Samuel Balto

Samuel Johannesen Balto (May 5, 1861 – 1921) was a Norwegian - Sami explorer and adventurer. Balto skied with Fridtjof Nansen across Greenland in 1888-9.

Biography

Samuel Johannesen Balto was born in Karasjok in Finnmark county, Norway. He had worked as a lumberjack, as well as in reindeer herding and fishing. In 1888, Balto was recruited by Fridtjof Nansen for Nansen's Trans-Greenland Expedition. Balto participated in the first recorded crossing of the interior of Greenland, together with Nansen and four other expedition members. Balto wrote his own book after the expedition: Med Nansen over Grønlandsisen i 1888 – Min reise fra Sameland til Grønland.

In 1898, Balto moved to Alaska and signed a two year contract as a reindeer herder. In 1900, he led a large group of Sami hired as reindeer herdsmen during the Lapland-Yukon Relief Expedition later known as the Manitoba Expedition. Samuel Balto, together with 113 other people from Finnmark were hired by Sheldon Jackson to be involved in the introduction of reindeer in Alaska. Jackson promoted a plan to import reindeer from Russia to introduce reindeer husbandry to the Inupiaq as a solution to their loss of subsistence resources. The group was responsible for transporting goods and mail from Nome, Alaska to gold mining workers up the Yukon River valley in the central parts of Alaska. Eventually Samuel Balto became a gold miner at Nome, Alaska during the Klondike Gold Rush. Balto staked three claims at a site which became known as Balto Creek.

Balto (character)

Balto is a title character and the protagonist of the film Balto and its related sequels. However, the character is based on the real dog of the same name.

Development

The character of Balto was based on a real dog that lived in Nome in 1925. Similarly to the film character, the real Balto gained fame as the lead dog of a sled team that was the last team on a mission to relay antitoxin to Nome, where an outbreak of diphtheria was occurring. While the real Balto was a Siberian Husky, the film instead portrays Balto as a wolf/husky hybrid.

Character Background

In the film series, Balto is said to be the offspring of a female wolf and a male husky. According to Balto, he was separated from his mother while he was young, and was raised by Boris, a snow goose. As a result of his wolf heritage, Balto was disdained by most of the citizens and relentlessly teased by the dogs of Nome.

Personality

The first film revealed that, possibly as a result of his treatment, Balto was insecure regarding his wolf heritage. Citizens of Nome generally feared him due to misconceptions about his wolf-like appearance. Despite this, Balto is very wise, patient and cares deeply for others, and is very courageous. He is also very humble and selfless, willing to give up his own life to make sure that others were safe. He usually tries to avoid using force, in favor of intelligence. He also appears to possess leadership traits. By the time of the second film, Balto has apparently come to terms with what he is but does not tell his pups about their lineage until his daughter Aleu is threatened by a hunter. Balto is shown to have a love for dog-sled racing and later develops a love for flying in the third film.

Balto (film)

Balto is a 1995 American live-action/animated historical adventure drama film directed by Simon Wells, produced by Amblin Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures. The film is loosely based on a true story about the dog of the same name who helped save children from the diphtheria epidemic in the 1925 serum run to Nome. The live-action portions of the film were filmed at Central Park, in New York City.

The film was the final animated feature produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblimation animation studio. Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy and Bonne Radford acted as executive producers on the film. Although the film's theatrical run was overshadowed by the success of the competing Pixar film Toy Story, its subsequent strong sales on home video led to two direct-to-video sequels: Balto II: Wolf Quest (2002) and Balto III: Wings of Change (2004).

Plot

In present-day at New York City, an elderly woman and her granddaughter are walking through Central Park, looking for a memorial statue. As they seat themselves for a rest, the grandmother tells a story about Nome, Alaska, back in 1925 which shifts the film from live-action to animation.

Balto III: Wings of Change

Balto III: Wings of Change is a 2004 American straight-to-video sequel to Universal Studios' 2002 animated film Balto II: Wolf Quest, and the 1995 film Balto.

Plot

Balto's son Kodi works for the US Mail. Kodi loves his job and his new friends Dusty, Kirby and Ralph. Balto is intrigued by the new bush plane that has arrived in Nome. He wishes to fly, just like the plane. When the pilot Duke offers to take the place of the mail-dogs, Kodi and his friends are worried about losing their jobs. They have a resentment against the pilot. Meanwhile, Boris falls for a female goose named Stella. She asks him to fly with her, but Boris is afraid of heights. He waits until the last moment before he eventually lies to her, claiming that he's suffering from numerous injuries that prevent him from flying.

A race is organised between the dog-sled team and the bush plane. Kodi wants his father to lead his team. Balto is not so sure, but after a little convincing from Jenna, he accepts the offer. Not long afterwards, Duke discovers Balto exploring his plane. The two become friends, for Duke knows about how Balto saved the children. The next day, the race is about to begin. Boris boasts to Balto about how he's lied to Stella, unaware that she's right behind him. She becomes very angry and manages to get him stuck in one of the mail bags, which is hoisted onto the plane. The race begins to the town of White Mountain and back. At first, the plane easily overtakes the dogs. But on the way back, the plane mysteriously disappears. The dog team wins the race, and Kodi is confident that his job is secure. But Balto still doubts it, much to his son's dismay.

Samuel

Samuel (/ˈsæm.juː.əl/;Hebrew: שְׁמוּאֵל, Modern Shmu'el, Tiberian Šəmûʼēl; Arabic: صموئيل Ṣamuil; Greek: Σαμουήλ Samouēl; Latin: Samvel; Strong's: Shemuwel), literally meaning "Name of God" in Hebrew, is a leader of ancient Israel in the Books of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible. He is also known as a prophet and is mentioned in the second chapter of the Qur'an, although not by name.

His status, as viewed by rabbinical literature, is that he was the last of the Hebrew Judges and the first of the major prophets who began to prophesy inside the Land of Israel. He was thus at the cusp between two eras. According to the text of the Books of Samuel, he also anointed the first two kings of the Kingdom of Israel: Saul and David.

Biblical account

Family

Samuel's mother was Hannah and his father was Elkanah. Elkanah lived at Rama-thaim in the district of Zuph. His genealogy is also found in a pedigree of the Kohathites (1 Chron. 6:3-15) and in that of Heman, his great-grandson (ib. vi. 18-22). According to the genealogical tables, Elkanah was a Levite - a fact otherwise not mentioned in the books of Samuel. The fact that Elkanah, a Levite, was denominated an Ephraimite is analogous to the designation of a Levite belonging to Judah (Judges 17:7, for example).

Samuel (Raffi novel)

Samuel (Սամվել Samvel) is an 1886 Armenian language novel by the novelist Raffi. Considered by some critics his most successful work, the plot centres on the killing of the fourth-century Prince Vahan Mamikonian and his wife by their son Samuel.

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References

Samuel (name)

Samuel (Sometimes spelled Samual) is a male given name of Hebrew origin meaning either "name of God" or "God has heard" (שם האלוהים Shem Alohim) (שמע אלוהים Sh'ma Alohim). Samuel was the last of the ruling judges in the Old Testament. He anointed Saul to be the first King of Israel and later anointed David.

As a Christian name, Samuel came into common use after the Protestant Reformation. Famous bearers include the American inventor Samuel F.B. Morse (1791–1872), the Irish writer Samuel Beckett (1906–89) and the American author Samuel Clemens (1835–1910), who wrote under the pen name Mark Twain.

The name Samuel is popular among Black Africans, as well as among African Americans. It is also widespread among the modern Jewish communities, especially Sephardic Jews.

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