by Martha Dobson
The Iditarod Trail is an official historic trail, running from Seward, Alaska to Nome, Alaska. When it was first used, men, and a few women, who were looking for new prospects turned to the lure of gold, disembarking a boat in Seward and beginning their trek for fortunes.
2012 is the fourth year of the Historic Iditarod Trail Centennial Celebration organized by the Bureau of Land Management in Alaska. New safety cabins were built along the trail to provide shelter for travelers, a statue of a gold prospector will be unveiled in Seward in May of 2012, and Dan Seavey, who ran in the first Iditarod race, is running again in this 40th year of the Iditarod. Sponsored by the Centennial Celebration, Dan is running a puppy team from his son’s, Mitch Seavey, kennel and stopping at checkpoints along the trail to make presentations about the trail and this celebration.
When Dan took his mandatory 24 hour layover in Takotna, home of a plethora of pies during the Iditarod, he entertained those in the Community Building with the history of the trail’s development, use, and the purpose of the efforts to designate the trail as a historic trail.
A history teacher when he first came to Alaska, Dan was a living history book at his presentation, and the residents of Takotna and Iditarod race volunteers listened raptly as he detailed the trail’s beginning. The trail was scouted in 1908, but determined to be of little value because of the low population and low demand for mail delivery in the area. However, a valuable gold strike on Christmas Day, 1908 changed the trail’s value and the stampeders came to the remote gold fields of Alaska, arriving in 1910. Over 65 tons of gold were hauled out of these golden fields, mostly by dog sled.
Gold, supplies, mail, and fortune seekers traversed the trail establishing the town of Iditarod, now a ghost town on the trail. As airplanes became more common and useful, the trail fell into disuse, the mail, supplies, and people traveling by air.
Thanks to Joe Redington, Sr. and his interest in seeing that Alaska recognized the significant part of its history that dog teams represented, the trail was reopened and is used now for the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race™, winter sports competition for bikers, walkers and skiers using the trail to travel to McGrath or Nome, and the Iron Dog snowmachine competition.
Concluding his history lesson, Dan presented a proclamation and sign to the riverside village of Takotna through which the trail travels. Proud residents quietly smiled in appreciation of Dan’s words recognizing the village’s part in history on the trail. Gold is still mined in the area today—the golden years of the Iditarod Trail linger.
