Gunnar Kaasen
Dog Musher
Dogsledder who, with his trusty dog Balto, delivered a vital shipment of diphtheria antitoxin to save people in Nome, Alaska.
He emigrated from Norway to Alaska to take part in the Gold Rush and became an expert dog musher: the primary means of transportation when the roads and waterways were ice-locked.
He was part of a group of mushers taking the 300,000 units of the serum from Anchorage to Nome: a 674-mile trip, parts of which he spent on treacherous roads in near white-out conditions.
He was born in Burfjorddalen in Troms county, Norway.
Steven Spielberg made an animated feature film Balto, which was based on his husky.