9781422278444

In 1910, a team of Siberian Huskies driven by John “Iron Man” Johnson won the grueling 400-mile All-Alaska Sweepstakes, and Husky teams also came in second and fourth. For the rest of the de- cade, the breed captured most of the racing titles in Alaska. Leonhard Seppala Leonhard Seppala was born in Norway in 1877 and followed the gold rush to Alaska in 1900. In 1913, his employer, a mining compa- ny operator, hired him to raise and train a group of Siberian puppies. The following year, Seppala’s Siberian team won the Nome Sweepstakes. He dominated all of Alaska’s major races thereafter, winning consistently with his Siberian sled dogs, which he contin- ued to import, breed, and train.

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