Truck bringing supplies to the construction site, Alaska-Canada Highway, 1942
The three postcards shared this week are part of a set of cards distributed by Provincial News Co. Ltd., of Edmonton, Canada. The total number of cards in the set is at this time unknown. The occasion for the cards was the building of the Alaska Highway, also known as the ALCAN highway. The unused cards have an undivided back and small set numbers at the lower left on the front. For example, the card above has the number 2. At the lower right corner is WIB or W1B Photo. At the bottom margin under a description of the photograph is “Approved by Northwest Service Command, U.S. Army.” These are historical cards with black and white photographs.
The first card shows a truck hauling supplies to a construction site on the Alaska highway. Beginning in the 1920s there were desires to build an international highway on the west coast spanning the United States and Canada. To promote the idea of a highway, Thomas McDonald, director of the U.S. Bureau of Public Lands, traveled along the proposed route by dogsled. However, the Canadian government did not want to allocate funds for a road that would only benefit a few thousand people living in Yukon, hence the idea of such a road was abandoned for a time. The subject was brought up again in 1936 and 1937 but at that time the Canadians feared such a road would prevent Canada from remaining neutral if a war broke out between Japan and the United States. The attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 and the threats of war on the west coast changed priorities for both countries and Canada agreed to allow construction of the road and other facilities in Canada if the United States bore the entire cost. Construction began in March 1942 and the road was completed the same year. It was about 1700 miles or 2700 km long. The route starts at Dawson Creek, British Columbia and runs to Delta Junction, Alaska via Whitehorse, Yukon. Years later sections were straightened resulting in a slightly shorter distance of 1387 miles or 2232 km.
The road was opened for public use in 1948. It was a rough, unpaved road, with steep grades, switchbacks, few guardrails, and temporary log bridges that were later replaced by steel bridges where necessary. Legendary for being a challenging drive, today the entire length is paved. I can remember my parents talking about wanting to make that drive up to Alaska and calculating how much extra food, gas and tires they would need to take with them in order to make the trip because in those days there were no gas stations, motels, stores or other conveniences along the route. Thinking back on it now, I suppose my brother and I would have been left at home with our grandmother and aunt who both lived with while we were growing up. Although Mom and Dad went to Alaska several times, they never had the opportunity to drive the great adventure they talked about. My youngest son; however, and one of his brothers-in-law drove a new car up to his sister-in-law in Anchorage a few years ago. It was still an adventure and involved some camping along the way, but it was nothing like the primitive trip my parents dreamed of doing.
View of the highway through Bushland and Muskeg, 1942
This second postcard, numbered 6 at the lower left corner, shows a section of the highway. As can be seen by the photo the road at that time was basically a one lane, two rut, road.
On the highway with a from the shoreline of a lake, 1942
The last postcard, numbered 10 at the lower left, shows two vehicles parked by a lake and provides glimpse of the beautiful lakes and mountains along the way as well as the unimproved conditions in 1942.
For additional information, see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Highway
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