The daily monitor leader. [volume] (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1942-19??, 1943-09-09

sea route 10 Alaska But ne also
insists that the Alaska Highway
is considerably more than an
emergency detour.
This road, according 10 the
Canadian historian and explorer,
Richard Finnie, has opened up
the territory at least SO years
ahead of time, Col RoSengren
declares, and al the cost OF
less than one battleShip.
AS proof ne cites some of the
highway permanent sounding
functions II is a route 10 Russia,
which conceiVabiy can be a
trade route after the war. It's
construction has made possible
a new telegraph line that par
allels il, and The l600-mile Canol
pipeline which. now nearing
completion, IS a. an azing and
heroic an engineering achieve
men, as the highway itself And
the road also has linked the
NorthWcStS alriieidS and opened
the region TO large aircraft.
Before the highway was built,
the territory u traverSes could
be flown only by small planes
fitted with pontoons IN summer
and skis IN winter. There were
times in the spring and tall
when no air travel was possible.
And landing fields were few and
tar apart because of the ire
Wendous problem of getting fuel
and supplies 10 them.
But the engineers enlarged
old landing fields, built new
ones and installed emergency
landing strips along the nigh
way Now, when weather per
miis, the Yukon and Alaska are
being flown by big cargo and
passenger and military planes.
The Canol pipeline serves two
highly important purposes. 1t
pumps aviation gasoline and
other petroleum products in all
directions out of Whitchorse
on the Alaska Highway, which
IS connected with the port OF
SkagWay by the Homie, mar
row guage White Pass and Yu-
kon Railroad II viii bring
crude and cracked oil. ana
some gasoline, from the Norman
Wells neld.
Norman Wells is a vast oil de
post lying rs miles south of the
Attic Circle. The estimated
supply Is military secret, but
the Army spoke of an ocean of
oil when IT announced that il
had acquired rights TO the field $
further development
Norman Wells was discovered
in 1889 by the explorer Alexan-
der Mackenzie, and is situated
along the river that bears hi.
name A Canadian firm drilled
the first well there in 1919
closed down in 1925, and reop.
cned IN the l930S when new rad
ium and gold mines in the terri
tory offered an outlet for IL,
product. A refinery was bull,
there IN 1889, and IN May, 1912
the u. S. War Department con.
tracted 10 extend the develop.
ment and construct the pipeline
STILL THREATENS JAPAN
Colonel Rosengren admit.
that ships and railroads are still
the best transportation mediums
and are still the principal sourc-
es of Alaskan supply But he
Will not admit that the 10000
soldier-engineers and 1000 civ
ilians who built the highway
have fought cold and ice anc
frostblte, and mud and dust anc
mosquitoes, in vain. For the
highway adds another barrel tc
the gun that now is pointed al
Japan.
And what about the Alaska
Highway when the war is over?
II Will revert TO Canada SIN
months after the end of hoStlh.
ties. His guess, echoed by com
petent Canadian opinion, is that
the road Will be kept open and
IN operation.
II may become the path TO a
Canadian treasure house as yet
undiscovered Yukon and Mac