Family information He continues to look after Togo and even sees off his offspring which become known as The Seppala Siberiansbecause of loyalty and stamina. 12.5K subscribers This clip features famed Alaska dog musher Leonhard Seppala and his wife Constance Seppala sitting on the porch in front of a house and playing with a litter of puppies.. This seems to be exaggerated a bit for the film. The classic Alaska Cruise, offered by such companies as Holland America, Princess, and Royal Caribbean. Willem Dafoe plays Togo's trainer, legendary musher Leonhard Seppala, and Juliana Nicholson plays his wife Constance. 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. Likes Leonhard Seppala Seppala set out from Nome, met the driver carrying the serum St. Godard, who bested Seppala to win the Olympic Demonstration dogsled race at Which one is right for you? Details of Death: Died in the Poland Spring, Maine home of Elizabeth Ricker, a friend of Leonhard Seppala and fellow dog musher and breeder. [7] His father's family name is of Finnish origin. His journey through white-out storms and twice across the unforgiving Norton Sound was by far the most perilous leg of the run. As a puppy, he is a runt with little more than a fighting spirit and the endorsement of Seppala's wife, Constance (Julianne Nicholson). When he was a young man his friend Jafet Lindeberg convinced him to come to America due to the gold rush that was going on. When Amundsen cancelled his trip a few weeks after the puppies arrived in Nome, Lindeberg gave them to Seppala. Scotty. 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. He had two stunt doubles, Hugo and Mackey, who were lead sled dogs from Snowy Owl Sled Dog Tours in Alberta. Lindeberg convinced Seppala to come work for his Pioneer Mining Company. Portrayed by The true story behind Togo reveals that the temperature was approximately 30 F with gale force winds making it feel like 85 F. Seppala and Swedish Lapland Leonhard Seppala, born 1877, would during those days go from being a good musher and just another hard-working blue-collar man to being the most famous dog-team driver in the world. Maynard is all in favor of getting the diphtheria antitoxin flown in by airplane, weather notwithstanding. 1927 through 1930. Leonhard Seppala Was born 14 Sep 1877 in Skibotn, Troms, Norway. Like in the film, Seppala almost missed musher Henry Ivanoff, who had been in Shaktoolik in case Seppala didn't arrive. Leonhard Seppala. Discover the optimal month due to daylight, temperature, and rain. - Unlike Balto, whom Seppala had neutered at six months of age, Togo sired many litters of puppies for Sepp's breeding program, and today is widely considered one of the fathers of the modern Siberian Husky breed (as well as a strong contributor to the much older "Seppala . The People of Nome had another idea. also apprenticed in his father's smithy. Leonhard " Sepp " Seppala ( / lnrd spl /; September 14, 1877 - January 28, 1967) was a Norwegian-American sled dog breeder, trainer and musher who with his dogs played a pivotal role in the 1925 serum run to Nome, [1] and participated in the 1932 Winter Olympics. The raven would then land again in the trail just ahead. Togo was Seppalas favorite, and the musher often depended on Togos instincts and sense of smell when his own vision failed him. In 1925, more than 20 men and their dogs helped rush an emergency package of medicine nearly 675 miles to Nome, Alaska, which faced a deadly outbreak of diphtheria. Seppala crossed the treacherous sea ice of Norton Sound twice to save time, once out to receive the serum and then again on the way back.. Dead tissue then builds up in the throat or nose, forming a thick, gray coating dubbed a "pseudomembrane". When the temperatures dropped below -0 degrees the planes of the 1920s were unreliable and dangerous at best. "20 mushers and about 150 sled dogs 674 miles (1,085 km) in five and a half days." The ride back proves to be just as difficult when Seppala is forced to have Togo pull him and his team from a block of ice over the Norton Sound. Leonhard Seppala with his dog Togo and Willem Dafoe in. Leonhard Seppala and his sled dog team led by Togo traveled 340 miles roundtrip to pick up the serum and start bringing it back, eventually handing it off to Charlie Olson's team. He tries locking him away and later give him away to another owner twice. His dog Togo would earn his place in the history books and a place at the Yales Peabody Institute. When Lindeberg asked him to train a sled dog team for an expedition Roald Amundsen was planning, he found his calling. He nursed them back to health for most of the remainder of that year; they were not ready to train again until autumn. This membrane (visible below over a patient's tonsils) covers healthy tissues in the throat, nose, tonsils and voice box, causing a croup-like cough, as well as severe difficulty breathing and swallowing. Seppala had dogsled racing psychology down pat as well. eluded him the two previous years and he was determined to win it in 1929.) Visit September to April to see the Northern Lights. driver bribed by gamblings interests; at such odds, had the team won the race . Club in Canada in 1939 as the 'Siberian Huskie.' Your must-have activity guide + map while in Alaska. Only a few hours after they had crossed it, the ice broke up altogether and drifted out to sea. Leonhard "Sepp" Seppala (September 14, 1877 January 28, 1967) was a Norwegian sled dog breeder, trainer and musher who played a pivotal role in the 1925 serum run to Nome. Unlike the movie, Leonhard Seppala eventually decided that he wanted Togo to live out the remainder of his life in comfort. People born under this sign are persistent and straightforward. females and puppies, about fifteen dogs in all. This footage of the famed Alaska dog musher was possibly shot in Chatanika, Alaska in the early 1940s. The darkness and a blizzard also made it impossible for Leonhard Seppala to see where he was going. supply of antiserum via an otherwise impassable route between Nenana and the And while the suspense in the movie is more than adequate, Seppala described even more danger. Yes. America to sojourn in Norway with her new husband. Togo digs his way out of kennels, climbs atop shelves to squeeze his way out of a locked toolshed, misbehaves his way out of one potential adoption, and hurls his body through a glass window to escape another potential adoption. (a hand-forged vise) that would demonstrate his competence at the In real life, things played out a bit differently. Together with his dog Togo and several other dogs, he was able to brave through snowy weather and tundra to save countless of lives. (Victory at this race had Just one grandparent can lead you to many Togo (formally), Togo acting up However, as going around the ice meant slowing the delivery of the serum by a full day, he chose to go across. his dogs, so unbelievable was the performance of the Siberian dog teams If so, login to add it. death on the 28th of January 1967 at the age of ninety. Use our calculator to find out, Stay casual, dress in layers, and get proper footwear, View All Southcentral & Interior Towns on a Map, Cruises depart Juneau or Sitka. Shortly after arriving in Alaska, Seppalas boss gave him the opportunity to take a dog team out prospecting. Sepp wrote: Liz Ricker divorced her husband Ted and relocated, along with Seppala, to Grey People of this zodiac sign like animals, healthy food, nature, cleanliness, and dislike rudeness and asking for help. Seppala happily decides to have Togo continue running for him. . Seppala married his wife Constance, a Belgian girl who had come to Nome in 1905. The following year, on the strength of publicity consequent to the Nome Serum Run, Leonhard Seppala: property of Jonathan Hayes. Leonhards education details are not available at this time. Furious, she left the house and refused to come back. Seppala became the crucial figure in the delivery by dogsled of a (Color/Silent/16mm film). At age 20, Seppala entered the family trade, and it was around this time that his childhood sweetheart, Margit, died unexpectedly before they reached the altar. Seppala grumbles that Constance is too softhearted and. He was born in Skibotn, Norway, north of the Arctic Circle, in the summer of 1877. unsuccessfully against him claimed he had hypnotic powers of control over Sleddog breed in the 1990s. Sweepstakes. but quite athletic. However, Seppala does not care and instead is more concerned for Togo's health. fast teams; none of the Nome mushers wanted to accept the challenge. Nome is clear across the state from Fairbanks, a flight distance of approximately 521 miles. 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. January 29, 1967 (89) Seattle, King, Washington, United States. 2020 by Poland Spring Seppala Kennels. Father of Private. The serum! Of course, Leonhard Seppala was born in Norway. Seppala soon worried for his canine friend upon learning that he was starting to suffer from his old age. Constance Seppala (wife) Seppala told his father who responded with ridicule for what he perceived was a ridiculous dream. Kristiana (now called Oslo), where he worked at the smithies there However, at 3 P.M. that day, Seppala and his team arrived at Golovin and handed over the serum to the next musher. Husband of Constance M Seppala. alongside his sprinting team, keeping pace effortlessly. It was also the longest by roughly 200 miles. Seppala manages to get his team back to the outpost of Joe Dexter and passes the serum over to his friend Gunnar Kaasen. Let us simplify it for you, How much does an Alaska summer vacation cost? However, everyone in the Nome Kennel Club was shocked and the Nome Bank almost bankrupted when the Siberian dogs came in 3rd place. Cruises and land tours are great ways to see Alaska. SEPP AND LIZ RICKER were a feature on the eastern race circuit from His tour finished in the State of Maine in 1927 with a challenge race in Leonhard "Sepp" Seppala (/lnrd spl/; September 14, 1877 January 28, 1967) was a Norwegian-American sled dog breeder, trainer and musher who with his dogs played a pivotal role in the 1925 serum run to Nome,[1] and participated in the 1932 Winter Olympics. Leonhard Seppala pictured with his 'Siberian Racers' in 1916 (top) and in 1923, with Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. Nome, Alaska travel at most.). In Seppalas account, as summarized in The Cruelest Miles, the tow rope connecting Togo and the rest of the team on the floe snapped, and the end of the rope fell into the water. The anti-toxins Doctor Welch had ordered had not come in the last shipment. Our picks for the best tours and experiences during your Alaska Cruise. Yes. They arrived at Seattle on November 2, 1926 aboard the Alaska Steamship Company freighter, Tanana. Its worth mentioning that Togos own lineage wasnt too shabby: His father was Suggen, who had led Seppalas team to victory in the 1914 All Alaska Sweepstakes race. When . Seppala said, Ive always said that this buzzard was the reason why I started sled dog racing. The Leonhard Seppala Humanitarian Award, which honors excellence in sled dog care is named in honour of him. died a few years later aged eighty-five. The Straggler, as the disease was commonly called, had come for the children of Nome. For an overview of the History of Seppala in Maine and the establishing of Poland Spring Kennel, click the link above entitled Poland Spring Derby. Leonhard Seppala's experience and fame as a champion dog musher are why he was chosen to drive a sled dog team in the Serum Run. The very next year, Nome ran its second annual, 500 mile, All Alaska Sweepstakes Race. Seppala continued the trail across Norton Sound. He eventually manages to meet up with fellow sledder Henry Ivanoff and retrieve the serum. Welch had ordered more diphtheria antitoxin from the health commissioner in Juneau, but the port closed for the winter before the shipment arrived. As the Salisburys put it, they were considered a part of the landscape.. He and his 10 dog team + Togo, the Lead and the HERO ran 264 miles. Seppala, Togo and the team traveled through tough, snowy terrain encountering numerous diffculties. stricken city. In October of 1926 Seppala and his team was brought to the lower 48 states for a tour and to be honored in Madison Square Garden with a medal which would be presented by the famed Explorer, Roald Amundsen. Leonhard Seppala/Living or Deceased Is Togo Balto's father? This was possibly filmed in Chatanika, Alaska. Daughter of unknown Van der Straeten and Private Wife of Leonhard Isaksen Seppl . In of self-defense. He was disruptive to harnessed sled dogs, just as hes shown to be in the film. moved to the village of Skjervy two years after his birth. Willem Dafoe Mayor George Maynard (Christopher Heyerdahl), who is also the publisher of local newspaper the Nome Nugget, and the town doctor, Curtis Welch (Richard Dormer), gather the important-looking men of the town in a saloon. Explorer. Dog Musher #11. In 1946, he and his wife Constance moved to Seattle, Washington. by him on a path that would ultimately lead to the birth of the Seppala Siberian The safer alternative was twice as far. At the age of twenty he went to the city of Togo is the story of Leonhard Seppala (played by Willem Dafoe) and his wife Constance (played by Julianne Nicholson), a couple living in Nome, Alaska who raise and train sled dogs. of hair-raising adventures in defense of Pioneer claims against placing first, second and fourth. Source. Yes. A relay of 20 sled dog teams then traveled a distance of 674 miles from Nenana to Nome. This clip features famed Alaska dog musher Leonhard Seppala and his wife Constance Seppala sitting on the porch in front of a house and playing with a litter of puppies. This was possibly filmed in Chatanika, Alaska. Copyright 2023 HistoryvsHollywood.com, CTF Media, Willem Dafoe's character states in the movie that Togo was named after the underdog Japanese admiral and naval hero Tōgō Heihachirō. The team would pour on the steam to catch the lure only to be teased by the bird flying away at the last moment. No one is! Bragg's rebuttal was brief and to the point. However, the descriptions in The Cruelest Miles suggest more whimsy: The cheerful and diminutive Seppala was also seen as something of a show-off, known to flip double back handsprings just for laughs and land with a somersault. As shown in the movie, Seppala did beat legendary musher Scotty Allen in a race, which marked the beginning of his own celebrity. Also along on the Serum run was the ageing On the second time, Seppala had no choice, but to let the dog run with the others. He was eighty-three years young and still delighted with the sled dogs. If the story of Seppala ended here we would probably not be thinking of him now, nor trying to preserve the breed he worked so hard to establish. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MPZG-Z2K, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHBL-18T, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Leonhard_Seppala&oldid=931924516, Nome City Cemetery, Nome, Nome Census Area, Alaska, "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (, "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (. While Sepp was on the trail, the Governor of Alaska picked up on the plan but could not trust the fate of those in Nome to a single musher. Leonhard Seppalas birth sign is Virgo and he had a ruling planet of Mercury. his Siberians for the last time at the Lake Placid Olympic demonstration race. Seppala is based on the real person of the same name. claim-jumpers. Nevertheless, Seppala took off to Alaska where he started working under Lindeberg. The diphtheria serum was first transported by train from Anchorage northward to Nenana, Alaska. returned each spring to Alaska to continue his employment there, leaving None of this is to say that Balto deserved no credit: Kaasens team had to drive through a blinding blizzard, and according to The Cruelest Miles, Baltos senses of smell and touch were what kept the team on the trail. It was only in the previous February that the first airmail flight in Alaska took place. Focus on Denali & Kenai Fjords. 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. However, it was too late to inform Seppala that he would be meeting the relay closer to Nome than had originally been planned. [1]:68, Seppala made the decision to compete in his first race, the 1914 All Alaska Sweepstakes, at the last minute. JUMP TO: Leonhard Seppalas biography, facts, family, personal life, zodiac, videos and related celebs. Craving an escape from his grief,. After four children took ill and died, the town's only doctor, Curtis Welch, eventually diagnosed diphtheria in three-year-old Billy Barnett, who died just two weeks after the onset of symptoms. He was best known for being a Dog Musher. He was recruited to Alaska from Norway by fellow Norwegian Jafet Lindeberg, who had struck it rich in 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. Mumbet protected her sister and took the blow instead. the tour was completed and his dogs safely settled in Poland Spring, he This film sequence is an excerpt of AAF-2240 from the Seppala-Hanks collection held by the Alaska Film Archives, a unit of the Alaska \u0026 Polar Regions Department in the Elmer E. Rasmuson Library, University of Alaska Fairbanks.The Alaska Film Archives appreciates your support. Lindeberg, his friend and supervisor at Pioneer Mining Company, had brought the puppies from Siberia as a gift for the explorer Roald Amundsen, whom he hoped would use them for his upcoming expedition to the North Pole. Seppala had immigrated to Alaska from Norway when his friend Jafet Lindeberg convinced him to come work for the mining company he started in Nome. Seppala won the race, and afterward In 1925 when a diphtheria outbreak caught everyone off guard, Seppala was approached to take Togo and his sled dogs out towards Nenana and back to Nome with a serum. He had forced all of his dogs to push through stormy weather and many of them wound up injured. The mutual trust between Seppala and Togo was also as depicted. His skeleton is in the Peabody Museum of Natural History's collection at Yale University. After the Serum Run, Seppala and some 40 of his dogs toured the "lower 48" with an Eskimo handler. The real Togo spent a few weeks at his new home before he jumped through the glass of a shut window and ran several miles back to Leonhard's kennel. The Story of Leonhard Seppala If you see something that doesnt look right, contact us. Siberia by a Russian fur trader. He was the oldest-born child of father Isak Isaksson Seppl (of Swedish descent) and Anne Henriksdatter (of Finnish Norwegian Kven descent). He was the oldest-born child of father Isak Isaksson Seppl (of Swedish descent) and Anne Henriksdatter (of Finnish Norwegian Kven descent). Impressed, Leonhard decided to keep him. Beyond the possibility of getting caught in a storm or a dog injuring its paw on a shard of ice, it was also likely that the ice of the Norton Sound could break up and carry the team out to sea. Balto was given a statue in New York City's Central Park later that year and Hollywood immediately turned Balto's journey into a movie titled, No. the core Poland Spring stock that had gone to Quebec became the property In June 1999, a memorial was . is military terminology referring to "Government Issue" or "General Issue". The other half of the meeting is not-so-subtle pressure on Seppala to ride to Nenana to pick up the serum. Leonhard Seppala Popularity . Car, train, or group tour. While in Skjervy, his father worked as a blacksmith and fisherman, building up a relatively large estate. His wife Constance around 1899. Feeling that he has had enough, Seppala refuses to train Togo further. Leonhard Seppala pictured with his 'Siberian Racers' in 1916 (top) and in 1923, with Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. Everyone knew Sepps abilities. Still, his reputation was perhaps even greater than the movie suggested: According to The Cruelest Miles, he was known as the fastest musher in Alaska, and his nickname was the King of the Trail. It was Seppalas boss at the Hammon Consolidated Gold Fields Company, Mark Summers, who came up with the plan to use two teams of dogs, traveling toward each other from Nenana and Nome to meet at the halfway point in Nulato. His family Generation also known as The Greatest Generation. Seppala later married Constance, another foreigner who had come to America. Nome, Alaska organized its Kennel Club in 1908 and the 31-year-old Seppala was ready for his first race. 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. The Leonhard Seppala Humanitarian Award, which honors excellence in sled dog care, is named in honour of him. due to their size, which was only half that of typical Alaskan sleddogs of the Although he found the heavy labour of Nome mining gruelling trade and allow him to work as a Master blacksmith. and then in the Fairbanks gold fields until his departure from Alaska in Sound, traveling 340 miles over treacherous sea ice and through blizzard Alaska at the invitation of American journalist Lowell Thomas, enjoying The movie leaves out several details about Togos death. While he raced to the roadhouse at Isaac's Point on the opposite shore, gale-force winds drove the windchill to an estimated 85F (65C) from a real temperature of only 30F (34C). Previously unexposed children as well as adults were at risk of dying from the infection. Occupation under way, Sepp writes: IN 1925 THE CITY OF NOME was threatened by a midwinter diphtheria epidemic. Claim at Anvil Creek. TogoBaltoNumerous other dogs However, almost by fate, Seppala is surprised to see Togo up and running; refusing to give in. His pivotal role in the 1925 serum run was professional, but also personal. He began to go in his By that time, he had already been a lead sled dog for seven years. He transferred the serum over to the next musher as he was instructed. The problem was, how would the traveling Seppala be told he was not to transport it alone? The trail between Nulato and Nome was one of Alaskas most hazardous, with most of it running along the windswept, blizzard-prone coast of Norton Sound, known to Alaskans as the ice factory, write the authors of The Cruelest Miles. Bookmark this page and come back often for updates. In researching the Togo true story, we learned that in real life Leonhard and his wife Constance had a daughter named Sigrid, who was eight years old at the time of the 1925 Serum Run to Nome. The Winter of 2018, the City of Nome earmarked some buildings in Nome for destruction because of their abandonment . his name was over, but his Seppala sleddogs, descendants of original Siberian The strengths of this sign are being loyal, analytical, kind, hardworking, practical, while weaknesses can be shyness, overly critical of self and others, all work and no play. From the health commissioner in Juneau, but the port closed for the children of Nome earmarked some buildings Nome... Would then land again in the film puppies arrived in Nome the Siberian! Children of Nome owner twice November 2, 1926 aboard the Alaska Steamship Company freighter, Tanana tours experiences. Up the serum Issue '', contact us made it impossible for Leonhard Seppala to see Togo up and ;. 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