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Devyn's Reviews > The Cruelest Miles: The Heroic Story of Dogs and Men in a Race Against an Epidemic
The Cruelest Miles: The Heroic Story of Dogs and Men in a Race Against an Epidemic
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Wow! What a intense tale of survival and sacrifice from the the icy edge of Alaska. This is the first time I've heard of Nome, the tiny Alaskan town only 55 miles from Russia, and the terrifying outbreak of diphtheria in 1925 during the dead of winter.
I am shocked speechless after reading about the conditions the brave dogs and men willingly went into to deliver the desperately needed serum. As someone who lives comfortably in the south, I can't imagine anyone surviving those winter conditions while living in a house, nonetheless going out into it in a dogsled. Heroic and dangerously near suicidal. Those men had a huge dosage of luck left in them.
The only thing I didn't like was when I learned that the dog team belonging to Kaasen that ran the last 53 miles with the serum to Nome was sold to a shady sideshow in California after the pomp and pony show was through. For ten cents a person, you could go into a disgusting, gloomy tent and view those heroic dogs now brought low and starving because of greed.
Despite the six remaining dogs finally being put in a better home, it forever marred my opinion of Kassen. My resentment has moved on to outright hate. Who sells their loyal, lifesaving dogs to a #%# sideshow?!
Anyway, great book. I enjoyed reading it and have added Nome to my travel bucket list. I plan on someday viewing Russia on a clear, crisp day from across the water with my feet planted firmly on American soil.
I am shocked speechless after reading about the conditions the brave dogs and men willingly went into to deliver the desperately needed serum. As someone who lives comfortably in the south, I can't imagine anyone surviving those winter conditions while living in a house, nonetheless going out into it in a dogsled. Heroic and dangerously near suicidal. Those men had a huge dosage of luck left in them.
The only thing I didn't like was when I learned that the dog team belonging to Kaasen that ran the last 53 miles with the serum to Nome was sold to a shady sideshow in California after the pomp and pony show was through. For ten cents a person, you could go into a disgusting, gloomy tent and view those heroic dogs now brought low and starving because of greed.
Despite the six remaining dogs finally being put in a better home, it forever marred my opinion of Kassen. My resentment has moved on to outright hate. Who sells their loyal, lifesaving dogs to a #%# sideshow?!
Anyway, great book. I enjoyed reading it and have added Nome to my travel bucket list. I plan on someday viewing Russia on a clear, crisp day from across the water with my feet planted firmly on American soil.
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Nora wrote: "About Kassen... I don't know what the source is for this, but Wikipedia says the company that sponsored his tour auctioned off his dogs to the highest bidder, so it sounds like they weren't really ..."Thanks for replying Nora! I knew he wasn't technically the owner. I assumed with all the fame he was garnishing he would have had more sway with the company and was involved in the decision to sell the dogs.
And if he was unhappy with this idea, all he had to do was talk to a reporter and the newspapers would have gone crazy over Bolto being sold without Kassen's blessing. I admit my anger is based heavily on that assumption.
Maybe he never considered doing that, or maybe if he did he would have lost his job. Who knows?
Anyway, just my thoughts on it.
Balto led a team of sled dogs on the final leg of an expedition to deliver lifesaving serum to the diphtheria-stricken town of Nome, Alaska. After their courageous feat, Balto and his team became part of the vaudeville circuit and then were sold to become a sideshow attraction in a dime museum in Los Angeles. This development and the dogs’ poor living conditions caught the attention of Cleveland, Ohio native, George Kimble, who organized an effort to help save the dogs. Through collaborative effort, Cleveland rallied together to raise enough funds to purchase Balto and six other dogs from the team, allowing them to comfortably live out their lives at the Cleveland Zoo, now Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. Balto's monut is on exhibit at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.
https://www.adn.com/alaska-life/2017/...