After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, a fear of invasion swept North America particularly the West Coast. Immediate steps needed to be taken to defend the Far Northwest. With Canada s approval, Washington drew up plans for an Alaska Highway to connect Edmonton, Alberta, with Fairbanks, Alaska, and a pipeline to connect oil fields in the Northwest Territories with the Pacific Coast. Between 1942 and 1946, about 40,000 American military and civilian personnel invaded the Canadian Northwest.
Where there had been few or no roads, a highway more than 1,500 miles long was built in...