This national defense mind-set brought to the forefront the issue of linking Alaska with the United States via a road. It was not a new idea. As early as 1929, the United States and Canada had each formed its own International Highway Association. Headquartered respectively in Fairbanks and Dawson, Yukon Territory, their mutual goal was a highway through Canada connecting Alaska with the lower forty-eight and stimulating commerce along the way. By the American association’s optimistic estimate, such a 1,350-mile, sixteen-foot-wide gravel thoroughfare from Prince George, British Columbia, to
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