This year's Iditarod may be winding down, but the original race to Nome brought national attention to dog mushing, about a century ago. The 1925 diphtheria Serum Run saved the community of Nome from an epidemic.
By most accounts it was a very cold January as a diphtheria outbreak plagued western Alaska. Curtis Welch, Nome’s sole doctor at the time, placed an order for diphtheria antitoxin, but the port had already iced over. The serum had to be delivered by dogsled.
“It's the true meaning of what the Iditarod stands for,” said Sue Evans, a descendant of a musher who was part of the historic effort.
Sue’s grandfather, Charlie Evans – Grandpa Charlie, as she refers to him – was 21 years old when he set out to help. Charlie’s father received a telegram that a doctor there needed the lifesaving serum.
Some figures from the serum run gained celebrity status and had movies made about them — like Balto, the lead dog of the final leg, and Leonhard Seppala, who ran the longest section with his lead dog Togo. But others lived their lives in relative obscurity.
There were 20 mushers who traveled the 674 miles, passing along the serum in a kind of relay race. Most, like Charlie, lived in rural Alaska and were Alaska Native. Evans was half-Athabaskan.
Many mushers were also mail carriers, before bush planes became the default delivery method. Running dogs was their method of winter transportation for thousands of years, before planes and snowmachines became the norm.
“They really worked with dogs in the past. That was their transportation, just foot and dog mushing,” Sue said.
Although the modern Iditarod has some different routes, it still shares over 350 miles of the same trail systems.
Charlie’s leg was about 30 miles long, from Bishop Mountain to the Interior community of Nulato. It wasn't the easiest trip. Sue said Charlie lost two of his dogs to frostbite along the way.
“He would always tell all of us grandchildren, he said it was cold, it was dark,” Sue said. “He said it was 65 below zero, so he put some furs on his dogs to protect their skin.”
Sue, who is in her late fifties, said some of her favorite memories of her grandfather were listening to his mushing stories during the holidays
After the serum run, Charlie lived most of his life in Galena, working as a school teacher, shopkeeper, trapper, steamboat worker and “whipsaw expert.” The library in Galena is named after him.
Sue said Charlie also received other acknowledgements for his role in the serum run, including honors from the governor of the Territory of Alaska. Charlie, along with the two other surviving mushers, was recognized again in 1984 for his role in the Serum Run.
“My grandpa got a gold medal, and I told him ‘Grandpa, you're a part of history, you really worked hard.’”
Charlie Evans passed away in 1987 at the age of 84.
