World War II in the North
Dateline: December 13, 2023.
The Pittsburgh Press, Wednesday, December 10, 1941
This is the second of two articles by Robert J. Casey on the situation in Alaska which now becomes a vital outpost in the United States war-against the Axis aggressor in the Pacific.
To Part 1
By Robert J. Casey
Juneau, Alaska, Dec. 10 - It was quite a ceremony when they buried Sitka's leading laundryman in the costume that they found in a chest beneath his death bed along with old dance programs, newspaper clippings, seed catalogues,
moth balls and other souvenirs.
That was some time ago but folks still remember it in Juneau and Skagway and possibly in Washington. For the costume that the beloved laundryman wore to his grave was that of a commander in the navy - the Japanese Navy. Odd, wasn't it, even for Alaska where clothes are of no particular importance.
Sitka has a defense council that keeps the memory of the laundryman
green in its current events discussions every week. Most of the local citizenry have recovered from the shock of his death, some of his bereft customers have gone so far as to suggest that maybe, after all, his passing was for the best.
Huge Subs Rumored
Folks who seem to know about such things tell of great, new, undersea boats owned by "a Pacific power unfriendly toward the United States" that carry six-inch guns and enough ammunition to blow down Sitka and two suburbs. And no matter where you stop in this historic old town - from the pioneers' home to the clothing store where all the men's shorts are size 17 - you hear murmurs of the wrath to come.
The morale isn't bad, you understand. Nobody's frightened at any of these dire prospects. It's just that Sitka figures that culturally and historically it is entitled to a major role if war should happen to touch Alaska - any war.
And, no matter what the military establishment of the United States may provide in the way of protection, the civilian population seems to be under the impression that it will have to do the bulk of the work itself.
Looking For Route's End
When you've listened to a few conversations, you have to remind yourself that you came here to look for the end of an airplane route that began at Edmonton, Alberta, and reached a diversion point at White Horse, Yukon Territory.
The new skyway, which may be tomorrow's bee-line from the Great Lakes region to the Orient, was routed across the Canadian wastelands for the immediate purpose
of defending the Pacific Coast.
And, asking nobody in the world - not even a Japanese spy - one gets the idea that maybe such places as Sitka might be glad it's here.
Nobody, of course, will tell you anything in this region unless you are willing to listen or can't get away, but unofficially you arrive at the conclusion that the original idea was sound. By a commercial flying boat that was never constructed for any cup races, it is 50 minutes' flight from Juneau to the Sitka dock. A bomber ought to make it in from 20 to 30 minutes. And Juneau is about the same distance from White Horse as from Sitka.
Could Rush Planes
Even without any further development of radio beam networks along the coast - and if you want any information about the present setup you'll have to ask your laundryman or somebody - even with things as they are now, it would be possible for planes to get down here in a hurry, or to Wrangell or Ketchikan from fields in the interior along the route that passes through White Horse.
Similarly another ganglia of air-routes spreads out from Fairbanks toward Seward, Kodiak, Anchorage and Nome or, by easy stages, to Dutch Harbor, the end of the Aleutians and the interesting islands of Asia.
As you look at it from the point of view of this ancient capital of Russia in the new world, or for that matter from the point of view of any other town of the chain that follows Alaska's coastline, you feel that maybe there's a fine future for Canada's wilderness air route. Whether it's ever put to any heroic use or not, it will still be comforting to know that it's there.
Changes Social Life
As in Canada, the airplane in the past few years has made a tremendous difference in the social life of the territory.
The big land planes of Pan American Airways (Lockheed Electras and Lodestars) have brought the Alaskan capital to within five hours of Pudget Sound ... In Juneau if you call a man's office and his secretary tells you he is "downtown" you quit looking for him. You know she means that he is in Seattle.
Pan-American, which has been flying the coast route, has an advantage in distance over planes that come up the interior skyway from Vancouver via Prince George and Fort St. John.
Weather Usually Bad
This route, until the completion of landing strips on the Edmonton-White Horse skyway, was the only one followed by U. S. planes en route to Alaskan bases. But as
against the theoretical saving in miles and time, the weather along the coast is likely to be foul and generally is.
So it is not surprising to find out that the impressions of the flying
clippers have installed a meteorological and radio station at Dease Lake, as far in the forest primeval as any of the new Canadian stations and that routes are being prospected presumably with a view to Pan-American's use of the Canadian course as an alternative route in times of fog, snow or sleet.
And you don't have to join any whisperers in back rooms to guess that Pan-American isn't pioneering this vast outland territory of the United States for the revenue that comes from carrying the mail between Juneau and Fairbanks.
It has been said that Pan-American will presently undertake the delivery of Lease-Lend bombers to Russia. There have been reports that a similar service might be inaugurated for the benefit of British Lease-Lend customers in Hong Kong over the shortened route through the Arctic.
Route Lacks Nothing
At any rate, Panam's Fairbanks route, which picks up where the Canadian wilderness skyway leaves off, doesn't lack anything that a modern pilot might think it ought to have.
But it is like Panam installations everywhere; well-equipped and well-staffed, and it works. It completes '/the last stage of the long-projected great circle air route to the Far East.
How much of all these things - how much of details not mentioned here - is known to enemies of the United States, nobody can say. And, as it doesn't seem to matter much, you refrain from making inquiries. The lad you think is a spy may turn out to be just another Sitka laundryman.
