Guest Book

With thoughts of Byrd72, Kirk & Kirsten regarding canine pets , past, present, and future, for those going to the Beacon in NYC, recommend if time avails, visit the BALTO statue in Central Park. AUTHENTIC HISTORIC NOTES For several decades, the visitors of Central Park, one of the largest parks in New York , can admire a bronze statue, the only one in the city to the effigy of a dog. It represents Balto, this husky which made the pride of the American nation in the middle of the Twenties... At the beginning of 1925, the diphteria, a fatal disease which attacks the children, develops in the village. Serum is required in urgency of all the hospitals in the neighbourhood. By telegram, the authorities learned that there is some remaining in the town of Anchorage, at more than 1000 miles from there. But how to convey the cargo until Nome? The blizzard which blows in violent gusts prevents from using the plane. It is decided that a train will be used to transport the serum to Nenana... but not further, due to the lack of railroad. However, Nenana is more than thousand kilometers from Nome. Only one solution is offered to the inhabitants: to make the way by sled thanks to an attachment drawn by dogs. Thus a score of crews takes the departure and faces the cold, the wind and snow. The first which arrived at Nenana is Gunnar Kassen, whose team of huskys is directed by... Balto. But on the way back, the man, paralysed by the low temperatures, is unable to continue to guide its crew. Whereas Gunnar Kassen lost any hope to save the children of Nome, Balto, which remembers the way, starts to lead the sledge, and brings back at full speed its team, as well as the invaluable loading, to come safe into port. At their return in the village, the dogs are too much exhausted to be able to bark, but at least, the serum can be used to cure the patients. A statue, carved by F.G. Roth, is set up in Central Park, with these words: "Endurance - Fidelity - Intelligence"