Iron Will

Will Stoneman

Harry Kingsley

J.W. Harper

Ned Dodd

Angus McTeague

Borg Guillarson

Maggie Stoneman

DeFontaine

Simon Lambert

Peter Swenson

Joe McPherson

Albert Carey

Gabriel Cary

Groven

Devereaux

Burton

Becky

Ward

Conductor Brawley

Cameraman / Reporter (as Dan Chambers)

Potter

Brakeman

Gunnar Tveit

Remy

Thordur Thorenson

Mayor of Winnipeg

Spirit Guide

Spirit Guide

Spirit Guide

Guard

Kaiser Bill

Soprano Singer

Scout #1

Scout #2

Sergeant

Reporter #2

Waiter

Young Woman

Blacksmith's Wife

Pretty Woman

Native American at Train Depot

Man

Town Drunk (uncredited)

Klondike Singer (uncredited)

Villager (uncredited)

Guy in Bar (uncredited)

BG High Society (uncredited)

Much of the movie was filmed in northern Minnesota near the town of Duluth. Many of Duluth's citizens were extras in the movie, a large number at the end of the race

The trains used in the movie were from the Lake Superior Railroad Museum (LSRM) in Duluth. Due to the fact that they were actual operating trains, actors could not operate as engineers or the conductors. They were all volunteer employees of the museum. Some of them still work there (As of August 2004).

The movie is a fictionalized account of the 1917 Winnipeg-to-St. Paul dog-sled race, sponsored by the Great Northern Railway. The main character in the movie, Will Stoneman, is based on two real-life participants in the 1917 race: Albert Campbell, the eventual winner, a mixed-blood Cree trapper from Manitoba who endured harassment from his racist white competitors throughout the race; and Fred Hartman, the only American participant, who was touted as a hero during the race by American newspapers, but had to drop out when his sled dogs fought among themselves and his lead dog was killed. J.W. Harper, the president of the St. Paul Winter Carnival in the movie, is based on Louis W. Hill, son of railroad magnate James J. Hill, president of the Great Northern Railroad.

Soon after the start of the race when the sled goes over the cliff, the musher throws out a snow-hook which prevents him from falling to his death. Snowhooks are connected to the bridle, not to the musher.

After Will crashes after dodging the "Army" truck. It is revealed that there is a Marine recruiting poster on the side of the truck. (The US Marines would never advertise on an army truck.) There is certainly a competitiveness in today's U.S. armed services; back in 1917 President Woodrow Wilson created the Committee On Public Information. This committee tasked "The Society of Illustrators" out of New York to create artwork that illustrated the demands that the Great War was placing on America and on American servicemen and women. These pieces of public art were created by some 300 of America's top designer's and were ordered to be placed on "every" wall and publicly viewable surface. Given the great need for the American public to support the war effort during The Great War, it is not unreasonable that an Army vehicle would show it's patriotism by sporting a U.S. Marine recruitment poster.

While it may appear in some scenes that the American flag has 50 stars; every flag has the correct number of 48 stars as would be appropriate for the 1917 time period of this film. View time-stamp 1:06 as an example of 48 stars running parallel on a field of blue. Some scenes in the film make it appear as if the stars are on a diagonal, rather than parallel, due to the wind shifts and foreign objects partially blocking the flags.

Jack Stoneman: Look son, if you want something real bad, I mean you really want it, you've got to go out where you can find it and grab it.

J.W. Harper: Have we come, so far that we've forgotton what it's like to start out with nothing but a dim chance and a bright hope? I will not be the one to snuff that hope gentlemen. Not I.

Will Stoneman: Do you think I can do this?