This is going to be a rather unusual fan fiction topic, as it has nothing to do with Balto Source per se, nor was the material I am about to present written by me. All I did was research this and wanted to share it with you in what I believe to be the most appropriate board. If the mods would like to move it to what they feel is a better board (if such exists), then so be it. But it wouldn't qualify as "true story" material because it has nothing to do with the serum run. Just sayin'...
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This topic concerns a very interesting story, written waaaaay back in 1910 by a fellow named Frank Caldwell who, with his wife Brownie, went on a trip to Alaska, toured around, and met with famous Alaskan musher Eli Smith (who was known for mushing across the country in 1907 on a wager of $8,000.00 - A LOT of money back then! He started in Nome, Alaska and made it to Washington, D.C., winning the wager and meeting President Theodore Roosevelt in the process. A photo of Eli Smith is at the bottom of this post, along with source information). I posted one of the photographs below in this topic:
http://www.animationsource.org/board/real-dogs-that-look-like-balto-characters-t31015-15.html but, because the topic is loaded with photos, people seem to be missing the information about the story I wanted to introduce there and, thus, here.
The story is about Smith's lead dog, named "Wolf". It is written in the first person from Wolf's point of view, and presents his story in a fictionalized way. Frank Caldwell was inspired by Smith's tales about his team and, particularly, about his lead dog. But I present this to you all as a curiosity. This may very well be one of the first "fan fictions", of sorts (well, not literally, but you can see what I mean when you read it)! And I am sure you will enjoy it! (Of course, this is not the first time, from the early 20th century, that such stories were written and published. There are other well-known examples.)
The link here takes you to a Google page with the story in e-book form, scanned in from an original copy:
http://books.google.com/books/about/Wolf_the_storm_leader.html?id=hDEuAAAAYAAJ.
The original book was published in 1910 by Dodd, Mead & Company of New York, and has been reprinted a few times. On Barnes & Noble's website, I found a link for a present-day reprinting of the story, if you are interested in obtaining a copy:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/wolf-the-storm-leader-frank-caldwell/1020904178.
Unsubstantiated tales (as far as I can discern anyway) infer that the dog actually was a wolf who was raised up and trained by Smith for dog sledding. Now, you will see a picture of Wolf with members of Smith's team below...and Wolf is indicated in the photo. I have seen other pics of Wolf which make me believe that his identity as a wolf is apocryphal, that he is actually a Siberian or Alaskan husky (his similar size to the other dogs in the photo below, his ability to work on a dog team when wolves, as history indicates, were generally not reliable on a dog team; and his physical structure all say that he was a
dog and not a wolf. Still, I cannot say conclusively, and neither does the historical record, so...)
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Here, for your interest, are some photos pertaining to the real dog/wolf.
From the excellent and extensive web library
Alaska Digital Archives (
http://vilda.alaska.edu) come the following images:
1. Wolf, along with other members of musher Eli Smith's mail team (Eli Smith was an Alaskan mail carrier from the time period)...the link below the photo will take you to an information page on Alaska Digital Archives pertaining to the photo:
http://vilda.alaska.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cdmg21&CISOPTR=6548&REC=162. Musher Eli Smith:
http://vilda.alaska.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cdmg21&CISOPTR=6560&REC=2
