serving the motorized units that built the alcan highway

8/3/2019 Serving the Motorized Units That Built the Alcan Highway

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NE W YO R K 3 6 0 0—,— [ E D M O N T O N 1215-iv.-

LOW/ER POST 151

L I A R D R I V E R 8.. 1

W H I T E H O R S E -'2 2

T E S L I N 172

S E R V IC IN G T H E

T H A T B U I L T T H EBy Harold McKeever

TEMPERATURES that went down

to 76° below zero—a 1,500 mile

highway to build through almost

impenetrable forest—and nothing to live

in but tents, or quickly constructed huts.

That gives some idea of the terrific job

facing the Army and Civilian contractors,

in building the Alcan Highway—a mili-

tary road over which a stream of men

and munitions is now flowing to smashthe Japs. It's a story of high courage,

engineering skill, and the adaptation of

ingenious mechanical ability to automo-

tive service problems—problems that had

to be solved with the help of lathe,

welder and other shop equipment with

which good mechanics make new parts

out of old ones.

Some day the Alcan Highway may be

the world's most interesting road for

tourists—a road dotted with hotels, re-

sorts, camps, service stations and hot

dog stands. Today, however, it is strictly

a military highway, and, at that, a veryarduous one to travel. Consider, for ex-

ample, that the round trip from Chi-

cago to Fairbanks is 8,000 miles and you

have some picture of the distance, while

the highway itself is 1,500 miles from

the end of the farthermost rail line in

(Left) The author beside one of the sgin

posts on the Akan Highway

(Right) An unusually straight streteh of the

great highway



Northwestern Canada up to Fort Nelson

and White Horse, and on into Fairbanks,

Alaska.

Yes, the same general methods that

keep cars and trucks running in your

own home town were used to keep trac-

tors, bulldozers and other road making

equipment in operating condition, but

At first over ten thousand engineer

troops lived in hastily erected tent

ramps. Later tent. were winterised

or replaced by warm insulated huts

it couldn't have been done without that

vital something that inspires men to winagainst all odds.

Take for example a night in Novem-

ber with the temperature down to zero

and buck private grease monkeys work-

ing through the night in bitter cold with

lanterns, to lubricate service trucks bare-

Snow is windrowed along the outer

shoulder as a safety aid

handed in half open pits—and nary a

grumble or gripe. Consider also a bunchof lonesome boys in the Northwoods-

ten thousand of them from the engineer-

ing regiments—many of whom hadn't

seen a woman in seven months.

And the story of Alcan also brings the

memory of a fine young Captain who

took pity on the author of this article

and kept him over night in his tent at apoint five hundred miles up the high-

way when there was no other place to

sleep. "Look," said the Captain, revealing

a thumbed radiogram which said: "Con-

gratulations on a job well done." But

what it left unsaid was how this Captain

This "Caterpillar" track-type tractor hauls a trailer-load of supplies over on unfinished

pioneer road

../1• m aa s s • s ."e.

Fleets of dozers widened the pioneer cut by side-casting trees, roots and humus to the clearing

edges. This Is a Caterpillar diesel with LeTourneau angledozer.



Diesel tractor with blade grader, grading • section of the highway

could spend the period of spring isola-

tion, getting set to build road at theearliest moment of summer.

Tons of machinery parts were flownnorth, by bush flyers who set snow-shoed planes down on frozen lakes. Simi-

lar drama was enacted at the other entry

points. Up in Alaska one contractor flew

fifteen hundred men into the interior toget going.

How They Went At the Job

The first idea in planning actual con-

struction was this: The U. S. Army regi-

ments would build a rough pioneer "tote

road," and civilian contractors wouldcome in and build a wide parallel high-

way of a more permanent character.That's the way work was started at the

southern end. But in a few weeks allhands saw the necessity for joiningforces and "working like hell" on thebest possible single road.

Actually, the Army pioneered about 85

31

per cent of the road, and the contractor

outfits followed in their wake, widening,straightening, cutting down steep hills

and strengthening the roadway withgravel. Contractors pioneered fourstretches amounting to about 200 miles

of excellent highway. Some of their work

matched the Army's for speed, resource-fulness and war-spirit.

When it came to actual constructionthe American bulldozer was king. Bull-

dozers and choppers felled probably ten

million trees, to clear a 60 to 100 footpatch through the dense forest.

First a bulldozer operator attacked the

woods along a line of trees which thesurveyors had tagged with red rags. Withhis sharp 'dozer blade he severed shal-low side roots (northern trees have no

big tap roots) then pushed the treesover, clearing a narrow path a few hun-

dred feet ahead. Next came a half dozenmore tractors, which scraped trees, roots

and forest humus to one side like piles

and his boys had felled trees, hewn logs

and thrown a 200-foot trestle across an

icy, turbulent river in three days andnights—all accomplished through an in-

genious scheme and with meager equip-

ment, yet without getting a single man

"dunked."

World's Biggest Roadbuilding Fleet

The interesting fact about Alcan's con-

struction is that no new tricks were used.Just time-tried American roadbuilding

methods, employing standard models of

American tractors, bulldozers, scrapers,power shovels, air compressors andtrucks. Aided by fifty-five American and

Canadian contractors under the U. S.

Public Roads Administration, the Army

"ganged up" on the job, blazing trailsimultaneously from many workingfronts, with the biggest fleet of road-building equipment in history. Back in

the States, long before the 1942 spring

30

thaw, the vast, intricate job of planning

supply lines and strategy and assembling

and shipping equipment, camp supplies

and troops had been organized and gotten

under way—a dramatic chapter as yet

practically untold. The wilderness was

invaded from three working bases—at

the southern end; at midpoint via

Skagway and the narrow-gauge rail line

over the mountains to Whitehorse; and

into the Alaskan end through the portof Valdez.

Knowing that time was the essence, the

first U. S. Corps of Engineer troops en-tered the southern end a month before

the scheduled time of the awful bottom-

less spring thaw that hits the northcountry. In this month, working and liv-

ing out in the blizzards at 25 to 40below, our soldiers scattered great quanti-

ties of equipment and supplies alongthrough the woods to Fort Nelson, es-

tablishing base camps where the men

Cheeking the bulldozer hydraulic control on one of the heavy unite



A bridge like this was all in the days work

t7 jjy

Combination gas, oil and grease truck serv icing one of E. W. Elliott :2, Co.'s shovels

of giant matches, leaving the full width

clearing in their wake.

Then along came the big hauling

scrapers, and soon a semblance of a road

took form. Graders put on the remaining

touches, aided by quantities of gravel

shoveled and sledded and dumped onto

the roadbed to cover the muck.

Supplies Always a Problem

Throughout all this melee were thesupply movements. Supply-lining, here

as in the African campaign, was a prob-

lem of staggering difficulty and immen-

sity. Even ahead of the first bulldozer

floundered pack horses laden with

paraphernalia for advance camps, and

detachments of pontoon troops lugging

boats and trestle panels for fashioning

temporary floating bridges.

So fast did the advance construction

crews build at times, the surveyors often

had trouble keeping out ahead. One sur-

veyor told me, "We worked in one shift

until we dropped, whereas the advanceconstruction crew worked in two 11-

hours shifts. It got so we didn't dare

pitch our tents near where the road was

coming through, for fear the big elec-

trically lighted tractors would crash in

on us in the dark." This surveyor, by the

way, revealed something of the complete

isolation and vastness of the British Co -lumbia wilderness by telling how he

and his party had paddled canoes 236

miles along winding streams to get to

their task, seeing only three cabins inthe whole distance.

Needless to say, this spectacular job

involved many problems of automotive

service and maintenance. Cold starting

and crankcase dilution were serious

problems, and motors were often keptrunning sometimes weeks at a time be-

cause of the difficulty of starting. Cold

weather also played its tricks on metal

parts, snapping off wheel spindles made

of steel that gave no trouble in ordinary

climates. Then there was lubrication fail-

ure, frozen and locked brake drums from

passage through half-frozen fords, and

all of the miscellaneous troubles that

33

Small tractors were very handy around the tamp. This is an International with a

BueyusEedoze

"gang-up" on men and machine when

temperatures drop. Take for example the

welding of five hundred truck springs—

just an indication of the rough going

and the arduousness of the job.

Some five thousand motorized units

were in use. The Army's• equipment was

"Repair it—rebuild it—manufacture it, ifnecessary!" in the slogan in Okra Construction

Co.'s shop on Mean Highway. Here at the left

Is a sprocket for a crusher drive which wan

restored by welding broken and worn teeth.

At the right is a home-made companion

sprocket, rut from 1•in. steel plate; it will

be finished by inserting a splined bob, made

from a 4-Inch-thick piece of



Dowell Construction Co.'. Mean repair shop

was also a "factory" for war-scarce part.. Thisfellow is threading a bolt—one of hundreds

made from bar stock. Heads were forged on

in the blacksmith shop

largely new, but that used by the con-

tractors consisted of all makes and ages

of used machinery, overhauled for thepurpose. Often there were mechanical

casualties, for this was no sissy job, and

the Army considered the sacrifice of hun-

dreds of machines a small price to pay

for refinishing a road by winter. Tractorsrolled down banks, truck frames

buckled, axle housings were smashed

riding ruts, and motor failures laid up

many machines, but the vast majority

were kept moving by the work of themen who operated the portable repairshops.

Each regiment was responsible for the

upkeep of its outfit, and most repairing

was done right where the machines

Motor Service

broke down, using tool kits with which

the regiment was equipped. Timber A-

frames and tripods for lifting out en-gines or raising tractors for track re-

pairs were a common sight along the

road, and each regiment had a heavy-

duty wrecking truck, while additionalhoisting equipment was constructed by

setting up timber A-frames on front

bumpers.In spite of an AA-2 priority rating,there was often a shortage of parts, but

the order was to keep all units going as

long as possible, the junking of units for

spare parts being permitted only as a last

resort. Convertible welding trailers were

available, and welders who built up worn

surfaces and restored broken parts were

star performers. Small regiment repair

shops worked wonders, rebuilding, con-

verting, and making parts that could not

be otherwise obtained.

The size of the contractor equipment

outlay is indicated by the fact that onemanagement firm alone had over 1,400

major pieces of rolling equipment. In

addition to their own outfits, this outfit

was supplied with a great quantity ofmachinery transferred from CCC camps

of the western states. Among these were

300 tractors equipped with scrapers, bull-

dozers or trailbuilders, 1,000 trucks, 125

air compressors with drilling accessories,

55 power shovels, 200 electric light

plants, 65 portable repair shops, mixers,

rollers, pumps, trailers and other equip-

ment. The contractors also had the ad

vantage of having many experienced op-erators, and they also had more elaborate

central repair shops at their project head-quarters.

Typical of the well-equipped (but

never large enough) repair aand machine

shops was that of Okes Construction

Company at Fort St. John. It includedone 12 in. and two 16 in. lathes, a large

and a small•drill press, a surface grinder,

(Continued on page 82)

July, 1943C H A M P I O N

S PAR K PLU G S

To Save Gasol ine

keep

Spark Plugs Clean!

• Th e Ch am p i on S p ar k P l ug Com p an y i s aindependent company in the generalaccepted business sense of that word.

But in another and very real sense, oucompany is mutually interdependent wiliterally hundreds of other businesses.

• In the direct conduct of our business ware continually purchasing raw materia

M , sup p l ie s an d se r vi c es f r om a l ar ge n um bof companies.

• In our turn we sell to distributors anjobbers who perform indispensable sal

functions for us. They, in their turn, ditribute to the retailer whose businessdirectly with the public.

In this cycle which so typifies the Americafree enterprise system, both large and smabusiness are equally involved.

For Personal Security—

For National Security—

BUY WAR BOND S and STAMP

• The simple facts are, all businessewhether large or small, are intedependent. Recognition of this famakes for harmony that spells maxmum production at lowest cost anequable profits. I t makes for m utualadvantageous distribution of work anresponsibility and above all, muturespect and esteem upon which along-term business relationships ansuccesses are squarely based.



<SWITCHMAGNET CHARGER

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GROUND CONNECTION ON GENERATOR FRAME

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B a r r e t t

LIM ITAT ION OR D ER L-270 SAYS

B A R R E T T B R A K E S E R V I C E D

YOU CAN BUY

EQUIPMENT NOW

Using Generator

with Magnet

Charger

Question: "I operate a magneto service

station in connection with my tractor re-

pairing. I received one of your magneto

books, written by Jack Beater.

"I have an Eisemann coil tester, a testbench built by American Bosch, and a

Cowie Charger. I'm well satisfied withmy equipment, and I'm using a storage

battery with the charger.

"In the booklet I received from you I

see where a car generator works very

satisfactorily. I would like some more

definite instructions on how to make such

a hook-up, the type of generator to use,

wiring instructions, etc."Grant Chapman,

Brook, Ind.

Answer: In Mr. Beater's book he sug-

gests that a 6-volt generator of fairly

large capacity be used. Possibly you canpick up one which was designed to beused with a voltage and current regulator,

and in the sketch we have indicated such

Circuit of generator and magnet charger

a generator. Of course, the regulator will

not be needed, and the wire that ordi-

narily went from the Field post up to the

Regulator, will be connected to generator

frame. That is, it will be grounded. This

is assuming the circuits are as shown.

In some cases the internal connection of

Motor Service

the field is grounded, and in that case

the external wire would go from the F

to the G post of the generator. The switch

is not absolutely essential, but could be

included, since when you shut down the

motor that drives the generator, the cur-

rent will automatically stop anyhow, and

there is no battery in the circuit to dis-

charge.

Mr. Beater's book suggests approxi-

mately 18 amperes at 18 volts, and you

could check this by inserting an am-meter at the place where the switch is

shown and putting a voltmeter across the

magneto charger terminals. A little

higher voltage or greater current would

do no harm, and a little less would mere-

ly make the charger slightly weaker.

The Alcan highway(Continued frompage 34)

large planer, milling machine, shaper,

seven piston pin grinders, seven pistongrinders, drum lathe, three portable elec-

tric welders (gas driven), electric-driven

shop welder, four acetylene outfits, two

steam cleaners, modern electrical test

bench, portable hoist, armature lathe,

two forges, greasing equipment to handle

eight vehicles at once, and a 50 kw A.C.

light plant. The shop was run on a

24-hour-a-day basis, and handled hun-

dreds of novel repair and part making

jobs.

Yes, the Alcan Highway is finished,although it is just the start of one route

from America to Tokyo. But the spirit

which carried this job to completion is

the same spirit that will finish the bigger

job of restoring to America the safety

of that freedom she so much cherishes.

(Photos courtesy Caterpillar Tractor Co.and of "Road & Streets."Harold McKeeveri3 Associate Editor of this publication.)

B A R R E TT

D R A KED R U M L A T H EI

l'.........,..,-212111: ...„..7.

....,

A LIMITED NUMBER Of 'THESET OOLSA R R E T T

ARE AVAILABLE FOR. QUICK DELIVERIES

Under a recent governuling, we will be pemitted to

otter for sale to brake service shops, a limited number of the

famous Barrett Brake Dokters, drum lathes, gauges, honesets and reliners. Since our production is restricted, deliver-

ies will be made according to priority received with order.

Y O U R B R A K E S E R V I C E A C C E S S O R I E S

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serving the motorized units that built the alcan highway

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