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Samuel Johannesen Balto (May 5, 1861 – 1921) was a Northern Saami explorer and adventurer. Balto skied with Fridtjof Nansen across Greenland in 1888–89. The First Crossing of Greenland 1888-1889 (Fram Museum)
In 1898, Balto moved to Alaska and signed a two-year contract as a reindeer herder. In 1900, he led a large group of Sámi hired as reindeer herdsmen during the Lapland-Yukon Relief Expedition later known as the Manitoba Expedition. Samuel Balto, together with 113 other people from Finnmark were hired by Sheldon Jackson to be involved in the introduction of reindeer in Alaska. Jackson promoted a plan to import reindeer from Russia to introduce reindeer husbandry to the Inupiaq as a solution to their loss of subsistence resources. The group was responsible for transporting goods and mail from Nome, Alaska, to gold mining workers up the Yukon River valley in the central parts of Alaska. Eventually Samuel Balto became a gold miner at Nome, Alaska, during the Klondike Gold Rush. Balto staked three claims at a site which became known as Balto Creek. Sheldon Jackson (Sheldon Jackson Museum) The Reindeer Project (Báiki: The International Sami Journal) Balto Creek (USGS Nome C-1 Quad, Alaska, Topographic Map) Balto Creek (us.geoview.info) Lapland-Yukon Relief Expedition (BÁIKI: The International Sami Journal)
Samuel Johannesen Balto died in 1921 in Karasjok. Balto, the Alaskan sled dog made famous during the 1925 serum run to Nome, which transported diphtheria medication across the Alaska Territory to combat an epidemic, was named in his honor. Balto (Balto's True Story)
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