TheByGreat Serum Race Debbie Miller

Genre: Narrative Nonfiction-Real people and real

A narrative nonfiction-tells about people, things, events, or places that are real. As you read, look for: events in time order, factual details that support a main idea.

What genre are you reading from the library?

What is the meaning of diptheria?

An infectious disease of throat: a serious infectious disease, caused by a bacterium, Corynebacterium diphtheria, that attacks the membranes of the throat and releases a toxin that damages the heart and the nervous system. The main symptoms are fever, weakness, and severe inflammation of the affected membranes

Adjectives: What adjectives can describe these nouns?

Weather Dogs Disease Serum Race Nome

More Information disease called diphtheria In the winter of 1925, a

struck many children in Nome. The children needed a special medicine called a serum to survive. The nearest serum was in Anchorage. The fastest way to get the serum to Nome was by dogsled. A group of courageous dogsled drivers (called mushers) and dogs carried the serum 700 miles (1,100 kilometers) across frozen land in the dark of winter. Nome was saved! Each year in March, dogsled teams race from Anchorage to Nome to celebrate this event. The event is called the Iditarod. The name of the event comes from the town of Iditarod located halfway between

What is the meaning of serum?

1. liquid part of blood: the fluid that separates from clotted blood, similar to plasma but without clotting agents 2. body fluid: a clear watery body fluid, especially that exuded by serous membranes 3. a type of medicine

plea
When you ask for something in an emotional or intense way, you are making a plea.

One hot summer day all the workers who were working outside made an urgent plea. What might it have been? Why?

intercept
When you intercept someone on the way to a place, you meet the person before he or she gets there.

Why might you be tempted to intercept the postal delivery to your home?

seeped

A liquid or a gas that has seeped into a place has leaked there slowly.

Would you rather that water trickled, poured, or seeped into your bathroom? Explain

diagnosed
When an illness or problem has been identified it has been diagnosed.

Why is it better to have a diagnosed illness than one that is not diagnosed? Explain

rendezvous

When you have a rendezvous with someone, you have arranged to meet that person at a certain time and place. Also it can be a meeting place.

If a friend couldnt keep a rendezvous, what might she or her say to you? Is there a rendezvous place in Bahrain?

devoured
You have devoured something if you have eaten it quickly and enthusiastically.

How would you feel if your friends devoured all your lunch just before you were ready to take a lunch break?

lethal
When something is capable of killing, it is lethal.
When something is capable of killing, it lethal? Could an automobile ever be is lethal. Explain

Siberian Husky

Alaskan Malamute

What is the Iditarod race?

The Iditarod is a dog sled race that takes place every March in Alaska. It is sometimes called the "Last Great Race." Although the race is over 1150 miles long, the race is officially 1,049 miles, since Alaska is the 49th state in the USA . The Iditarod trail goes from Anchorage to Nome. There is a northern route and a southern route; these are used on alternate years (north in even-numbered years). The race starts on the first Saturday in March and takes about 10 days to complete. The winning musher (dog sled racer) takes home a large cash prize; the last musher to finish the race

More information
The first Iditarod race was run in 1973, on the 100th
anniversary of the purchase of Alaska by the USA from Russia. The dog sled race commemorates the "Great Race of Mercy," a real race against time that saved lives threatened by disease. In February 1925, a diphtheria epidemic threatened the isolated city of Nome, Alaska (diphtheria is a contagious and potentially deadly disease that is now rare because of childhood vaccinations). The lives of many children in Nome were threatened by this terrible disease, especially those of the native Inuit children, who had no previous contact with diphtheria, and therefore, no immunity to it. The only way available to save the children was to transport the medicine 674 miles across land from Nenana (near Anchorage) to

Why was the serum delivered by sled dogs?

The serum was delivered by sled dogs because it was too cold to fly a plane and the water was frozen so it could not get there by boat.

What was the greatest challenge faced by the sled dogs?

The greatest challenge was the freezing weather.

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On a dusky January afternoon in 1925, Dr.

Welch walked quickly toward the outskirts of Nome. Sled dogs howled from their yards. Outside a small cabin, a worried Inupiat Eskimo mother greeted the doctor. She led him into her home where two small children lay in bed, struggling to breathe. Can you open your mouth? Dr. Welch asked the three-year-old boy. The weak child tried to open his mouth, but it was too painful for his swollen throat. His fever was extremely high. Dr. Welch comforted the mother and children, but there was little he could do. The next day, both

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Soon after, another girl, Bessie Stanley, was

miserable with the same symptoms. But this time, Dr. Welch could examine Bessies throat. He immediately recognized the symptoms of diphtheria. Poor Bessie would not live through the night. Diphtheria. Dr. Welch had not seen a case in twenty years. This fast-spreading disease could wipe out the entire community of more than 1,400 people. Dr. Welch immediately met with the city council and recommended a quarantine. The schools and other public places were closed. Community leaders told people to stay in their homes.

The nearest supply of serum was at a hospital in Anchorage, 1,000 miles away, across a snowbound wilderness. Officials considered flying the serum to Nome, but it was too dangerous to operate open cockpit planes in extremely cold temperatures. In those days, planes were used only during the summer. Nome was an icebound port, so boats were not an option. The serum could travel partway by train, and then the only safe means of transport was by sled dog team.

On January 26, an Anchorage doctor carefully packed the glass bottles of serum for the long journey. The bottles had to be protected to keep the serum from freezing. He gave the twenty-pound bundle to the conductor at the train station. Soon, steam engine 66 began to chug its way north to Nenana, the closest railroad link to Nome. Nenana lay nearly 300 miles away, beyond the tallest mountains of North America.

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On

On the frozen Tanana River, five-year-old Alfred John could hear the distant roar of the steam engine. His Athabaskan Indian family lived in a cabin near the train station in Nenana. Although it was late at night and nearly fifty degrees below zero, Alfred and his mother bundled up in their warmest caribou leg skin boots and furlined parkas and walked to the station to greet the train. As they waited by the tracks in the moonlight, Alfred watched the huge locomotive hiss steam into the frozen sky and slow to a screeching halt. He saw men unload the freight, and the conductor hand the serum package to Bill Shannon.

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Bill covered the serum with a bear hide and lashed it to the sled. His stronge malamutes barked and were anxious to move. Just before midnight on Janua waved good-bye to Alfred and shouted to his dogs. Swoosh! Into the winter n team sped toward Tolovana, the first relay stop some fifty-two miles away. Bill knew every turn of the trail. Like many of the mushers, his regular job w mail and freight with his dog team. Traveling long distances in the extreme co dangerous challenge. If the dogs ran too fast and breathed too deeply, they c lungs. When the team reached bitter-cold stretches along the river, Bill slowe protect them. He often ran behind the sled to keep himself warm.

Hundreds of miles away, Togo leaned into his harness and waited patiently f Seppala to position Scotty and the other huskies. Togo, now twelve years old leader for one of the strongest dog teams in the world. Leonhard, dressed in squirrel parka, sealskin pants, and reindeer mukluks, had carefully chosen tw dogs. Officials had asked the famed Norwegian musher to intercept the serum village located halfway between Nome and Nenana. Jingle, janglethe bells on Leonhards sled rang as the team rounded the co were so many dog teams in Nome that mushers were required to carry bells t pedestrians. Togo led the team down Front Street while friends wished them

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In Tolovana, Edgar Kalland, the twenty-year-old Indian mail driver, ate breakfast and waited anxio Shannon. The Tolovana Roadhouse was a favorite for Edgar. Outside the roadhouse, Edgars dogs pr their ears, and some began to howl. Bills team dr The team looked exhausted when their frosted fa into view. Two of the dogs would later die from fro Following the doctors instructions, Bill carefully re serum. He hurried into the roadhouse to warm the and prevent the serum from freezing. As the two m about the weather, Edgar put on three pairs of soc boots.

When the twelfth dog team headed for the village of Nulato, waves of northern lights flowed across the sky. Musher Charlie Evans faced the coldest temperatures, at sixty-four degrees below zero. He wrapped the serum in rabbit skin robe for extra protection. Charlies nine-dog team moved slowly. Near open stretches of water on the Yukon River, a layer of eerie ice fog blanketed the valley. The ice fog, a mist of ice particles, was so dense that Charlie could barely see his wheel dogs, the ones closest to the sled. The experienced dogs followed the trail by scent rather than sight.

Once the serum warmed, Edgar took off for Manley Hot Springs with his team of seven dogs. The thirty-one mile trip the next relay point was brutally cold. Temperatures fell to fifty-six degrees below zero. At one point the dogs had to wa through slushy overflow, a place where the river seeped through a crack in the ice. When the team reac Manley Hot Springs, the dogs could barely lift their ice-crust legs. Edgars mitts were frozen stiff to the sled handle. A roadhouse worker poured a kettle of hot water over the mitt to melt the ice and free Edgars hands. The relay continued from musher to musher, roadhouse to roadhouse, with teams pushing west through the biting cold each relay point, the mushers warmed the serum over wood fired stoves. Following the winding rivers, the teams covered average of thirty miles each, at a speed of six or seven miles per hour. The mushers traveled around the clock usually by moonlight or twilight. In the middle of Alaskas winter, only a few hours of sunshine fell on t teams each day.

Nearing Nulato, two of the dogs moved stiffly and dragged their paws. The skin around their groin area was beginning to freeze. Charlie stopped the team and gently loaded the poor dogs into the sled. In their struggle to save the lives of Nomes residents, these two dogs would fall victim to the deadly weather. When the team reached the halfway point, conditions in Nome had grown worse. Five people had died from the disease, and more than twenty cases had been diagnosed. Another thirty people were suspected of having diphtheria. Newspapers across the country reported Nomes plight and the progress of the serum run.

The relay teams pressed onward. Togo and his team worked their way east to intercept the serum. When Leonhard passed villages, he told residents about the epidemic and advised them to stay away from Nome. As the team approached the village of Shaktoolik, Togo picked up the scent of another dog team and sprinted forward. Leonhard could see a musher in the distance trying to untangle his string of dogs. On by! Leonhard shouted to Togo. Togo followed the familiar directions and steered the team away from the confusion. Serumturn back! shouted Henry

In the howling wind Leonhard barely heard the words. Luckily, he looked over his shoulder to see the musher waving frantically at him. Leonhard was surprised to see the relay team. After he set out for Nulato, twenty more mushers were chosen to travel short relays to speed up the serum run. Out in the wilderness, Leonhard had no idea that his rendezvous point was now 130 miles closer. Gee! Leonhard yelled to Togo. Togo gradually turned right and the swing dogs helped pull the sled toward the waiting team. The two men greeted each other briefly, shouting in the gale. Within minutes Leonhard had secured the serum package to his sled and instructed Togo to head home. Togo and his teammates had traveled more than forty miles that day with the wind at their backs. Now the fierce gale blew in their faces with thirty below zero temperatures. Blowing snow plastered the team as they approached Norton Bay. Leonhard considered the risks. If they crossed the frozen bay, the sea ice might break up in the powerful gale. They could be stranded from shore on drifting ice. If they skirted the bay on land, the trip would take much longer. Leonhard thought of the children in Nome who were suffering from the disease. He decided to take the shortest route

Leonhard believed that Togo could lead the team across twenty miles of frozen sea. As they pressed into the wind, the dogs hit slick stretches of glare ice. They slipped, fell, and struggled to move forward. But mile after mile, Togo kept his course through the wall of wind. At days end, Togo picked up the scent of food that drifted from the Inupiat sod house at Isaacs Point. After traveling eighty-four miles, they rested for the night. The dogs devoured their rations of salmon and seal blubber

 The following morning, Leonhard discovered that the previous

days trail had vanished. The ice had broken up and drifted out to sea. Worried about the unstable conditions, Leonhard decided to hug the shoreline for safety. Togo led the way toward Dexters Roadhouse in Golovin, about fifty miles away. Along the coast, the winds force became unbearable. Blowing snow blasted the dogs faces like buckshot. Some of the dogs began to stiffen up. Leonhard stopped the sled and gently massaged the freezing muscles of Togo, Scotty, and the others. When they finally reached Golovin, the dogs collapsed and buried their ice-coated faces beneath their tails. Togo and his team had traveled farther than any other relay team.

Now it was another dogs turn to lead a fresh team of seventeen

malamutes to Bluff, the final relay point. With a shout from musher Charlie Olson, lead dog Jack charged off into the blowing snow. After struggling through four hours of whiteout conditions, the experienced leader faintly heard a dog barking

 At Bluff, Balto and Fox waited for Gunnar

Kaasen to adjust the leather harnesses and secure the serum package. Then the pair of leaders heard their mushers shout through the raging wind. Balto and Fox led the strong team of thirteen huskies into the swirling snow. Mile after mile, they trotted steadily toward Nome. During the final leg of the run, the wind assaulted them. A violent gust flipped the sled over, and the dogs went flying.
Gunnar struggled to his feet against the might of

the wind. After he fought to untangle the dogs, he checked the sled to make sure the serum was securely fastened. Gunnar felt the bottom of

he dark, he crawled around the sled. Since he couldnt his surroundings, he took off his mitts and felt through snow with his bare hands. After more than 600 hard-won es and twenty teams risking their lives, could it be that serum was lost forever? nicked, Gunnar ran his numb hands across windswept mps of snow. All he could do was hope. Suddenly, he felt mething hard. It was the serum! His frostbitten fingers ggled to tie the package onto the sled. Then the windered team ran off.

ey struggled on through the night. With less than twenty es remaining, two of the dogs ran stiffly and appeared to reezing. Gunnar anchored the sled and put rabbit-skin

n the dark, he crawled around the sled. Since he ouldnt see his surroundings, he took off his mitts nd felt through the snow with his bare hands. After more than 600 hard-won miles and twenty teams sking their lives, could it be that the serum was lost orever? anicked, Gunnar ran his numb hands across windswept bumps of snow. All he could do was hope. uddenly, he felt something hard. It was the serum! His frostbitten fingers struggled to tie the package nto the sled. Then the wind-battered team ran off.

hey struggled on through the night. With less than

rough the darkness, Balto and Fox smelled familiar ents. At last the exhausted team reached Nome. ey drove into town as most people slept through the zzard. When Gunnar knocked on the door, Dr. elch greeted him with a stunned face. How could a usher and team have fought their way through such storm? th stiff hands, Gunnar gave the shocked but ankful doctor the life-saving serum. wenty brave mushers and more than 160 strong gs traveled hundreds of miles in the worst nditions. The incredible relay took less than six ys. Four dogs perished and several others grew me because of the lethal weather. Yet their struggle

ne month after the epidemic first began, the uarantine was lifted. The schools reopened and hildren hugged their old friends. The whole town elebrated by holding a dance and watching a ovie at the theater. Togo, Scotty, Balto, Fox, ack, and all the other dogs were true heroes.