Surviving Irene - Local Vermont Hero
What, you don’t know who Balto was? The real one, not that Disney cartoon jobbo.
Balto was the lead sled dog of the final team that brought the diphtheria serum to Nome Alaska in February 1925. 20 sled teams rushed the medicine across 700 miles of frozen wilderness in 40 below temps, howling winds, and whiteout conditions. They got through in only 6 days, and saved the children. Balto’s sled missed the last hand-off point and had to run twice as far as the other teams, and they did their entire drive in the pitch dark. This was a truly heroic effort and is what the annual Iditarod race commemorates. Balto has a statue in New York City’s Central Park, and was as big a hero as Lindbergh was two years later.
on 09/01/2011 at 02:43 PM
