Who Connected The Lower 48 to Alaska?
The 75 Year Old Road Connecting The Lower 48 To Alaska Celebrates Its Anniversary And The Buzz Reflects On The History Steeped In The Pavement
RVers will be heading north this summer on a journey that tops many bucket lists, following the Alaska Highway, formerly called the Alcan, through Canada to Alaska. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the opening of the road, the only land route from the “Lower 48” to our 49th state. Lots of celebrations are planned all along the more than 1,300-mile route from Milepost One in Dawson City, British Columbia, to Fairbanks, Alaska.
Today the Alaska Highway is paved throughout its length, with curves and hills smoothed out, and numerous spots to rest and refuel. But it wasn’t always so welcoming. The road, built during World War II as an overland means to supply war materials to Alaska, was the result of back-breaking work done under the worst possible conditions of both heat and cold, often with no equipment more advanced than pick and shovel.
Neal Gosman, whose father was an officer with one of the U.S. Army Engineering regiments assigned to build the road, has heard stories of what life was like for the men on the road crews. “The winter of 1942-43 turned record cold, with temperatures at 70 below for weeks on end,” he says. “The men were living in tents with snow piled on the outside the only insulation. The soldiers were underdressed and the Army vehicles weren’t heated. They had to keep the equipment running all night or they’d never get them started again.” Neal says that there are eyewitness reports, but no official records, of men being found by the side of the road frozen solid.
Summer was nearly as bad. “The brass in the Pentagon didn’t think there’d be any mosquitos so far north, so they didn’t send any mosquito netting,” Neal says.
Despite the difficulties, the regiments completed a gravel pioneer road in just eight months, well ahead of all projections. A dedication ceremony was held on Nov. 20, 1942, but construction continued all through the winter as the road was upgraded and bridges built.
Neal Gosman’s father served with the 95th Engineering Regiment (Colored) along the southern stretch of the highway. “All the officers of what were then called ‘colored’ units were white, except the chaplain,” he says. “My family always knew about the black regiments that worked on the road, but when I started doing some research, I discovered that most people didn’t know that black soldiers were up there.”
In fact, despite resistance from the Pentagon, over 3,000 of the 10,000 soldiers assigned to build the Alcan were black, many from the deep South. “The military was so short of manpower that they sent four black regiments up to work with the white regiments,” Gosman says. “And they exceeded all expectations. The fact that the black regiments performed as well or better than the white regiments made a big impression on the Pentagon and was one of the reasons that the Army was desegregated after the war.”
One famous example of the 95th’s abilities happened when a bridge needed to be built across a fast moving stream, Gosman says. “The 95th was on one side and the 35th, a white unit, was on the other. The men in the 95th took the challenge of building the bridge in three days, and bet their monthly paychecks on it. They built it in under three days, working day and night, and all done by hand, chopping down trees and wading into the freezing water to drive logs into the streambed. They won the bet and were written up in Time Magazine; it was a major morale builder for the men.”
Another black regiment, the 97th, worked on the northern end of the highway in Alaska, moving east from Big Delta on the Tanana River toward the Canadian border. Four hundred men from the 97th camped at Big Delta from Dec. 1942 to April 1943.
Big Delta had been a transportation hub since Gold Rush days when a trading post was established on the banks of the Tanana, according to Maureen Gardner, president of the Delta Historical Society. In 1903, the military signal corps ran a telegraph line through the area and established a base there. When the Alaska Road Commission built the first road in Alaska from Valdez to Fairbanks, now called the Richardson Highway, in 1905, wagons crossed the river by ferry at Big Delta. The men of the 97th spent the bitterly cold winter of 1942-43 in the Road Commission’s compound, while building a wooden bridge to replace the ferry.
The Big Delta trading post evolved into Rika’s Roadhouse, offering meals and lodging to travelers. Today, Rika’s has been restored and is the centerpiece of Big Delta State Historical Park. Maureen says that several of the older signal corps buildings house exhibits on the history of the area, from Gold Rush days through World War II and the building of the Alcan.
Big Delta, about 100 miles east of Fairbanks, is still welcoming travelers. The state park has a campground with sites for RVs. Rika’s Cafe serves homemade soups and desserts as well as locally made sausages of buffalo, reindeer and other exotic meats. A self-guided tour of the grounds leads past Rika’s homestead farm and buildings from various periods of Big Delta’s history. Guided tours of the grounds are available during summer.
The state park lies just 8 miles west of Delta Junction, the official end of the Alaska Highway (with the photo op sign to prove it). Unofficially, the Alaska Highway runs all the way to Fairbanks although the final 99 miles are actually part of the Richardson Highway. Maureen Gardner says when the Alcan met the Richardson, Delta Junction didn’t even exist.
“It was called Buffalo Center back then,” she says. “A local guy got worried about the declining moose population so he brought in 28 buffalo back in the 1920s. Today the herd is over 400 head.”
The essential role played by black troops in constructing the Alcan was finally recognized 50 years after its completion with a ceremony and an exhibit called "Miles and Miles" at the Pentagon in 1993. The name comes from a letter written by a black soldier: “It’s miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles.” For travelers embarking on their own Ultimate Road Trip on the Alaska Highway, a stop at Big Delta State Historical Park provides a chance to reflect on the pioneers and patriots who opened this frontier to the world.
Renne Wright
A graduate of Franconia College in Social Psychology, Renee has worked as Travel Editor for Charlotte Magazine and has written three travel guidebooks for Countryman Press among other writing assignments. She enjoys food and camping.
Make Sure To Stay At:
Big Delta State Historical Park is a ten-acre park with 23 RV camping sites. Facilities include picnic area, toilets, water and a dump station. The park is located 8 miles north of Delta Junction at Mile 274.5 of the Richardson Highway.