Role in The "Serum Run" of 1925
A diphtheria outbreak struck Seppala's town of Nome, Alaska in the winter of 1925. Previously unexposed children as well as adults were at risk of dying from the infection. Seppala's only child—an eight-year-old daughter named Sigrid—was also at risk (Seppala himself was 47 years old at the time of the outbreak). The only treatment available in 1925 was diphtheria antitoxin serum. However, the town's supply was not only insufficient but also of presumably low efficacy, having recently expired. The only practical way to deliver more serum to Nome in the middle of the coldest winter in 20 years was by dog sled. A relay of respected mushers was organized to expedite the delivery, and Seppala was chosen for one the most forbidding sections of the trail.
Seppala's section of trail featured a dangerous shortcut across Norton Sound, which could save the serum a day of travel. It was decided that he was the most qualified of the relay mushers to attempt this shortcut. The ice on Norton Sound was in constant motion due to currents from the sea and the unimpeded wind. It could range from rough hills of smashed-together ice, to slippery “glare ice” polished by the wind, which made it difficult for the dogs to get a foothold in order to tug the sled. Small cracks in the ice could also suddenly widen, and driver and team would be plunged into the freezing water. If the wind blew from the east, it could reach speeds as high as 70 mph (110 km/h), flipping over sleds, pushing the dogs off-course, and dropping the windchill as low as −100 °F (−73 °C). A sustained east wind also pushed the ice out to sea, and a team suddenly caught on a drifting floe would find itself stranded on open water. Seppala had been forced to take the shortcut across the Sound several times in his career; a less-experienced musher was likelier to lose not only his life and the lives of his dogs, but also the human lives that might have been saved by the serum. Seppala would cross the sound twice in the race to deliver the serum.
As Seppala's section of trail started 270 miles (430 km) away, in Nulato, he set out from Nome on January 28—several days before he was due to meet the relay. He crossed Norton Sound without incident. Meanwhile, the number of diphtheria cases in Nome continued to climb. To hasten delivery of the serum, additional mushers were added to the relay. However, it was too late to inform Seppala that he would be meeting the relay closer to Nome than had originally been planned. Thus, after 3 days and 170 miles (270 km), he stumbled onto another relay musher, Henry Ivanoff—but did not realize it. Seppala saw the musher stopped on the trail and having trouble with his dogs, but did not intend to stop and be delayed. Thus, Ivanoff had to run after Seppala as he raced past, shouting, “The serum! The serum! I have it here!”.
When the serum passed to Seppala, night was falling and a powerful low-pressure system was starting to move onto the trail from the Gulf of Alaska. Seppala had to decide whether to risk Norton Sound in high winds in the dark, when he could not see or hear potential warning signs from the ice. However, as going around the ice meant slowing the delivery of the serum by a full day, he chose to go across. While he raced to the roadhouse at Isaac's Point on the opposite shore, gale-force winds dropped the windchill to an estimated −85 °F (−65 °C). When he arrived there at 8 pm, his dogs were exhausted; they had run 84 miles (135 km) that day, much of it against the wind and in brutal cold. However, they could only afford a short rest, and would be setting out again at 2 am.
The next day, the gale had progressed into a severe blizzard, with blinding snow and winds of at least 65 mph (105 km/h). Seppala continued the trail across Norton Sound. This meant avoiding rocky cliffs along the shore, but it also exposed him and his team to the dangers of the Sound. Conditions on the ice were perilous, with sudden soft spots in the ice underfoot, or outright open water only a few feet away. Only a few hours after they had crossed it, the ice had broken up altogether and drifted out to sea.
With Norton Sound behind them, Seppala and his team now faced the final challenge of the trail—climbing an 8 miles (13 km) ridge formation that led to the summit of Little McKinley. The trail here was exposed and the steep grade grueling for the dogs, who were sleep-deprived and had already raced 260 miles (420 km) over the previous 4.5 days. However, at 3 pm that day, Seppala and his team arrived at Golovin and handed off the serum to the next musher. The serum was now only 78 miles (126 km) from Nome. Indeed, it would arrive there the next day, Monday, February 2, at approximately 5:30 am, and was thawed and ready for use by 11 am.
This emergency delivery, also known as the "Great Race of Mercy", is commemorated annually with the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
Read more about this topic: Leonhard Seppala
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