Hundreds of lives depend on these dogs completing their mission—and time is running out
Learning Objective: to analyze the key ideas and details in a historical play
Prologue
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SD1: Two historians stand in deep snow on a street lined with small shops and businesses.
H1: Welcome to Nome, Alaska, a small town on the edge of the Bering Sea.
H2: We’re taking you back 100 years, to when Nome was one of the most isolated places you could live.
H1: Back then, no roads led here. Most supplies were brought in by ship.
H2: However, for seven months each year, the sea turned to solid ice. No ships could come in or go out.
H1: The only way into town was by dogsled trail.
H2: Teams of dogs and their drivers, called mushers, delivered mail and supplies. It was a treacherous job.
H1: Mushers got lost in storms and froze to death.
H2: Some fell through the ice and drowned.
H1: Others lost hands and feet to frostbite.
H2: The mushers put enormous trust in their dogs.
H1: When a terrible disease struck Nome in January 1925, the mushers and their dogs were put to the ultimate test.
H2: They became the town’s only hope.
Scene 1
SD2: Alice Gibson lies in bed. Beads of sweat dot her face.
SD3: Helen Gibson dabs her sister’s forehead with a damp cloth.
Helen: You’ll feel better soon, Alice.
Alice: What if it’s the disease that’s spreading around town?
Helen: Maybe it’s just a bad cold.
SD1: Mama and Papa enter with Dr. Welch.
Dr. Welch: How long has Alice’s throat been sore?
Mama: About four days. And her fever won’t go down.
Dr. Welch (to Alice): Open your mouth wide and say “Ah.”
Alice: Aaaaaah.
Dr. Welch: As I feared.
Papa: What is it?
SD2: Dr. Welch takes Mama and Papa aside.
Dr. Welch: Alice has diphtheria (dif-THEER-ee-uh). Children are particularly at risk.
Mama: Is there a cure?
Dr. Welch: I ordered antitoxin last summer, but it never arrived. We’ve sent word to officials throughout Alaska—and even in Washington, D.C.—that we need the serum desperately.
Papa: What happens if Alice doesn’t get the medicine?
Dr. Welch: The sores at the back of her throat will get thicker, making it harder and harder for her to breathe.
SD3: Helen overhears this and runs over.
Helen: Is Alice going to die?
Dr. Welch: We will do everything we can to make sure that doesn’t happen.
Scene 2
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SD1: Town leaders gather at the mayor’s office.
George Maynard: Good news—there’s serum in Anchorage.
Dr. Welch: How will we get it to Nome?
Maynard: The fastest way would be by plane.
Dr. Welch: Flying in this stormy weather would be very dangerous. And if the plane goes down, so does the serum.
Mark Summers: Plus, the planes have open cockpits. Could anyone survive a flight in this bitter cold?
Maynard: Then the only solution is to put the serum on a train to Nenana and have a dogsled team bring it here.
Summers: Nenana is 674 miles from Nome. That trip usually takes around three and a half weeks.
Dr. Welch: There must be a faster way.
Summers: How about a relay of mushers handing off the serum to each other?
Maynard: Yes! That’s a good idea.
Summers: The fastest musher is Leonhard Seppala. We should have him do the longest leg.
Maynard: I’ll put the word out for other mushers to be waiting at roadhouses along the trail.
Scene 3
SD2: Summers is outside the Seppala home with Leonhard and his wife, Constance, as dozens of huskies bark with excitement.
Leonhard Seppala: All right, dogs, settle down now.
SD3: He puts down bowls of salmon and seal blubber. The dogs happily devour the food.
Summers: Leonhard, we need you to go 300 miles east to Nulato. Another driver will be heading west with the serum to meet you. The situation is urgent.
Seppala: I understand.
Summers: It’s going to be rough terrain, but you know these trails better than anyone.
Seppala: It’s my lead dog, Togo, who really knows the trails.
SD1: Seppala ruffles the fur of a black, brown, and gray dog with intelligent eyes.
Seppala: I’d be nowhere without him.
SD2: Togo nuzzles Seppala’s leg. Constance looks at the sky.
Constance Seppala: A storm is coming.
Seppala: Storms have never stopped me before.
Summers: Don’t attempt to cross the Norton Sound. It’s not safe. Go around.
Seppala: Going across saves an entire day.
Constance: Saving a day won’t matter if the ice breaks and you plunge into freezing water.
Seppala: Togo and I will determine whether it’s stable.
Constance: I know you, Leonhard. You’re going to want to cross the Sound whether it’s stable or not.
Seppala: Togo can navigate sea ice like no other dog.
Constance: Promise me you’ll be careful.
Seppala: This entire town is counting on me. I can’t let them down.
Jim McMahon/Mapman ® (map)
Scene 4
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SD3: Under a sliver of a moon, a train pulls into Nenana.
SD1: The conductor hops off with a crate wrapped in thick brown fabric.
SD2: He hands the crate to a man in a bearskin parka, musher Bill Shannon.
Train Conductor: Here’s the serum. When you stop at a roadhouse, warm it up for at least 15 minutes. The vials will crack if they are left frozen for too long.
Bill Shannon: Got it.
SD3: Shannon ties the crate to his sled and climbs on.
Conductor: You’re not waiting until morning? It will be warmer when the sun comes up.
Shannon: No. The next driver is waiting in Tolovana.
Conductor: But that’s 52 miles from here. Normally that route takes two days.
Shannon: I’m going to do it in one push. There’s a roadhouse along the way. I can stop there and rest briefly.
Conductor: But it must be 50 below zero out there!
SD1: Shannon’s dogs strain eagerly at their harnesses.
Shannon: The dogs are ready. We need to get started.
SD2: Shannon shouts to his pack.
Shannon: Haw!
SD3: They head off down the trail.
The Granger Collection (Nome, fishing)
Nome, Alaksa
The region where Nome is located has been home to Inuit, or Native Alaskan, peoples for some 10,000 years. After gold was discovered near Nome in 1898, people from around the world flocked to the area, hoping to strike it rich. At the time of the diphtheria crisis, 455 Inuit people and 975 White settlers were living in Nome.
Above: Nome, Alaska, around 1908. Inset: An Inuit woman fishing through a hole in the ice, early 1900s.
Scene 5
SD1: Seppala and his dogs arrive at the edge of the frozen Norton Sound.
SD2: The ice creaks and moans as the sea underneath pushes it up and down.
SD3: He gets off his sled and goes to the front of the pack.
Seppala: What do you think, Togo? This shortcut is 42 miles across. Should we go for it?
SD1: Togo barks.
Seppala: I agree.
SD2: Seppala gets back on his sled, and they begin to cross.
SD3: The dogs’ nails slip on the slick surface as they are blasted by fierce winds.
SD1: Togo veers to the left to avoid a growing crack.
Seppala: Good dog, Togo!
SD2: Carefully, they continue their way across.
Scene 6
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SD3: Hundreds of miles away, Bill Shannon stumbles into a roadhouse, holding the crate of serum. Parts of his face have turned black with frostbite.
SD1: Roadhouse owner Johnny Campbell grabs the serum and sets it near the stove.
Johnny Campbell: You look like death! How long were you on the trail?
Shannon: Around six hours.
SD2: Campbell looks at the thermometer outside.
Campbell: It’s minus 62 degrees. It’s a wonder you’re alive.
Shannon: The dogs, they need—
Campbell: Sit by the stove. I’ll take care of the dogs.
SD3: Shannon nods gratefully as he collapses into a chair.
Shannon: I’ll rest a while and then continue on to Tolovana.
Scene 7
SD1: At the hospital, Nurse Morgan is feeding applesauce to Alice.
SD2: Alice’s eyes are sunken and her face is pale.
Nurse Morgan: One more bite.
SD3: Alice winces as she swallows.
Nurse Morgan: How are you feeling?
Alice (softly): Not good.
Nurse Morgan: The serum should be here soon. Then you’ll be right as rain.
SD1: Meanwhile, at the Gibsons’ house, Helen reads the newspaper aloud.
Helen: “Dogsled drivers have been traveling day and night. Several more teams have been added so all possible haste can be made to bring the antitoxin to Nome.”
Mama: That’s wonderful.
Helen: “Seppala expects to pick up the serum in Nulato, but now the meeting point will be farther west.”
Papa: How will they get word to Seppala?
Helen: It says they are hoping the mushers will find each other on the trail.
Everett Collection Historical/Alamy Stock Photo (vaccine); piemags/ww2archive/Alamy Stock Photo (1941)
A Dreaded Disease
Diphtheria is a highly contagious disease. In the 1700s and 1800s, it was a leading cause of death for children around the world. After an antitoxin and then later a vaccine were developed, infection rates dropped dramatically. Today diphtheria is extremely rare in the U.S., though outbreaks continue in countries with low vaccination coverage.
Above: A child receiving a diphtheria vaccine in London, England, 1941
Scene 8
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SD2: Continuing east down the snowy trail, Seppala swings his arms and stomps his feet to keep the blood circulating.
SD3: Heading west, Henry Ivanoff’s dogs catch the scent of a reindeer and veer off the trail.
Henry Ivanoff: Whoa! Whoa!
SD1: Some dogs stop, others keep going. The lines tangle.
SD2: As Ivanoff tries to straighten them out, he sees Seppala coming down the trail.
SD3: Ivanoff runs toward Seppala in the deep snow, waving his arms and shouting above the roaring wind.
Ivanoff: Stop! I’ve got the serum!
Seppala (to himself): What did he say? I don’t have time to stop.
SD1: Seppala whizzes by.
Ivanoff: STOP! SEPPALA! STOP!
SD2: Seppala slams on the brake. Ivanoff runs up to him.
Ivanoff: I have the serum!
Seppala: I thought I had another 100 miles to go.
Ivanoff: They added more teams. Take the serum back toward Nome. Other mushers are waiting along the way.
Scene 9
SD3: The mayor visits the hospital.
Dr. Welch: We’re up to 28 infected patients.
Maynard: The mushers are making record time, but a blizzard is coming.
Dr. Welch: They should wait until the storm passes.
Maynard: And delay the serum getting here?
Dr. Welch: It’s too dangerous. Winds are likely to be up to 80 miles per hour—strong enough to blow a dogsled over.
Maynard: We need that serum now.
Dr. Welch: I know. But what’s more important: that the serum arrives a day earlier or that it arrives intact?
Maynard: I’ll call the roadhouse keeper and have him tell the mushers to wait.
Scene 10
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SD1: Gunnar Kaasen’s team barrels down a snowy trail, led by a stocky brown dog named Balto.
SD2: The wind shrieks, nearly blowing them off the trail. Gritty snow blasts Kaasen’s face.
Gunnar Kaasen (shouting): Haw! Good dogs!
SD3: Suddenly, the wind flips the sled onto its side. The dogs whine as they get tangled.
SD1: Struggling in the blinding snow, Kaasen untangles the dogs and rights the sled.
Kaasen (panicked): Where is the medicine? I can’t see anything!
SD2: He frantically feels around in the snow.
Kaasen: It’s got to be here!
SD3: Kaasen finally finds the crate and straps it back onto the sled.
Kaasen: It’s up to you, Balto! Just a bit farther.
SD1: Balto plows forward with determination.
SD2: They arrive at the next roadhouse. Everything is dark.
Kaasen (to himself): The next driver must be asleep. Even if I wake him up, it will take time to get his dogs ready.
SD3: Kaasen looks at Balto.
Kaasen: Shall we push on a few more hours to Nome?
SD1: Balto wags his tail.
Design Pics Inc/Alamy Stock Photo (sled dogs)
Dogsledding: A Long History
Researchers believe that humans have been traveling by dogsled for more than 9,500 years. For centuries, dogsleds were key to survival for people living in the northern polar regions, like Alaska, providing a way to transport both humans and goods over long distances.
Above: Lead dogs were chosen for their strength, intelligence, courage, and instincts.
Scene 11
SD2: It’s early morning and the sky is still dark. Helen is awakened by barking.
SD3: She rushes to the window and sees Kaasen and his team passing by.
Helen: Mama! Papa! They did it! The medicine is here!
Kaasen (weakly): Almost there.
SD1: Kaasen stops in front of the hospital and staggers off the sled.
SD2: Exhausted, he wipes the snow off his dogs and pats Balto on the head.
Kaasen: You’re a fine dog, Balto. A fine dog.
SD3: Kaasen takes the antitoxin inside.
Kaasen: Here you go, Doc.
Dr. Welch: We weren’t expecting the serum so soon! You didn’t get the message to wait until the storm was over?
Kaasen: No. But even if I had, I probably wouldn’t have waited.
SD1: Dr. Welch unwraps the crate and looks at the vials.
Dr. Welch: It’s a miracle the serum survived the journey.
SD2: Dr. Welch looks at Kaasen’s red, chapped face.
Dr. Welch: It’s a miracle you survived the journey.
George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty Images (Leonhard Seppala); Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Balto)
Hero Dogs
After the serum run to Nome, Gunnar Kaasen’s lead dog, Balto, was hailed as a hero. He was celebrated in newspapers, featured in a film, and honored with a statue in New York City. Leonhard Seppala thought that it was his lead dog, Togo, that truly deserved the glory, though. After all, Seppala’s team covered a much longer and more dangerous route than any other team.
Right: Balto. Inset: Leonhard Seppala and Togo
Epilogue
Dr. Welch: Hundreds of lives were saved because of the selfless efforts of 20 mushers and their remarkable dogs.
Kaasen: The journey from Nenana to Nome usually took 25 days. We did it in five and a half.
Seppala: Togo was already 12 years old at the time of the serum run. That was his last long-distance run—and it was an incredible one.
Kaasen: It was the toughest trip I ever made. Balto kept us on track.
Seppala: The truth is, none of this could have happened without the speed, strength, and loyalty of our dogs.
Penguin Random House
Writing Contest
Create a news program in which characters from A Treacherous Journey Across the Ice are interviewed about what happened. You can create a transcript (a written copy) or make a video with actors. Entries must be sent to Across the Ice contest by a teacher, parent, or legal guardian.* Three winners will each get a copy of The Eyes and the Impossible by Dave Eggers.
*Entries must be written by a student in grades 4-12 and submitted by their teacher, parent, or legal guardian, who will be the entrant and must be a legal resident of the U.S. age 18 or older. See Contest Page for details.
This play was originally published in the November 2024 issue.
Essential Questions: What is the relationship between humans and dogs? How do we make good decisions? What determines who is recognized for their accomplishments and who is not?
1. Prepare to Read
(20 minutes)
Do Now: Journal About Heroic Animals (10 minutes)
Have students respond to the following prompt in their journals: In what ways can animals be heroes?
Preview Vocabulary (10 minutes)
Project the Google Slides version of Vocabulary: Definitions and Practice on your whiteboard. Review the definitions and complete the activity as a class. Highlighted words: antitoxin, intact, roadhouses, terrain. Audio pronunciations of the words and a read-aloud of the definitions are embedded on the slides. Optionally, print the PDF version or share the slideshow link to your LMS and have students preview the words and complete the activity independently before class.
2. Read and Discuss
(55 minutes)
Invite a volunteer to read aloud the As You Read box on page 23 or at the top of the digital story page.
Assign parts and read the play aloud as a class.
Divide students into groups to discuss the following Discussion Questions, which are also located in the Resources tab.
Discussion Questions (30 minutes)
1. What important details about the setting do we learn in the prologue? Why are these details important? (setting) The Prologue establishes that during the time of the story, Nome was extremely isolated. There were no roads that led to Nome, so most supplies had to be delivered by ship. But for seven months a year, the sea froze and was not accessible by ship. During this time, the town was solely dependent on teams of dogs and mushers. These teams had to navigate the treacherous terrain and risk getting lost in storms, losing limbs to frostbite, and falling through the ice. These details are important because they help readers understand why, when there was a diphtheria outbreak in Nome and no medicine there to treat it, getting the medicine to Nome quickly was such an enormous challenge. In other words, the details about the setting help set up the main conflict of the play.
2. What conflict do town leaders attempt to solve in Scene 2? What plan is put in place? (conflict) In Scene 2, town leaders try to find a way to get serum needed to treat diphtheria, a life-threatening disease that is affecting many of the town’s children, from Anchorage to Nome as quickly as possible. Because it is too cold and stormy to have a plane deliver the serum, town leaders come up with a plan to have the serum brought to the town of Nenana by train and then have a relay of dogsled teams pick up the serum and bring it to Nome.
3. At the end of Scene 3, Leonhard Seppala says, “This entire town is counting on me. I can’t let them down.” What do these statements and the previous conversation with his wife tell you about him? (character) These statements show that Seppala is willing to take risks in order to save as much time, and as many lives, as he possibly can, even if it means putting himself in risky situations. He takes his responsibility very seriously and he will do whatever it takes to get the job done.
4. In Scene 9, Dr. Welch and Mayor Maynard decide to tell the mushers to wait for the storm to pass. Do you think they made the right decision? Why doesn’t musher Gunnar Kaasen end up waiting? (inference, critical thinking) Answers may vary. Some students might say yes, Dr. Welch and the mayor made the right call. It was extremely risky to travel during the blizzard and if one of the mushers had died or gotten lost on the journey, many people would have suffered. Other students might say no, Dr. Welch and the mayor did not make the right call. Too many children and families were depending on the serum, and lives were put at risk by delaying the delivery of the serum. Kaasen did not wait for the storm to pass because he never received the message to wait—although he admits that he probably wouldn’t have waited anyway.
5. According to the caption “Hero Dogs,” which dog and musher received the most recognition? Do you think this recognition was deserved? (critical thinking) According to the caption, Balto and Kaasen received the most recognition. As to whether they deserved that recognition, some students might say yes: Balto and Kaasen pushed through a blizzard and delivered the serum much sooner than expected. Others might say no: Delivering the serum was a team effort by all the mushers and dogsled teams, who completed a 25-day journey in just 5 and a half days. Also, Seppala’s team, led by his dog Togo, covered a longer and more difficult route than any other team—so, students might argue, if anyone deserved special recognition, it was Togo and Seppala.
3. Write About It: Key Ideas and Details
(45 minutes)
Have students complete the Featured Skill Activity: Key Ideas and Details. This activity will prepare them to respond to the writing prompt on page 27 in the printed magazine and at the bottom of the digital story page:
Create a news program in which characters from A Treacherous Journey Across the Ice are interviewed about what happened. You can create a transcript (a written copy) or make a video with actors.
Alternatively, have students choose a task from the Choice Board, a menu of culminating tasks. Our Choice Board options include the writing prompt from the magazine, differentiated versions of the writing prompt, and additional creative ways for students to demonstrate their understanding of a story or article.
4. Optional Extension: Compare Two Texts
(45 minutes)
Optionally, share from the Scope archives the narrative nonfiction article “The Race Against Death,” which is also about the 1925 serum run to Nome. Read the article as a class or assign it as homework.
After reading, discuss the different approaches to the story taken by the nonfiction authors Gay and Laney Salisbury and the playwright Spencer Kayden. Ask the following questions.
Discussion Questions (5 minutes)
1. In a few sentences, describe the main differences between how the story is told in the nonfiction article and how it is told in the play. In the nonfiction, the authors are able to simply explain to readers what happened, providing background information and details as needed. In the play, what happened is revealed mostly through dialogue and action.
2. What challenges do you think Kayden might have faced in telling the story of the serum run in the form of a play? Students might suggest that Kayden had to communicate a lot of complex information and logistics of the relay through dialogue while making sure that characters’ conversations sound natural. She couldn’t just have characters rattle off long passages of expository information that people wouldn’t have really said to one another.
3. Which version of the story did you prefer, the nonfiction or the play? Why? Answers will vary.
Connected reading from the Scope archives:
