Leonhard Seppala

Seppala monument in his birthplace Skibotn, Norway

Leonhard Seppala (September 14, 1877 – January 28, 1967) was a Norwegian born American Sled dog racer who participated the 1932 Winter Olympics. Seppala is considered the founder of the Siberian Husky breed. ^[1][2]

Background

Memorial plaque on the Skibotn monument

Leonhard Seppala was a Norwegian of Kven descent. He was born in Skibotn in Storfjord municipality, and grew up on the nearby municipality of Skjervøy, in the county of Troms, Norway. 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, 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 during the Nome gold rush of 1900. His friend Jafet Lindeberg had returned from Alaska and agreed to lend Seppala money for the ticket on the condition that he would work for Lindeberg. ^[3]

Immigration

In 1913, he inherited a team of imported Chukchi huskies, 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 to the North Pole, but with the impending outbreak of World War I, 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 657 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 "Siberian rats" by Alaskan mushers 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.^[4]

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. ^[5]

When an outbreak of diphtheria occurred in Nome in January 1925, temperatures ranging down to −50 °F (−46 °C) along with 80 mph (130 km/h) winds meant that the primitive air transport of that day would not be able to deliver the needed medicine. Instead, the serum was carried by rail from Anchorage to Nenana and relays of dog teams were sent the remainder of the way—674 miles (1,085 km). After only five and a half days, Gunnar Kaasen—with a dog named Balto 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 was erected in New York City's Central Park.

However, Leonhard Seppala's team traveled 340 miles (550 km) out from Nome and back through the most treacherous sections of Alaska's wilderness, including across the perilous ice of Norton Sound, and carried the serum over 91 miles (146 km) of the relay route. (Seppala's lead dog was the famous racing champion Togo.) In comparison, most other drivers in the Serum Run covered approximately 50 miles (80 km). Both Kaasen and Seppala used teams of Siberian Huskies. This emergency delivery, also known as the "Great Race of Mercy", is commemorated annually with the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.^[6]

After the Serum Run, Seppala and some 40 of his dogs toured the "lower 48" with an Eskimo handler. His tour ended in January 1927 with the dogsled race at Poland Spring, Maine, 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 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 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.^{[7] [8]}

Later years

Seppala Siberian Sleddogs team in the Yukon

In 1928, Seppala moved his permanent home to near Fairbanks, Alaska. In 1931 the Seppala–Ricker partnership ended. Sled dog racing was a demonstration event 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, Washington. In 1961 Seppala revisited Fairbanks and other places in Alaska at the invitation of American journalist Lowell Thomas, 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 breed, which was accepted by the American Kennel Club as a registered breed in 1930. A street in Nome named Seppala Drive connects the town to its airport. Leonhard Seppolas vei in Tromsø was also named for him. Alaska Airlines has established the Leonhard Seppala Humanitarian Award. In June 1999, a memorial was erected to him in Skibotn. ^[9]

References

1. ^ Leonhard Seppala (Store norske leksikon)
2. ^ Leonhard Seppala (Balto's True Story)
3. ^ Leonhard Seppala, All-Time Great of Alaskan Dog Drivers (Seppala Kennels Home)
4. ^ Leonhard Seppala (Einar Niemi. Store norske leksikon)
5. ^ History of the All Alaska Sweepstakes (The All Alaska Sweepstakes Board)
6. ^ The Last Great Race on Earth (Iditarod Trail Committee, Inc.)
7. ^ Biographical sketch (International Seppala Association)
8. ^ Elizabeth Miller Ricker (Introduction to Seppalas)
9. ^ Alaska Airlines Continues Long-Standing Support Of Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race (Alaska Airlines)

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)

External links

• Seppala Kennels website

Persondata
Name	Seppala, Leonhard
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	September 14, 1877
Place of birth
Date of death	January 28, 1967
Place of death