Evening star., 1925-02-04
|BALTO, DOG HERO, DIRECTS SERUM
RACE WHEN SNOW BLINDS DRIVERl
Best Lead Animal'' in Alaska Brings KassOn
Through on Right Trail in Raging Blizzard, on
Verge of Exhaustion.

| feet. They go up to the hips. And /
| had sealskin pants over them.
On my head I had reindeer parka
and hood and a drill parka over that.
But the wind was so strong that 1t
went right through the skins
CAS- Gunnar Kasson was starting
from Bluff. Ed Rohn, waiting on the
trail at Safety,,21 miles from Nome.
to act as his relay, sent word to Nome
the wind was blowing 80 miles an
hour, that the snow was coming down
so heavily 1t was impossible for man
or dog to face it or keep to the trail,
and that the ice over Norton Sound
was in constant motion from the
ground swell)
Crossing Topkok River / ran into
trouble. 1 ran BALTIC into an over
flow. l counldn't see it ahead, it was
showing so. Can overflow is where
the water has run over the ice). l
had to turn him into a soft snow
drift to dry off his feet. That keeps
them from freezing and getting torn
on the glare ice.
l stopped only few minutes. then
started up Topkok Hill. .(Topkok Hill
is about 600 feet above the sea level
and stands exposed to the full sweep
of the wind from the sound). The
wind was coming in from the north
storming. 1t was storming when l
got up there. My right cheek got
frozen.
Coming down from Topkok Hill
you come to the fiat for stretch of
six miles. Along aways is Spruce
Creek. It's always the worst spot for
wind in any kind of weather. The
wind was coming across the lagoons
and sloughs there, picking up the
snow like it was q comb. 1t was
blowing snow so hard / cound hardly
see my hand in front of my face. 1
couldn't even see the wheel dog.
Where BALTIC Served.
That's where BALTIC came in.
didn't know where l was. l couldn't
even guess. He scented the trail
through the snow and kept going
straight on the glary ice of the frozen
agoons. l didn't even know when l
passed right by Solomon. so 1 didn't
get the message from Nome.
(Solomon is the first village on the
trail along the seacoast from Bluff
to Nome. 1t lies about 33 miles from
Nome. Gunnar Kasson had gone %
miles, with more than that ahead of
him. At Solomon work from Nome was
waiting for Kasson telling him to
wait until the storm was over and
not to press. on under such condi-
tions)
It's 1212 miles from Solomon to
Safety The wind across Bonanza
Creek was the worst 1 ever felt. The
sled spilled every other minute in
the soft snow, and l had to untan gle
the dogs harness, lift the stuff back
on the sled and get going again. 1t
was dark, too-black.
The going was better after / got
across Bonanza. The trail turned so
the wind was with me. That boosted
me along SO I made the 121a miles to
Safety in 80 minutes.
(Following the trail il was neces-
sary for him to dip around the edge
of Safety Sound. coming up to Port
Safety, as the town is known on the
map, from the sea side. At Safety,
Ed Rohn was waiting to act as
relay)
The wind had gone down when
got to Safety. l mushed by the road
house, but as everything was dark
and BALTIC and the others were going
good now decided to continue in
stead of waking Ed Rohn.
It's 81 miles from Safety to Nome.
The trail runs along the beach of the
Bering Sea. The wind had drifted the
snow between the hummocks and the
upper beach. 1t made the trail heavy
and slow, but with the wind gone
down l could see the trial i ahead
sometimes, as it wasn't so dark any
more.
Two of my dogs who were frozen
on another trip began to stiffen up.
1 made a rabbit skin covering for
them, but the cold went right
through it.
was good and glad to see Nome.
was good and hungry.
Copyright (New York World) Press
Publishing Company, 1925.