Alaskan History
Workers on completed spans of the Matanuska River railway bridge, August 23, 1916. [Photograph by Alaska Engineering Commission photographer P. S. Hunt]
Building the Alaska Railroad Gold, coal, timber and other natural resources were the motivating factors in the construction of early railroads in the territory of Alaska, and there were many railroads, by one count over thirty, from the far western reaches to the Panhandle. Many of these railroads were built and operated by mining interests, others were funded by farsighted groups or individuals who understood the potential profitability of steel rails providing reliable access to a new and growing land. President Wilson appointed the Alaskan Engineering Commission in May, 1914, under the authority of the Secretary of Interior Franklin K. Lane, who appointed three men to the new Commission: William C. Edes, Chairman and Chief Engineer, a senior railroad engineer who had been locating and building railroads for 40 years. Edes had been the chief engineer on the Northwestern Pacific Railroad in California since 1907.
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