I have read in a number of books that the Alaska Railroad provided vital military service during the Second World War. Sadly, no one seems to have written down exactly what that service was.
Yes, yes, I know, you could tell me but then you’d have to kill me.
I have heard that the most important role the railroad played was to bring fuel and supplies to the inland air bases that were used to ferry bombers to the Russian mainland. Is this the case?
Was the Alaska Railroad also considered vital for bringing the raw materials of Alaska to the war industries in the lower 48 states?
Thanks,
Kevin
Alaska produced virtually no war materials consumed anywhere except in Alaska. The primary material that Alaska produced for the war effort was coal mined near Palmer and Suntrana, consumed for heating throughout the Alaska Railbelt (Seward-Anchorage-Fairbanks) and for locomotive fuel. Alaska was not an oil producer until the 1960s with the development of fields near Kenai. Alaska was a significant gold producer prior to WWII but gold mining ceased throughout the U.S. in 1942 by Executive Order in order to reorient gold mining labor, materials, and capital to metals more important to the war, such as copper, lead, and zinc. Alaska did not begin to export coal out of state until 1984, except for some minor quantities used as fuel for ships calling at Alaskan ports.
Inbound freight on the railroad consisted primarily of construction materials, vehicles, and gasoline forwarded from docks at Seward, Whittier, and Anchorage to bases near Anchorage and Fairbanks, and for construction of the Alcan Highway. About 8,000 aircraft were delivered to the USSR via Alaska, approximately 1/2 of the total 15,000 aircraft delivered to the USSR. Aircraft fuel in the whole scheme of things was a fairly minor percentage of the inbound war materials.
The role of the ARR in the war effort, thus, was to move war materials from tidewater to inland Alaska locations at a much lower cost and demand on manpower than the equivalent truck transportation.
RWM