A little background history on the mail system that was used in Wings of Change.

Juuchan17 :



In Balto 3: Wings of Change, Balto's son Kodi, and three other dogs (Dusty, Kirby, and Ralph) are used in a dog team. They have the important role of delivering the mail from their small Alaskan town of Nome to another (White Mountain) and back again.

But something caught the attention of a few fans with a keen eye: Why does the post office say 'U.S. Post Office' when the film takes place in 1928 and Alaska isn't even an official state yet? How is this possible? Is it a blooper?

To answer this question: No, it is not a blooper at all.

Thanks to Alaska's Winter Mails, the town of Sitka in the territory of Alaska recieved its first U.S. Post office in 1867. The mail was transported by the use of sled dogs (which was the mode of transportation used by the Native People that also lived there). At first in Alaska, it was not very populated (except for the Native Alaskans) until the Klondike Gold Rush in 1897-98, in which people would pass their mail to someone that was heading for a certain direction in order to deliver messages. This continued until the mail services became more organized by 1912, when Alaska was ruled by a territorial government.

Of course, the diphtheria run of 1925 took place during this time period of territorial rule; many of the mushers used in the serum run were actually mushers for the U.S. Post Office! Unfortunately, by the late 1930s, the dog sled mail teams were being replaced by the flying creatures known as airplanes. Even though air delivery was more reliable in the snowy weather, dog sleds were still used to transport mail from one airfield in a big town to another. So, what Balto predicted in Wings of Change about planes taking over the jobs of sled dogs was true . . . kind of.

Near the year 1938, the Postmaster General made a new system called 'emergency mail' (people would make trails and places for dog teams during their journey and also hired more mushers (also called mail contractors) to deliver mail without traveling for too long). This continued throughout the Second World War; mail traveled mainly by dogsled, even though the U.S. Congress changed some of the Postmaster's original plans, making winter mail travel only by dog sled (even if airplanes were available). This made the mail take much longer to deliver from place to place . . . sometimes it took as long as three months to recieve your mail!

In 1959, Alaska became part of the United States and, soon after the year 1963 marked the end of sled dog mail when an airplane took over the last scheduled route.

Although the dogteam U.S. Mail Service is officially over, sled dogs are still used as a mode of transportation and for sport (such as the Iditarod (1973), which follows the path that the mushers took to deliver the medicine to Nome in 1925). However, dogsled mail deliveries are still done for special annual occasions, such as the Iditarod (a special letter that teams carry throughout the length of the race; the top five racers have their letters put up for auction to raise money to help fund the Iditarod race committee) and a special course called the Yukon Quest (a difficult path from Whitehorse in the Canadian Yukon Territory to Fairbanks, Alaska).

Information from (and for more detailed information about the dog sled mail delivery teams):
Alaska's Winter Mails, 1898-1963: Going to the Dogs!

Picture credit: My own WoC caps (Juuchan17)

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me, January 23, 2006 at 14: 15

Wow, great info.:P

baltofan01WMP[subAM], January 23, 2006 at 14: 29

great info there.

kelev, January 23, 2006 at 14: 33

I always wondered why it said U.S. Post Office!

Aniu_lupe, January 23, 2006 at 17: 29

Finally an article wich contains info I didn't know :p.Nice information you got there.

Juuchan17, January 23, 2006 at 19: 06

Thanks. I did a lot of searching for info about it, and I thought it would make a good article. I'm glad you learned something new! (Heck, I did too!)

Abby, January 23, 2006 at 21: 18

Movie glitch Part 3:/:

Juuchan17, January 23, 2006 at 23: 24

Movie glitch? What do you mean? It's not a glitch, Abby.

CatWhoHas14Tails, January 24, 2006 at 00: 03

Finally, some actual history in a Balto sequel! :P

baltofan01WMP[subAM], January 24, 2006 at 04: 39

i love balto!!!!!!! who else loves him? dont be shy. i am 14!

Abby, January 24, 2006 at 21: 10

thatis what I callwhen something id messed up or a mistake. and Baltofana, isnt it oviuos that we all are balto fans.Duh °x° :P

white raven-WMP, January 24, 2006 at 22: 00

I love balto too whhooooo

white raven-WMP, January 24, 2006 at 22: 01

lol i think its good they put that in the sequel

Writewolf(DVWSP), January 24, 2006 at 22: 02

i thought of that too. great job researching;)

baltofan01WMP[subAM], January 24, 2006 at 22: 48

i know abby. i just wanted to shoe my love for him!:P

Abby, February 10, 2006 at 00: 04

WEll pretty much all of us are showing our love.:P

baltofan01WMP[subAM], February 10, 2006 at 02: 51

yes we are

Abby, February 11, 2006 at 03: 07

:P :P

Wolfgang, February 19, 2006 at 15: 37

:o :o :o

dDE, April 05, 2006 at 12: 50

i READ THIS THE STORY OF BALTO TO MY CLASS AND THEY REALLY LIKED IT, I HAD TO READ IT AGAIN THE NEXT DAY.

aleu 101, May 13, 2006 at 23: 29 Member

i wonder too:/:

Chinook wolf, July 24, 2006 at 00: 50 Member

Great article!:P

jenna___wolf/husky, August 23, 2006 at 05: 37 Member

nice info i really wanted to know about this!Great article:allears: :idea:

jerseycaptain, May 29, 2008 at 03: 29 Member

VERY nice article, Juuchan! Wow! I'm impressed! Nice research, and nice results. Yes, Alaska was receiving U.S. mail by then, and it was a U.S. territory in the 20s. Under the jurisdiction of the Treasury Department of the United States, if you can believe that! The department's revenue cutter ships often served as cargo and mail carriers, and even passenger vessels at times...and as official representatives of the U.S. government.

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