Senator Ernest Gruening, formerly a governor of the state, was the main booster of Rampart; he lobbied for it with a zeal that bordered on the fanatic. Behind him were pressure groups like Yukon Power for America, or the more picturesque North of the Range association, which said in its brochures that Alaska’s future depended on “coming forward with both guns blazing.” What mattered most to the boosters was that Rampart was an opportunity—the first real opportunity—to leave mankind’s mark on a place that held it in magnificent contempt. George Sundborg, Gruening’s administrative assistant,
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