2005
HONORARY MUSHER
Alfred John -A Special Link with History
When
“Wild Bill” Shannon’s team headed down the Tanana
from Nenana on January 27, 1925, even though it was late, a young
boy of three was watching. He stood with his mother at the train
station, bundled up against the frigid minus-50 night. He watched
the train steam into the station and the conductor hand Shannon
the package of diphtheria anti-toxin serum. He watched Shannon
tie the package to his sled. It was Alfred John, the young boy,
who watched Shannon’s team pull away with sled and serum
on the first leg of the relay to Nome.
Serum
Run musher Erin McLarnon
chats with Alfred John before
the start of the 2004 Serum Run |
On February
29, 2004, the Nenana train depot was bustling with activity. The
whistle shrilled the train’s arrival. The conductor handed
off the package of fake “serum” to a musher with waiting
team. As the team paused, poised for the run, a man stood nearby.
Watching. And speaking a few words, “This is the exact spot
where I watched”. It was again Alfred John who watched the
musher and team pull away with sled and serum—this time
on the commemorative Serum Run.
Through
the eyes of Alfred John, the commemorative Serum Run expedition
has been linked with the original serum race. When Alfred John
watches the departure of the 2005 Serum Run, however, it will
be from some far-off spirit-place. Alfred John died July 27, 2004.
The
Norman Vaughan Serum Run ’25 has selected Alfred John as
the honorary musher for 2005. We would like to pay a fitting tribute
to this man and his special link with serum run history.
From
his very beginnings, Alfred John had connections to the Alaska
Railroad, so vital to the 1925 Serum Run. He was born under the
railroad bridge in Nenana in a white canvas tent on May 5, 1921.
His parents were Kitty and Enoch John. Known as “AJ”,
he was raised in Nenana, worked for the Alaska Railroad, and served
in the Army in World War II. He lived in Minto for a time, but
then returned to Nenana as one of a close-knit group of the Nenana
Dock Crew. He lived a subsistence lifestyle and enjoyed racing
his trap line dogs in the North American Sled Dog Race. He has
surviving relatives living in Minto and Fairbanks. When author
Debbie Miller was conducting research for her children’s
book The Great Serum Race, she walked with Alfred John on some
of the old mushing trail. She recalls, “I'm grateful that
he shared his memories of the serum run and growing up in Nenana
in the 1920s”.
