A Brief History of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race

A professor of veterinary toxicology at Oregon State University for more than 40 years, Dr. A. Morrie Craig also directed the work of the school’s Endophyte Service Laboratory for a decade. Dr. Morrie Craig has developed particular expertise in the health of greyhounds and sled dogs, and he has served as the chief of drug testing for the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Known popularly as the “Last Great Race on Earth,” the Iditarod has challenged the fitness and endurance of mushers and dogs since 1973. Every spring in Alaska, the race winds along a hunting trail from Anchorage to Nome, close to 1,000 miles.

In the early 20th century, the Iditarod Trail became the central route by which mail and supplies reached miners in Iditarod, then a booming gold rush town. Miners also could move their gold by dog sled to Seward Bay and from there to trading ports all over the world.

Before airplanes became the primary means of transportation, sled dog teams were the best way of making the long journey to the town of Iditarod. Sled dogs offered far more efficient weight distribution and greater cumulative power over harsh and varied Alaskan terrain than mules or horses. The Iditarod race was established to honor the role of the dogs and their humans in the forging of a workable supply route to and from Iditarod.