RSS
Home
On This Day: The Alaska Highway's completion was celebrated
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
November 21, 1942: The Alaska Highway's completion is celebrated at Soldier's Summit. On February 6, 1942, the threat of invasion of the US was a real and present danger so construction of a highway connecting Alaska to the US mainland was finally approved. Proposals for a highway connecting the territory to the Lower 48 were first proposed in the 1920s. Since most of the roadway was through Canada, their approval was paramount. However, the only Canadians likely to benefit were a few thousand residents of the sparsely populated Yukon Territory. Canada did not immediately give approval.
After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, priorities for both the US and Canada changed. Actual construction on the highway began on March 8, 1942. The 95th Engineer Regiment, comprised of 10,607 men built the 1,522 mile road in only 8 months. The road was completed on October 28 and the celebration on this date was broadcast via radio – although the temperature was bleeped out due to security issues. The road was rugged and impassible for most civilian cars until 1943. Even then, steep grades and uneven surfaces especially on tight switchbacks made the drive treacherous. Pontoon bridges were replaced with log bridges and eventually steel bridges were built.
The 95th Engineer Regiment was understaffed, like many during this harried time. General Simon Bolivar Buckner, son of a Confederate general, was faced with this shortage and the unique way it was filled. He needed troops and so was sent 3,695 men to swell the ranks to build the road. Black men. The general's dislike of these troops was legendary. They were ill-clothed and lived in tents while the temperatures were -40º F and a record low of -79º F was established. These men, mostly from the South, did a remarkable job and many were decorated for their efforts. As a result of the work by these men, integrated troops became the standard.
The Alaska Highway is also called the Alaskan-Canadian Highway or ALCAN Highway. It runs from Dawson Creek, British Columbia through Whitehorse, Yukon and stops at Delta Junction, Alaska. The historic end of the highway is around milepost 1,422 where it meets Richardson Highway. Mileposts on Richardson are numbered from Valdez, Alaska. ALCAN is not officially part of the Pan-American Highway, but the road is commonly considered part of the vast network reaching all the way to Argentina.
+++
"Strike while the iron is hot." – James Howell
"That policy that can strike only while the iron is hot will be overcome by that perseverance, which like Cromwell's, can make the iron hot by striking: and he that can only rule the storm must yield to him who can both raise and rule it." – C.C. Colton
"We cannot afford to miss an advantage. Never was any man too strong for his proper work." – Ralph Waldo Emerson
"When war begins, then hell openeth." – George Herbert
Related Articles:
Comments
