written and photographed by Stephen Foehr
Mar 2000, Vol. 4 No. 6
In the winter of 1925, an outbreak of diphtheria threatened the population of the snowbound city of Nome, Alaska. The native Inuits, exposed to a higher risk of the disease because of years of isolation, were in a potential life-threatening situation. It took 127 hours and 20 teams of dog mushers to relay lifesaving vaccination serum to Nome.