Outside, it was 35 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. The good doctor was battling an outbreak of the dreaded disease diphtheria and was awaiting the delivery of a fresh supply of diphtheria antitoxin.
In what became known as the “Great Race of Mercy,” the heroic musher Gunnar Kaasen drove his team of huskies, led by the immortal dog Balto, to answer the doctor’s prayers at 5:30 a.m., after traveling the last leg of the 674-mile trip from Anchorage. Kaasen and his fellow mushers had covered this enormous distance through ice and snow in less than five days. Today, this feat of mercy and grit is celebrated every March by the running of the famous Iditarod sled dog race from Anchorage to Nome.
All Choked Up
Dr. Welch had seen this devastating disease choke the airways of his young patients, causing death by asphyxiation. In 1925, Dr. Welch was fortunate to have received the antitoxin that was able to break the epidemic by preventing the spread of the diphtheria infection. Before the 1890s, on the other hand, the treatment options open to the frontier physician had been quite limited.
Diphtheria devastated many families in the Old West, including that of the gunfighter and acquaintance of Wyatt Earp, “Texas Jack” Vermillion, who lost his wife and two children in Missouri circa 1870.
この記事は True West の June 2020 版に掲載されています。
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この記事は True West の June 2020 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
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FIREARMS COLT WALKER 47
THE LEGENDARY HANDGUN THAT REALLY WON THE WEST
HERITAGE TRAVE
THE AMERICAN WEST IN ALL ITS GLORY OUR ANNUAL FAVORITES LIST CELEBRATES DESTINATIONS ACROSS THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.
Wild Turkey, and Not the Drinkin' Kind
The actual bird was a favorite of pioneers.
THE PASSION PROJECTS OF THE MODERN WESTERN
A YEAR OF UNDERRATED EXCELLENCE
WESTERN BOOKS THEN AND NOW
THE STATE OF WESTERN HISTORY AND FICTION PUBLISHING IN 2024 IS ONE OF GRIT AND DETERMINATION.
SAMUEL WALKER VALIANT WARRIOR
While a prisoner at the castle of Perote, Walker was put to work raising a flagpole. At the bottom of the hole, Walker placed a Yankee dime, vowing to someday come back and retrieve it, at the same time exacting revenge on his Mexican captors. In the summer of 1847, when Walker's mounted riflemen returned and routed Santa Anna's guerillas, the young captain kept his promise and got his dime back.
THE BATTLE OF CENTRALIA
ON September 27, 1864, Bloody Bill Anderson and about 80 men took over the small railroad village of Centralia, looting stores and discovering a barrel of whiskey that they hauled out into the street. Wild enough when sober, they soon were roaring drunk.
THE MAN WHO SHOOTS THE WEST
Jay Dusard is a living American photographer who has made Arizona his home for over 60 years, seeing it first in 1960 on a visit, moving here for good in 1963.
A TRUE WESTERNER INDEED PHIL SPANGENBERGER 1940-2024
Spangenberger had Nevada trained to bow by the legendary horse trainer, Glenn Randall, who trained Roy Rogers' Trigger, Gene Autry's Champion, Rex Allen's Koko and the Ben Hur chariot horses, among other great equines.
Where Did the Loot Go? - This is one of those find the money stories. And it's one that has attracted treasure hunters for more than 150 years.
Whatever happened to the $97,000 from the Reno Gang's last heist? Up to a dozen members of the Reno Gang stopped a Jeffersonville, Madison and Indianapolis train at a watering station in southern Indiana. The outlaws had prior intelligence about its main load: express car safes held about $97,000 in government bonds and notes. In the process of the job, one of the crew was killed and two others hurt. The gang made a clean getaway with the loot.
