The Alaska Highway : papers of the 40th anniversary symposium / edited by Kenneth Coates.

Format:

Book

Conference/Event

Author/Creator:

Coates, Kenneth, Author.

Alaska Highway 40th Anniversary Symposium, Corporate Author.

Contributor:

Coates, Kenneth, 1956-

Conference Name:

Alaska Highway 40th Anniversary Symposium (1982 : Northern Lights College)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Roads--Alaska--History--Congresses.

Roads.

Alaska Highway--History--Congresses.

Alaska Highway.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (241 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Vancouver, B.C. : University of British Columbia Press, 1985.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Few construction projects of the twentieth century match the building of the Alaska Highway for drama, setting, and engineering challenge. From the authorization for highway construction in February 1942 until the completion of a pioneer road through the harsh northern landscape, scarcely eight months passed. The struggle of "man and machine against the wilderness" conducted under the pressure of war captured the imagination of the North American public. The annual flood of tourists along the "Route of '42" suggests that this sense of drama and fascination is still alive. In recognition of the 40th anniversary of this episode in Canadian-American cooperation, a symposium was held at Fort St. John, one of several communities that were, and still are, profoundly affected by the building of the road. The papers presented at this interdisciplinary gathering of international scholars of the Canadian and American births illustrate the significance of the highway in such diverse spheres as Canadian-American relations, British Columbia politics, American military history, and the evolution of the northern society. The first three papers in the book deal with the negotiation and planning phases at the provincial and state levels in the 1920s and 1930s and with the considerations that led American military planners to push the road through as a wartime project. Surveying, building, maintaining, and operating the highway are the subjects of the following papers, while the next two deal with the postwar administration of the road by Canada. The remaining papers discuss the impact of the highway on Canadian-United States wartime relations and on the economy and society of the region � including its effects on the native population and wildlife resources � and on the eclipse of Dawson City as the administrative and economic centre of the Yukon Territory. With much new information and insight, this book makes an original and important contribution to twentieth-century Canadian history. It will be of interest not only to historians specializing in northern studies but also to local history buffs who inhabit the region traversed by the highway.

Contents:

Front Matter

Contents

Illustrations

Photo Credits

Preface

Acknowledgements

Planning the Highway

The Latent Fear: Canadian-American Relations and Early Proposals for a Highway to Alaska

T.D. Pattullo and the British Columbia to Alaska Highway*

The Realities of Strategic Planning: The Decision to Build the Alaska Highway

Building the Highway

General Bill Hoge and the Alaska Highway

Cut, Fill and Straighten: The Role of the Public Roads Administration in the Building of the Alaska Highway

The Army Medical Department and the Construction of the Alaska Highway

Surveying the Line: The Canadian Participation

Canadian Sovereignty and the Alaska Highway

The Army of Occupation: Malcolm MacDonald and U.S. Military Involvement in the Canadian Northwest*

The Alaska Highway in Canada-United States Relations

The Postwar Highway

"Really a Defile Throughout Its Length" The Defence of the Alaska Highway in Peacetime

The Civilian Highway: Public Works Canada and the Alaska Highway, 1964-83

The Impact of the Alaska Highway

The Alaska Highway and the Indians of the Southern Yukon, 1942-50: A Study of Native Adaptation to Northern Development

The Gravel Magnet:Some Social Impacts of the Alaska Highway on Yukon Indians

The Impact of the Alaska Highway on Dawson City

Index

Notes:

Papers presented at the Alaska Highway 40th Anniversary Symposium, held in June 1982 at Northern Lights College, Ft. St. John, B.C.

Includes bibliographies and index.

ISBN:

1-283-22650-2

9786613226501

0-7748-5751-X

OCLC:

236349693