavy-handed on that pour I'm usually not, so that's really surprising, and I, you know, you've seen me make a bourbon and lemonade, bourbon and sprite, bourbon and coke, whatever I pour that fucking heavy.

1:24:14 Yeah, rum not so much so that was. It was a bit heavy, but at first, but once we balanced it out it was. It was really good. I rather enjoy it. Limon certainly a different flavor. I'm going to have to have you try that someday with a Sprite, because it's fucking delicious. Awesome, well, I suppose. All right, buffoons. That's it for today's episode. Buckle up, because we've got another historical adventure waiting for you. Next time Feeling hungry for more buffoonery, or maybe you have a burning question or a wild historical theory for us to explore. Hit us up on social media. We're History Buffoons Podcast on YouTube X, instagram and Facebook. You can also email us at historybuffoonspodcast at gmailcom.

1:24:57 We are Bradley and Kate. Music by Corey Akers. Follow us wherever you get your podcasts and turn those notifications on to stay in the loop. Until next time, stay curious and don't forget to rate and review us. Remember, the buffoonery never stops.