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LOT #55 [ALASKA] Autographed Signed Photo of the famous dog "Balto" with his musher GUNNAR KAASEN (1882-1964) Kaasen was a Norwegian musher who delivered a cylinder containing 300,000 units of diphtheria antitoxin to Nome, Alaska in 1925, as the last leg of a dog sled relay that saved the territory epidemic.
He signs "Sincerely to Rita, Gunnar Kaasen & "Balto", Nome Alaska, Dec, 1925." A striking and rare signed photograph of the heroic pair. During the 1925 serum run to Nome, also known as the "Great Race of Mercy", 20 mushers and about 150 sled dogs relayed diphtheria antitoxin 674 miles (1,085 km) by dog sled across the U.S. territory of Alaska in a record-breaking five and a half days, saving the small city of Nome and the surrounding communities from an incipient epidemic. Both the mushers and their dogs were portrayed as heroes in the newly popular medium of radio, and received headline coverage in newspapers across the United States. The black husky Balto in particular, who led the team that covered the final stretch into Nome, became the most famous canine celebrity of the era after Rin Tin Tin, and his statue is still one of the most popular tourist attractions in New York City's Central Park. The publicity also helped spur an inoculation campaign in the U.S. that dramatically reduced the threat of the disease. |
BALTO & THE GREAT RACE OF MERCY
