The Alaska Highway stretches 1523 miles from Dawson Creek, British Columbia to Delta Junction, Alaska, where it links up with the Richardson Highway to Fairbanks. Canada claims 1190 miles of the project, begun in 1942 as a response to Japanese imperialism in the Pacific. However, the idea of a highway that linked the United States and Alaska had been proposed much earlier. While many of these proposals were for economic gain initially, World War II was the essential stimulus that brought about the building of the highway. The purpose at that time was defense and supply of the west coast from Japanese aggression. Only later would the road prove economically fruitful to the people of Canada and Alaska. The "pioneer road", as it was called initially due to its rugged construction, cost $140 million and included 133 major bridges, a maximum elevation of 4250 feet, numerous hairpin ninety degree turns and a grade at some places of 10%. Below is a chronological outline of the proposals and construction of the highway to Alaska. (Map of region before WW2, from Lanks)

1865 - Phone line proposal by the Western Union Telegraph Company.

1867 – Alaska bought by the United States from Russia.

1899 – American railroad builder FH Harriman proposed a railroad to Alaska that would link up with a Russian railroad. This was abandoned in 1904 when the Russians lost the war with the Japanese (Russo – Japanese War) and were thus unable to build the railroad they had planned on.

1931 – A Congressional committee endorsed a plan to build a highway to Alaska. Little action is taken.

1933 – Slim Williams mushed his sled dogs from Alaska to Chicago’s World’s Fair in order to gain public support for a highway to Alaska.

1939 – Williams and his friend Logan "motorcycle" (very primitively while bushwhacking) from Fairbanks to Seattle, trying to show the governments that the highway is possible and practical from an engineering standpoint.

December 7, 1941 – Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, and Japan and the United States officially entered World War II. Fearing a west coast attack, the possibility of an emergency supply and mobilization route is looked into.

February 6, 1942 – The Chief of Staff of the US Army announces the plan to build a military highway to Alaska. The project becomes known as ALCAN, short for "the Alaska – Canada Military Highway".

February 11, 1942: President Franklin Roosevelt gives his consent for the highway to be built.

March 9, 1942: The first American troops arrive at Dawson Creek, British Columbia to begin construction. Dawson Creek is flooded with soldiers, engineers, supplies, equipment, etc…(Picture of bridge, from Lanks)

March 1942: The route is surveyed through the wilderness of the Canadian northwest. .

June 4 1942: The Japanese bomb Dutch Harbor on Attu, and later invade the Aleutian island of Kiska. Fear of Japanese aggression escalates and the construction of the highway is seen as essential

September 24, 1942: The 35th and 340th Engineers link up at Contact Creek, which is by the Yukon and British Columbia border. This completed the southern sector of the highway. (Picture from Twichell)

October 25, 1942 – 18th Engineers and 97th Engineers link up, which opens the "pioneer road" to traffic. (Picture from Twichell)

November 20, 1942 – The road officially opens, a formal ceremony is held in celebration 8 months, 12 days after beginning construction at Soldier's Summit, at milepost 1061. (Picture from Twichell)

1946: The United States Army turns over the upgrading and maintenance of the highway to the Canadian Army.

April 1, 1964: The Canadian Army bequeaths upgrading to the Canadian Federal Department of Public Words. Currently, 90% of the road is paved.