The Sled Dog Who Saved a Town in 1925

The Sled Dog Who Saved a Town (and Got No Statue) In 1925, a whole town was dying. And the only way to save it was a team of dogs. This really happened. In Nome, Alaska, children were sick with diphtheria, and the medicine was a thousand kilometers away. No plane could fly in the storm. So twenty mushers and their dogs carried the medicine, in a relay, through the snow. The hardest part went to a twelve-year-old dog called Togo. And his owner, Leonhard Seppala. Togo led his team across a frozen sea. The ice was cracking under their feet. In total, they ran more than four hundred kilometers. Much farther than any other team. Then they handed the medicine on. The last part of the run went to another dog, Balto. Balto ran into Nome, and the children were saved. The whole world called him a hero. Balto got a statue in New York. Togo got almost nothing. For years, hardly anyone knew his name. Now you know. In 1925, a whole town was dying. And the only way to save it was a team of dogs.