Today in History: Sled Dogs Save Nome

On this day (February 15) in 1925 the residents in and around Nome, Alaska were saved from a diphtheria epidemic by the heroic efforts of 20 mushers and 150 sled dogs who transported the serum 674 miles in 5 1/2 days in temperatures ranging from negative-twenty to negative-seventy degrees Fahrenheit. Several mushers suffered severe frostbite and several of the sled dogs died, but the serum arrived in time to prevent the diphtheria from spreading. As it is, it is estimated that more than 100 people died.