Iditarod ingots

March 18, 2005

CASEY RESSLER/Frontiersman Valley Life Editor

A Wasilla man is trying to go all the way by doing things halfway.

Paul Reed has put together a unique collection of Iditarod history, and he is four "pieces" away from completing his impressive collection. Reed collects silver ingots that were presented by Alascom to the winners of the Iditarod's halfway award from 1980 to 1993.

"I was talking to Kathy Halverson, Dewey Halverson's wife, around '87 or '88, and he had just won the halfway award that year, so I asked her if he had any of those ingots," Reed said. "After I got one, I thought, 'Shoot, I wonder if anybody else collects these?' Then the next year, I got in touch with Joe [Redington Sr.] and got one of his after he won it."

Those two ingots sparked Reed's fascination, and his collection. Soon, he was trying to track down mushers who won previous halfway awards, offering $20 to $25 for one of the ingots. Many of the mushers wrote back, and some gave him the ingots for free.

"Those handwritten letters mean just as much to me as the ingots do," Reed said. "I feel like I'm touching Alaska history when I hold and read those letters."

He managed to track down Herbie Nayokpuk, the 1980 winner, who returned an ingot and some signed cards. Emmitt Peters, the 1982 halfway winner, returned a stack of cards and asked Reed if he could sell them for $5 each and send Peters the money, because he needed to buy some dog food for his team.

"I sent him some more money, but I held on to the cards," Reed said with a smile.

Each ingot has a story behind it - Halverson's are engraved with the date and a sled; Redington's are encased in acrylic; DeeDee Jonrowe's 1991 was shared with Susan Butcher and came with a postcard; Jeff King's 1993 ingot is numbered, and includes a certificate that reads "Jinx Breaker."

Doug Swingley's 1992 award arrived more than year and a half after the race. Reed met Swingley and mentioned his collection following the race that year. Reed gave Swingley a card, but never heard back from him. Then, more than a year later, he got a handwritten note from Swingley, who apologized for the delay. When Swingley came up to Alaska for the Iditarod the next year, he brought with him an ingot for Reed.

Previous to 1980, no award was given out, and according to the Iditarod Media Guide, no records exist as to who was the first musher into either Cripple or Iditarod, where the halfway point lies. Following the 1993 race, GCI took over sponsorship of the race, and started awarding gold nuggets, which Reed said he isn't interested in collecting.

Through the years, Reed has managed to collect 10 of the 14 halfway awards. He's still missing Larry "Cowboy" Smith's 1981 ingot, Eep Anderson's 1983 ingot, Burt Bomhoff's 1985 award and Susan Butcher's 1989 ingot. He's not giving up, though.

"I've never been able to track down Larry 'Cowboy' Smith, but I'm trying. I wrote Eep Anderson and told him about my collection and offered to buy one, but I never heard back. Burt told me he only had one ingot left, and wanted to hold on to it but would think about selling it to me if it was the last one I needed," Reed said. "And Susan has never even acknowledged my existence. I've tried and tried, but she has never even responded."

Ultimately, Reed would like to build a shadow-box and put the collection on display at the Iditarod Trail Committee's headquarters on Knik-Goose Bay Road. He said he'll never sell the collection, which is priceless.

"It's a piece of history of the state, and the race," Reed said. "I have no intention to ever sell them. Someday, I'll pass them on to my grandkid. That's where the collection is going to end up. With my grandkids."