Togo

While we are waiting for a few of our stories to be processed, I thought I would take the time today to share the story of Togo with you.

Togo is one of the lesser known hero dogs (the most famous being Balto) in the story of the dog run that saved the children of Nome by delivering vaccine.  Together, the teams covered 674 miles in just a little over five days. At the time, this feat was a world record, and all of this in sub-zero temps and hurricane like winds.  This run ultimately ended up inspiring the annual world-famous Iditarod race.  

Togo, a Siberian Husky who initially was an unpromising pup, but would become Leonhard Seppala's favorite and lead sled dog.  Mr. Seppala would later say that Togo was "the best dog that ever traveled the Alaskan trail" and "I never had a better dog than Togo."

Togo was born to a Norwegian Leonhard Seppala, who worked in the gold fields of Alaska and also bred and raced the Siberian dogs originally from the Chukchi Inuit stock of Siberia.  The dogs also worked in the gold fields hauling freight.  Togo's eyes were ice blue and he was considered small for his breed, weighing in at about forty-eight pounds.  Seppala was known to refer to Togo in his prime as “fifty pounds of muscle and fighting heart”.

As a pup, Togo developed a painful throat disorder that caused his throat to swell.  Sepalla’s wife, Constance, spent many hours trying to comfort and ease Togo’s condition by applying hot rags to his  throat.  Togo grew into a mischievous puppy that would nip and harass the other pups in the kennel yards when Seppala tried to harness them.  At about six months of age, Seppala gave him away to a woman who was looking for a house pet.  Though the woman spoiled him, Togo would have none of it and escaped the woman’s house by leaping through a window and making his way back to Seppala’s kennels. 

Seppala took him back in but Togo’s trouble making was not over.  He still harassed the teams and would run up to lead dogs as they returned to the kennels from their runs.  This activity ultimately almost ended his life when he ran up to a team of trail hardened malamutes and was mauled.  Togo was rushed by dog sled to his kennels and treated. Togo lived and never again would pass another team without giving them a wide berth. 

Togo got his chance in the sled line rather by accident.  Sepalla was hired to deliver him to a new gold strike location.  Though Sepalla left him tied with instructions not to untie him, Togo freed himself, caught up with the sled team and continued to harass them until Sepalla harnessed him in to the wheel position directly in front of the sled.  The moment he slipped the harness around Togo’s body, the dog became serious and resolute.  He moved Togo up the line throughout the day until he was sharing the lead position  with “Russky”.  Togo ended up logging a suprising 75 miles that day, which was unheard of for an inexperienced young dog.

After the outbreak in Nome and the decision to use dog teams to deliver the serum, Leonhard Seppala and all the dog team drivers stepped forward to complete the task.

The conditions endured by the mushers were, from the beginning, no joke.  Once the shipment of serum arrived in Nenana, a musher named Wild Bill Shannon, grabbed the package, wrapped it in furs.  Despite a temperature of −50 °F, Shannon left immediately.  He and his team of Malamutes made their way down the Tanana River, led by Blackie.

The temperature began to drop, and the team was forced onto the colder ice of the river because the trail had been destroyed by horses.  Despite jogging alongside the sled to keep warm, Shannon developed hypothermia. He reached Minto at 3 AM, with parts of his face black from frostbite. The temperature was −62 °F. 

Edgar Kalland had arrived in Minto the night before. Shannon and his team arrived in bad shape at 11 AM, and handed over the serum. After warming the serum in the roadhouse, Kalland headed into the forest. The temperature had risen to −56 °F and according to at least one report the owner of the roadhouse at Manley Hot Springs had to pour hot water over Kallands' hands to get them off the sled's handlebar when he arrived. 

Many dog sled teams would take similar shifts along the treacherous route to deliver the needed vaccine to the children.

Meanwhile, Nome's best musher, Leonhard Seppala, was traveling eastward from Nome with Togo in the lead, to meet the serum.  The soon-to-be-famous Balto and a few other dogs were left behind at an outpost called Bluff to provide Seppala with fresh pullers on his return trip.   Togo lead his sled 91 miles from Nome from January 27 to January 31 into the oncoming storm. They took the shortcut across the Norton Sound, and headed toward Shaktoolik. The temperature in Nome was a relatively warm −20 °F but in Shaktoolik the temperature was estimated at −30 °F and the gale force winds causing a wind chill of −85 °F.

Henry Ivanoff's team had left with the serum out of Shaktoolik on it’s way toward Seppala and his oncoming sled.  Ivanoff’s team ran into a reindeer and the dogs, who often could be distracted by the or appearance of reindeer, got tangled up just outside of Shaktoolik. Seppala still believed he had more than 100 miles to go and was racing to get off the Norton Sound before the storm hit. He was passing the team when Ivanoff shouted, "The serum! The serum! I have it here!"

With the news of the worsening epidemic, Seppala decided to brave the storm once again.  The  blizzard had struck and was pushing water onto the Norton Sound ice, causing it to break up into floes. The fastest way to Nome was back the way he had come over Norton Sound.

Seppala set out back across the exposed open ice of the Norton Sound when he reached Ungalik, after dark. Sometimes Seppala could barely see Togo picking a path through the white mists, but he had to trust the dog's judgment. In places, the route they had previously used had vanished. They glided within mere feet of frigid waves. The the wind chill with the gale force winds was −85 °F .  Seppala gambled his life, the lives of his team and the fate of Nome, that Togo would lead them to safety.

Togo was an exceptional leader already famous throughout the region for numerous wins in the All-Alaska Sweepstakes and other Nome Kennel Club races. Togo took Seppala in a straight line across the Sound, in the dark and across ice floes, arriving at the Isaac's Point roadhouse at 8:00 p.m. Seppala and his tired dogs had traveled 84 miles in addition to the 170 they had undertaken before obtaining the serum.

The team rested, and departed at 2 AM into the full power of the storm.During the night the temperature and the wind increased to storm force (at least 65 mph). The team ran across the ice while following the shoreline and then crossed Little McKinley Mountain, climbing 5,000 feet.  After descending to the next roadhouse in Golovin, Seppala passed the serum to Charlie Olsen on February 1 at 3 PM.

Olsen was blown off the trail and suffered severe frostbite but delivered the serum to Bluff.  Gunnar Kaasen subsequently finished the daunting trip with the famous Balto, another of Seppula’s dogs, and became probably the most well-known leg of the trip. 

Togo was an amazing 12 years of age, which is considered old even by today’s standard, to run as far as he did during the Race of Mercy.  20 teams were involved in the relay.  Togo and his team ran nearly five times as far as any of the other nineteen teams that participated.  By the time they reached Bluff and the relief dogs, Seppala and Togo had covered an amazing two hundred and sixty miles!

Although Seppala and Togo covered the greatest number of miles, Gunnar Kaasen and Balto were the team that actually delivered the serum into Nome, lending them much glory and prestige. Balto became the famous dog of the serum run, although many - including Leonhard Seppala, who owned both Balto and Togo - felt that Togo, who was 12 years old at the time of the run, should have received more credit.

In December 1925, a statue of Balto was erected in New York City's Central Park. At this, Seppala commented: "It was almost more than I could bear when the ‘newspaper dog' Balto received a statue for his ‘glorious achievements.'"  A statue of Balto has also since been erected in downtown Anchorage.

Leonhard Seppala and Togo made many journeys together in the land of Alaska Territory but, without a doubt, their greatest journey was as major participants in the 1925 Serum Run to Nome. Togo lived until December 5, 1929, four years after the Serum Run, his most athletic endeavor, behind him. Togo sired multiple litters before dying in honorable old age of about 16.

In his old age, Seppala recalled, “I never had a better dog than Togo.  His stamina, loyalty and intelligence could not be improved upon.  Togo was the best dog that ever traveled the Alaska trail.” 

His mount is currently on display at the Iditarod Trail Headquarters in Wasilla, Alaska. 

The Serum Run Mushers of 1925

Musher         Leg of Serum Run         Miles

"Wild Bill" Shannon Nenana to Tolovana         52
Edgar Kalland     to Manley Hot Springs         31
Dan Green     to Fish Lake             28
Johnny Folger     to Tanana             26
Sam Joseph     to Kallands             34
Titus Nickoli     to Nine Mile Cabin         24
Dave Corning     to Kokrines             30
Harry Pitka     to Ruby             30
Billy McCarty     to Whiskey Creek         28
Edgar Nollner     to Galena             24
George Nollner     to Bishop Mountain         18
Charlie Evans     to Nulato             30
Tommy Patson     to Kaltag             36
Jack Screw     to Old Woman             40
Victor Anagick     to Unalakleet             34
Myles Gonangnan to Shaktoolik             40
Henry Ivanoff     to meeting with Seppala     -
Leonhard Seppala* to Golovin             91*
Charlie Olson     to Bluff             25
Gunnar Kaasen     to Nome             53

* Seppala set out from Nome, met Ivanoff outside of Shaktoolik, turned around, and carried the serum onward to Golovin, 91 miles away. With Togo, he traveled a total of 260 miles.