Following Flooding Highways in the Magnificent North West – Alaska (part II)

Bigger isn't better, better is better. 

Mike McCormack

Ravages of time, Kennecott Copper Mine

Wrangell Mountains in the background

Root Glacier moraines covered with gravel in between

This year’s score: beavers, 2, humans, 0.  Such was the answer to a question I posed a resident, when I asked about the water covering parts of the 60-mile dead-end gravel road leading to the minuscule supply town of McCarthy near the Kennecott Copper Mine. 

The drive to McCarthy follows the now defunct railroad tracks that moved about one billion pounds of copper out of the aptly named Bonanza Ridge from 1911 to 1938.  Being an ancient railway bed, one must vigilantly be on the lookout for old tire-puncturing spikes.  Being far away from anyone and in the wild, one hesitantly cross large ponds or small rivers created by beaver dams, unsure of their depths.

Each season, to help dry up the road, locals mutilate these dams, but a few days later, the beavers rebuild their homes and water covers the road anew.  At the time I visited, the score was beavers 2, humans 0.

On the way in, and again on the way out, I pass an elusive lynx nonchalantly walking in the tall grasses along the road, a rare sight, especially in broad daylight, thanks to the remoteness of this seldom visited area.  It quickly made me forget about spikes, water, and overall rough road, driven at only twenty miles per hour.  Three hours to cover the sixty miles to McCarthy and the Kennecott Copper Mine in the amazing Wrangell-Saint-Elias National Park and Preserve.  Thankfully, as I will discover, well worth it.

This park is massive, encompassing more than 15% of all US natural park land.  At more than 13 million acres, it is the equivalent of Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Switzerland combined!  It would take many lifetimes to see it all.  With limited road access, it is one of the least visited (one-tenth of Denali’s visitors) which, in a way, is a shame, but its beauty and charm are magnified by this splendid isolation. 

Nicknamed the Mountain Kingdom of North America, the park contains 9 of the 16 tallest peaks in North America, more mountain peaks than anywhere else in the world, 150 glaciers, and the largest non-polar piedmont glacier (the size of Rhodes Island), the Malaspina.  This icefield is 2,000 feet thick even though it lost 66 feet between 1980 and 2000.  Follow any braided river or stream to its source and you will find either a receding or advancing glacier. 

Full of active volcanoes, it is within ten miles of tidewater, making it one of the highest reliefs in the world as well, going from 18,000 feet to sea level in that short distance.  The Hubbard Glacier is the longest tidewater glacier in Alaska, with six miles of sea frontage.  It is one of the most active glaciers in the world and one of the few still advancing (only 5% of them in the world).  From the ocean, the 350-foot wall of ice you see in front of you is supported by a hidden 250-foot wall below the waterline.  That ice is at least 450 years old by the time it reaches water!

In Wrangell-Saint-Elias, you also find the longest valley glacier in the world, the Nabesna Glacier, and a 3,000-foot thick icefield that is 127 miles long, the Bagley icefield.  Nearly 35% of the park is covered by various types of glaciers, and 60% is permanently ice-covered terrain, making for a very short summer season.

This park is contiguous with Kluane Park (Yukon, Canada), Glacier Bay Park (US), and Tatshenshini-Alsek Park (BC, Canada).  Together they make up 24 million acres, one of the largest natural areas in the world.

The county where McCarthy is situated was a dry county when the Kennecott Copper Mine was active.  At the mine itself, 4.5 miles from McCarthy, the law was followed.  Folks in McCarthy however, figured out a way to take full advantage of the situation and kept alcohol flowing.  People living at the mine would not hesitate to visit ‘debaucherous’ McCarthy when it was time to celebrate, calling it ‘A Good Time Trip’.  A dance hall, five brothels, and many saloons welcomed them. 

Bootlegging was widespread and the train operators had created a way of warning the people of McCarthy if ‘the law’ was onboard when they entered the town using a special whistle sequence.  At the distinct cautionary sound, all liquor would quickly be hidden from sight.

Although a dry village, all buildings at the Kennecott Copper Mine had the modern-day conveniences of steam heat, electricity, and running water.  Even the very first x-ray machine in Alaska was in use here. 

To accommodate the workers, the town had a barn, a school, a hospital, a power plant, a machine shop, a post office, a sawmill, a recreation hall, gender-based bunkhouses (the one for the ladies was called ‘No Man’s Land’), and a general store (except for alcohol, selling everything needed at fair prices to keep workers living here.  Tobacco and chocolate so highly prized, they were locked up).  Management and specialty staff rented separate cottages in an area derogatorily called ‘Silk Stocking Row’.

To work here, women had to be single.  The few jobs available to them were teachers, nurses, nannies, and secretaries.  Other than teaching the 20 or so children that lived at the mine over the years, adults went to school studying English and for their citizenship exams.  They were from Norway, Finland, Sweden, Ireland, Greece, Japan, and China.  Women organized social activities like dances and plays, hiking, sports, and provided a lending library. 

By contrast men were offered many options: miner, doctor, engineer, accountant, mineralogist, chemist, mill operator, electrician, plumber, machinist, construction, storekeeper, postal worker, cook, supervisor, etc. 

Although it is very likely that prospecting expeditions wouldn’t have survived without the help from the Ahtna Alaskan Natives, fewer than two (possibly none) worked in the mines.  Attitudes towards race at the time likely excluded them. 

Despite all these amenities to enhance their life, few stayed longer than six months or until they earned enough money to prospect elsewhere. 

‘The miners all dressed warmly…

The interior of the mine was very cold. 

Without doubt the Kennecott Copper Company received a

man day’s work from each employee who was

forced to keep going to stay warm.’

Emil Goulet, miner 1931-32

Kennecott (the town, the glacier, and the river) were named after Robert Kennicott (the different spelling a past clerical error, but both accepted) who worked for the Smithsonian Institution.  In 1859, he identified Alaska’s natural history specimens and joined a mission, in 1865, to determine a telegraph line between the USA and Russia via the Bering Strait. 

As WWI was approaching, the price of copper was very high since it was in great demand.  JP Morgan and Guggenheim (aka Alaska Syndicate) bought rights to the mine and were adamant that a train track to carry the ore to be processed in Tacoma, Washington, be finished by April of 1911.  To that end, the last 13 miles were built in just 7 days!  Within days of completion, the first trainload of ore worth $250,000 rolled down to Cordova, coastal Alaska, on its way to Tacoma via water.

At the peak of railroad construction, Copper River & Northwestern Railway – (CR&NW) nicknamed Can’t Run & Never Will, by skeptics, 6,000 laborers blasted and pounded 196 miles of tracks to the Kennecott Copper Mine.  It included 129 bridges (the largest being 1,500 feet wide and costing over $1.4M of the total $23M for the whole track), blasting tunnels, and erecting 273 wood trestles.  Five and a half miles of tracks were laid on the Allen Glacier.  

Of the 196 miles to the Kennecott Copper Mine

Nearly 30 miles or 273 wooden trestles were built.

Above is what is left of the Gilahina Trestle

Burnt and rebuilt in 10 days in 1915

The original was built in 8 days in 1911, in temperatures

as low as -67°F!  Measuring 880 feet long by 90 feet tall

To make construction more interesting, many cases of liquors were gambled to see which team would build trestles the fastest.  Sparks from passing trains created huge fire risks so water barrels were placed at each end of the wood trestles and bridges. 

This construction took place in extremely difficult terrains and conditions.   They had to negotiate massive cliffs, raging rivers, frozen ground, canyons, and glaciers.  It was so cold, they had to blast holes in the ground to insert pilings and they had to pre-drill before hammering nails into the timber so it wouldn’t split. 

For expediency, when the train derailed, the tracks were moved to where the train had derailed and rejoined.  They didn’t even try to move the train back on track. 

Even though they were using the world’s largest rotary snowplows to clear drifting snow, during the construction, a large avalanche buried a train with 160 men for 21 days. 

Bridges would wash-out each spring as large chunks of ice swept down-river.  The tracks’ upkeep was horrendous.  It was through a feat of engineering skills, astounding determination and sheer perseverance that the mine, through constant train transportation, was kept open year-round.

‘Give me enough dynamite and snoose (tobacco) and I will build a railroad to hell.’

Michael J Heney (aka Big Mike)

Colorful character and builder of the railroad to the Kennecott Copper Mine

He died of TB, six months before it’s completion

Crossing the footbridge over the silty Kennecott River to McCarthy

Four and a half miles from Kennecott Copper Mine

Rigor Mortis, 1953

Someone built this ‘Bush Truck’ out of road-tested parts

It was used until 1990, now showcased by the road 

McCarthy, the debaucherous but cute... sister to Kennecott Copper Mine

Old hardware store in McCarthy

Town so small, you are asked to pack out your own garbage

They do not have a system to handle trash

At one time, 300 people lived and worked at the Kennecott Copper Mine.  Nearly that many more lived at the various mine sites.  At the peak of production, trains pulling as many as 40 ore cars left daily, each car having a capacity of 100,000 pounds! 

Total production of the mine: 

• Ore: 4,625,909 tons at a value of $200M carried on the ‘Railway to Riches’…
• % of copper:  12.79%, some of the ore was pure enough to send directly to Tacoma, WA, for processing, other had to be isolated and concentrated first
• Copper:  591,535.4 tons
• Uses:  Electrification, industrial development and munitions for WWI 

The last train out was in 1938.  Rails were salvaged for scrap and the corporation left behind just enough equipment to get the Power Plant running again if needed ever.  

Ma Johnson Hotel, McCarthy

Last census lists 20 residents here.

It was free to travel to work at the Kennecott Copper Mine, but you had to pay to get home.  Hands made $4-$5/day, Millwrights $5-$7/day, and Supervisors $8,000/year.  Room and board rates were about 25% of your wages or $1.25-$1.50/day, and healthcare cost $0.08/day.  A brothel visit lightened your wallet by $5, or one-day’s wage…  In 1917, a 45-day strike gave workers an $0.08 raise.  In exchange, they had to sign a pledge not to join a union. 

Old horse-drawn carriage

Forgotten part of Town of McCarthy

Moraine field looks like gravel waves

These used to be so tall,

one could not see the mountains beyond

How they have shrunk!

Concentration Mill (right)

Tallest wood building in the US at 14-stories tall

Added on over the years, the connections between the different

floors are precarious at best.  A bit dangerous yet interesting to visit.

Construction of the mill evolved over 20 years

as new mining processes were developed.

Resulting in the current unusual roof line and

jumbled appearance of the iconic red building.

Red, because it was the cheapest color at the time

Many new mining inventions materialized here including the very first ammonia evaporation system in 1923, the true reason this became a National Monument.  Kennecott was able to extract up to 98% of the copper ore with these new and enhanced techniques.

Power Plant chimneys at the Kennecott Copper Mine

As I leave Wrangell-Saint-Elias, there is still a faint smell of Balm of Gilead hanging in the air, the trees haven’t fully leaf out yet.  Now without a schedule to arrive before dark at the end of an unknown gravel road, I take more time to notice my surrounding on the way out.  The road is lined with bear scats, the hills are covered with tiny flowers, as well as some wild berries ready to eat.  As I hit the main highway again, I smile when I see signs for snowmobile crossing, moose crossing, and timber truck crossing.  Many bicyclists are heading south, a lone one, this late in the season, heading north.  Biking or motorcycling Alaska’s great expanses seem to be on many people’s bucket list.

Denali Highway, remote and wild

Moving on to the more popular, and therefore crowded, Denali National Park and Preserve, I take the slippery graveled Denali Highway where I am surrounded by a beautiful landscape created by ancient glaciers.  The Alaska Range makes a stately backdrop to the three river drainages I cross along the way.  This highway used to be the only road to Denali, but with the advent of better ways to reach the park, it is no longer well maintained and seldom used, except by fall hunters.  

Denali Highway – kettle pond

Formed by block of dead ice left behind by retreating glacier

A major gap in the mountains afford caribou a migration route.  It was a favorite hunting area for the natives.  The Nelchina caribou herd still migrates through this area and is heavily hunted in the fall (5,000 permits/year).  Glad I am not here during that time.

I am learning new words as I drive this area and read the various information boards.  

• Palsa, a small dome-like frost mound, usually 10-20 feet high, containing peat. 
• Kettle Ponds or Lakes, small ponds/lakes and depressions formed when chunks of ice broke off retreating glaciers and were buried in the glacial debris.  The ice eventually melted, leaving circular-shaped depressions called kettles. 
• Cousins of moraines, Eskers, are sinuous ridges of silt, sand, gravel and cobbles that were carried and deposited by a stream that flowed within the glacier, confined by walls of ice.  When the glacier melted away, these deposits were left as elongated mounds.  Eskers along this highway are some of North America’s most outstanding examples of this type of glacial feature. To cut cost, many roads are built on eskers. 
• Taiga, at cold latitudes, where there is a very short growing season, trees that survive under these very harsh conditions have stunted growth caused by permafrost, climatic conditions, elevation exposure and other factors.  These boreal forests are dominated by spruce trees.

Running through pristine wild country

Some type of whitish clay makes the road very slick when wet

It was raining the day I drove it

Interesting grey mud pattern on my pickup

Very hard to clean up

Called Mount McKinley for nearly 100 years, ‘Deenaalee’ is an Alaskan-Athabascan word meaning ‘the high one’ or ‘to be long or tall’ and interpreted as ‘the great one’, and that name is thought to have been used for over 10,000 years.  It finally returned to its original name 40 years after a request by local government officials.  McKinley, the 25^th president of the US, never visited Alaska and didn’t even have a connection to the area. 

At 20,310 feet, it is the highest mountain in North America.  As imposing as it is, however, you only have a 30% chance of seeing its often cloud covered peak.  It is so tall; it creates its own weather.  On a clear day, you can see Denali from as far away as Anchorage, 180 miles from it.  I was only able to see it from a distance while traveling the Denali Highway, between rain showers.

It takes 1-2 weeks to become acclimated to such altitude, limiting the ascent to 1,000 feet per day at elevations above 10,000 feet.  It takes the average person 21 days to make the ascent because everyone (without Sherpas to do it for them) must carry EVERYTHING in AND out including feces and pee (stored in special containers) so that Denali stays pristine. 

The park covers 6 million acres (larger than Massachusetts or New Hampshire) but you can only be driven by bus 92.5 miles into the heart of the park, Kantishna.  Hiking and biking are also allowed but most people visit by bus, keeping tourists contained in permitted areas, away from wildlife, preserving a better sense of wilderness.  Even campers who hike in MUST put their tents up at least half a mile away from the road, not visible to visitors. 

On the way in, our guide/driver Bear spotted, in the distance, a white dome and immediately reported the infraction to the main office.  To my untrained eyes, it was difficult to ascertain whether it was a rock or a tent. 

In the off-season, 100 full-time rangers, and some sled dogs, work here.  That number balloons to 300-500 rangers in the summer accompanied by 500 volunteers.  One hundred and forty bus drivers move 60-70 buses/daily containing an average of 40 people each.  A huge operation trying to keep track of nearly 700,000 visitors/year. 

The road was built from 1922 to 1938 but the first tourists arrived ahead of schedule.  The plan had been ‘wildlife preservation first, tourists later’, but in order to attract customers, Alaskan trains advertised the trails to the park one year before they existed. 

Our guide, Bear, told a story of road construction/warning orange cones continually being displaced or knocked over and road signs being broken.  It took them months to figure out who was playing these tricks on the road crews.  Finally, a road worker saw a bear playing with an orange cone and another scratching his back on a road sign, destroying it in the process.  They had to re-evaluate how to make better road signs after that. 

Bear shared the following anecdotes and facts:

• The local term for the roadside strip that is home to hotels and restaurants:  Glitter Gulch
• Hierarchy on the somewhat narrow and dangerous Denali road: grader (1^st), bus (2^nd), dump truck (3^rd). 
• Some bus drivers go to bus rodeos all over the US and our driver, Bear, has earned second place a couple of times.  To become a bus driver in Denali you must show you can back up a very narrow windy hill and turn extremely tight corners.  Not for the faint of hearts.
• There is evidence of 70 million years old dinosaurs in Denali.  That area hasn’t been open to the public yet.  They are debating if it ever will, for preservation sake.
• Now that many ice patches are melting, more artifacts than ever are discovered.  It is called ‘Ice Patch Archeology’.
• Arctic ground squirrels are the fast food of the tundra for bears, foxes, lynxes, gyrfalcons, hawks, wolverines, golden eagles, and many more.  During hibernation, ground squirrels bring their body temperature down to 28°F, their heartrate slows to one beat/minute, and their bodies are hard as if frozen.  This way, they only burn the equivalent of 2,000 calories per year!  Every two weeks, they shiver, and for 12 hours their heartrate and temperature return to near normal. 
• Black bears, overall, are more dangerous than brown/grizzly bears.  The best way to distinguish them is by checking if they have a hump between their shoulders.  That hump is filled with muscles for digging (grizzly), while the black bears can climb and do not have that protuberance.
• Bears start their hibernation end of September.  By end of December, first part of January, baby(ies) are born weighing only one pound.  They are hairless and their eyes are closed.  They latch onto a teat until they wake up at 15 pounds.  Female get pregnant only if fat enough.  Males will kill cubs to mate with sow again, so males and females are generally separated when female is with cub(s). 
• Interior brown bear (as in Denali’s park) grow to 8 feet tall and weigh 600 pounds, coastal brown bears are 9 feet tall and weigh 1,000 pounds, Kodiak brown bears are the king of bears at 11 feet tall and weighing 1,800 pounds!
• Moose are the largest of the deer family and can grow one pound/day of antler.  80” wide antlers can weigh 80 pounds.  With full antlers usually grown in November, their hearing goes up 30%, in time for mating.  For this expedited antler growth, they store calcium around their ribs.
• Caribou bulls and cows grow antlers.  Their antlers can grow one inch per day to 42” wide.  Cows hold antlers until their calves are born.  In this well-known insect infested northern short summer area, clouds of gnats can suffocate caribous. 
• When the number of hare and ptarmigan becomes too high, which happens about every 8 to 10 years, one of their primary food sources, willows, become toxic to them, naturally diminishing their population.  This means that lynx numbers also go down unless they can find Dall sheep to eat.
• Dall sheep are super skittish, they need more than one hour without traffic for them to come out.  Your only chance to see them is if you are on the first bus in the morning granted no bikers or hikers are near.    Their insulation is so good that infrared cameras are not set off by them.
• There are no reptiles in Denali, only wood frogs.
• Wolves are so important to the ecosystem; they can even change the course of rivers. 
• Unbeknownst to me, Alaska is home to wild horses, pelicans, and even swans.  I saw the beforementioned birds but not the horses as they are in a part of Alaska I didn’t visit.  Each time I saw swans, there looked to be only one pair per lake, sometimes with babies.  I never saw more than a pair at a time. 

What we were lucky enough to see in Denali that day:  grouse, fox, short-eared owl, duck (3) , osprey, northern harrier (7), merlin, wolves, bear, ptarmigan (3), hare (3), white breasted goose (10), muskrat, moose, caribou (countless), grizzly (28), etc.  Some calm and just feeding or resting, but also a bear chased by a moose, two moose sparring, a male grizzly fishing, and a caribou herd crossing a braided river.  Animals often travel the gravel bars where they can walk effortlessly, see for a long distance, and easily flee if they sense a predator. 

My favorite sighting however was of two cubs perched on their hind legs looking at our bus.  They seemed to be trying to alert their mother of the larger intruder, but she paid them no heed, and continued to eat.  Eventually, their franticness made her uncomfortable enough to run down the road with them, away from us.  

At Denali, Alaskan Husky sled dogs are still used today to

Patrol the park boundaries (especially checking for illegal hunting)

Bring goods to various locations (mostly construction supplies)

Go on rescue missions (saving lives)

Conduct sledding demonstrations

There are even road signs warning you of sled dogs crossing in the park

Dog traction is over 3,000 years old!

Joe Redington, father of the Iditarod, took sled dogs up

20,320’ Denali in May 1979.  They were led by

Susan Butcher, dog handler of Buster, Lucus, Candy, and Tekla.

The Alaskan Husky genetic history contains Malamute, Samoyed and Siberian Husky.  Pound for pound, sled dogs are the strongest draft animals on earth.  They average 60-80 pounds.  They are blessed with a very special circulatory system that keeps their core temperature warm even in frigid weather. 

It is now suspected that dogs began differentiating from wolves 135,000 years ago.  They were companions on a hunt, used for protection, a beast of burden and, even, as food in leaner times.  Dog burials are common.  Some dogs have been found carefully buried in a sleeping position with hunting tools, rattles, necklaces, and awls nearby.  

Fageol Safety Coach made in Oakland, California, circa 1924

Twenty-two passengers.  Each bench with its own door,

disappearing window, interior light and adjustable vents

Very modern for its time

Today – the park uses school buses

This is the one that took me to the end of the road – Kantishna

Our driver was Bear - - - the name suited him well

Can you see the mother bear and her two cubs?

In one day, we saw 9 mothers with two cubs each and

one lone male, for a total of 28 grizzlies in one day!

Said to be a new record for the park

Polychrome Mountains – Supposedly even more colorful in the fall

when full of cranberry, wine, gold, and pumpkin colors

Geologists have identified more than 100 unstable areas along

the winding road (landslides, mudslides) through the park. 

Global warming is worsening and destabilizing this already rugged road.

In 2000, 50% of Denali park is covered in permafrost

By 2050, only 6%, possibly closing many parts of the park.

Still following the fireweed – breathtaking view of the valley

In 2013, a 30,000 cubic yard avalanche took 4 days to clear up

Permafrost clay is held in place at up to 18-23 degrees

Warmer ground doesn’t hold soil at such high angles

Winter is growing old.

It’s not as tough as it used to be.

Catherine Attla, Athabasca Elder

As far as one can go on this road

Fairbanks:

Before I show a few photos from Fairbanks, I must mention the not so illustrious Skinny Dicks Halfway Inn even though I didn’t visit it.  Raunchy, ornery, type of pool hall / bar, not for everyone but different.  This town seems to be full of quirky people.  The night I spent at a local campground I saw a young lady walking her two dogs, one kid and one chicken.  Only the chicken was on a leash.  They use expressions such as Moosequitoes and Snomads.

Boy Ravens in Nails by Rachelle Dowdy, 2012

Courtyard of the Morris Thompson Cultural Center

Fairbanks, AK

Look at the size of these sunflowers!

They even make the outhouse look pretty

This Arch of Antlers might also be called an Arch of Stories.

Made up of more than 100 moose and caribou antlers

Collected from all over interior Alaska

‘Knitted and knotted together here are memories of campfires, packboards,

meat cutting tables, and warm kitchens shared with the remains of a winterkill,

or a shed antler setting into a favorite berry patch.  Relics of wild animals whose

language and life stories, we know only fragments.  The gift of the arch is to let us

imagine the personal stories and respect the intertwined lives represented here.’ 

Sandy Jamieson, artist

Left: ‘Anee Netyaaghe’, Oh My Blueberries, 2012

Right: ‘K’ets’eots’ene’, The Other World, The Spirit World, 2012

Both by Kathleen Carlo, Koyukon Athabascan from Nulato, Alaska

I was struck by the celebration of the ‘discoverer’ who is made into a hero in history. 

As an Indigenous man in Alaska I know that our history spans more than 10,000 years. 

We were not discovered.

Da-Ka-Xeen Mehner

Spare tire for a snow-motor, circa 1926 by Fordson

Hollow cylinders as ‘tires’

Quickly abandoned due to using too much fuel

Instead of chains in the winter

Studded tire cover in leather…

1932 Chrysler Custom Imperial Series CL, Convertible Sedan

The beauty of this museum is that each vehicle is accompanied

by an outfit of the same period, adding an interesting dimension

to their unique history. 

Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum, Fairbanks, AK

History is made by hand:

Delta Junction is Alaska’s northern terminus of the Alcan Highway.  It was constructed in 1942 during WWII, in response to a perceived threat from Japan after the Pearl Harbor bombing, it served as a military supply overland route to interior Alaska military and airfields, from the lower 48.  Army regiments, contractors and public roads administrators worked from Delta Junction, south, and Dawson Creek, north, to complete the road where they met at Soldiers’ Summit at Kluane Lake, Yukon Territory in November 1942.

The other end of the Alaska Highway, mile 1422

Mile 0 was in Dawson Creek (previous post)

Would you answer this recruitment poster for the Alaska Highway Construction Project? 

Help Wanted: 

Men hired for this job will be required to work and live under the most extreme conditions imaginable.  
Temperatures will range from 90 degrees above zero to 70 degrees below zero.  

Men will have to fight swamps, rivers, ice and cold.  
Mosquitoes, flies and gnats will not only be annoying but will cause bodily harm.  
If you are not prepared to work under these and similar conditions, do not apply.

Driven by wartime urgency, the highway took a little less than nine months to build, roughly the equivalent of eight miles of road built per day.  With 20 hours of daylight, the men worked double shifts.  The length keeps changing over the years as the road is straightened and improved.  At the time however, it was 1,422 miles.  Current mile-markers therefore differ from historic milestones.  Although completed in 1942 it did not open to the public until 1948.  Only heavy-duty vehicles could access its sometimes 25% steep grades, poor road surfaces, endless switchbacks with few or no guardrails.  At the time, ‘I Drove the Alaska Highway and Survived.’ Really meant something…

At the peak of construction, nearly 11,000 service men and 16,000 civilians deployed over 11,000 pieces of road building equipment.  The total construction cost was $115M. 

They used a unique way of building taught by the locals, called corduroy building.  Logs were laid perpendicular to road above swamps and marshes.  These logs were hard on horses to walk on because they moved but they helped keep the permafrost from thawing.  Construction workers learned that they could prevent the ground from thawing by leaving the stripped vegetation where it fell.  They then doubly-insulated the roadbeds by laying brush and log corduroy along the surface.  Much of today’s highway still has an underlayer of local spruce and poplar corduroy beneath it.  Some corduroy sections were 15 feet deep.

Even with today’s equipment, the project would be challenging.  Permafrost, muskeg, mosquitoes, gnats, and extreme cold were common problems.  In the summer months, the insects were so horrific that the men always wore netting. 

In one of the earliest and coldest falls ever recorded, the heavy equipment took a beating.  Harsh temperatures of -70F, froze lubricants, seized transmissions, and snapped axles.  Equipment had to be kept running 24 hours a day, shutting them off was out of the question.
The combination of brutal cold weather and the scarcity of spare parts meant many vehicles were abandoned and left to the elements where they broke down. 

According to report, the Alaska Highway was intentionally built with many crooks and turns so that convoys of supply trucks and equipment could not be entirely wiped out by enemy bombers strafing in a straight line.  Stories of the building also relate that, in some places, the swamp was so bad that crawler tractors would sink so deep they could not be retrieved, and the road was eventually built right over the top of some. 

Canada agreed to the building of the Alaska-Canada highway, on the condition that the United States foot the bill, and that the route be turned over to Canada after the war, which it was.

Today, Delta Junction is home to reindeer, elk, yak, and musk ox ranches, raised mostly for their meat.  Yaks are creating a lot of interest as possible pack animals as well.  Qiviut yarn from musk ox, is the softest and most expensive in the world.    

Chicken, Alaska

One of the few surviving Gold Rush towns

with a sense of humor:

‘Live like a fried egg, sunny side up’

‘I got laid in Chicken, Alaska’

One of the old bush buggies that now holds up an outdoor stage

Fun chicken head in front of defunct

Pedro Dredge used 1959-1967

In 1998, moved to Chicken in one piece weighing one million pounds

Tailing piles left behind look like gigantic earth worms

Invented in New Zealand

Today, only used in Siberia, for environmental reasons

Mail is flown to Chicken twice a week, weather permitting.  Only the hardiest of souls live here.  For a small fee, you can try your hand at panning for gold…  Kids do school by correspondence.  They say they have lots of wild animals in the area ‘not counting the bar patrons’: weasels, black bears, grizzlies, moose, snowshoe hares, lynxes, wolves, and many more.  

Man with top hat in red and white Metropolitan car

Red Onion Saloon

Skagway, Alaska

Skagway, from Skagua aka Windy Place.  During high season, four cruise ships a day dock here, making it way too crowded for such a small town.  I visited everything I could before or after cruisers were on land.    

Camp Skagway No:1

now home of the Visitor Information Center

Skagway, Alaska

Camp Skagway was the first of 30 Arctic Brotherhood fraternal halls for gold speculators and miners.  It was established in 1899, when 600 men/day arrived by steamers from Seattle and operated until 1920.  8,883 small pieces of driftwood collected from the shores of the Skagway Bay cover the front in a checkerboard pattern.  The letters AB, a gold pan, and some nuggets, all in yellowish wood rather than grey were the symbol of the brotherhood.  Called Victorian Rustic Architecture, it was restored in 2004-2005.  Of all the original driftwood pieces, 3,533 rotten ones were replaced, the other 5,300, preserved for another 100 years.  

Goodbye Alaska

Although I saw far fewer animals than when I visited northern BC in the late 1970’s, a sad statement about wilderness and nature’s demise in general, I was still happy to visit this area and, again, humbled by the scale of the landscape.  From past countless loon songs, I only heard them twice over 2.5 months.  They used to put me to sleep nearly anytime I was near water.  I missed them. 

Alaska is still a wonderland of glowing blue glaciers, towering mountains and some of the last nearly untouched wilderness in the US.  I was privileged to experience the majestic power of this untamed land.

Soon, I will be back in the USA via Yukon, and then I will be visiting a bit of Idaho, Montana, and the four corners area.  Next post…