Leonhard Seppala
Encyclopedia
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
born American Sled dog
Sled dog
Sled dogs, known also as sleigh man dogs, sledge dogs, or sleddogs, are highly trained types of dogs that are used to pull a dog sled, a wheel-less vehicle on runners also called a sled or sleigh, over snow or ice, by means of harnesses and lines.Sled dogs have become a popular winter recreation...
racer who participated the 1932 Winter Olympics
1932 Winter Olympics
The 1932 Winter Olympics, officially known as the III Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1932 in Lake Placid, New York, United States. The games opened on February 4 and closed on February 15. It would be the first winter olympics held in the United...
. Seppala is considered the founder of the Siberian Husky
Siberian Husky
The Siberian Husky is a medium-size, dense-coat working dog breed that originated in north-eastern Siberia. The breed belongs to the Spitz genetic family...
breed.
Background
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
of Kven descent. He was born in Skibotn
Skibotn
Skibotn is a village with approximately 700 inhabitants in Storfjord municipality, located on the southeastern shore of the Lyngen Fjord in the Northern Norwegian county of Troms. The village area is located at the crossroads of the highways E6 and E8...
in Storfjord
Storfjord
Storfjord is a municipality in Troms county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Hatteng.- General information :...
municipality, and grew up on the nearby municipality of Skjervøy
Skjervøy
Skjervøy is a municipality in Troms county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Skjervøy on the island of Skjervøya, where most of the inhabitants live. The main industries are fishing and ship building....
, in the county of Troms
Troms
or Romsa is a county in North Norway, bordering Finnmark to the northeast and Nordland in the southwest. To the south is Norrbotten Län in Sweden and further southeast is a shorter border with Lapland Province in Finland. To the west is the Norwegian Sea...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. His father, Isak Isaksson Seppälä had been born in Sweden. His mother was Anne Henriksdatter. When Leonhard was two years old, the family moved to Skjervøy
Skjervøy
Skjervøy is a municipality in Troms county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Skjervøy on the island of Skjervøya, where most of the inhabitants live. The main industries are fishing and ship building....
, where his father lived as a blacksmith and a fisherman, and built up a relatively large farm. The oldest of the siblings, Seppala grew to adulthood and followed in his father's footsteps as both a smithy and a fisherman. However, he emigrated to Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
during the Nome
Nome, Alaska
Nome is a city in the Nome Census Area in the Unorganized Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska, located on the southern Seward Peninsula coast on Norton Sound of the Bering Sea. According to the 2010 Census, the city population was 3,598. Nome was incorporated on April 9, 1901, and was once the...
gold rush of 1900. His friend Jafet Lindeberg
Jafet Lindeberg
Jafet Lindeberg was a gold prospector and co-founder of the city of Nome, Alaska.-Background:Jafet Lindeberg was born in Kvænangen, Troms county, in Norway. In his youth, he tried prospecting for gold in northern Norway. Lindeberg's father, Isak, was a farmer and fisherman...
had returned from Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
and agreed to lend Seppala money for the ticket on the condition that he would work for Lindeberg.
Immigration
In 1913, he inherited a team of imported Chukchi huskiesSiberian Husky
The Siberian Husky is a medium-size, dense-coat working dog breed that originated in north-eastern Siberia. The breed belongs to the Spitz genetic family...
, later to be known as Siberian dogs or Siberian Huskies. Those dogs, owned by Lindberg's mining company Pioneer Mining Co., had originally been scheduled to take explorer Roald Amundsen
Roald Amundsen
Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He led the first Antarctic expedition to reach the South Pole between 1910 and 1912 and he was the first person to reach both the North and South Poles. He is also known as the first to traverse the Northwest Passage....
to the North Pole
North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is, subject to the caveats explained below, defined as the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface...
, but with the impending outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, the trip was canceled and dogs were given to Seppala.
The first Chukchi (Siberian) dogs had been imported to Alaska in 1908 to run in the 1909 All Alaska Sweepstakes (a 408 mi or 656.6 km race from Nome to Candle and back), and a team of Siberians took first place in record time in the annual race in 1910. At first derisively called "Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
n rats" by Alaskan mushers
Mushing
Mushing is a general term for a sport or transport method powered by dogs, and includes carting, pulka, scootering, sled dog racing, skijoring, freighting, and weight pulling. More specifically, it implies the use of one or more dogs to pull a sled on snow or a rig on dry land...
because of their small stature in comparison to the local sled dogs, the Siberian dogs' excellent temperament and stamina soon made them very popular for transport, mail runs, and racing in Alaska.
Seppala entered his first All Alaska Sweepstakes in 1914; his team was inexperienced and he had to withdraw in the middle of the race. But in 1915, 1916 and 1917, the All Alaska Sweepstakes was won by Seppala and his teams of Siberians. This established a racing fame for Seppala that continued into the 1920s and 1930s.
When an outbreak of diphtheria
Diphtheria
Diphtheria is an upper respiratory tract illness caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae, a facultative anaerobic, Gram-positive bacterium. It is characterized by sore throat, low fever, and an adherent membrane on the tonsils, pharynx, and/or nasal cavity...
occurred in Nome
Nome, Alaska
Nome is a city in the Nome Census Area in the Unorganized Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska, located on the southern Seward Peninsula coast on Norton Sound of the Bering Sea. According to the 2010 Census, the city population was 3,598. Nome was incorporated on April 9, 1901, and was once the...
in January 1925, temperatures ranging down to -50 F along with 80 mph (35.8 m/s) winds meant that the primitive air transport of that day would not be able to deliver the needed medicine. Instead, the serum
Blood plasma
Blood plasma is the straw-colored liquid component of blood in which the blood cells in whole blood are normally suspended. It makes up about 55% of the total blood volume. It is the intravascular fluid part of extracellular fluid...
was carried by rail from Anchorage
Anchorage, Alaska
Anchorage is a unified home rule municipality in the southcentral part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the northernmost major city in the United States...
to Nenana
Nenana, Alaska
Nenana is a Home Rule City in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area of the Unorganized Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska. Nenana lies at the juncture of the Nenana River and the Tanana River. The population was 402 at the 2000 census. "Nenana" means 'a good place to camp between two rivers.'-History...
and relays of dog teams were sent the remainder of the way—674 miles (1,084.7 km). After only five and a half days, Gunnar Kaasen
Gunnar Kaasen
Gunnar Kaasen was a Norwegian-born 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 U.S. city from an epidemic....
—with a dog named Balto
Balto
Balto was a Siberian Husky sled dog who led his team on the final leg of the 1925 serum run to Nome, in which diphtheria antitoxin was transported from Anchorage, Alaska, to Nenana, Alaska, by train and then to Nome by dog sled to combat an outbreak of the disease. The run is commemorated by the...
leading his team—was the last relay driver into Nome. Kaasen and Balto captured most of the media attention at the time, and in the aftermath, a statue of Balto
Balto
Balto was a Siberian Husky sled dog who led his team on the final leg of the 1925 serum run to Nome, in which diphtheria antitoxin was transported from Anchorage, Alaska, to Nenana, Alaska, by train and then to Nome by dog sled to combat an outbreak of the disease. The run is commemorated by the...
was erected in New York City's Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
.
However, Leonhard Seppala's team traveled 340 miles (547.2 km) out from Nome and back through the most treacherous sections of Alaska's wilderness, including across the perilous ice of Norton Sound
Norton Sound
Norton Sound is an inlet of the Bering Sea on the western coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, south of the Seward Peninsula. It is about 240 km long and 200 km wide. The Yukon River delta forms a portion of the south shore and water from the Yukon influences this body of water...
, and carried the serum over 91 miles (146.4 km) of the relay route. (Seppala's lead dog was the famous racing champion Togo
Togo (dog)
Togo was the sled dog who led Leonhard Seppala and his dog sled team as they covered the longest distance in the 1925 relay of diphtheria antitoxin from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska, to combat an outbreak of the disease...
.) In comparison, most other drivers in the Serum Run covered approximately 50 miles (80.5 km). Both Kaasen and Seppala used teams of Siberian Huskies. This emergency delivery
1925 serum run to Nome
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 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...
, also known as the "Great Race of Mercy", is commemorated annually with the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
After the Serum Run, Seppala and some 40 of his dogs toured the "lower 48" with an Eskimo
Eskimo
Eskimos or Inuit–Yupik peoples are indigenous peoples who have traditionally inhabited the circumpolar region from eastern Siberia , across Alaska , Canada, and Greenland....
handler. His tour ended in January 1927 with the dogsled race at Poland Spring
Poland Spring
Poland Spring is a brand of bottled water manufactured by a subsidiary of Nestlé and sold in the United States. It was founded in 1845 by Hiram Ricker. Despite the name, the water does not come from the country of Poland...
, Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
, where he accepted the challenge to race against Arthur Walden
Arthur Treadwell Walden
Arthur Treadwell Walden was a Klondike Gold Rush adventurer, dog driver and participant in the first Byrd Antarctic Expedition. He is also known as an author and developer of the Chinook sled dog breed.-External links:*...
, founder of the New England Sled Dog Club and owner of the famous lead dog "Chinook." Despite a series of amusing and time-consuming mishaps on the trail, Seppala won the race against the bigger, slower dogs driven by Walden and his followers. The enthusiasm for sled dog racing in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
together with the Serum Run publicity and the victory over Walden made it possible for Seppala and partner Elizabeth Ricker to establish a Siberian kennel at Poland Spring, Maine. This was the start of the spread of the Siberian Husky breed in the United States and Canada.
Later years
Fairbanks, Alaska
Fairbanks is a home rule city in and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska.Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska, and second largest in the state behind Anchorage...
. In 1931 the Seppala–Ricker partnership ended. Sled dog racing
Sled dog race at the 1932 Winter Olympics
A sled dog race was included as a demonstration event at the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. 5 contestants from Canada and 7 contestants from the United States competed. The event, run under the rules of the New England Sled Dog Club, ran twice over a 25.1 mile long course...
was a demonstration event
Demonstration sport
A demonstration sport is a sport which is played to promote itself, most commonly during the Olympic Games, but also at other sporting events.Demonstration sports were officially introduced in 1912 Summer Olympics, when Sweden decided to include glima, traditional Icelandic wrestling, in the...
at the Lake Placid Winter Olympic Games
1932 Winter Olympics
The 1932 Winter Olympics, officially known as the III Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1932 in Lake Placid, New York, United States. The games opened on February 4 and closed on February 15. It would be the first winter olympics held in the United...
in 1932, where Seppala earned a silver
Sled dog race at the 1932 Winter Olympics
A sled dog race was included as a demonstration event at the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. 5 contestants from Canada and 7 contestants from the United States competed. The event, run under the rules of the New England Sled Dog Club, ran twice over a 25.1 mile long course...
in the event. In 1946, he and his wife Constance moved to Seattle, Washington. In 1961 Seppala revisited Fairbanks and other places in Alaska at the invitation of American journalist Lowell Thomas
Lowell Thomas
Lowell Jackson Thomas was an American writer, broadcaster, and traveler, best known as the man who made Lawrence of Arabia famous...
, enjoying a warm reception from the Alaskan people. He and his wife lived in Seattle until his death at the age of ninety. His wife Constance died a few years later aged eighty-five. Both are buried in Nome, Alaska.
Today, Seppala is considered the father of the Siberian Husky
Siberian Husky
The Siberian Husky is a medium-size, dense-coat working dog breed that originated in north-eastern Siberia. The breed belongs to the Spitz genetic family...
breed, which was accepted by the American Kennel Club
American Kennel Club
The American Kennel Club is a registry of purebred dog pedigrees in the United States. Beyond maintaining its pedigree registry, this kennel club also promotes and sanctions events for purebred dogs, including the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, an annual event which predates the official...
as a registered breed in 1930. A street in Nome named Seppala Drive connects the town to its airport. Leonhard Seppolas vei in Tromsø
Tromsø
Tromsø is a city and municipality in Troms county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tromsø.Tromsø city is the ninth largest urban area in Norway by population, and the seventh largest city in Norway by population...
was also named for him. Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airlines is an airline based in the Seattle suburb of SeaTac, Washington in the United States. The airline originated in 1932 as McGee Airways. After many mergers with and acquisitions of other airlines, including Star Air Service, it became known as Alaska Airlines in 1944...
has established the Leonhard Seppala Humanitarian Award. In June 1999, a memorial was erected to him in Skibotn
Skibotn
Skibotn is a village with approximately 700 inhabitants in Storfjord municipality, located on the southeastern shore of the Lyngen Fjord in the Northern Norwegian county of Troms. The village area is located at the crossroads of the highways E6 and E8...
.
Other sources
- Beyer, Rick, The Greatest Stories Never Told (Harper, 2003) ISBN 0-06-001401-6
- Salisbury, Gay and Laney The Cruelest Miles: The Heroic Story of Dogs And Men in a Race Against an Epidemic (W. W. Norton & Company. 2003) ISBN 0-39-301962-4
- Ricker, Elizabeth Miller Seppala: Alaskan Dog Driver (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company. 1930)