THE HISTORY OF THE ALCAN HIGHWAY
The idea of laying a roadway to connect the United States with the North American continent’s ‘far north’ can be traced all the way back to the Yukon gold rushes of the 1890’s. It wasn’t till about the 1930’s that they started putting the idea into effect. The Alaska territorial legislature commission worked out different possibilities and routes.
It took the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor to finally get the work started which is kind of unfortunate. When World War ll occurred, our government worried that Japan would follow their previous footstep by attacking again just like they did in Hawaii with an invasion of Alaska. This worried very many people for a very long period of time.
After a few weeks from the Pearl Harbor attack, President Franklin D. Roosevelt decided to go back over the plans for the highway. This was the first step in what one army colonel characterized as the ‘biggest and hardest job since the Panama Canal.’ Working as group obstacles were overcome toward completion of the project. In only nine months a rapidly marshaled force of almost 16,000 soldiers and civilians forged 1,422 …show more content…
It is a hard-surfaced, all-weather highway that is safely used by residents, truckers, and tourists. In some places, stretches of the original highway can still be seen and visited on foot, providing a glimpse into what it may have been like for the men who constructed the unparalleled engineering feat, the Alaska Highway. More than 11,000 soldiers and engineers, 16,000 civilians and 7000 pieces of equipment were called upon to build this 1500 mile road through the vast wilderness of northern Canada and Alaska. In less than nine months these hardy men managed to connect Dawson Creek, British Columbia and Delta Junction, Alaska. And, on November 20, 1942, the official ribbon cutting took place at mile 1061, known as “Soldiers
The idea of laying a roadway to connect the United States with the North American continent’s ‘far north’ can be traced all the way back to the Yukon gold rushes of the 1890’s. It wasn’t till about the 1930’s that they started putting the idea into effect. The Alaska territorial legislature commission worked out different possibilities and routes.
It took the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor to finally get the work started which is kind of unfortunate. When World War ll occurred, our government worried that Japan would follow their previous footstep by attacking again just like they did in Hawaii with an invasion of Alaska. This worried very many people for a very long period of time.
After a few weeks from the Pearl Harbor attack, President Franklin D. Roosevelt decided to go back over the plans for the highway. This was the first step in what one army colonel characterized as the ‘biggest and hardest job since the Panama Canal.’ Working as group obstacles were overcome toward completion of the project. In only nine months a rapidly marshaled force of almost 16,000 soldiers and civilians forged 1,422 …show more content…
It is a hard-surfaced, all-weather highway that is safely used by residents, truckers, and tourists. In some places, stretches of the original highway can still be seen and visited on foot, providing a glimpse into what it may have been like for the men who constructed the unparalleled engineering feat, the Alaska Highway. More than 11,000 soldiers and engineers, 16,000 civilians and 7000 pieces of equipment were called upon to build this 1500 mile road through the vast wilderness of northern Canada and Alaska. In less than nine months these hardy men managed to connect Dawson Creek, British Columbia and Delta Junction, Alaska. And, on November 20, 1942, the official ribbon cutting took place at mile 1061, known as “Soldiers