For weeks, the nation has been celebrating Alaska's 50th anniversary of statehood and the state's incredible history.
Here at Great Projects Film Company, we've been digging through Alaska's history for two years to create "Building Alaska," a documentary on the engineering feats that built the state's infrastructure. In our office, every day is a celebration of the great state, but it is the people who have fueled our passion for this project.
In our eyes, there are no bigger heroes of Alaska transportation than Michael J. Heney and Col. Frederick Mears. Without these men, Alaska's history might have been vastly different. After all, Alaska's history is a story of transportation -- the transportation of people to the state, the movement of goods and people within it, as well as the natural resources out of it.
Heney, "The Irish Prince of Alaska," built the White Pass & Yukon Route railroad, the Million Dollar Bridge and the Copper River and Northwestern Railway on sheer willpower. He found routes through the mountains where no else could and outsmarted Alaska's weather, and the Guggenheims and J.P. Morgan to boot.
Mears led the Alaska Engineering Commission, which was responsible for building the Alaska Railroad. He saw the eight-year project through avalanches and a world war. Sadly, he was reassigned by the U.S. Army just weeks before the golden spike completed the project.
There are books and movies dedicated to both Heney and Mears, but the structures they left behind are the biggest testament to their mark on Alaska. The White Pass & Yukon Route railroad transported $7 million in gold in just one week after it opened, and now serves as a favorite tourist activity. Although the Copper River and Northwestern Railway closed, it served the area for 27 years and exported $300 million in copper. And of course, the Alaska Railroad continues to run from Seward to Fairbanks like the backbone of the state, with the majority of the population living along the rail belt.
Alaska's railroads are emblematic of the kind of work and dedication that it took to accomplish things in a state where building anything can prove difficult. Their strong leadership was just what Alaska needed to make things happen at a time when statehood was just a dream. And certainly their work established an infrastructure that only strengthened Alaska's bid for statehood.
Alaska has been lucky to find strong leaders throughout history. Heney and Mears are just two of them. On this anniversary, we tip our hats to all of the great Alaskans for building the state we know and love, and will continue to do so in the future.
Kenneth M. Mandel is an executive producer of "Great Projects: Building Alaska," which will air on PBS later this year.
By KENNETH M. MANDEL