30, 1867, u. S. Secretary of state William Seward reached an agreement to purchase alaska from russia for 7. 2 million. Originally dubbed sewards folly, that was retracted when gold was discovered. Up next, alaska highway, a 1944 u. S. Army film documenting building highway from the lower 48 states to fairbanks through the canadian wilderness. The highway was gradually approved and opened to the public in 1948. [video clip] narrator when the japs bombed pearl harbor, they made people think of a lot of things. Most people when they thought of alaska, they thought of a cold, rugged wasteland. Now suddenly, it seems to have considerable value both to us and the japanese. Its strategic position was not comforting. From alaska, the Aleutian Islands stretch out invitingly. The great Japanese Naval base is only 750 miles away, and japs in alaska would be a direct threat to america. Alaskas long and broken coastline was weakly defended. Our bases were few and far between. Our only means of supplying them was by sea or air. With no overland connection across the wilderness of northwestern canada, not even a trail, if our shipping lanes could be interrupted, alaska might fall. The situation called for immediate action. The canadian government had already carved out a series of five airports between edmonton in alberta and yukon territory. With canadas consent, the United States War Department decided to build a military highway from British Columbia to fairbanks, alaska. It was to link up and supply the airfields and supply emergency access to alaska for troops and materials. This highway would extend roughly 1500 miles, about the distance from washington to denver. The town of dawson creek saw the arrival of engineer troops in march of 1942. Here they set up a camp. Enlisted men were trained in maintenance and operation of tractors in the north. Their workouts in subzero weather produced skilled cap scanners. Before the arrival of additional engineers, these first troops moved out on a trail to fort nelson, where they established a base camp and begin working northwest. Other regiments headed to yukon through skagway. They began working both northwest and southeast. Still other regiments entered alaska at valdez and moved up through the interior. They begin working toward fairbanks and the yukon border. In all, there were seven engineer regiments, about 10,000 men. Their immediate job was to break through a pioneer road. A road without frills but that could be used to supply the airfields and which could be replaced with a permanent road later. All spring and summer, the troops hacked and cut their way through. There were colored as well as white troops. Both did their fair share. They cut around mountainsides and across valleys. They went over sloppy ground. They slithered in the mud. They built culverts over brooks and small streams. They built bridges over rivers. Finally, on the 20th of november, 1942, eight months after the first troops plunged into the northern bush, the pioneer road from dawson creek to fairbanks was open. The great road through. And the Truck Drivers were surprised to find the road was much better than expected. Its length was more than 1500 miles, and it was one of the wonders of the modern world. Fairbanks was founded 40 years ago as a goldmining camp and was already a modern American City in the heart of the alaskan wilderness. Of course the highway was still largely a winter road, usable in some areas only when the ground allowed. Many bridges would be washed out. Even during the winter, bridges over active streams were sometimes covered by ice and logs had to be laid across them and cemented in place by water to keep the trucks from breaking through. There were other hazards. Ice had to be fought constantly. When culverts plugged up and ice mushroomed over the road, it had to be cleared, even at 40 below. A truck might stall in a rut or ditch, and it would be frozen fast. At many points, the grades were too steep, especially when it came icy. Sanding machines worked constantly. It was impossible to keep the road safe at all times and places. Even on the best sections, if drivers relax for a moment, they might find themselves in a ditch. Tow cars moved up and down the highway, dragging trucks out of trouble. Stations established at 100 mile intervals were manned by quartermaster troops who checked each truck as it came through. Troops had to repair and service their equipment as best they could, but facilities were badly overtapped. Mechanics were scarce and many trucks were deadlined for weeks at a time. At the start, troops working on the highway had only tents for living quarters. By the beginning of 1943, most of them were living in quonset huts. They could be erected in a few hours. Following behind the soldiers who built the pioneer road came civilian contractors to turn it into a permanent, all weather road. They established their own camps along the route. There were public Roads Administration surveyors to relocate and improve the alignment of the road. There were skilled crews with power shovels to widen the road and cut down grade. There were crews with trucks to haul gravel. There were dirt moving machines as well as trucks to build up the road. There were bulldozers to pack down the gravel and to dig ditches. There were motor graders to smooth the turf. There were skilled structural workers and carpenters to build permanent bridges, replacing the temporary ones from the engineers. As ice formed on the rivers, strange new patterns rose against the cold, northern sky. As ice formed on the rivers, strange new patterns rose against the cold, northern sky. There were telephone crews to put in a line stretching the entire length of the highway. The signal corps directed the work and its men did the pioneering. All this activity demanded a constant flow of supplies both up the highway and by sea. The japs were unable to interfere with coastline ships to alaska. The volume of supplies increased to skagway. Rainy skagway was built up as a gateway to the klondike during the gold rush, when gamblers and desperados held sway. Then it became a ghost town, dividing only the small port and railroad terminals and attracting a few hundred tourists in the summer. Suddenly it came to life again as a transfer point for troops and supplies for the alaska highway. Facilities were improved and enlarged. The port was extended. Now freighters coming up the Inside Passage from British Columbia can be unloaded quickly and easily. They could be beached and unloaded at low tide. From skagway, supplies moved across the mountain on the yukon railway. This winding railway is one of the steepest in the world. It follows closely the famous trail of 1898, on which many a man lost his life. To make sure the railway would continue to operate during the emergency, the army installed a Railroad Operating battalion to run it. All winter long, despite cold and treacherous rocks slides, these men in uniform kept supplies and equipment rolling steadily into whitehorse. As an example of the Railroad Troops devotion to duty, one was awarded a medal for risking his life saving a train from destruction. Whitehorse on the yukon river, 40 years ago in the gold rush heyday, had a population of 20,000 people which later dwindled to a few hundred people. Now it was reawakening to the unfamiliar voices of soldiers and Truck Drivers. All through the spring and summer, the road building continued. By now, there were 81 contractors and about 14,000 men gathered along the highway. They worked in two shifts of sometimes 10 or 11 hours each. Specifications called for a 26 road span. 26 foot road span. In addition to the highway itself, an important supplement was being built, the haines cutoff. 160 miles north to a point in the highway 95 miles west of whitehorse, it was designed to relieve the strain on the yukon railway. It was begun in the spring of 1943 with engineer troops pioneering the road south of the alaska highway. At the same time, civilian contractors and a military post were just outside of haines. For the first 42 miles, an old motor road was improved, widened, and in places relocated. On its way to the alaskayukon border, this wound through poplar forests, over coastal mountain streams and through a sleepy indian village. From the border northward, they followed an old trail. Here the contractors started from scratch from clearing timber, grading and surfacing. On reaching the pioneer road of the engineers, the civilian crews continued, improving and widening it all the way to the main highway. When the haines cutoff was finished in the fall of 1943, the alaska highway had an all weather connection. As the highway and the cutoff were nearing completion, so were the emergency flight strips being built by the Canadian Department of transport and the United States army engineers. These strips would provide a safe landing surface for pilots who suddenly ran into trouble. In addition, the engineers were improving the airports themselves. Extra hangers were built. New runways and aprons were added. These airports were enlarged and the flight strips were built not only to speed american planes into alaska but also to service red star fighters and bombers on lease direct to russia. At the same time, most of the 86 major bridges on the highway were being finished. The largest of these was the peace river bridge. Near the southern end of the highway, the bridge is 2275 feet long with two suspension towers reaching 200 feet high and a concrete span 24 feet wide. The bridge was opened in august, 1943. Soldiers and construction workers came from their sections of the highway. There were officers and officials representing both the United States and canada. Speeches were given. There was a ribbon to be cut. But the crowd did not need to be told the importance. The bridge itself was evidence of a new day dawning. Now the lower half of the highway was finished. Trucks from dawson creek could travel safe through to whitehorse. At intervals of about 100 miles, there were interval stations where the trucks were looked over and refueled. In the pioneering days, most of the fuel used on the highway work on the railhead at dawson creek were brought up in trailheads to step way. But with the completion of the project with its refinery and network of pipelines, the alaska highway had its own fueling system. Gasoline was pumped through a pipeline to all points on the highway from watson lake. By october 1943, there was only one gap left in the highway, just east of the alaskayukon border. On october 13, the remaining gap was only a few hundred feet. There were two crews working toward each other. In this section, the ground stayed frozen all summer long down to a depth of 50 or 60 feet. If the surface cover were disturbed, the ground would quickly defrost, so the contractors used a technique peculiar to the north. Gravel and rock was on the ground and carefully spread over. This way insulation was provided to that already added by nature and the frost was permanently locked in. The Truck Drivers and superintendents and so on felt excitement. They were witnessing the end of five months of toil by many thousands of men. It was 6 00. The sun was down. The bulldozers moved it in, their blades high. The alaska highway was finished. A handshake marked the end. This is the road these men built. This is as good a road as any gravel road in the world. Its better in alignment and grade than any road of comparable length in this country. But the alaska highway is much more than a road, much more than a brilliant construction peas. Construction peas. Construction piece. It is the bone of our northwest. Its smooth surface provides the same allweather route from trucks and cars in canada to alaska. Through the 1600 miles of integrated pipelines, fuel to supply the roads, airports, and flight strips is readily available. Now we can press home the attack. This is the road through the brooding northern wilderness. This is the wedge to pry open the last great frontier of america. The key which unlock the Treasure Chest of america and the northwest. Join us today at 10 30 a. M. As we are live from the National World war i museum in kansas city, missouri, to make the centennial of americas entry into the great war. During the live callin program include matthew naylor, National World war i ecm and memorial president and coee. The world war i Centennial Commission historical advisor and author of 47 days how pershings warriors came of age. Richard faulkner, authors of persians crusaders. Pershings crusaders. Clark, live today at 10 30 a. M. Eastern on American History tv on cspan 3
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