02286cam a2200337 i 4500 410377184 TxAuBib 20200115120000.0 021231s2003||||||||||||||||||||||||eng|u 2002156444 9780393019629 0393019624 TxAuBib rda Salisbury, Gay. The cruelest miles [BOOK] : the heroic story of dogs and men in a race against an epidemic / Gay Salisbury & Laney Salisbury. 1st ed. New York : W.W. Norton & Co., 2003. ix, 303 p. : ill., map ; 25 cm. txt rdacontent n rdamedia nc rdacarrier Balto, Togo, Leonhard Seppala. Alaska, 1925: The Diphtheria Serum is 674 miles away. Without it, the people of Nome will not survive. Nome, Alaska sits on the edge of the Bering Sea two degrees below the Arctic Circle, and there are few more forbidding places on earth, especially in winter. Dr. Curtis Welch knew the signs of diphtheria, knew that his patients - many of them children - would die without a shipment of fresh serum. The port was icebound and the nearest railhead was almost 700 miles away across mountains, rivers, and the treacherous ice of Norton Sound. A blizzard was brewing, and airplanes, in 1925, could not fly in such conditions. Only the dogs could do it. A relay was set up, and the drivers, many of them Native Alaskans, set off into the night, set out at 60 degrees below zero, often trusting their lead dogs to find the trail under feet of driven snow. The legendary heroism and endurance of the men and dogs in the Serum Run need no enhancement. Here, for the first time, their story is told in full. Includes bibliographical references (p. 269-303). Gold, men, and dogs -- Outbreak -- Quarantine -- Gone to the dogs -- Flying machines -- Hunters of the North -- The "rule of the 40s" -- Along the Yukon River -- Red tape -- The ice factory -- Cold glory -- Saved!. 20200115. cat 20030705 mpl. Diphtheria Alaska Nome. Sled dogs. Salisbury, Laney.