British clergymen and political figures met to denounce German persecution of the Jews.
What does this have to do with Wyoming? Well, arguably not much. But the story is relevant, as depicted here, for a couple of reasons. For one thing, it was the first really all year around, all weather, rural highway in the United States. The trucks depicted here are travelling in conditions that would be familiar to most Wyoming drivers, but which most people avoided travelling in for the most part, for long distances anyhow, prior to World War Two.
Pat of the reason that, after the war, they would travel in conditions like this has to do with a technology depicted here which wasn't common at all prior tot he war. . . the all wheel drive. In this case, the vehicles are 6x6 2 1/2 ton military trucks, but it was the 4x4 military truck that would really cause a revolution in post war rural travel, when it put on civilian colors.
Pat of the reason that, after the war, they would travel in conditions like this has to do with a technology depicted here which wasn't common at all prior tot he war. . . the all wheel drive. In this case, the vehicles are 6x6 2 1/2 ton military trucks, but it was the 4x4 military truck that would really cause a revolution in post war rural travel, when it put on civilian colors.
2 comments:
Your post on the Alcan brought back memories of when our family drove the highway from Dawson Creek to Delta Junction in the mid-'60s in a Chrysler New Yorker station wagon. I was 14. My father was a roadtripper a la Clark Griswold. I don't remember much paving on the road, just gravel. Drivers were cautioned to bring extra spare tires and headlights, and assume you would need a new windshield after all was said and done. We were stranded in Smithers, BC, when a bridge washed out and they had to bring in a Bailey Bridge. The worst thing was the dust. Cars then had fairly crappy sealing, and we sat in a cloud, even with all the windows rolled up. I was back on the highway almost twenty years later. Mae's Kitchen sat below Suicide Hill at Mile 145. Mae's had legendary strawberry-rhubarb pie; and bushpilots put down on the gravel, often in the gaps between semis, and got a slice and a coffee. The maddest pilot of all was Jackpine Anderson. He made a forced landing in the bush and took out his prop. So he got to work and carved a new one from a jackpine and flew out.
Tom
Sheridan, WY
The Alcan, or Alaska Highway now, is paved. That leave the drive to Barrow the last great vehicle adventure in the state. And this from Popular Mechanics in 2018 is likely the most extreme form of the drive. The author notes that this trip may not be possible much longer as the Arctic warms.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/adventure/outdoors/g18930165/ice-highway-barrow-alaska/
Tom
Sheridan, WY
Post a Comment