$10
Selling is a 1943 magazine article about: Alaskan Highway Title: Alaskan Highway an Engineering Epic Author: Froelich Rainey The article is subtitled “Mosquitoes, Mud, and Muskeg Minor Obstacles of 1,671-mile Race to Throw the Alcan Life Line Through Thick Forests and Uninhabited Wilderness”Lots of information on the US engineers (and others) building the ‘Alaskan-Canadian Military Highway’. Lots of details on the men and equipment, the country passed through, and the wildlife. Quoting the 1st page “Two mosquitoes were discussing a soldier. 1 piped, "You take him by the heels and I'll take him by the head and we'll carry him home to eat." But the other said, "Oh, no, if we try that, 1 of the big fellows will take him away from us!" Every soldier on the Alaskan highway has chuckled at this tall tale and added his own observations-all unprintable-on 1 of the most aggravating difficulties of his job. The famous mosquitoes constituted only 1 difficulty which made life miserable for thousands of troops in the north woods. Mud so deep that even tractors were swallowed up, dust ankle high which rose in clouds like a dense fog so that a convoy of trucks could be spotted from many miles away, jellylike muskeg which had to be bridged with corduroy, cold, drizzling rain, frigid nights, vicious black flies, and ravenous gnats-all these now are part of the epic of the road. Black men and white have cursed the country in a score of American dialects, and many have remarked at 1 time or another that if the J**s conquered the country it would only serve them right. Yet they are all not a little proud of the job they have done. When it is all over, some will return to settle the wilderness they have breached. It has been said that the Alaskan-Canadian Military Highway-"Alcan" for short-is the greatest achievement of the U. S. Corps of Engineers since the construction of the Panama Canal. The building of 1,671 mis of highway in itself does not seem impressive to Americans familiar with our own vast highway system. But there were 2 factors which made this particular task an almost incredible feat. 1 was the necessity for speed; the other was inaccessibility. The road must go through in 1 summer, and in the North the summer is brief. There were only 3 points of access-in Alaska, Yukon Territory, and British Columbia-and only 1 settlement which could be called a town on the entire route. The country was a wilderness and some of it was barely explored. There were no adequate maps and, of course, no detailed survey for the route. In theory the U. S. Army Engineers were to build an "access road," sometimes called a "tote road," which civilian contractors, operating under the Public Roads Administration, were to utilize in the construction of the finished highway. This Army road was to be just a trail pushed through at high speed. But thousands of men and hundreds of machines require a constant flow of supplies in enormous quantities, and no trails through the northern forests could carry such a traffic. Once they thrust out into the wilderness, men and machines must build well or starve…” 7” x 10”, 12 double-sided pages, 21 B&W pictures plus four maps. These are pages from an actual 1943 magazine. No reprints or copies.Exceptional condition. 43B1 Please note the flat-rate shipping for my magazine articles. Please see my other auctions and store items for more old articles, advertising pages and non-fiction books. Click Here To Visit My eBay Store: busybeas books and adsThousands of advertisement pages and old articlesAnything I find that looks interesting! Please see my other auctions for more goodies, books and magazines. I’ll combine wins to save on postage. Thanks For Looking! Luke 12: 15 Note to CANADIAN purchasers: Since 2007 I've only been charging 5% GST on purchases. Thanks to a recent CRA audit I must change to the full GST/HST charge. Different provinces have different rates, though most are just 5%. My GST/HST number is 84416 2784 RT0001 Powered by eBay Turbo Lister
