{Iditarod National History Trail originally posted by US Interior} The annual Iditarod Dog Sled Race is currently underway in Alaska! Known as an important dog sled trail during the Alaska gold rush and the famous “Great Race of Mercy” when medicine for diphtheria was taken to the children of Nome, the trail was originally a dogsled and snowshoe trail created by Alaska Natives to connect a number of interior villages. It goes through the land of the Dena’ina, Deg Hit’an, Inupiaq, and Yup’ik people and the word Iditarod comes from the Deg Xinag word hidedhod meaning distant place. #publiclandisnativeland