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What was the Iditarod Trail originally used for?
Used by Native Alaskans for hunting and travel to various villages, the Iditarod Trail was cleared in 1908 by government employees, but it wasn’t until the 1910 gold discoveries in Iditarod which is a ghost town now, Ruby, Ophir, Flat, Nome, Elim, and other villages, that it became regularly used as a means of …
What is the Iditarod and what was its original purpose?
Redington had two reasons for organizing the long-distance Iditarod Race: to save the sled dog culture and Alaskan huskies, which were being phased out of existence due to the introduction of snowmobiles in Alaska; and to preserve the historical Iditarod Trail between Seward and Nome.
What was the Iditarod Trail used for on a day to day basis in the early 1900’s and until as late as the 1930’s?
The Iditarod trail is the same route used during the gold rush of the early 1900s to reach mining towns, including Iditarod, Alaska. And the same trail was later used to transport diphtheria serum in 1925, when the diphtheria epidemic had spread to even the remote outreaches of Nome, Alaska.
When was the Iditarod Trail first used?
1973
The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race first ran to Nome in 1973, after two short races on part of the Iditarod Trail in 1967 and 1969.
What was the original route of the Iditarod?
The course of the race, roughly 1,100 miles (1,770 km) long, partially follows the old Iditarod Trail dogsled mail route blazed from the coastal towns of Seward and Knik to the goldfields and mining camps of northwestern Alaska in the early 1900s.
How did the discovery of gold affect the Iditarod Trail?
The discovery of gold around Nome brought thousands of people over this route beginning in 1908. Roadhouses for people and dog barns sprang up every 20 or so miles. By 1918 World War I and the lack of ‘gold fever’ resulted in far less travel. The trail might have been forgotten except for the 1925 diphtheria outbreak in Nome.
What did the sled teams do in the Iditarod?
Sled teams delivered mail and supplies to such towns as Nome and Iditarod and carried out gold. The trail declined in use in the 1920s, when the airplane began to replace the dogsled as the primary means of crossing the difficult terrain.
Is the Iditarod race impassable in the fall?
Although the race’s fame causes many people to think of the Iditarod Trail when they think of traveling to Nome, the trail is actually impassable during the spring, summer, and fall. Moreover, its routing is far from a direct course, taking about 1,000 miles to go the 650 or so airline miles from Anchorage to Nome.