Odin Jorgenson took a break at Devil Track Lake during the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon to visit with the students who received the mail he delivered by dogsled, Ethan Sporn (left) and Claire LaVigne.
The John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon has a long history, beginning with the real John Beargrease who traveled the North Shore delivering mail by foot, by boat, and via dog sled from 1879 to 1899. John Beargrease is remembered each year at the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon, now in its 28th year, by the mushers who follow his historic route. Each musher carries a mail sack with letters bearing a special John Beargrease cancellation. This year in the sack of one musher—Odin Jorgenson of Colvill—there was a special delivery for some of the children of Sawtooth Elementary in Grand Marais.
The exchange of letters between students of Lowell Elementary in Duluth and Sawtooth Elementary also has a history, albeit not as long as that of John Beargrease. In 2001, Sawtooth Elementary fourthgrade teachers Jana Larson and Deb Waage thought a special pen pal exchange would be a good way to bring the legend of John Beargrease to life. Larson contacted her sister, Cyndi VenBerg of Lowell Elementary and a new tradition was begun. Students from Lowell Elementary bring letters to the start of the John Beargrease Marathon to be delivered to Sawtooth Elementary students along the 390-mile trek.
The fourth-grader who accepted that first special delivery, from musher Mark Black, was Marie Nordahl, who has since graduated from Cook County High School.
The Sawtooth Elementary students who met musher Odin Jorgenson on Devil Track Lake this year were Ethan Sporn and Claire LaVigne.
In an additional twist to this Beargrease tale, Jorgenson’s wife is Betsy Moss Jorgenson, Sawtooth Elementary reading and math teacher. Betsy Jorgenson has introduced the “Be Like The Dogs” program, in which student discuss and write about the traits of the hard-working sled dogs and how they can emulate them.
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