Cook Inlet Historical Society

Alaska’s Universities During the Global Cold War, a free lecture by historian Pierce Bateman this Thursday, January 15 at 7PM, Anchorage Museum Auditorium or Online via Crowdcast Livestream (Register through the link for online attendance.
https://www.anchoragemuseum.org/visit/calendar/event-details/?id=6pb81e70jb8smc16e95otg0t2o&fbclid=IwY2xjawPR9wBleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETEyQzhJU01RS3pmWVdVYm16c3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHiATMAfxhhrZLqG9BfCkvKhiJNHjslVYdnCT6vcRJO-RIhXIjZJg_Qx73sSw_aem_7qSWcTCj-9rwzoKSpvhszQ

Calendar Event Details - The Anchorage Museum The narrative of Alaska’s Cold War has primarily focused on its strategic military role as part of the United States’ conflict with the Soviet Union between 1946 and 1991. What is less understood is the centrality of Alaska’s universities in shaping the state’s international relations in thi...

This Thursday (Oct. 16) at 7PM! The dramatic story of Alaska’s Cuban Missile Crisis with Ivan Hodes, board member of Friends of Nike Site Summit. In person or online at the Anchorage Museum Auditorium. FREE! https://www.anchoragemuseum.org/visit/calendar/event-details/?id=b0a76jhisgql6ug040bft3qqu4

Alaska's Cuban Missile Crisis — Cook Inlet Historical Society Explore the dramatic story of Alaska’s Cuban Missile Crisis with Friends of Nike Site Summit, a non- profit organization dedicated to preserving and interpreting Alaska’s Cold War heritage.

The front page 100 years ago today.

Within two weeks of the initial relay of serum from Anchorage, a second relay brought additional anti-toxin from the railway station in Nenana to Nome. Ed Rohn, the driver who was skipped in Port Safety when Gunnar Kaasen opted to keep going to Nome, participated in this second relay.

February 2 marks the exact centennial of Gunnar Kaasen and his team, with lead dogs Balto and Fox, carrying the anti-toxin into Nome. But the drama was still unfolding for the rest of the nation. Had Leonhard Seppala "heeded warning" of the dangerous sea ice of Norton Sound? No, he had not. Only hours after his safe crossing, the ice had reportedly broken up sufficiently to have made the shortcut to Nome impossible or deadly.

Leonhard Seppala's lead dog Togo, one of the Serum Run's greatest heroes.

There's the sting and the rage of the blizzard,
As the Arctic unleashes its gale;
There's the night falling gray at the end of the day,
And there's Death riding hard on their Trail.
Man’s pluck, and the strength of a dog-team–
“On Togo! We trust your pace.”
There's the flash of a light—then there's Candle in sight —
And Seppala beats Death in the Race!
––Esther Birdsall Darling.

One hundred years ago: As the anti-toxin travelled west from Nenana, Leonhard Seppala, arguably the most experienced and certainly the most famous musher in Alaska, raced eastward from Nome. By the time Seppala had crossed the dangerous sea ice of Norton Sound, Henry Ivanoff was on the Nome-side of Shaktoolik with the serum. Seppala thought he still had more than 100 miles left to meet the serum in Nulato, and he was unaware the original relay plan had changed. Ivanoff and Seppala almost missed each other in the middle of a raging blizzard, but Seppala heard Ivanoff’s call, took the serum package, and turned his team around. Leonhard Seppala carried the serum further than any other relay musher, 91 miles. He and his team also braved an additional 170 miles from Nome before they intercepted the serum.

January 30, 1925: Edgar Nollner hands the serum off to his recently married brother George who sang Athabascan love songs to his team en route to Bishop Mountain where Charlie Evans took over. In a later interview, Evans said he couldn’t see the trail markings, but his “dogs were seeing them…the fog was about this high on me; I was holding the sled and couldn't see the dogs or anything, just see just like -- like above the clouds …And it's really cold. That fog go right through. [The dogs] follow the trail.”
Later that day, drivers Tommy Patsy, Jack Nicolai (aka “Jackscrew”), and Victor Anagick had the package of anti-toxin under their care. The life-saving medicine was on its way to Unalakleet.

January 29, 1925: the antitoxin is carried by seven different mushers: Sam Joseph to Titus Nikoli to Dave Corning to Edgar Kalland to Harry Pitka to Bill McCarty to Edgar Nollner. The temperature dipped lower than 50 degrees below zero as Edgar Nollner, his lead dog Dixie, and the rest of the team made their way from Whiskey Creek to Galena.

January 28, 1925: After 52 miles, “Wild Bill” Shannon and his dog team hand off the serum at Tolovana to Dan Greene, who in turn travels 31 miles to Manley Hot Springs. Johnny Folger now has the serum as the mushing relay becomes national news. The facts, however, are a little mixed up in the rush to capture headlines. (The Capital Times, January 28, p. 6)