Balto was the lead dog on the final leg of the January 1925 serum run to Nome, which transported diphtheria antitoxin from Anchorage to Nome in order to combat an outbreak of the disease.  During white-out conditions, Balto kept the team on track and succeeded in getting the serum to Nome in time to prevent any more deaths.  Balto began an instant celebrity.  A bronze memorial statue of Balto stands in Central Park with the noble words:

DEDICATED TO THE INDOMITABLE SPIRIT OF THE SLED DOGS THAT RELAYED ANTITOXIN SIX HUNDRED MILES OVER ROUGH ICE ACROSS TREACHEROUS WATERS THROUGH ARCTIC BLIZZARDS FROM NENANA TO THE RELIEF OF STRICKEN NOME IN THE WINTER OF 1925  ENDURANCE   FIDELITY  INTELLIGENCE

And, of course, despite all that Endurance and Fidelity, Balto was also stuffed.  But first he toured California with his entire team as part of a vaudeville act and then languished in a Los Angeles sideshow until a Cleveland businessman, George Kimble, bought the team for $2,000 - a lot of money back in the 1920s.   On March 19th, 1927, Balto and his six other teammates - Foz, Sye, Billy, Tillie, Moctoc and Alaska Slim - were paraded through downtown Cleveland.  People lined the streets.  A band played.  And on their first day at the Cleveland Zoo, fifteenth thousand people came to see Balto and the rest of the dogs.  Balto died at the Cleveland Zoo on March 14th, 1933 at the age of 14.  His mount was displayed at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.  Read more about Balto's serum run +