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Quoted from "The Real Story" link:
"Thus a score of crews takes the departure and faces the cold, the wind and snow. Many gived up in way: not easy indeed to find its road in the middle of white landscapes! The first which arrived at Nenana is Gunner Kassen, whose team of huskies is directed by... Balto. But on the way back, the man, paralysed by the low temperatures, is unable to continue to guide its crew.
Whereas Gunner Kassen lost any hope to save the children of Nome, Balto, which remembers the way, starts to lead the sledge, and brings back at full speed its team, as well as the invaluable loading, to come safe into port. At their return in the village, the dogs are too much exhausted to be able to bark, but at least, the serum can be used to cure the patients"
Wrong, wrong, wrong!
This part makes it sound like Gunner Kassen and Balto did the entire thing! Actually, many different teams where set up for a relay, each running a 100 miles.
No dogs "gave up along the way"- otherwise the serum would not have made it to Nome!!!
Gunner Kassen never went to Nenana; he was the second to last relay team, so why would he?
When he did received the serum, a brave husky named Togo was in the lead. Togo had won "The Fastest Dog In Nome" title many times.
Togo lead-with astounding courage and strength- for about 160 miles.
You may be thinking "Huh?" because I just wrote "Each team ran only 100 miles". Well, When Kassen went to the town where the next musher was supposed to be up and ready to receive the serum and mush the last leg of the race, he saw that no lights were on, his dogs were not in their traces, and the musher was sound asleep. Some say Kassen went on because he knew that it might take hours for the musher to get ready, and people may die by then. But others say Kassen wanted the glory of being the team to bring the serum to Nome. We'll never know.
So, Togo ran for sixty more miles through a terrible blizzard. Kassen decided to risk life and limb by going over an iced-over bay- which would save him hours of trail-instead of going around it.
The wind smashed full force into them, with no trees to block it. It was so dark, Kassen could not see his own hands. Suddenly the ENTIRE TEAM was lifted up in a huge gust of wind and blown to the side. Kassen panicked, naturally- he could not see anything. Luckily, he had held onto the sled, and he carefully held onto as he moved down the line to check if his dogs were all ok. They were, but when Kassen got back to the sled, he found that the serum had fallen off! He spent thirty minutes searching in the unbroken darkness until amazingly, he found the unbroken bottles AND he found his way back to the sled.
Kassen yelled “mush”.
The dogs did not move.
He yelled again. No such luck.
Confused, he felt his way forward to Togo. Togo’s body was tense, and he refused to move. Kassen knew something was wrong. He picked up a ice-encrusted stick and poked the ground centimeters away from Togo’s rigid paws. The stick went through the ice like it was nothing but air. Still shaky from his near-death ordeal, Gunner return to his sled and cautiously worked his way around the thin ice patch. About five miles later, Togo stopped again. Kassen felt his way down to Togo once more. Again, Togo would not move, but this time it was different- he was not tense, he was wining, sniffing the ground and looking in all directions. Kassen felt sick- he knew what this meant. Togo was lost. Sadly, he unclipped Togo and began to switch him with a trusted (but pretty exhausted) husky of his. But then, a weak husky, the worst dog on the team in Kassen’s point of view, began to bark wildly and pull at his traces. Kassen raised an eyebrow. The dog strained more and more, growling and howling like a wild animal. Kassen sighed and decided to give him a chance. He put the dog- Balto- in the lead. From then on out, for only forty miles, it was smooth sailing. The blizzard died down, there was no thin ice, and Balto marched into town with the serum. Balto got tons of fame and adoring fans, while Togo and all the other heroic sled dogs who did more than him where shoved in the background. Eventually, Togo was sold to many different circus and sideshows until he finally made it to a zoo and died there. Togo’s body was shipped back to Nome, and there he was stuffed and put on display. Such a dishonorable treatment to such a brave dog.
Balto, as we all know, got a statue in New York, four movie made out of him (Balto The Wonder Dog, Balto, Balto Two, Balto Three), websites (like this) and was loved by an entire nation.
So, there, now you know the whole story.
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The stupid things people do to get attention. It makes my day for sure. Anyhow, now that this matter seems to be resolved and the person was made a fool of, shouldn't this be locked?