Leonhard Seppala - After The Serum Run

After The Serum Run

After the Serum Run, Seppala and some 40 of his dogs toured the "lower 48" with an Eskimo handler. His tour ended in January 1927 with the dogsled race at Poland Spring, Maine, where he accepted the challenge to race against Arthur Walden, founder of the New England Sled Dog Club and owner of the famous lead dog "Chinook." Despite a series of amusing and time-consuming mishaps on the trail, Seppala won the race against the bigger, slower dogs driven by Walden and his followers. The enthusiasm for sled dog racing in New England together with the Serum Run publicity and the victory over Walden made it possible for Seppala and partner Elizabeth Ricker to establish a Siberian kennel at Poland Spring, Maine. This was the start of the spread of the Siberian Husky breed in the United States and Canada.

In 1928, Seppala moved his permanent home to near Fairbanks, Alaska. In 1931 the Seppala–Ricker partnership ended. Sled dog racing was a demonstration event at the Lake Placid Winter Olympic Games in 1932, where Seppala earned a silver in the event. In 1946, he and his wife Constance moved to Seattle, Washington. In 1961 Seppala revisited Fairbanks and other places in Alaska at the invitation of American journalist Lowell Thomas, enjoying a warm reception from the Alaskan people. He and his wife lived in Seattle until his death at the age of ninety. His wife Constance died a few years later aged eighty-five. Both are buried in Nome, Alaska.

Today, Seppala is considered the father of the Siberian Husky breed, which was accepted by the American Kennel Club as a registered breed in 1930. A street in Nome named Seppala Drive connects the town to its airport. Leonhard Seppolas vei in Tromsø was also named for him. Alaska Airlines has established the Leonhard Seppala Humanitarian Award. In June 1999, a memorial was erected to him in Skibotn.