Susan Butcher won the 1049 mile Iditarod sled dog race from anchorage to Nome in 1986 and 1987.  The Susan Butcher costume was made by Marie McGlinchy of Fairbanks.  She retains her membership in the Colonel John Mitchell Chapter NSDAR of Anchorage.

At the beginning of the 1900s, the Iditarod Trail, now a national historic trail, had its beginnings as a mail and supply route from the coastal towns of Seward and Knik to the interior mining camps of Flat, Ophir, Iditarod, and beyond to the west coast communities of Unalakleet, Elim, Golovin, White Mountain, and Nome.  Mail and supplies went in, God came out.  All via dog sled.

In 1925, part of the Iditarod Trail became a life saving highway for epidemic-stricken Nome.  Diptheria threatened and the serum had to be brought in by intrepid dog mushers and their faithful hard-driving huskies, saving the lives of hundreds of children.

The first official, commemorative Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race from Anchorage to Nome was in 1973.  "The Last Great Race" is the ultimate test of mushers and dogs against the Alaskan Wilderness.

Gib Whitehead, Photographer