HAINES, Alaska, Aug 13 - In an army jeep Anthony J Dimond, veteran delegate in the United States congress from Alaska, today inspected the new Haines military road and predicted that its completion would be of "first rate importance as a link between southeastern Alaska's seaports and the Alaska Highway."
He also said that he believed the Haines road would eventually rank as "one of the great scenic drives of the North American continent."
Dimond's trip was the first journey by a visitor over the lofty summit of Three Guardsmen Pass, which the Haines road crosses on its winding route from the Inside
Passage to the Alaska Highway. His trip occurred coincidentally with the dramatic break-through by army troops working from the north and civilian contractors pushing up from the south.
Shortly beyond the rocky hump of Three Guardsmen Pass, bulldozers operated by engineer troops of Brig. Gen. James A. O'Connor's Northwest Service Command bumped radiators with the cats of the Foley Brothers Consteuction Company.
Delegate Dimond congratulated Lt.-Col. Thomas J. Hayes of Washington, D.C., Haines district engineer, on the early joining of the units working from opposite ends of the 166-mile road.
Other members of the first party to travel the new road were E. L.
Bartlett of Juneau, secretary of Alaska; Capt. Richard L. Neuberger, of Portland, Ore., aide to Brig. Gen. O'Connor, and Capt. Charles E. Whittington, US Army Engineers, of San Antonio, Texas.
Mr. Dimond said he was "immensely pleased" with the progress made on the Haines project. He also added that his trip had given him great respect for the traveling
prowess of the army jeep.
From Haines he proceeded on to Skagway, where he conferred with Mayor G. A. Benedict and the town council. He was driven around Skagway's military installations by
Col. Fank E. Ahrens of Brooklyn, N.Y., port commander, and was the guest of Father G. Edgar Gallant at the Catholic Mission. Col. K. B. Bush of Quincy, Il, Northwest Service Command chief of staff, met Dimond at Skagway.
In Whitehorse. Yukon Territory, Delegate Dimond conferred with the commanding general of the Northwest Service Command James A. O'Connor. He also visited the pipeline project from Norman Wells and drove 40 miles northward on the Alaska Highway with Colonel Caryl R. Hazeltine of Corvallis, Ore., Gen O'Connor's deputy chief of staff.
"Splendid progress has been made," Delegate Dimond told Gen. O'Connor. "I wish to congratulate you and the officers and men of your command." Dimond is a member of both the Military Affairs and Naval Affairs Committees of the American Congress. On a flight to Fairbanks from Whitehorse, he was accompanied by Major General John Peter Mackenzie of the Canadian Army.
