Tag Archives: Gunnar Kaasen

Leonard Seppala and the Alaskan hero dogs Balto and Togo (Volume 4, Episode 11) Part One

In 1925, a diphtheria epidemic threatened to wipe out the town of Nome, Alaska. Hear the incredible story of the men and dogs who saved the day.

Leonard Seppala and his team with Togo (far left) and Fritz (far right.

Seppala was employed by Hammon Gold as its main dog driver and the supervisor of freight logistics into the remote areas and mining camps that the company operated.  But Seppala was also known as the premier dogsled racer in the region having won numerous competitions that were a high profile Alaskan pursuit.  A Norwegian and a friend of Jafet Lindberg, he emigrated to Nome in 1900, at the height of the Gold Rush that established the city.

Nome, during the 1900 gold rush.

The establishment of a town in such a remote and forbidding location was actually an unplanned spontaneous event that resulted from gold being discovered in the area in mid-September, 1898.  Rich deposits of the metal were discovered initially by three individuals who were eventually nicknamed the Three Lucky Swedes, Eric Lindblom, John Brynteson and Jafet Lindberg who was actually Norwegian.  This group located these valuable sites in the Anvil Creek and Snake River waterways a few miles off of the coast of the Bering Sea. They legally registered their claims before word of the find became public knowledge elsewhere.  However, news of this discovery quickly made it to the outside world and especially to the Klondike region where a previous 1897 gold rush had drawn over 100,000 potential prospectors. 

 
Balto

To fill out the new team of drivers Summers contacted another one of his employees, a dog driver who also worked for Leonard Seppala, Gunnar Kaasen.  Summers told Kaasen to put together another team and head for the village of Bluff, about forty miles east of Nome.  When he got to Bluff he was supposed to get the roadhouse keeper there, Charles Olson, to put together his own team and head 25 miles east to the town of Golovin and wait there.  Kaasen was not completely surprised by Summer’s request to assemble a team.  Before his boss  Seppala left, he made precautionary recommendations to Kaasen as to how to position another subsequent team.  Kaasen went along with these recommendations placing the dog Fox as one of the leads.  But for the other dog he chose an animal that Seppala did not particularly hold in high esteem, an unusually colored Siberian who was solid black except for a white right paw.  The dog’s name was Balto, named after an associate of Norwegian explorer Fritdtjof Nansen.  At the time, Kaasen did not think about the choice very much.  He had always liked working with the dog and figured that the animal could certainly get the job done.  Once the run was completed and the serum got to Nome what difference would it make anyway?

Gunnar Kaasen with Balto.

The serum relay remained a huge story across the United States with local journalists getting hired by national wire services to provide eyewitness accounts.  Only hours after his actual arrival, Gunnar Kaasen reenacted his arrival, ambling down the main streets of Nome for photographers and motion picture cameras.  Newspaper articles focused on Kaasen as he was the only participant present and because journalists wanted to focus on one dog, Balto was anointed as the main canine hero of the serum run. 

Togo

During his successful racing career, Seppala’s lead dog was named Suggen and this part Malemute, part Siberian huskie subsequently sired many puppies for Seppala.  By 1925, Suggen had been replaced by his son Togo, a diminutive animal, initially a runt believed too small to have any future as a sled dog.  Named after the victorious Japanese admiral at the battle of Tsushima, at age six months, Seppala gave the dog away, its new owner maintaining the canine as a pet.  Within a few weeks, Togo escaped from his new home by leaping through a glass window and returning to Seppala’s kennel, a journey of several miles that impressed the dog trainer enough to prompt Seppala to keep the dog.  But the puppy proved difficult to train, frequently breaking out of the kennel to follow Seppala when left behind and off of the team. On the trail, Togo would distract the group to the extent that Seppala finally decided to harness the dog, if only to control him.  Immediately, the younger dog responded, able to keep up with older, larger animals on runs that frequently totaled seventy-five miles a day.  Seppala came to believe that Togo, 48 pounds at his heaviest weight, was a once in a life time prodigy that he quickly trained and ultimately designated as a lead dog.  By 1925, Togo, aged 12, was so respected by Seppala that he frequently placed the dog by himself, with a long lead in front of the other dogs.

 

Leonard Seppala and the Alaskan Hero Dogs Balto and Togo (Volume 4, Episode 11) Part Two

In 1925, a diphtheria epidemic threatened to wipe out the town of Nome, Alaska. Hear the incredible story of the men and dogs who saved the day.

Balto in news footage during re-enactment.

Within days Kaasen got an offer from a Hollywood film producer to appear in a movie with his dog team.  Kaasen and Balto were soon standing on the steps of Los angeles’ city Hall with the mayor and Mary Pickford.  Although Leonard Sepalla was annoyed by the attention Kaasen was getting, he did give his employee permission to take the dogs, who he considered inferior anyway, and make the film.  In conjunction with the movie deal, a vaudeville style tour was developed and suddenly Gunnar Kaasen was a full blown American celebrity.

Balto’s statue, Central Park, New York, NY

An indication of the level of Balto’s profile came when it was announced by the city of NY that a statue to honor all of the participants in the serum drive would be placed in Central Park, a statue of Balto deposited on top of its base.  On December 15, 1925 both Balto and Kaasen were present when the statue was dedicated, a monument that remains very popular even today.

Balto, preserved in the Cleveland Museum of Natural History

Kaasen and his wife soon grew tired of the vaudeville life and the frequent squabbles with Hollywood producers and the tour operator over money.  As their celebrity faded they decided to head back home to Alaska, at this point the tour operator having somehow gained ownership of the dog team and sled.  How this process unfolded remains unclear but the animals were transported back to Los Angeles where proprietor of a typical side show of oddities and amusements named Sam Houston acquired the dogs.  For months they were on display in a small enclosure in dreadful conditions, neglected by their new owner.  It was not until a visiting Cleveland businessman, George Kimball, saw the dogs and wanted to rescue them from their plight.  Houston agreed to sell the team for $2,000 but gave Kimball only two weeks to raise the money.  Kimball returned home and through newspaper publicity and after an overwhelming public response, Balto and his team were extricated and brought to Cleveland and their permanent home, a popular attraction at the city’s zoo.  There he and the rest of the team lived in relative tranquility, until Balto, blind and arthritic, was euthanized on March 14, 1933, aged fourteen.  His body was preserved and today it is on display at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

Togo, Iditarod Museum, Wasilla, Alaska

The serum run was Togo’s last long distance endeavor and even then at age 12 he was considered old for a sled dog.  By age sixteen the dog was partially blind and could only move with great difficulty.  On December 9, 1929 the decision was made to euthanize Togo at his kennel in Maine.  He was also preserved and after a lengthy stay in Yale’s Peabody Museum and the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont he was returned to the Iditarod Museum in Wasilla, Alaska, where he can be seen today. 

Togo, Seward Park, Lower East Side, Manhattan, New York City, NY

Leonard Seppala and the Alaskan Hero Dogs Balto and Togo (Volume 4, Episode 11) Book and Music Information

Publications used to make this podcast included:

“The Cruelest Miles,” by Gay Salisbury and

“And You Thought We Have Vaccine Issues?” by Jon Wertheim, Sports Illustrated, January 13, 2021

The intro in part one and outro in part two was, “Floating Home,” by Brian Bolger and the outro in part one and intro in part two was, “The Empty Moons of Jupiter,” by DivKid.