Brigadier General James A. O'Connor, commanding the Northwest Service Command, has informed Anthony J. Diamond [sic - Dimond], Alaska's veteran Delegate in Congress, that construction has started on a second road to connect the Alcan International Military Highway with the waters of the Inside Passage.
In a letter to Delegate Diamond, General O'Connor today declared "I am well aware of your long-time interest in the development of land communication with Alaska. The Haines-Champagne road, construction of which has started, will connect southeastern Alaska with the Alcan Military Highway and will be an important step in the development of the Alaskan road network. We already have landed crews and equipment at Haines.
"This road will provide a second port of entry from southeastern Alaska to the Alcan Highway and will bring the Highway closer to such Alaskan cities as Juneau, Ketchikan and Sitka."
The road will extend approximately 142 miles from Haines on the Alaskan seacoast, to the Yukon frontier settlement of Champagne. It will ascend the heights of Chilkat Pass, the third route that the '98s followed to the Klondike, the others being the Chilkoot and White of dreadful memory. Forty-two miles of the road already have been developed to some extent by the Alaska Road Commission.
The Haines "cut-off" has long been favored by Governor Ernest Gruening of Alaska. He conferred with General O'Connor concerning the new development here early in November. Delegate Diamond has also been actively urging the linking of the Alcan Highway to various parts of Alaska through the construction of additional "feeder" roads.
General O'Connor's statement was contained in a letter thanking Delegate Diamond for the message praising American workmenship on the Alcan Highway which he sent to the ceremonies opening the the road at Kluane Lake November 20.
