Bluegrass Airlines, April 2010

’25 Serum Run

by Allan Lowson

In January 1925 an outbreak of diphtheria in Nome on the Seward Peninsula in Alaska threatened to decimate the children amongst the local population.

A gold rush in 1898 had given birth to Nome after three Scandinavians, known as “The Lucky Swedes” found gold in a stream behind the Cape.

Once word got out to the miners in the Klondike on the far side of Alaska some set out along the Yukon River and several hundred made it to Nome before the winter set in. The following year the population grew to over 20,000, but the boom was short lived and within two years it had fallen to some 5,000. By 1924 it had fallen to about 1,400, about a third of whom were native Inuit.

Nome in 1900

At that time Nome was only accessible from the sea, with the Bering Sea free of ice from July to October each year. For the rest of the year the only practical access was overland by dog team from the East and South. Even today, although air travel is now common, there is still no road connecting Nome to the rest of Alaska.

Nome is about as inhospitable a location as could be found for a township, being just 150 miles below the Arctic Circle and with no natural harbour. All ships had to lie a mile and a half offshore and have their cargoes transferred to lighters to make the journey through the surf to town.

In the ‘20s, each year the town had to get all the stocks needed to see it through the winter delivered before the last ship sailed for the winter. Dr. Welch, the town doctor had ordered replacement stocks of diphtheria antitoxin as his supply had expired, but by the time the last ship sailed in 1924 the replacement antitoxin has not been delivered. In the previous eighteen years of his practise on the Seward Peninsula there had been no case of diphtheria, so the oversight had not seemed too critical at the time.

But during December 1924 four Inuit children die with symptoms of tonsillitis, and then on January 20^th. 1925 the first definite case of diphtheria was diagnosed and the child died the next day. On the 22^nd.,after another child was diagnosed and died, Dr Welch sent telegrams to all the major towns in Alaska and the Governor of Alaska warning of the health risk, and also to the US Public Health Service requesting at least one million units of antitoxin.

It was discovered that the Alaska Railroad Hospital in Anchorage had 300,000 units of the life saving serum which would at least stem the tide of the epidemic.

The serum by was taken by train from Anchorage to Nenana, a town on the Tanana River 220 miles north of Anchorage. Then by a relay of dog teams would transport the serum over the 674 miles between Nenana and Nome.

This epic relay, through a blizzard with temperatures as low as -72^oC, was carried out by a group of mushers starting with William Shannon on the 27^th. of January from Nenana. At Tolovana he handed the 20lb package over to Edgar Kallands. William had severe frostbite on parts of his face and two of the three dogs he had dropped off at the Minto roadhouse died.

From Manley Hot Springs Dan Green and Johnny Folger took the serum on to Fish Lake and then to Tanana. From Tanana to Galena six more teams driven by Sam Joseph, Titus Nikolai, Dave Corning, Harry Pitka, Bill McCarty and Edgar Nollner.

In the early hours of January 30^th. Edgar’s brother George takes the toxin on to Bishop Mountain, passing the serum on to Charlie Evans who makes it through to Nulato although his two lead dogs have died and he has had to lead the team himself. Tommy Patsy takes over, as the number of diphtheria cases in Nome rises to 27, for the run to Kaltag, handing the antitoxin along to “Jackscrew” who took it on to Old Woman Shelter on the 31^st.

Victor Anagick took the serum to the shore town of Unalakleet. By now the temperatures are down to-57^oC and the winds have reached gale force. Myles Gonangnan takes the stretch to Shaktoolik. Henry Ivanoff set off onto the trail hoping to meet Leonhard Seppala who was scheduled to cover the most dangerous leg of the route across the sea ice. Luckily they meet and Seppala turns round and heads back across the dangerous sea ice. After reaching Isaac’s Point on the northern shore of the Sound Seppala rested for six hours before headong back out into the storm, which had now reached windspeeds of 65mph.

At Golovin Seppala passed the serum to Charlie Olson at 3am on February 1^st. By now the number of diphtheria cases had risen to 28, and the serum supply was only sufficient for 30 patients. The wind has risen to 80mph and word has gone out from Nome to hold the relay until the storm has passed, as the danger of losing the package was considered greater than the risk of delaying the relay. Charlie Olson was on the way to Bluff, but got blown off the trail and suffered severe frostbite while he put blankets on the dogs to protect them from the storm. He arrived at Bluff in poor shape at 8pm.

Balto & Kaasen after the Run

Gunnar Kaasen decided to wait until 10pm in the hope that the storm would subside, but as it got worse he feared that the trail would be obscured by snowdrifts, so he headed out into the storm with his lead dog Balto up in front. Kaasen carried on through the night in visibility so poor that at times he could not see the dogs closest to the sled. In these conditions he passed the town of Solomon where we was supposed to pass on the serum without seeing it. When he realised his mistake he pressed on, rather than lose time turning back. At 3am on February 2^nd. He arrived at Point safety ahead of the schedule. Ed Rohn had been meant to take the serum on, but as he was asleep Kaasen decided to press on rather than lose time getting Ed ready.

Kaasen went back out to his team and drove them on the last 25 miles to Nome, arriving on Front Street at 5.30am outside Dr Welch’s office. He had covered the last 53 miles of the trek in seven and a half hours. In total the 20 mushers involved and their teams of dogs had taken the life-saving serum 674 miles in under five days, through storms with temperatures as low as -72^oC and wind speeds up to 80 mph. Within the week the serum had brought the epidemic under control, and a second batch of serum had been brought to Nome by the same route.

The epic journey is commemorated by two sled races. Each year the Iditerod Race in March runs from Anchorage to Nome joining the actual route of the Serum Run at either Ruby or Kaltag, as the route alternates between northern and southern routes each year. In addition the Norman Vaughan ’25 Serum Run follows the actual route in odd years.

The full story of the Serum Run is told in “The Cruellest Miles” by Gay & Laney Salisbury ISBN 0 7475 6858 8. In the UK it is a Bloomsbury paperback.

Our feature runs from Nenana to Nome approximating the route followed by the dog teams in 1925.

Suitable aircraft for this run would include the Aviat Husky (of course!), de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver, Noorduyn Norseman, de Havilland DHC-3 Otter or Cessna T50. Adventurous pilots may try to get the DC-3 into some of the shorter fields!

’25 Serum Run

Heading	Distance	Airfield Name	ICAO
-	36.6	Nenana	PANN
349	21.5	Minto	51Z
275	15.1	Eureka Creek	2Z2
225	14.9	Manley Hot Springs	PAML
295	23.9	American Creek	AK80
280	89.5	Tanana	PATA
254	39.5	Ruby	PARY
243	18.9	Kalakaket	1KC
352	21.6	Pitka	PAGA
293	12.7	Koyukuk	KYU
226	29.8	Nulato	NUL
215	60	Kaltag	KAL
244	31.5	Unalakleet	PAUN
339	33.8	Shaktoolik	2C7
002	27.0	Koyuk	PAKK
238	7.4	Moses Point	MOS
227	20.2	Elim	ELI
258	13.0	Golovin	GLV
312	14.6	White Mountain	WMO
329	27.7	Council	K29
223	24.9	Solomon	AK26
263		Nome City	94Z