READING # 1

In the early 1920's, settlers came to Alaska looking for gold. They traveled by boat to the
coastal towns of Seward and Knik, and from there by land into the gold fields. The trail they
used to travel inland is known today as the Iditarod Trail, one of the National Historic Trails
designated by the Congress of the United States. The Iditarod Trail quickly became a major
thoroughfare in Alaska, as the mail and supplies were carried across this trail. People also used
it to get from place to place, including the priests, ministers, and judges who had to travel
between villages. In the winter, the settlers’ only means of travel down this trail was via dog
sled.
Once the gold rush ended, many gold-seekers went back to where they had come from,
and suddenly there was much less travel on the Iditarod Trail. The introduction of the airplane in
the late 1920’s meant dog teams were no longer the standard mode of transportation, and of
course with the airplane carrying the mail and supplies, there was less need for land travel in
general. The final blow to the use of the dog teams was the appearance of snowmobiles.
By the mid 1960's, most Alaskans didn’t even know the Iditarod Trail existed, or that dog
teams had played a crucial role in Alaska’s early settlements. Dorothy G. Page, a self-made
historian, recognized how few people knew about the former use of sled dogs as working
animals and about the Iditarod Trail’s role in Alaska’s colorful history. To raise awareness about
this aspect of Alaskan history, she came up with the idea to have a dog sled race over the
Iditarod Trail. She presented her idea to an enthusiastic musher, as dog sled drivers are known,
named Joe Redington, Sr. Soon the Pages and the Redingtons were working together to
promote the idea of the Iditarod race.
Many people worked to make the first Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race a reality in 1967. The
Aurora Dog Mushers Club, along with men from the Adult Camp in Sutton, helped clear years of
overgrowth from the first nine miles of the Iditarod Trail. To raise interest in the race, a $25,000
purse was offered, with Joe Redington donating one acre of his land to help raise the funds. The
short race, approximately 27 miles long, was put on a second time in 1969.
After these first two successful races, the goal was to lengthen the race a little further to
the ghost town of Iditarod by 1973. However in 1972, the U.S. Army reopened the trail as a
winter exercise, and so in 1973, the decision was made to take the race all the way to the city of
Nome—over 1,000 miles. There were many who believed it could not be done and that it was
crazy to send a bunch of mushers out into the vast, uninhabited Alaskan wilderness. But the
race went! 22 mushers finished that year, and to date over 400 people have completed it.
Questions
1) The primary purpose of this passage is to
A. recount the history of the Iditarod trail and the race that memorializes it
B. describe the obstacles involved in founding the Iditarod race
C. outline the circumstances that led to the establishment of the Iditarod Trail
D. reestablish the important place of the Iditarod Trail in Alaska’s history© Copyright EnglishForEveryone.Org, 2012. All rights reserved.
2) Based on information in the passage, it can be inferred that all of the following contributed to
the disuse of the Iditarod Trail except
A. more modern forms of transportation
B. depleted gold mines
C. highway routes to ghost towns
D. reduced demand for land travel
3) As used in paragraph 2, which is the best definition for mode?
A. formula
B. way
C. preference
D. option
4) According to the passage, the initial Iditarod race
A. was funded through the sale of musher entrance fees
B. was founded by an advocate for Alaskan history
C. ended at the ghost town of Iditarod
D. boasted a total of 400 entrants
5) As used in paragraph 3, the phrase “self-made historian” implies that Dorothy G. Page
A. was employed by the state to keep its dog sled history alive
B. was determined to honor the glories of the gold rush in spite of her questionable credentials
C. had pursued the study of Alaska’s history out of her own interest
D. had personally educated others about Alaska’s history
6) In 1925, when a diphtheria outbreak threatened the lives of people in the remote town of
Nome, the government used the Iditarod Trail to transport medicine nearly 700 miles to the
town. If the author chose to include this fact in the passage, it would best fit in
A. paragraph 1
B. paragraph 2
C. paragraph 3
D. paragraph 5
7) Based on information in the passage, it can be inferred that because the U.S. Army
reopened the Iditarod Trail in 1972,
A. more people could compete in the Iditarod race
B. the mushers had to get permission from the U.S. Army to hold the race

C. the trail was cleared all the way to Nome
D. the Iditarod race became a seasonal Army competition