Monument to Balto: how the legendary dog ​​was immortalized in New York

How's it going with D.R. Stevens: “Happiness is difficult for people. They withdraw into themselves and get into trouble. They themselves don’t know what they need... and they are sad, sad... Dogs don’t have such difficulties. They know that happiness comes from doing something for others. Dogs do everything in their power to please their two-legged friend, and they are happy if they succeed.” We are heading to a monument to such a dog. It is installed in Central Park. His memorial plaque bears an image of a dog sled overcoming a blizzard and the inscription: “Dedicated to the indomitable spirit of sled dogs who carried the antitoxin six hundred miles over rough ice, through treacherous waters and arctic snowstorms from Nenana to help Nome, which suffered in the winter of 1925. Endurance, reliability, intelligence." And on the bronze base at the feet of the dog itself, the name is carved - Balto. So that’s why all the reports about the Arctic Dog Memorial say “Balto Monument.” What happened there, and why, when dedicating all the dogs, only one name was put on the plinth?

Photo: Shutterstock

To find out, let's take you to Alaska in the early 12th century. In the northernmost region of the country, which has territories that can accommodate up to 1897 states such as New York. Back in XNUMX, these places were seized by the "gold rush". It was started by prospectors who returned from here to California, who brought with them about one and a half tons of precious metal.

And in 1898, thousands, and the next year tens of thousands of gold seekers, flocked to Alaska. First, they moved to the legendary tributary of the Yukon - the Klondike (re-read Jack London), and when passions began to subside there, nuggets and placers of gold were discovered on the twenty-kilometer shoreline of the Bering Sea, near the small town of Nome. Here the “fever” flared up with renewed vigor.

Already in the summer of 1900, Nome became the busiest port in the world without a harbor. Instead of the miserable tents of the first gold miners, real houses and roads began to be built on the site of the windswept sand and pebble spit. Shops, banks, restaurants, brothels, hotels and churches opened. The peak of gold mining occurred in 1906, when its value was more than $7,5 million (when purchasing Alaska from Russia in 1867, the American government paid less - only $7,2 million), and the number of residents approached 20 thousand. By 1910, the city's population had dropped to 2600 people, and by 1925 to 1200-1500.

The etymology of its name is interesting. Allegedly, during the development of these territories, the captain's mate left a note in the ship's map requiring further clarification: “? Name ", and the cartographer, without thinking twice, transferred it to the map as" S. Nome ", or Cape Nom. Hence the name of the town built there. But back to the sad events of 1925.

In the winter of 1924-1925. the only doctor in and around town was Curtis Welch.

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He had four nurses and a 25-bed hospital at his disposal. And in mid-January, he diagnosed the first case of diphtheria in a three-year-old boy. The next day, a seven-year-old girl developed characteristic symptoms. In those days, this disease terrified all doctors in the world. Most often it affects the mucous membranes of the mouth and nose, causing severe fever and unconsciousness. In addition to severe intoxication, she often developed croup - blockage of the airways with diphtheria film and edema, especially terrible in children.

Her eerie manifestations have even been reflected in various works of art. So, Goya painted a portrait of his child who fell ill and died from this disease. Gustave Flaubert, who himself had been ill and had lost relatives, described the exact picture of the defeat of the larynx. Descriptions of diphtheria can be found in Chekhov, Bulgakov and other authors.

It was also important that the disease did not respond to any antibiotics and only anti-diphtheria serum - antitoxin - could help. That was the problem with him. A few months earlier, after discovering that the drug had expired at the hospital, Welch placed a new order for it to be delivered. But until the port was blocked by ice for the winter at the end of December, the ordered shipment never arrived.

Nevertheless, Welch tries to inject some of the available antitoxin into ill children (expired), but the girl soon dies, and the boy a little later. Welch realizes that an epidemic is inevitable, and it can mow down the entire city. The events of 1918-1919 were still fresh in the memory, when Nome lost 50% of the population from the "Spanish" flu.

Photo: Shutterstock

And he calls the mayor, organizes an emergency meeting of the city council, and they immediately introduce quarantine in the city. On January 22, radio telegrams are sent to all other major cities in Alaska with a warning of the danger and a request for help in obtaining antitoxin in the amount of up to a million units. And also to the US Public Health Service in Washington and the District of Columbia leadership. It soon became clear that the nearest location where the serum capable of stopping the disease was stored was Anchorage, Alaska. And although they had only 300 units, this number could contain the epidemic until the main batch was received. They were packed in glass bottles, then in soft blankets, and finally in a metal cylinder.

But how to get it from there? There were only three options. The ship immediately fell away - we already know that. The engine of the only plane that could do this froze and would not start. The last option left is dog sledding. They urgently contact the postal service, where their maximum number was concentrated (for mail and food delivery). A call is being made for volunteers who are willing to take the risk of immediately delivering medicines in severe frosts and hurricane winds. 20 crews with 150 dogs respond to the call. About seven per crew. This is exactly how many of them will be depicted on the Balto monument in New York. At the same time, a plan was drawn up: the serum would be transported by train from Anchorage to Nenana, the last station on the way to Nome. This was about half way. From Nenana to Nome there were still 1085 km left. Then mushers (mushers of dogs harnessed to sledges) form two groups at the final points. One leaves from Nenana, and the second starts to meet her from Nome, so that, after taking the serum, turn around and take her to the hospital. There was no time to hesitate.

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Each team, at the limit of their capabilities, hurrying with all their might, passed their part of the route and passed the medicine on. So it began "The Great Race of Mercy" (Great Race of Mercy), followed by the entire country. It was opened by Shannon, nicknamed Wild Bill 27 January in 23: 00. Having received the serum from the train conductor, he immediately hit the road. At three o'clock in the morning, Bill stopped to rest for 4 hours and then moved on, losing three dogs in the process by the end of his section of the race. During the night, the temperature will range from -31 to -50 C. He will complete the journey with a frostbitten face.

28 January three mushers took part in the race, and 29-th already six. But the cold didn't diminish.

At least at the stop, they had to pour warm water on the hands of the musher Edgard Kelland in order to tear them off the steering wheel of the sleigh. 30 January there were 5 mushers on the track, who finished the race at 3 am, having lost two more dogs right on the track. The driver Charlie Evans had to take their place and drag the sled with the remaining dogs to the station. In this regard, musher Jack Nikolay (known as "the little strongman"), in order to lighten the load for the dogs, managed to jog along with them for part of his section of the race. More than 300 km are left to Nome.

31 January there were three mushers on the highway, but they had already been informed that a fifth child had died in Nome, and the number of infected had increased to 27 people. At this stage, Leonard Sepalla, completing the second group, was to enter the race. He rushes along the track to get the medicine soon, and head back to Nome at once. After all, there remained his only eight-year-old daughter, who was also in danger.

Sepalla was a legendary figure in Alaska: the most professional sled dog racer - winner of many races and Olympic silver medalist, breeder and dog trainer. Having received as a gift from the famous explorer Roald Amundsen dogs of the Siberian Husky breed, bred by the Chukchi (the word “husky” is a corruption of “Eski”, indicating Eskimo roots), he did everything possible to develop and popularize these dogs in the region. So in this race, almost all the dogs that took part in it were Siberian Huskies. Later Leonard contributed to the emergence of a new breed - Alaskan Huskies. And now he was managing a team of six dogs, the leader of which was his favorite (also a winner of many races) - Togo.

Somewhere nearby, at Shaktulik's, he was supposed to have a meeting with Henry Ivanov, but a blizzard, frost and fog prevented him from finding his way. Meanwhile, Ivanov's team collided with a deer and left the path. They could miss, but Togo, who noticed their sledges, helped out. In the end, Sepall had the long-awaited cargo, and he immediately turned around on the way back.

Trying to save precious time (actually a whole day), Leonard decided to take a chance and shorten the path. Instead of going around the bay along the coast, he decided to take a shortcut by crossing the insufficiently strong ice to the opposite shore of Norton Bay. The team went 80 km of the way at night, in a strong blizzard, and under the sledges and the paws of the dogs one could hear the ice breaking. Every minute there was a danger that the team would fail or the ice floe would come off and go into the sea.

This is exactly what happened, and they were carried in open water for several hours. Leonard chose the right moment and was able to jump onto the coastal ice floe, but the dogs and sledges with the precious cargo were carried farther from the coast. Then Togo jumped into the water with lines in his teeth and swam with them to Leonard. He grabbed them and pulled the ice floe with the dogs to him. He will travel 146 km that day. In total, his path towards the precious cargo and back will be 418 kilometers - the longest and most difficult part of the Race of Mercy. Having passed the serum to the next team, Sepalla remained to heal Togo, who had frostbitten paws and was completely exhausted. Never again will the faithful dog race.

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February 1... Nome is already close. The last three crews were to complete the rest of the way. Charlie Olson was the first who took over the medicines from Sepall, who, with his frostbitten hands, gave them to Gunnar Kaasen. His team was driven by the same Siberian husky Balto, who did not yet know that this first race in his life as a leader would turn him into a legend. But having made his first steps along the track, the dog realized that it would not be easy. The thermometer read -34 C, with the wind rushing at a speed of 64 km / h. The blizzard that day raged so hard that Kaasen completely lost his bearings. Because of the fog at arm's length already nothing was visible. Thanks to Balto, the team managed to avoid death in the Topkok River.

Sensing danger, he stopped the sleds at the very edge of the sheer cliff. At some point, a hurricane wind lifted the sledges and dogs into the air, and a bag of serum fell into the snow. When Kaasen regained consciousness, he was horrified to find that the serum had disappeared. Raking the snow with his bare hands, he miraculously managed to find a cylinder with antitoxin. Ed Ron was supposed to run the last part of the race, but having received a storm warning, he, confident that Gunnar would interrupt the path, settled down to sleep.

And he, convinced of this, did not want to waste time changing crews and interrupting the race. Balto continued to lead the dogs, despite the temperature of -51 Celsius and the incessant hurricane. The dog could not know anything about sick children and about the medicine, but he understood that the life of Kaasen, who believed in him, now depended only on him.

They arrived in Nome at 05:30 am February 2 having covered 85 kilometers in seven and a half hours. The serum froze, but did not deteriorate, and with its help the diphtheria epidemic was stopped over the next week. The driver Gunnar Kaasen, the leader Balto and the rest of the dogs immediately became the main characters of the race.

We talked about the race in such detail only so that you can imagine how the whole of America, holding its breath and counting the hours, watched its passage. There is an epidemic or not, will the mushers get together, will they make their way through the snowstorm, will they get there or not, will they deliver the vaccine or not, will they be able to save the children? Discussion of all this and photographs of husky dogs appeared daily in the press. And until the end of February, when it was announced that the epidemic had been defeated, these events did not leave the front pages of the newspapers. And Gunnar Kaasen, the leader Balto and his team were immediately recognized as national heroes of the United States. And no one thought about the remaining 150 dogs and 20 sleds.

The hero was alone. It was he who delivered the medicine first, and thanks to him the epidemic was prevented. In the wake of the general recognition of the legendary horse-drawn sled, Kaasenu, a year-long tour of the country was organized and a 30-minute film entitled "Balto Race to Nome" was filmed. Thousands of people came to watch the Balto and the husky team on tour. In order to keep fit, the dogs still drove the cart, but already put on wheels.

10 months after these events, a monument was unveiled in New York Park. Of course, with the name Balto on the plinth. In those days, no one knew other names yet. Moreover, our hero, along with Kaasen himself, was present at its opening.

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The tour ended soon after. But before its completion, the mayor of Los Angeles (solemnly in front of the city hall) handed Balto a symbolic bone key to the city gates, and silent film actress Mary Pickford even put a laurel wreath on his head.

But everything goes away, and after this tour the fate of the dogs had to be decided somehow. Balto was a simple sled dog and was spayed when he was young. It was not suitable for racing, nor for breeding and improving the breed. In the end, he and the rest of the dogs were sold, and soon they ended up in the Novelty museum and freak show. In Los Angeles. There they, chained in chains, were seen in terrible condition by George Campbell, a Cleveland businessman. Imbued with the fate of the famous crew, he organized a fundraiser, bought the dogs and transferred them to the Cleveland Zoo, where they ended their life. A stuffed Balto was exhibited at the Cleveland Museum. Where, by the way, you can see it today.

Photo: Shutterstock

At this time, the film "The Man Hunter" was released on the screens of the United States, starring the shepherd dog Reer Tin Tin, the favorite of the country's children. But she could only be seen on the screen of cinemas, and Balto was here, nearby, and soon became a living symbol of Cleveland. Children came to look at it, pictures were drawn from it, excursions were brought to it. On the first day of the dogs' stay in the zoo, 15 thousand people came to see them. And on June 19, 1927, a memorial plaque appeared near the enclosure, telling about the feat of Balto.

On this wave, the writer Alistair McLean in 1959, in his novel "Night without End", gave the narrative sled dog the symbolic name Balto. In 1976, his story was retold in Race Against Death: A True Story of the High North by famous children's writer Seymour Reith, in 1977 and Margaret Davidson in her children's book Balto: The Dog That Saved Nome. Finally, in 1995, Steven Spielberg's animated film Balto was released, retelling his story in general terms. And although 70 years have passed since the events of that famous race, a new generation of Americans greeted this cartoon with delight. And the authors released the second and third episodes, albeit with a plot that no longer has anything to do with the real Balto. Since then, no books or films about this story have appeared. But ... completely different ones appeared. And not about Balto.

Instead of an epilogue

However, let's return to the cartoon about him. Live action sequences were introduced at the beginning and end of the animated film. In them, an elderly woman - Grandma Rosie, looking for a monument to Balto in Central Park in New York, tells her granddaughter an amazing story that happened in Nome, and of which she was a participant.

And at the end of the cartoon, when the cartoon characters portrayed all this on the screen, and the grandmother found the monument, she repeats to the now bronze Balto the words she once said to the living: “Thank you, Balto. I would have died without you. " Thus, she voiced the situation that was entrenched in the memory of generations: the inhabitants of Nome should be grateful for their salvation to Balto.

Still from the cartoon "Balto"

But what about the rest of the teams? Together, they covered 674 miles (1085 km) in five and a half days (127 hours), which was recognized as a world record. After passing them in extreme subzero temperatures, in bad weather and hurricane winds. Several dogs died during the trip. A week later, they will repeat this race in almost the same composition, delivering the main batch of serum on February 15, but without haste and night crossings.

All participants in the sledding team received letters of thanks from President Calvin Coolidge, and the Senate acknowledged the importance of this event. Each rider who took part in the first race was awarded a gold medal from HK Mulford. Simultaneously with Kaasen and his Balto, Wild Bill Shannon began his tour with his Blackie. But the longest and most triumphant was Sepall's tour from his Togo from Seattle to California and then through the Midwest to New England, which drew huge crowds. They were presented at Madison Square Garden in New York for 10 days, and Togo received a gold medal from the hands of the famous Roald Amundsen.

In New England, Sepalla's husky team competed in many races and easily defeated local teams. Togo's prowess as a sled dog also led to his being used in the breeding and improvement of the Sepalla Siberian Sled Dog line of huskies, the most popular line of sled dogs. The image of Sepalla and Togo was used in an advertising campaign by the manufacturers of Lucky Strike cigarettes, and the manufacturers of chewing gum released a trading card with a photo of Sepalla. No other mushers or dogs have received such attention and recognition. Therefore, the racing community considered the true hero of the race Sepalla from Togo, who, having passed the most difficult part of the race, managed to significantly shorten it, while covering a race record distance of 420 km.

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But soon the need for dog sleds in Alaska disappeared. Gradually they were replaced by aviation that came here and took over the delivery of mail. And later, snowmobiles. Seppala died in 1967, and a sled dog race was held in his honor (along the same route) called the Iditarod Trail Seppala Memorial Race. From then on, it will become traditional and will be successfully held annually. As a sign of respect and gratitude, it was decided to scatter Sepalla’s ashes over the Iditarod race course. Here on the path Togo remained forever. His effigy is on display in the headquarters of the Iditarod Trail in Wasilla, Alaska.

Still from the movie “Togo”

It is believed that every musher in Alaska knew perfectly well who the true hero of that race was. After all, if Kaasen had not ignored the storm warning and continued on his way in conditions of zero visibility, then the final stage of the race would have passed as planned - Eddie Ron, who was thus excluded from the number of participants. What if, because of the overturned sled, it was not possible to find medicine in the snow? How would Kaasen's action be regarded then? Journalists who did not delve into the details simply stated the fact to the whole world: Balto delivered the medicine to the hospital. Because at the end of the journey, Kaasen could hardly control the sledge, because while searching for a metal cylinder in the snowdrifts, his hands froze. And one can understand the words Sepalla said during the erection of the Balto monument in New York: “When I learned that the “newspaper dog” Balto received a statue for his “glorious achievements,” it was even more than I could bear.”

And these embers, which had been smoldering for almost a century, suddenly flared up again in 2019. In fact, two films were released simultaneously: “Togo” - from the Disney studio and “The Great Alaska Race” - from the Rebel Road studio, in which the leading role in that long-standing race 1925 was allocated to Togo. It turns out that there were two equal heroes in it? Or is one of them still false? It is difficult to say what the studios were guided by: the sensationalism of the material or the desire to restore historical truth?

Moreover, by that time, sculptor Shelley Curtis Smith had already erected a monument to Togo in New York’s Seward Park, and the Disney studio took part in its relocation and improvement in January 2020. His plaque read: “In 1925, Togo led his dog team through a snowstorm to Nome, Alaska, to deliver a life-saving antitoxin during a diphtheria epidemic. He traveled nearly 300 miles, more than any other dog in the relay, and his bravery saved many lives.” Of course, Togo is a famous dog, but why lie? After all, Togo did not bring his team to Nome; he remained on the track at the end of his stage. Balto did it after all.

What should we do now, contemplators of these monuments? And what about the monument in Central Park? And while responsible men and scientists, on this occasion, are breaking their spears in the silence of their offices and auditoriums, let's look at this situation from a different angle. Rather, first, let's look again at the monument itself.

By tradition, since 1925 we call it the “Balto Monument”. Based on what? At least, the talented sculptor Frederick Roth (here in the park there are also his works: a monument to Mother Goose, and the dancing Goat and Bear) did not give us any reason for this. On the contrary, he left us a note that the monument is dedicated to all the sled dogs that took part in the race.

And then you and I just need to slightly focus the angle of view. And the monument, which we see with you, should be considered as "A monument to the sled dogs of Alaska who took part in the 1925 race, and Balto, who successfully completed it and delivered serum to the sick children of Nome." Then everything will fall into place. And there is no need to change or destroy the monument, but to accept a new transcription and, rejoicing in life, again and again send our children to climb onto Balto's back to take photos with him goodbye.

After all, this is another interesting place that we managed to see with you. And how many more will be ahead! Enjoy your travels. Until next time.

This article by ForumDaily author, journalist Leonid Raevsky is part of the New York Walking cycle.

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