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Show ! BEAVER PRESS . : Alaska Highway to Be Ready For Army Use About December 1 New 1,600 Mile 'Burma Road' Through Virgin Wilderness, Constitutes an Engineering Feat of First Magnitude. 'Alcan, "America's , Rough and Ready ?S;f ? completed in one year, the Alcan highway as it is now being constructed by the corps of engineers is a truck road for practically its entire length and will afford two-wa- y traffic over many long stretches. ' The highway begins at Dawson well-grade- well-drain- ... 1 . 1 James A. O'Connor, formerly in charge of construction on the south- ern sector of the road, has been assigned to head the new service command, with Col. Kenneth B. Bush, adjutant general's department, as chief of staff. Complete arrangements have been made by the army for winter , maintenance of the road. These plans include the construction of rest camps for the operators of I truck convoys, barracks for engineer maintenance troops and adequate weather observation and telephone installations to serve the entire length of the highway. All necessary facilities, equipment and supplies to service the road and keep traffic moving are being provided. The construction of the pioneer route through the virgin wilderness in such a short space of time constitutes an engineering feat by the army of first magnitude. It was not accomplished without physical hardship and privation on the part of the officers and men, but no handicaps of weather or terrain were sufficient to dampen the enthusiasm of the troops or retard progress. Aside from the endurance and efficiency of the force, among whom a large detachment of Negro troops acquitted themselves with special distinction, three main factors contributed to the speed with which construction has been carried on. ft and equipment to strategic locations in March, before the spring breakup of ice and snow made trails and rivers impassable. The second was the employment of aerial surveys, followed by stereoscopic analysis of aerial photoand tragraphs and the time-teste- d ditional engineer method of ground reconnaissance on foot, with pack-hors- e and The third was the use of bulldozers, tractors and other types of heavy equipment, without which the record for speed and construction could not have been achieved. The primary road was actually established by the powwhich plowed erful bulldozers, through the forests of native spruce, jackpine and aspen as if through cornfields, uprooting and pushing cut. trees literally off a Timbers for the construction of bridges, trestles and other structures were felled by the troops and processed by sawmills on the site. Ferries for crossing the many turbulent creeks and streams were improvised of rafts and pontoons. At one major crossing a large scow was built from forest lumber capable of transporting equipment weighing 40 tons. Extremes of neat and Cold. During March the troops battled bitter winds and temperatures as low as 35 degrees below zero, when it was impossible to drive a tent-pe- g into the frozen ground. During July and August they sweltered under a heat of more than 90 degrees and were forced to wear gloves and net helmets to protect themselves from the swarms of mosquitoes, flies and insect pests. In wet weather they slogged through bottomless mud; in dry weather portions of the road were shrouded in clouds of alluvial dust so fine that no mesh could exclude it. Through it all, however, according to official reports from the field, the morale of the men remained high and the job has gone forward at a rate which will bring the road to completion well in advance of the most optimistic estimate. The engineers report that the threats of muskeg proved wholly unfounded. Muskeg, a bog moss studded with sedge, has proved to be a minor problem. Most of it has been successfully skirted and that which was unavoidable has been overcome with corduroy roads. In one particular section of 60 miles in length, reported to consist principally of muskeg, only four miles of it were encoun- tered. Manpower gets busy as these U. S. army engineers build 'bridges that connect up with the Alcan highway. Creek, British Columbia, just north of Edmonton, pursues a northwesterly course to Whitehorse, in Yukon Territory, then swings west across the Alaskan boundary and thence to Fairbanks. A Military Supply Route. The Alcan highway will function as an important military supply route. Connecting with the railway end highway systems of the United States and southern Canada at Dawson Creek, its southern terminus, the pioneer route provides not only an uninterrupted motor highway to Alaska, but serves as a feeder road to several important military airfields In Canada that have hitherto had to depend upon air transport for all their supplies. The latter may now be trucked in overland. The construction of the pioneer road is a militarized project, auiH .8iii thorized by joint agreement between Canada and the United States and Heavy construction equipment proves Its weight in gold when called carried out under the direction of upon to break through virgin territory. W Alaska is our first line of defense against our war with Japan, and its strategic Importance to .the safety of continental United States can hardly be overestimated. Up to this time this vast wilderness outpost has been reached by only two main routes, air and water. The Alcan highway will provide a third, and possibly the most important, route to this strategic area. It will enable soldiers and armored equipment to reach Fair-- , Lift of 1 Happiness in Wwk bombers and has been blasted by the fleet. More recently the navy banks in 80 hours from Edmonton, landed Yank troops in the Andreanof Alberta. This trip at present by islands, only 125 miles east of Kiska, ocean from Seattle takes eight days without the loss of a single man. to Anchorage and another day to This operition of blasting the Japs Fairbanks. from the Aleutians is one of the bigThe Jap occupation of Kiska. Attu gest and most important of the war, and Aggatu in the Aleutian chain and the Alcan highway will play a brought into strong focus the mili- major role in keeping our forces tary importance of Alaska. About supplied with reinforcements and 10,000 Japs were landed. supplies. It will be a grand day The enemy has been repeatedly for America and the world when bombed in their main stronghold on the first brown army truck rolls into the island of Kiska by heavy U. S. Fairbanks over the Alcan. otitErf worker you will never faf y? News Analyst and Commentator. H Street, N. W., Washington, D. C. There is one question which the which farmer wants answered but the popuof rest the a large part of of the lation doesn't realize is one WNU Service, 1343 most important questions of the day. It is: Will the farmers get enough and help to save the crops this year food for enough help to produce the the "Food for Freedom" program next year? I have spent the week talking to people who are going to be responsible for the answering of that question. And the composite answer as I get it is this: How"Generally speaking, yes. ever, some of the crops raised this year will go by the boards. But we believe we can handle next year's bigger crops." But we have to meet it And we Before the year is out manpower for civilian service will be drafted, as manpower for military service is. What, the farmer asks, Is to be done in the interim? will. The Voluntary Method First, the voluntary method, the way the British began. There are a number of things to consider. Secretary Wickard says that the greatest reservoir of farm managerial and labor power lies in the people already with farm experience, who are not farming efficiently. There are two million farm fami- lies (he says) working land which won't produce enough to keep them decently, much less help the food for freedom program. Wickard says we have the money and the maWhat is Washington going to do chinery to move them. The Farm to solve this problem? Security administration has been do1. ing it to some degree. They can Much talk but no legislaI know that about 125 do more. tion until after elections. men from Kentucky recently were 2. That talk however will desent to New York state to pick apvelop some unpleasant and im The government paid their ples. portant truths. way. 3. As a result, eventually Another factor is women more legislative action, mapped on women are coming into the field. the British plan. The old tradition that women But meanwhile there will be shouldn't work in the fields is break4. Temporary makeshifts which ing down. One farmer said to me: may alleviate but cannot cure "A lot of wom'en can run tractors. the farmer's labor pains. The I'd rather have a woman who knows first, immediate effort will be how to run my tractor' than a man on a voluntary basis. (I'll go into I don't know. These women are that later.) But it will leave a lot careful and they are just bustin of spoiled tomatoes, among other themselves to make good." things. The second thing will be legislaSecretary Wickard hates drafted tion which will be based on the labor and any farmer knows why. British experience and (we hope) As one farmer put it: "I don't want will give the farmer the help he a man on my farm who doesn't needs to carry out his share of the want to work on a farm. He'll break battle. up more than he's worth." In Great Britain they tried one Potential Farm Labor measure and another, first volBut the secretary says that there then and gradually tightenuntary Their experience is another reservoir of potential ing regulations. farm labor made up of men and ended in two things: boys with farm experience who are who men First, laws that kept the work now. were in necessary in- doing Now why, the farmer asks, dustries (including farming) in those haven't the smart people in the govIndustries. Second, it put the men needed in ernment foreseen all this and prethose essential industries into those pared for it? Why did they ask us to raise ail these tomatoes when industries. What the British did amounts to they ought to have known that we this, and it is what we have to do, couldn't get the help to pick them? Well, nobody in America has had and are going to do eventually decree a rigid priority of jobs. And the experience of total war. We that means decide where and what have as big an army now as we had a man must do. (Fight, make mu- at the time of the Armistice. The army is way ahead of the schedule nitions, hoe corn, etc.) we thought they could make. And Essential Farming it takes a lot more men in industry And, when it comes to farming, and on the farm to run an army, a subdivide: Say what is essentia! modern army, than it did an army farming and what isn't If you are that size in 1918. an essential farmer, you farm. OthWe never believed that this counerwise, you fight. That concept will could house and equip an army try be framed in a law, a law that is as fast as the job has been done. studied as the hear being today you The calls of the draft were heavier various testimony of experts aired and more rapid than any expert exin the hearings before the various pected. But don't blame the Seleca law congressional committees tive Service system for robbing the that is being studied today by a labor market They did what the subcommittee of the Manpower comdoctor ordered. Some of the others mission, by the labor department, didn't fall in line. by department of agriculture exWar Man Power perts. t0 It will be considered seriously beI talked with a member of Gen-erfore election day. It will not be actHershey's staff. I can't quote ed upon by then, not merely because him officially but this is what he it is too hot a political potato but said to me and what he because it is just too complicated would say to privately you: "Listen to these to be worked out satisfactorily befigures: In some of the middle fore that time. western states for every one man That is the analysis given to me who has been drafted. 11 have gone in the government into industry or enlisted in by an the army, who is in a position to know. I navy or marines. The figures over naturally asked him why such a the country as a whole show that had not out been worked of every hundred men who have manpower plan out before. He was very frank. left the farm only 15 were taken by He said there were two reasons. the local draft boards. In the dairy when First, any human being who industry in California, it was shown understands its implications looks at 37 per cent left their to take this question he gets such a head- higher paid ones in the jobs same indusache that he simply has to lean try and 39 per cent went into other back and think it over again. industries or enlisted." Second, and seriously, the quesThat is a of the man-- , tion of manpower in the present war power problem. America has presents a problem that no human nobly. But, alas, volunbeing has ever had to meet before tary service is not the wisest in war in the terms that it has to be met time We have one goal; we must now. Britain has been able to deal reach that with balanced action. To with it in a measure under the obtain that, a most careful and compressure and the easily recognized plicated plan must be worked out. seriousness of falling bombs. As one hasnt been worked out yet beman who' had spent much time in " cause there is no man in WashingEngland said to me: "It's easier ton from the hignest to to regulate farmers when there are who can do it alone. It takes shell craters in their fields." a lo ' of study, and then unified action. How has Germany, the And it will V . Is Com'rg. nation, met it? Only with siowiy as they told me when I was slave labor, dragooned from con- a v. sucking sugar through a quered countries. rag. There's good reason why u.. men! hue hu. of .uflerer. from Z?U ..j relieves 4 iZ" kit. Vk7( iZf pa n and lichii. dried Mrto-he- lp. " ? pre,,nu,3 soreness. Th rd. PAZO oim.. lo reduce swelling .nd Fourth, it'a easy to use Pizn d'"1 menl's perforated Pile Woe J" plication simple, thorough. VoUSf can tell vou about Care With Pn He who has many Lij.aij.jr vineyards haJ waica, JUST A "iAk-lUDASH IN FEATHEBS.TnT Ha J Real Heat According to Sir James Jeans if matter the size of a sea vm heated to 50 million degrees, y interior temperature of the sun, a wouta Durn up all life within radius of 1,000 miles. Icid Indigestioa What many Doctors do lot it When excess stomach acid CBaMfigas.Bonritasisj or nesmmm, aociors prescnos we lajtett-Kti- f medicines known for symtomatic like those in Bell-an- s Tablets. No Imtin. If w very first trial doesn't prove Bel!.&na bettawm ootue to us ana get aouois joas mose; rock-botto- I have Living Poems always had a passion ferries; to me they afford inimilitable, streaming, ving poems. Walt Whitman. never-failin- Better than a DOZEN HANKIES for opening STUFFY NOSTRILS Don't try to blow your cold away. Instead, spread inside each nostrill It releases vapor "Menthola-tions-ac-" that start 4 vital tional 1) They thin out thick mucus; 2) Soothe irritated membranes; 3) Help reducs swollen passages; 4) Stimulate nasal blood supply. breath bring$ relief! Jars 30 al old-tim- Alcan Highway Will Help Oust Japs From Aleutians lift hoe pressure, sootW pot. Losta but a trifle. By BAUKHAGE 100-fo- The men behind the wheel at the Whitehose sector, Alcan highway. Left to right, Major Frank A. Petit, (C. E.) topographic officer; Brig. Gen. W. H. Hoge, (C. E.) commanding officer, and Major Eugene J. Stann, (C. E.) executive officer. I Get your haFpiness dog-trai- viMt I buy an aDDle then walk away as if thevT? the whole unempl0ymen; a!llM Heywood C. Broun. v- Labor in Agriculture Remedied Job Priority Decree; By England Through Essential Farming Gets Preference. Shortage .1 ' K Jj Maj. Gen. Eugene Reybold, chief of engineers. The work is being performed by engineer officers and enlisted personnel of the United I . States army. I Northwest Service Command. On September 10, 1942, the war department announced the establishment of the Northwest Service command, in charge of army highway and railroad building activities, and supply maintenance services in Typical engineer working for Uncle western Canada and Alaska, with Sam In the Yukon territories. headquarters at Whitehorse, Yukon Canada. Territory, The first of these was the proBrig. Gen. cedure of initiating construction at various noints along the route at the - nn- fY7ir wv 1 wa quicK rciieT. - Several months ahead of schedule, the Military highway, which has been under construction by the United States army engineers since last March, will be ready for army use early this winter, it was announced by the war department recently. immAX n h mgmWMBMMMni. ft a An AnnU - .. have known peopled, To Solve Farm Problem Canadian-Alaska- n r1&C 1 rr.rr.--nVsi'- 'British Plan' Advocated -- The engineers expect to finish the pioneer road about December 1, 1942. Plans are now being made for winter traffic over the complete route of approximately 1,600 miles between that date and April 1, 1943, the period during which the highway and the rivers of the region it traverses will be frozen. During the months of April and May it is believed the road will be unsuitable for heavy traffic owing to thaws and excessive moisture following the break-u- p of winter. Although originally contemplated as a rough "pioneer" road, to be I . . cross-sectio- em. - 1 Task Happy norenn in aW jo iha nprsoll v most to make ottera ,...ii.. is doing the happy. Suptrfidi Extent Causti . nrripirf 1.. t:m'n irritation, and thus Begin to use soothing Kesinol WW RESINOI n HOTEL BEN LOMOND OGDEN, UTAH 4 I . .17. super-efficie- ie BRIE FS . . . by Unukhage "Mathematics Erthusiasm Smith" Is the name recordrd by a registrant at Birmingham, Ala. At least 25 merchant vpkkpU been saved from being torpedoed by Axis submarines along the Atlantic coast by the appearance over the water of Civil Air patrol planes, Dean Landis, director of the Office of Civilian Defense, declared. Leon Henderson, certain OPA administra- fdVmS Charcl manufacturers of scare T "at 7 . .....It" Baths J5 uM tit Rooms-- ..an ... a" aarsffMS r .a. but Air Co.le4I t!nlnf Koaa Coffee Shof Home l-', Echn-Opii1- . at Chamber ef Vmmuf Hotel Ben Lomond ncnM don't want or can't sell. " CTAH I |