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v'. w.unezzi wins wane or area*Plan ToBy CHUCK HOYTHtWfXtiutr Stiff writerIn December of 1954^Alfred Ghezzf, president of Alaska Freight Lines, made i “make-or-break’ proposal to the prime contractor in the building of the ‘DEW (defense early warning) line” -radar screen across the Arctic edge of Alaska and western Canada.This scheme by Ghezzi was to make an initial haul of500 tons of freight necessary 40^ — ---building the military installations-j w«r-overland from Fairbanks by land!IROUOH THE WOODS—The Sno-Freighter s pictured traveling through the only wooded irea north of Circle City. The road was cut by me of the previous cat trains, but in many daces trees had to be cut down for the 280-foot long train, with a width of 16 feet and the 10 fo'jt hig-h trailers to,pass. The freighter took, several hours to pass through this few miles of timber.(Photo by Chuck Hoyt)movement.The make-or-break part of*the proposal was that tLe Alaska Freight Lines would use its own funds for the entire project and would not be paid for the freight haulage until the final delivery was made. Ghezzi proposed to build his own highway and would guarantee delivery. If not by truck, by airplane at a tremendous financial loss to the truckingfirm. ,Savings to GovernmentIf the venture was a success, and a road could be built to the coast, it would be a great savings to the government as the high cost of airlifting the supplies and equipment would be greatly reduced. On the other hand, if the gamble failed, it would probably have doomed the Alaska Freight Lines.Reams of copy nave subsequently been written about the huge .LeTourneau Sno-Freighter, thetractors that pushed the road to the; Arctic ocean' and the trucks that.'traveled thefVoute.However, not enough has been said about the breed of men who bulldozed the road, drove the trucks and piloted the Sno-Freighter up to and along the Arctic coast line. For without these hardy men, all the millions of dollars worth of equipment in the world would have been, worthless, and Ghezzi’s plan still would be a dream instead of a reality.Part of Hardy BreedMen like John Clark, Joe Kelly, Jack LaCross, Tom Cole, Ted Mathews, Les Krump, Curly Ken-ith IceMAIN CONTROL PANEL—of the LeTourneau Sno-Freighter. This panel controls the operation of the complete train. The largest lever in the middle is the gear shift, with the two throttles up forward. The small dark lever against the horizontal bar at the bottom of the(Photo by Chuck Iloyt)picture is the steering lever. Each wheel of the 'main control car and of the five trailers has its own electrical motor. The performance of each of these 24 motors and the two diesel engines in the control car is evaluated by the dials on this panel*.If: \ -'.vfe M ■rmIm-7A’A~ris, Earl McClure, Don Statter and Walter Roman, to name afew.Clark, a living legend in north-Jand transportation, was responsible for the success of the huge LeTourneau Sno-Freighter. Clark, a one-time partner in the Alaska Freight Lines, came back at the request of Ghezzi to oversee the building of “The Monster” as the Sno-Freighter is called, and to be its first skipper.Kelly and LaCross, both Alaskan miners, led the two tractor trains that pushed north and opened the road to the Arctic.Kelly’s lead train of five cat* pioneered the road. This train left Fairbanks in January and went on north to the jumping off point at Circle City. From Circle this train cut the preliminary route to the Arctic ocean.Second Train The LaCross train of seven cats followed in early February and built the 30-foot wide road with the traetors working three abreast, shoving everything from their way on the push to the sea. Both trains working around-the-clock, operated in weather down to 62 below.In early March, Cole with a crew of four men assembled the five huge LeTourneau trailers at Circle City in 21 days. The trailers were trucked to Circle completely disassembled. In frigid weather and with only blueprint* for guidance, Cole and his men had the 40-foot trailers assembled when the control car of “Tha Monster” arrived in late March for completion.The final assembly of the control car began Saturday, March 26, and the job was completed the following Wednesday. This work consisted of replacing the axles that were stripped in Valdez in order to navigate the Alaska highways, the installing of each electric motor in the axles and the mounting of the huge wheels, 88 inches high, and 38 inches wide.First Mobile Testing{First mobile testing of tha 'freighter's control car with trailers combined was made early tha next week with the Sno-Freighter leaving Circle City a short time later for the Arctic coast.However, none of this could have been accomplished if the first phase of the road building hadn’t been successful. Walter Roman, a general handyman of the north, and a crew of three men opened the Steese highway with two bulldozers early in January.Roman, in opening the summits to transportation in midwinter accomplished something that had never been done before. The Alaska road commission then took over the highway and until spring kept ‘ the road passable for the winter operation.Drivers Praised Last, but.far from least comes the truck drivers themselves, mea like Krump, Kenaston, Hart, Harris and McClure, who were drivers of a few\of the 32 trucks oa the first Arctic run.All drivers on the trip were outstanding and experts in their chosen fields, but possibly one of
Newspaper Details
Fairbanks Daily News Miner
Fairbanks, Alaska, US
Tue, Nov 08, 1955
Page 63
Full Page
Clipped by
Mark M.
WA, USA 26 Aug 2020
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