Leonhard Seppala
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Leonhard "Sepp" Seppala (; September 14, 1877 – January 28, 1967) was a Norwegian-American
sled dog A sled dog is a dog trained and used to pull a land vehicle in Dog harness, harness, most commonly a Dog sled, sled over snow. Sled dogs have been used in the Arctic for at least 8,000 years and, along with watercraft, were the only transport ...
breeder, trainer and musher who with his dogs played a pivotal role in the
1925 serum run to Nome The 1925 serum run to Nome, also known as the Great Race of Mercy and The Serum Run, was a transport of diphtheria antitoxin by dog sled relay across the U.S. territory of Alaska by 20 mushers and about 150 sled dogs across in days, saving th ...
, and participated in the
1932 Winter Olympics The 1932 Winter Olympics, officially known as the III Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Lake Placid 1932, were a winter multi-sport event in the United States, held in Lake Placid, New York, United States. The games opened on February ...
. Seppala introduced the work dogs used by Native Siberians at the time to the American public; the breed came to be known as the Siberian Husky in the English-speaking world. The Leonhard Seppala Humanitarian Award, which honors excellence in sled dog care, is named in honour of him.''Leonhard Seppala'' (Balto's True Story)
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Background

Seppala was born in the
Lyngen Lyngen ( se, Ivggu suohkan; fkv, Yykeän komuuni) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Lyngseidet. Other villages include Furuflaten, Lattervika, Nord-Lenangen, ...
,
Troms og Finnmark Troms og Finnmark (; sme, Romsa ja Finnmárku ; fkv, Tromssa ja Finmarkku; fi, Tromssa ja Finnmark, lit. Troms and Finnmark in English language, English), is a Counties of Norway, county in Northern Norway, northern Norway that was established ...
, Northern
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
. He was the eldest child of Isak Isaksen Seppälä (born in Sweden of Finnish descent) and Anne Henrikke Henriksdatter. His father's family name is of Finnish origin. Leonhard is considered to have been
Kven KVEN (1520 AM, "La Voz 1520 AM & 96.3 FM") is a commercial radio station that is licensed to Port Hueneme, California and serves the Ventura County area. The station is owned by Gold Coast Broadcasting and broadcasts a Spanish-language news/tal ...
. When Seppala was two years old, his family moved within Troms county to nearby
Skjervøy Skjervøy kommune ( sme, Skiervvá suohkan; fkv, Kieruan komuuni) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Skjervøy on the island of Skjervøya, where most of the in ...
municipality on the island of
Skjervøya or is an island in Skjervøy Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The island lies to the east of the island of Kågen and south of the island of Laukøya. The Kvænangen fjord lies to the east of the island. The village of Skj ...
. While in
Skjervøy Skjervøy kommune ( sme, Skiervvá suohkan; fkv, Kieruan komuuni) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Skjervøy on the island of Skjervøya, where most of the in ...
, his father worked as a blacksmith and fisherman, building up a relatively large estate. Seppala initially followed in his father's footsteps as both a blacksmith and a fisherman. However, in 1900, he emigrated to
Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
during the Nome gold rush. His friend
Jafet Lindeberg Jafet Lindeberg (September 12, 1874 – November 5, 1962) was a gold prospector and co-founder of the city of Nome, Alaska. Background Jafet Isaksen Lindeberg was born in Kvænangen, Troms county, in Norway. In his youth, he tried prospecti ...
had returned from Alaska and convinced Seppala to come to work for his mining company in Nome. He became a naturalized citizen in 1906. During his first winter in Alaska, Seppala became a dogsled driver for Lindeberg's company. He enjoyed the task from his first run, which he recalled clearly for the rest of his life. He expressed pleasure in the rhythmic patter of the dogs' feet and the feeling of the sled gliding along the snow. While most drivers considered a long run, Seppala travelled between and most days. This also meant he worked as long as 12 hours a day. He kept his dogs in form during the summer by having them pull a cart on wheels instead of a sled. It was unusual at that time to keep sled dogs working when the snow thawed, or to spend as much time with them as he did.


Racing career

In 1913, Seppala inherited his first team of sled dogs by chance. Lindeberg, his friend and supervisor at Pioneer Mining Company, had brought the puppies from Siberia as a gift for the explorer
Roald Amundsen Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen (, ; ; 16 July 1872 – ) was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He was a key figure of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Born in Borge, Østfold, Norway, Amundsen bega ...
, whom he hoped would use them for his upcoming expedition to the
North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distinguish from the Mag ...
. Seppala was assigned to train the dogs. "I literally fell in love with them from the start", he recalled; "I could hardly wait for sledding snow to start their training". When Amundsen cancelled his trip a few weeks after the puppies arrived in Nome, Lindeberg gave them to Seppala. Seppala made the decision to compete in his first race, the 1914
All Alaska Sweepstakes The was an annual dog-sled race held in Alaska during April. Mushers traveled from Nome to Candle, traveling along the Bering Strait, and then return to Nome. Between 1908 and 1917 the race was held ten times. Due to the United States' invol ...
, at the last minute. Neither he nor his canine freight leader, Suggen, knew the dangerous trail, and when a blizzard suddenly descended on the area during the race, Seppala realized his young dogs had lost the trail and they were all at great risk of death due to the nearby drop-off to the Bering Sea. Indeed, when the whiteout conditions suddenly lifted, Seppala found that he and his team were at the bottom of a hill, racing towards the cliffs along the sea. Fortunately, he succeeded in stopping 20 feet from the drop-off, saving all their lives. However, many of his dogs' paw pads had been shredded and claws broken by the ice-encrusted snow as they clawed their way back to the top of the hill. A few also suffered frostbite. Seppala felt he had abused the dogs' loyalty by putting them in danger of death and injury, and withdrew from the race in shame. He nursed them back to health for most of the remainder of that year; they were not ready to train again until autumn. Seppala's racing career took off the following year, at the 1915 All Alaska Sweepstakes. After a close competition between him and experienced musher Scotty Allan, Seppala defeated him on the fourth day of the race and finished two hours ahead of Allan to win the Sweepstakes. He went on to win the race the following two years, as well, at which point the All Alaska Sweepstakes was suspended until 1983.


Role in the "Great Race of Mercy" of 1925

A
diphtheria Diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Corynebacterium diphtheriae''. Most infections are asymptomatic or have a mild clinical course, but in some outbreaks more than 10% of those diagnosed with the disease may die. Signs and s ...
outbreak struck Seppala's town of
Nome, Alaska Nome (; ik, Sitŋasuaq, ) is a city in the Nome Census Area in the Unorganized Borough of Alaska, United States. The city is located on the southern Seward Peninsula coast on Norton Sound of the Bering Sea. It had a population of 3,699 recorded ...
in the winter of 1925. Previously unexposed children as well as adults were at risk of dying from the infection. Seppala's only child—an eight-year-old daughter named Sigrid—was also at risk. The only treatment available in 1925 was diphtheria antitoxin serum. However, the town's supply was not only insufficient but also of presumably low efficacy, being past its expiry date. Without the antitoxin, estimated mortality rates stood anywhere from 75% to 99.99%, practically a killing blow to Nome. The only practical way to deliver more serum to Nome in the middle of the coldest winter in 20 years was by dog sled. A relay of respected mushers was organized to expedite the delivery, and Seppala (with lead dog
Togo Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its c ...
) was chosen for the most forbidding part of the trail. The serum was to be taken by train to Nenana, and from there relay teams would set out from Nome and Nenana, meeting in the middle at Nulato. The whole trail was 674 miles from Nenana to Nome, and Seppala was initially selected to cover the more than 400 miles from Nome to Nulato and back. Seppala's section of trail featured a dangerous shortcut across
Norton Sound Norton Sound (russian: Нортон-Саунд) 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 (150 mi) long and 200 km (125 mi) wide. The Yukon ...
, which could save a full day of travel. It was decided that he was the most qualified of the relay mushers to attempt this shortcut. The ice on Norton Sound was in constant motion due to currents from the sea and the incessant wind. It ranged from rough hills of smashed-together ice to slippery "glare ice" polished by the wind, where it was difficult for the dogs to get a foothold. Small cracks in the ice could suddenly widen, and driver and team could be plunged into the freezing water. If the wind blew from the east, it could reach speeds as high as (windchill is the loss of body heat induced by temps of and at least winds), flipping over sleds, pushing dogs off course, and causing a windchill as low as . A sustained east wind could also push the ice out to sea, and a team caught on a drifting floe could find itself stranded on open water. Seppala had taken the shortcut across the Sound several times in his career; a less-experienced musher was likelier to lose not only his life and the lives of his dogs, but also the urgently needed serum. Seppala would cross the sound each way in the race to deliver the serum. Seppala set out from Nome on January 28—several days before he was due to meet the relay coming to Nulato. He crossed Norton Sound without incident. Meanwhile, the number of diphtheria cases in Nome continued to climb. To hasten delivery of the serum, more mushers were added to the relay. However, it was too late to inform Seppala that he would be meeting the relay closer to Nome than had originally been planned. After 3 days and , he came in sight of another relay musher, Henry Ivanoff, but did not realise it. Seppala saw the musher stopped on the trail and having trouble with his dogs, but did not intend to stop and be delayed. Ivanoff had to run after Seppala as he raced past, shouting, "The serum! The serum! I have it here!". When the serum passed to Seppala, night was falling and a powerful
low-pressure system In meteorology, a low-pressure area, low area or low is a region where the atmospheric pressure is lower than that of surrounding locations. Low-pressure areas are commonly associated with inclement weather (such as cloudy, windy, with possible ...
was moving towards the trail from the Gulf of Alaska. Seppala had to decide whether to risk Norton Sound in high winds in the dark, when he could not see or hear potential warning signs from the ice. However, as going around the ice meant slowing the delivery of the serum by a full day, he chose to go across. While he raced to the roadhouse at Isaac's Point on the opposite shore,
gale-force The Beaufort scale is an empirical measure that relates wind speed to observed conditions at sea or on land. Its full name is the Beaufort wind force scale. History The scale was devised in 1805 by the Irish hydrographer Francis Beaufo ...
winds drove the windchill to an estimated from a real temperature of only . When he arrived there at 8 pm, his dogs were exhausted; they had run that day, much of it against the wind and in brutal cold. However, they could only afford a short rest, and set out again at 2 am. The next day, the gale had intensified into a severe
blizzard A blizzard is a severe snowstorm characterized by strong sustained winds and low visibility, lasting for a prolonged period of time—typically at least three or four hours. A ground blizzard is a weather condition where snow is not falling b ...
, with blinding snow and winds of at least . Seppala continued the trail across Norton Sound. This meant avoiding rocky cliffs along the shore, but it also exposed him and his team to the dangers of the Sound. Conditions on the ice were perilous, with sudden soft spots in the ice underfoot and outright open water sometimes only a few feet away. Only a few hours after they had crossed it, the ice broke up altogether and drifted out to sea. With Norton Sound behind them, Seppala and his team now faced the final challenge of the trail—climbing an
ridge A ridge or a mountain ridge is a geographical feature consisting of a chain of mountains or hills that form a continuous elevated crest for an extended distance. The sides of the ridge slope away from the narrow top on either side. The line ...
formation that led to the summit of Little McKinley. The trail here was exposed and the steep grade grueling for the dogs, who were sleep-deprived and had already raced over the previous 4.5 days. However, at 3 P.M. that day, Seppala and his team arrived at Golovin and handed over the serum to the next musher. The serum was now only from Nome. Indeed, it arrived there the next day, Monday, February 2, at approximately 5:30 A.M., and was thawed and ready for use by 11 am. This emergency delivery, also known as the "Great Race of Mercy", is commemorated annually with the
Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, more commonly known as The Iditarod, is an annual long-distance sled dog race run in early March. It travels from Anchorage to Nome, entirely within the US state of Alaska. Mushers and a team of between 12 ...
.


After the Serum Run

After the Serum Run, Seppala and some 40 of his dogs toured the "lower 48" with an
Eskimo Eskimo () is an exonym used to refer to two closely related Indigenous peoples: the Inuit (including the Alaska Native Iñupiat, the Greenlandic Inuit, and the Canadian Inuit) and the Yupik peoples, Yupik (or Siberian Yupik, Yuit) of eastern Si ...
handler. His tour ended in January 1927 with the
dogsled A dog sled or dog sleigh is a sled pulled by one or more sled dogs used to travel over ice and through snow. Numerous types of sleds are used, depending on their function. They can be used for dog sled racing. Traditionally in Greenland and the e ...
race at
Poland Spring, Maine Poland is a town in Androscoggin County, Maine, United States. The population was 5,906 at the 2020 census. Set among rolling hills and numerous lakes, the town is home to Range Ponds State Park, which includes hiking trails and a pristine fresh ...
, where he accepted the challenge to race against Arthur Walden, founder of the New England Sled Dog Club and owner of the famous lead dog, "Chinook". Despite a series of 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 is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
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. This was the start of the spread of the Siberian Husky breed in the United States and Canada. He bred Togo, and the dog's descendants contributed to the " Seppala Siberian Sleddog", a sought after sled dog line, as well as mainstream show-stock Siberian Husky lines bred in New England and eventually elsewhere. In 1928, Seppala moved his permanent home to near
Fairbanks, Alaska Fairbanks is a home rule city 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 the second largest in the state. The 2020 Census put the po ...
. In 1931 the Seppala–Ricker partnership ended.
Sled dog racing Sled dog racing (sometimes termed dog sled racing) is a winter dog sport most popular in the Arctic regions of the United States, Canada, Russia, Greenland and some European countries. It involves the timed competition of teams of sled dogs tha ...
was a
demonstration event A demonstration sport, or exhibition sport, is a sport which is played to promote it, rather than as part of standard medal competition. This occurs commonly during the Olympic Games, but may also occur at other sporting events. Demonstration spor ...
at the Lake Placid Winter Olympic Games in 1932, where Seppala earned a silver in the event. In 1946, he and his wife Constance moved to
Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
,
Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...
. In 1961, Seppala revisited Fairbanks and other places in Alaska at the invitation of American journalist
Lowell Thomas Lowell Jackson Thomas (April 6, 1892 – August 29, 1981) was an American writer, actor, broadcaster, and traveler, best remembered for publicising T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia). He was also involved in promoting the Cinerama widescreen ...
, enjoying a warm reception from the Alaskan people. He and his wife lived in Seattle until his death at the age of 89. His wife, Constance, died a few years later aged 85. Both are buried in Nome, Alaska. They were survived by their daughter, Sigrid Hanks. A street in Nome named Seppala Drive connects the town to its airport.
Alaska Airlines Alaska Airlines is a major American airline headquartered in SeaTac, Washington, within the Seattle metropolitan area. It is the sixth largest airline in North America when measured by fleet size, scheduled passengers carried, and the numb ...
has established the Leonhard Seppala Humanitarian Award. In June 1999, a memorial was erected to him in
Skibotn Skibotn ( se, Ivgubahta, Kven: ''Yykeänperä'') is a village in Storfjord Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. It is located on the southeastern shore of the Lyngen fjord in Northern Norway. The village area is located at the cros ...
. In 2019, Disney released a movie based on Seppala's feats in the 1925 serum run to Nome, titled ''
Togo Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its c ...
'' and starring
Willem Dafoe Willem James Dafoe (; born July 22, 1955) is an American actor. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Willem Dafoe, various accolades, including the Volpi Cup for Best Actor, in addition to receiving nominations for ...
as Seppala.


References


Sources

*Beyer, Rick, ''The Greatest Stories Never Told'' (Harper, 2003) *Ricker, Elizabeth Miller, ''Seppala: Alaskan Dog Driver'' (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company. 1930)


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Seppala, Leonhard 1877 births 1967 deaths Norwegian people of Swedish descent Norwegian people of Finnish descent American explorers Kven people Animal-powered vehicles Dog mushers from Alaska Norwegian dog mushers Norwegian emigrants to the United States People from Nome, Alaska People from Lyngen People of the Alaska Territory Sled dog racers at the 1932 Winter Olympics Olympic sled dog racers of the United States Sportspeople from Troms og Finnmark