History of Nome, Alaska
Nome is a city located on the southern Seward Peninsula coast of Norton Sound in the Nome Census Area, Alaska. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the city population was 3,590. Briefly at its founding in 1898, it was called Anvil City. Nome was incorporated in 1901, and it's now within the Sitnasuak Native Corporation lands. The city of Nome also claims to be home to the world's largest gold pan, although this claim has been disputed by the city of Quesnel, British Columbia, Canada.
In the winter of 1925, a diphtheria epidemic among Eskimos in Nome was halted when, during fierce blizzard conditions, a dog sled team arrived with blood plasma-serum. The sled driver of the final leg of the relay was Gunnar Kaasen and the lead sled dog was Balto. A statue of Balto by F.G. Roth stands near the zoo in Central Park, New York City. The annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race commemorates this historic event.
Fritz, one of Leonhard Seppala's lead dogs which partnered the legendary Togo (the forgotten hero of the "1925 serum run to Nome, Great Race of Mercy"), is preserved and on display at the Carrie M. McLain Memorial Museum in Nome. Seppala ran the penultimate, and longest, leg of the 1925 serum run to Nome.
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