Daily Journal

2001 Iditarod Started ~~ Saturday March 3 ~~ 10:00 a.m. Anchorage
2001 Iditarod Ended ~~ Monday March 19 ~~ 10:53:16 a.m. Nome
Go back

Pictures of the Day
Day 14
3/12/2001

Location: Nome

Time: 10 PM

Hello from Nome, my friends.  Today was what the pilots call a "socked in day"”  The clouds overhead were thick, and there was a small plane advisory, so we were unable to fly back along the trail and visit checkpoints. 

Yes, we are here in Nome, but all the mushers are strewn between Anvik and Koyuk.  The lead musher, Doug Swingley, is about 153 miles from Nome.  He seems to be traveling an average of about 10 miles an hour, so he’s about 15 running hours from Nome. 

You need to add to that resting time, dog care time and food breaks, and also a mandatory 8-hour stop in White Mountain.  If you put all that together, it looks like Doug might appear here in Nome around midnight on Tuesday. 

We’ll see!  If he does, I should be able to see all the action easily, since our hotel "the Nome Nugget" is right on the finish line! 

Anyway, because of the bad weather we were not able to fly, so I have no musher or dog pictures for you.  What we did today was tour Nome, and shop for interesting items to bring back to Belmont.

Looking at a map you can see that Nome is on the coast of the Bering Sea.  It is about 100 miles south of the Arctic Circle, and about 150 miles east of Russia.

The population is 3,620, half of which is Alaska Native.   There are roads here in Nome, but they are not connected to any other city.  You can drive to three small villages, each about 75 miles away.

It is hard to imagine, but in 1900 the population here in Nome was 20,000!  Why?  The Gold Rush.  Gold had been discovered along the beaches of Nome.  By 1925, most of the gold was gone and there were only about 1500 people left in this remote village.  You can see me standing in the largest gold pan in the United States!  Notice when Nome was incorporated, and compare that to the year in which Belmont became a town.  Can you figure out the difference? 

Right next to the gold pan are the statues of three gold panners.  There are displays here that explain much about the Gold Rush. There are really many historical things to see and do here in Nome.  The Carrie Mclain Museum has a large exhibit about gold rush history, along with exhibits about Eskimo culture.  I am wondering about the name of the museum.  I’ll go over there tomorrow and find out who Carrie was.  Tune in tomorrow!

As you know, Nome is where the Balto story actually began. In January of 1925 a diphtheria epidemic raged through the town.  This is an extremely contagious disease, which affects the throat and lungs.  There was not enough serum to treat all those that were ill, so Dr. Welch made an urgent call on January 25, via radio signal:

Nome calling… Nome calling…

We have an outbreak of diphtheria…

No serum… Urgently need help…

Nome calling… Nome calling…

You all know the rest of the story.  This is where it all happened.  I will bring back more details from the local museum, both about the serum run and about the gold rush.

There are many special events held in Nome during March, because there are so many visitors for the Iditarod.  One of the funniest is the Bering Sea Ice Golf Classic.  It will be held on March 17th, so I won’t see it, but I took a picture for you since it is all set up right behind my hotel. 

There are six holes, and they are all decorated with large cardboard figures and discarded Christmas trees.  It is called the Nome Forest.  The brochure says, "Instead of the usual, droll sand traps, this course offers blowing snow, huge chunks of ice, pressure ridges, bottomless crab fishing holes and frost-heaved greens, more than enough to put a ball out of commission". Wish I could see it in action!

At the National Bank of Alaska (in Nome), I took pictures of the Red Lantern Award, waiting there to be given to the last musher in to Nome.  It is right next to a very large check for $60,000 that goes to the first musher in to Nome.  You can see the actual amount of money in bundles in the case.

We asked one of the bank managers about the $2500 in gold nuggets that were given to Doug Swingley.  We just happened to ask the right person!  He actually flew to Unalakleet and personally handed them to Doug, as a prize for being the first musher to the coast.  He asked us if we wanted to see them!  Doug had asked him to keep them for him until he arrives here in Nome.  What do you think we said?  So, here is a picture of the beautiful gold nuggets.

The rest of the day we walked around and visited the craft shops.  We saw lots of Native art, jewelry, carvings, beaded moccasins and artifacts made of natural materials.  I bought several things, and will probably buy more tomorrow.  Believe it or not, I even bought some books.  Yes, there are some Alaska books I don’t have!  One cute one is called "Alaska’s Three Pigs"”  I’ll read it to you on the 19th.

We went into one of the grocery stores here and I got a list of prices.  I’ll just tell you two items and you can compare them to the ones in McGrath.  Milk in Nome is $4.99 a gallon, and a loaf of bread is $2.57.  Which town is cheaper?  By how much?

I never saw a gas station along the trail until here in Nome.  Check out the price for a gallon of gas.  Do you think it would be more or less in McGrath?  We can talk about that next week.  Compare the gas price to Belmont.  Next time your parent fills up the tank, have them help you figure out how much the gas would have cost if you lived here in Nome. 

Well, that’s really about it for today.  I am very much hoping for clear visibility tomorrow so we can get back on the trail and take pictures of the mushers and their wonderful dogs.  You can see the great map that is in the Iditarod Trail Headquarters here in Nome.  They update it every hour.

Well, tomorrow it’s back to White Mountain to watch the race, I hope!  Otherwise, I’ll be forced to shop some more – here in Nome.

Lots of love from Mrs. McClintock


Mrs.McClintock Iditarod Home Page Mail to Teacher Burbank School Web Site