(4:01 min.) (01 of 27) Family history: Grandfather
Grandfather from Virginia, fought for Union, was a soldier at Sitka during the signing in 1868. Father stayed and married a Creole, part Aleut. Got a Job with the A. C. Co. Grandfather...
(3:26 min.) (02 of 27) Family history: Father
Father from Norway at 10 years old. 1896 came to Alaska for the Hope/Sunrise gold rush. Father carried mail from Seward to Matanuska Valley. Father wouldn't eat Hooligan. Ran a transport boat...
(3:24 min.) (03 of 27) Early life
Woody born in Eyak near Cordova. Rotary snow plow near the roundhouse pushed by 3-4 locomotives. Had to synchronize the exhaust from the four engines and the rotary snow plow.
(5:38 min.) (04 of 27) Early work history
Left Cordova to go to school at Alaska School of Mines and Agriculture (UAF). Took civil engineering courses. By the time he had graduated, the railroads had shut down and there were only jobs in...
(5:15 min.) (05 of 27) Alaska Road Commission
Alaska Road Commission -- access in Alaska authority of U. S. Army. Started with authority to create WAMCATS. Three Army officers were to maintain building roads and trails, almost no...
(7:03 min.) (06 of 27) Alaska Road Commission II
Commission members lived in Alaska, but had to get funding from Congress. Later got funding from the Departments of Commerce and Interior. Head of the commission was Richardson, a personable...
(4:43 min.) (08 of 27) Start of contracting
First job was building the bridge between Illinois St. and College Road over Noyes Slough. Lots of paperwork, everything was an emergency since there was no experience with how to do the simplest...
(3:57 min.) (09 of 27) Denali Highway
One of the complaints is that the Road Commission did most of their own work and contracted out very little. There was no profit in bringing the equipment all the way here. Setting up base and...
(6:10 min.) (11 of 27) Denali, Nenana and Taylor Roads Why was Denali road built? Pressure was to get road access to McKinley Park. Road to Nenana was put in because, due to people of Nenana, the city was able to get right of way for entire...
(6:50 min.) (10 of 27) Right-of-way issues
Standards of alignment, grade & bridges. Some were location dependent. Engineers' suggestions and approval process, no requirement for acquiring right-of-way. People always wanted roads to their...
(3:21 min.) (12 of 27) Road to Livengood Road to Livengood followed miners. Livengood to Eureka began with pressure from the miners as well as a dream to get the road to Nome or Kotzebue.
(3:58 min.) (13 of 27) Problems with cooks
Camp cooks were brothers, and cooks were good as long as they were sober. One went to Livengood after an argument and got drunk. When he returned and his brother got off shift, he cut up all the...
(2:44 min) (14 of 27) Assistance from the community
Alaska Road Commission built roads with the assistance of local miners. The miners would volunteer their time, fuel, and equipment.
(6:03 min) (15 of 27) Road building philosophy
Were the roads necessary? Roads were built to open up the country. Another philosophy pushed for more planning. Permanence of communities was always in question. People still needed...
(4:08 min) (16 of 27) Haul Road
Road built to get supplies to oil fields up north. Word from Juneau said to go ahead and build from Livengood to Yukon River.
(5:18 min) (17 of 27) Haul Road II
Bids to build from Yukon River north were too high so Juneau said go ahead and finish it. The crew got more equipment and people and fuel. The temperature dropped to -70 degrees. Juneau kept asking --...
(3:46 min) (24 of 27) Road planning and obstacles
Mining drove some of the road planning, but ease was a factor as well. Kennecott and Anaconda Mines were reasons to try and reach Nome. Native Claims Act put lots of right-of-way issues in...
(4:06 min) (21 of 27) Haul Road -- Anuktuvuk Pass vs. Detrich Pass
There was some uncertainty as to whether or not trucks could make it over the Detrich Pass. Winter Road only used for two years.