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First Relay Run North
A mission of mercy raced along the Iditarod Trail four years before the famed 1925 serum run that inspired the Last Great Race to Nome.
Dr. John B. Beeson, one of Anchorage's most respected doctors, hopped onboard a train early in the morning of Jan. 24, 1921, and headed toward Iditarod after receiving news from the U.S. Army Signal Corps that Claude Baker was near death.
Baker, a well-known Iditarod banker, was suffering from an old injury he'd received while serving as a guard on the gold trail outside of the famous mining town. He'd been thrown some distance while holding the gee-pole, which caused internal injuries. The banker also had a lung ailment.
Along with Bill Corey and his race-winning team of setters and six malamutes, Beeson's race against time began with a ride to "end of steel" near Broad Pass. The railroad crews en route laid aside all of the switching to give the mercy train clearance.
Once they hit the end of the tracks, Corey and Beeson hitched up Corey's team and raced 54 miles to Healy, where a locomotive and caboose waited to take them to Nenana.
By 11 p.m. Beeson was sitting on the sled of the "Scurvy Kid," flying down the trail out of Nenana heading north. But after only a few miles, the Kid misjudged a turn and crashed.
 A locomotive and caboose carried Dr. John Beeson, Bill Corey and his dog team on their mission of mercy from Healy to Nenana, seen here.
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Frederick B. Drane Collection
UAF-1991-46-683
 Dr. John B. Beeson
Courtesy historian John P. Bagoy
 Beeson pulled into Iditarod, pictured here during summer, 5-1/2 days after stepping off the train in Nenana.
University of Alaska Fairbanks
John Zug Album
UAF-1980-68-343
 Dr. John Beeson met legendary Alaska musher Leonhard Seppala and his team, seen here, along the route back to Anchorage.
Anchorage Museum of History and Art
John Urban Collection
AMRC-b64-1-759
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