Why is there an Iditarod Race anyway?

Yesterday we visited the Anchorage Museum of Art and History to find out. I had always thought that the race was started to remember the Serum Run when dog sled teams delivered medicine from Anchorage to Nome, but I found out I was wrong. Here's the REAL story. Dorothy G. Page and Joe Redington were the people who organized the first race. Dorothy noticed a big change happening in Alaska during the 1960's. A new kind of transportation was invented--the snowmobile. (In Alaska, they call it the snow machine.) People started giving up their sled dogs and using snow machines instead. She noticed there were very few dog sled teams left. She was afraid that they would die out altogether. She knew that Joe Redington, Sr. was passionate about sled dogs. He didn't want the use of sled dogs to be lost forever either. So they thought up an idea. How about holding a sled dog race with money--lots of money--for the winner? People would be interested and keep mushing dogs to compete every year. They announced the idea of a race to their mushing friends, found sponsors, and had people prepare a trail that followed the mail routes. Finally, in 1973, the first Iditarod from Anchorage to Nome was run. Dorothy and Joe worked on the race for many, many years making it better each year. I think their plan worked. Today, there are many sled dogs in Alaska and throughout the United States. While not all the dogs are used for racing, many of their owners train them to pull sleds. Do you think you might want to have a sled dog (or sled dogs) someday?