FAQ:
History of Alaska
|
|
| "The Alaska
Highway |
| winding in
and winding out |
| fills my mind
with serious doubt |
| as to whether
"the lout" |
| who planned
this route |
| was going to
hell or coming out!" |
|
-
Retired Sergeant Troy Hise
|
|
(written
while he was stationed at Summit Lake, Historical
Mile 392)
|
|
The bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941 spurred construction
of the Alaska Highway. Alaska was considered vulnerable to
a Japanese invasion, and the highway was deemed a military
necessity. Construction of the Alaska Highway began in March
1942, and was completed 8 months later.
 Regiments of
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers were moved north to work
on the road. The Public Roads Administration organized civilian
engineers and equipment, shipping everything from office furniture
to trucks thousands of miles north.
The general route of the highway, determined by the War Department,
was along a line of existing airfields from Edmonton, AB,
to Fairbanks, AK. But down on the ground, the road followed
existing winter roads, old Indian trails and rivers. Sometimes
routing of the road relied on "sight engineering."
 Soldiers
of the 36th Regiment from the south and the 340th Regiment
from the north met at Contact Creek near the British Columbia-Yukon
Territory border on Sept. 24, 1942, marking completion of
the southern sector of the Alaska Highway. By October, it
was possible for a vehicle to travel the entire length of
the highway, which had been dubbed the Alaska-Canada Military
Highway, or "Alcan" for short.
Literally bulldozed through the wilderness, road conditions
along the Alcan were horrific; 90 degree turns and 25 percent
grades were not uncommon. Rain and truck traffic turned sections
of the road into an impassable mire. The highway was improved
in 1943.
In exchange for the highway's right-of-way through Canada
and other considerations, the United States paid for construction
of the highway and turned over the Canadian portion of the
highway to the Canadian government in April 1946. The highway
officially opened to the public in 1948.
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