Balto - The REAL One

Hey, I thought I ought to post some information on the real Balto. I hope you all enjoy and learn some facts on our hero.

INFO - Drag your mouse to the bolded words, click on them, and you'll be taken to links that has information on that certain word.

Balto's owner was Leohard Seppala, a Norwegian of Kven descent. Seppala was born in Skibotn, and growing up on the nearby island, Skjervøy. he eventually emigrated to Alaska during the Nome gold rush of 1900 and, in 1913, inherited a team of imported Chukchi huskies, later to be known as Siberian dogs or Siberian Huskies. Those dogs, owned by the mining company that employed Seppala, had originally been scheduled to take explorer Roald Amundsen to the North Pole, but with the impending outbreak of WW1 the trip was cancelled and dogs were given to Seppala.
Seppala was an exellent musher and well known in Nome. However, Balto's musher was not Seppala, but Guunar Kaasen.

Balto is a pure black husky, with no wolf in him at all. Balto has some white on his chest, feet, and muzzle. The movie, Balto put wolf blood in him to make the movie funner, and not so boring. However, the movie has many faults---for one, there were nineteen teams going to deliver the serum (medicine..), not just one. And the musher certainly was'nt knocked out. There was never a Jenna, or a Steele, or any of them..

Balto did'nt have pups, because he was neutered at six months of age. Yet another fault in the movie..but still. What would the Balto sequels be like if they never had puppies? Also, Balto's mother and father are unknown.

Balto died, partly deaf and blind, and suffering from athritis in his rear legs. Dr. R.R. Powell put him to his final rest with a drug to keep him from suffering any more. Balto's body was stuffed and put in the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and a statue of him stands in New York's Central Park. On the statue it reads, "Endurance, Fidelity, Intelligence".

For much more information on the real Balto, go to baltostruestory.com!

.... Wow.

Thanks very much for posting this-- Truly wonderful.

Very nice work with all the links and stuff.


Many thanks again!