Original subtitles

Narrator: This is the story of the making of modern alaska,

Seen in color for the first time.

In america's last great wilderness,

The gold rush launches this remote territory

On an incredible journey.

♪

Opportunity attracts pioneers...

And later, those rocked by the depression.

I'm sure we'll make a go of it

Because my husband's the kind that can.

Narrator: Long summer days yield remarkable harvests,

While the rugged landscape draws wealthy tourists.

But only the bold survive its extremes.

Newsreel announcer: The army wages a war

Against nature and the elements.

Narrator: In world war two, alaska becomes

The only north american soil to be invaded.

In less than a century alaska goes

From the edge of the world to the 49th state.

This is the story of america's last frontier,

As you have never seen it before.

♪

[indistinct shouting]

John kennedy: I want us to recapture that...

♪

Narrator: As the 20th century dawns,

Most americans think of alaska

As an icy, unpopulated wilderness.

[growling]

A land mass one fifth the size of the lower 48 states.

It's vast enough to stretch all the way across mainland america.

[dogs howling]

Bought from russia in 1867,

Alaska boasts a vibrant but brutal landscape,

With a climate to match.

Freezing long winters where temperatures can reach minus 70.

And short summers where the sun never sets.

It is america's last frontier.

But one single event puts alaska on the map.

In 1896 prospectors find gold in the klondike,

A canadian district near the alaskan border.

Getting there means sailing north from seattle,

Where gold fever attracts thousands of dreamers

And the cameras of movie pioneer thomas edison.

Local outfitters make a killing,

As all supplies have to be taken with you, even horses.

[horn blows]

The steamship queen is among the first to cast off,

Overflowing with prospectors.

♪

In time, 100,000 will head to alaska,

Most through the makeshift port of skagway.

From here it's still 350 miles inland to the klondike.

Edison captures the first ever moving images of alaska.

The trek to the goldfields takes three months...

Through the region's toughest terrain.

Only 30,000 make it to stake their claim...

And start panning for riches as they process tons of dirt.

Over the next three years

The klondike yields 75 tons of gold.

But only a few make their fortune.

Most return home empty-handed.

As the gold rush fades, many towns die out,

But not skagway.

Alaska still offers riches for the tough and self-reliant.

In 1914, whalers aboard the herman

Make a profitable trip working the waters off alaska.

Smoke billows as crewmen render whale blubber into oil.

Whalebone also holds great value.

Once clean, it goes into domestic products

From hairbrushes to corsets.

On this voyage the herman collects five tons of it.

Wearing fur on the left, captain theodore pedersen

Trades pelts with alaskan native hunters.

The furs that keep people alive in alaska...

Bring premium prices from american fashionistas.

In this barter economy, arctic fox pelts buy rifles.

[dogs barking]

The extraordinary lives of alaska's natives are caught

In this extremely rare smithsonian institution footage.

In 1912, explorer william van valin

Begins traveling to point barrow,

In alaska's far north,

To document life among the inupiat,

One of the seven major native groups that inhabit alaska.

[laughing]

The united states deems the 25,000 that live here

As non-citizens, with no corresponding rights.

The region has been populated for thousands of years...

And alaskan natives have developed

An ability to survive here...

By kayaking...

Fishing...

Hunting...

And more recently, caribou herding.

♪

[squealing]

Surrounded by flags of the few whaling nations

That have traded this far north,

Van valin films the extraordinary technique

Of the blanket toss.

In this low-lying land, hurling a person aloft

Is the most effective way of spotting a whale at sea.

Once a whale is caught,

Traditionally a messenger

Runs back to within eyeshot of the village

And signals with a two-footed high kick

For everyone to come and help haul the giant mammal ashore.

♪

♪

None of the whale goes to waste.

♪

At point barrow,

Van valin visits a native burial ground.

The soil here is permafrost, impossible to dig.

Inupiat dead, wrapped in skins,

Are left to decompose aboveground.

But alaskan native life is changing forever

With the influx of americans from the lower 48.

♪

In 1918, filmmaker burton holmes

Documents life for the residents of post-gold rush skagway.

July 4th celebrations

Show american traditions are here to stay.

♪

One of the draws are the long summer days

Where there are up to 19 hours of sunlight.

And the eccentric ways of getting around,

Like dog-driven taxis.

Many here have experienced the gold rush firsthand.

Harriet pullen came here in 1897,

One of the few women to make the journey.

A skilled rider,

She made a fortune hauling goods to the klondike.

When the rush ebbed, she opened the pullen house hotel...

Serving homegrown berries

And lurid tales of her gold rush days.

The pullen becomes the place to stay in skagway.

[horn blows]

Moving around alaska is no easy feat.

Pretty much the only way to travel is by water.

[whistle blows]

Skagway has gotten rich

Because one of alaska's few railroads

Literally runs right down main street...

Bringing in iron, tin and copper

From mines that dot the nearby yukon territory.

But for the inland mining town of fairbanks, times are hard.

It's a coal mining region,

And the nearest port is over 450 miles away.

It needs a railroad,

But entrepreneurs tried and failed to run a line.

The territorial government can't afford to cover

The cost of the railroad: $35 million.

So officials lobby washington 3,000 miles away.

[howling]

[barking]

In 1914, congress greenlights the project.

At ship creek, a tent city rises

To house crews of american immigrant railroad workers.

Renamed anchorage for its harbor,

The town grows to be alaska's largest city, and still is.

Rare early footage shows a steam-driven track layer

Bulling through the harsh terrain.

♪

It takes nearly nine years to finish.

For alaska's 55,000 inhabitants,

The alaska railroad marks a turning point...

The opening of the region's wonders

To the lower 48.

[cheering]

In 1923

President warren g. Harding and first lady florence

Are on their way to alaska.

The only surviving footage shows the president

Being received with great pomp and ceremony.

But once he gets to alaska, everything is far more relaxed.

He's here to open the brand new alaska railroad.

Starting in seward, they set off on the 470-mile journey north.

For part of the journey the entourage ride the rails

In a specially converted dodge roadster

To get a better view.

[whistle blows]

On July 15th president harding is presented with a spike

Made out of alaskan gold.

It requires multiple whacks to hammer the spike home.

Now the railroad is officially complete.

[applause]

[whistle blows]

In the 1920s alaska's gold boom is over,

But its frontier way of life still thrives.

♪

Its tales of adventure and eccentricity

Attract the movie business.

Austin "cap" lathrop is alaska's first homegrown millionaire.

He wants to turn the alaskan myth into movies.

In 1923, he produces "the cheechakos,"

A feature set in gold rush days...

Shot in and around anchorage...

[screaming]

♪

Incorporating crude special effects.

[screaming]

In the lower 48, "the cheechakos" draws yawns.

Woman: Help! Help!

Narrator: But in hollywood,

Yesterday's flop can be tomorrow's hit.

In 1924 silent movie star charlie chaplin

Directs and stars in "the gold rush."

♪

His trademark character, the little tramp,

Tromps the klondike...

Encountering wildlife...

And hard times when he cooks and eats his boots.

"the gold rush" is a box-office smash,

Taking in what today would be $60 million.

Ironically, chaplin shot the whole production

In northern california.

He declares it's the film he'd most like to be remembered for.

[horse whinnies]

[dogs barking]

In January 1925, one alaskan adventurer

Is about to create a new legend.

Norwegian immigrant leonhard seppala.

He arrived here during the gold rush,

Settling in nome,

One of the territory's most remote cities.

And soon found his calling in life--

Dog mushing--

A mode of transportation alaskan natives have used

For a thousand years.

But seppala perfects it

By being the first to use siberian huskies...

Who prove to be the perfect breed for the job.

But it's a disaster in nome

That vaults seppala to national fame.

During the harshest winter for 20 years,

An outbreak of diphtheria threatens the city.

The serum which will cure it is over 600 miles away in nenana.

The only means of getting the serum to nome is by sled.

Seppala sets up relay teams of mushers and dogs.

He himself takes the toughest leg,

A 90-mile ordeal.

The journey takes five grueling days.

Balto is the leading dog into nome on February 2nd...

An event recreated for the cameras

On the very same streets.

The serum saves 2,000 townspeople

From catastrophe.

Now a national hero, seppala and his huskies

Tour america on his adapted sled.

Crowds in nassau, new york, can't get close enough.

And balto is in new york for the unveiling of his statue...

[cheering]

That's still a popular spot in central park.

[horn blows]

Drawn by its larger-than-life reputation,

More than 20,000 tourists a year visit alaska in the '20s.

Announcer: One scarcely expects to find a heatwave in alaska.

But the hardy residents go ice bathing in thunder bay.

It's not compulsory. They enjoy it!

Narrator: The distance and time involved

Ensure that those visitors are well off.

Among these privileged few

Is an amateur filmmaker from philadelphia and his family.

Ellwood hoffman, age 50, is a businessman

Who made his fortune in silk stockings.

In 1930, he records how wealthy americans travel.

The hoffmans book a luxury trip to skagway

Aboard an alaska steamship company cruise liner,

The alameda.

Passengers pass the voyage with distractions

Like egg-and-spoon races...

[laughter]

[applause]

[laughter]

And milk drinking contests.

[laughter]

[birds squawking]

[dog barking]

At skagway, it's not hard to coax tales

From its most famous resident, harriet pullen, now 69.

♪

For transportation, you can now get a tour

On the skagway street car.

A dip into the gold rush experience is mandatory...

No matter how well you're dressed.

Spectacular glaciers are within easy driving distance.

♪

[whistle blows]

And the white pass and yukon railway

Now stretches through to canada.

But more than rich tourists,

Alaska needs tough settlers ready to dig in and work hard.

[whistle blowing]

By 1934 alaska has a population which has stagnated

Since the gold rush days.

The region is struggling to grow.

Only 60,000 in total live here...

Most living in small communities along the lengthy coastline.

Nome is one of the most isolated cities.

On September 17, 1934, disaster strikes.

[explosion]

Flames break out in the roof of the golden gate hotel.

The onshore breeze spreads the fire across town.

The small fire department burns down,

And locals have to tackle the fire

In whatever way they can.

Much of nome winds up in ashes.

Of 1,500 residents, 400 are without homes,

Exposed to the coming winter deep in the wilderness.

Only a massive government relief effort

Gets them through to spring...

A reminder of alaska's unforgiving nature.

But in 1935 during the great depression,

Alaska again becomes a place of opportunity.

At matanuska, near anchorage,

Crews begin to clear virgin forest.

It's the first phase of a bold new deal program.

President franklin d. Roosevelt's administration

Recruits 203 families from the hard-hit states

Of minnesota, michigan, and wisconsin.

These midwesterners know how to navigate fierce winters.

[train whistle blows]

Arriving in may, families each get 40 acres

On which to rebuild their lives.

Man: There are 200 lots and 200 families.

Let's go.

Number one will draw.

Man: Elmer olson. 200.

Man: Tom porter, number 96.

Man: Marion poor, 49th.

[horse neighs]

Narrator: Low-interest loans

Underwrite houses, barns, and livestock.

I'm sure we'll make a go of it

Because my husband's the kind that can.

Narrator: Cameras capture the initial optimism.

♪ some people think we're fooling ♪

♪ and are sure we will regret ♪

♪ but really they are mistaken ♪

♪ for there's no sign as yet ♪

♪ we want to make a new start ♪

♪ somewhere without delay ♪

♪ so here we are, alaska ♪

♪ and we have come to stay ♪

Narrator: In alaska, the long summer days

Mean super-size crops.

The new deal puts $5 million into matanuska,

Providing vital roads, rail and schools for the area.

But the alaskan summer is a blink.

And alaska's long winters are no cakewalk.

Man: The growing season is too short.

Narrator: It's only three months long.

I want to go home to grandma.

Narrator: Within five years,

Half the families abandon matanuska.

Some move into nearby anchorage, and others return home.

[birds squawking]

In the 1930s, fishing here creates more wealth

Than all of alaska's minerals combined.

Commercial fishermen come for the cod...

The highly prized king crab...

And most of all, the salmon.

For a few short weeks each year, over 20,000 fishermen

Head to alaskan waters for the salmon run...

When millions of fish return home from the deep ocean

To their breeding grounds in alaskan rivers.

Lying in wait are massive nets ready to intercept them.

At the industry's peak in 1937,

Fishermen catch over 100 million salmon.

Today, that harvest would be worth over $800 million.

[ship horn blows]

With no freezers on board,

The fish is raced to nearby canneries

And processed within hours.

Modern canning revolutionizes salmon processing.

Off with its head...

Into the can and sealed...

Then carefully cooked in steam ovens,

Before being packaged and shipped worldwide.

With a gold mine off its shores,

Others try to plunder these riches...

As japanese floating canneries move in on this resource.

Announcer: As on the shelves even of united states merchants

Appear quantities of alaskan salmon

Caught, packed and sold by japanese.

To a world awakening for the first time

To the problems of alaska...

Narrator: With the jobs of fishermen at stake,

Furious alaskans demand action...

As staged newsreels from the time illustrate.

Well, we won't stand for it.

Them salmon were born and raised in american waters

Under the protection of our fish laws.

What if they do swim out beyond the three-mile limit?

They're still american fish, ain't they?

Narrator: This time the united states and japan

Come to terms.

Japanese fishing vessels are banned from alaskan waters.

In the mid-1930s alaska takes delivery

Of america's latest weapon...

The b-10, the nation's first all-metal bomber,

And the world's fastest.

Only long-distance flights over rough terrain

Will battle-harden b-10s and their crews.

Alaska offers such routes in spades.

Each aircraft bears an alaskan city's name.

Lieutenant colonel hap arnold commands the flight.

He's a military aviation pioneer;

Taught to fly by the wright brothers.

Colonel arnold, on behalf of the war department

And the secretary of war dern,

I came to wish you and the officers of the alaskan flight

Success and godspeed.

Narrator: Crews will plan new air routes

By mapping alaska with cutting-edge aerial cameras.

Hap arnold: We're hopping off for fairbanks,

And with the breaks in the weather

And good luck with our equipment,

We'll have all ten planes in fairbanks

Ready for our reconnaissance flights up there

Within a few days.

[cheering]

Narrator: They'll take a month to chart 35,000 square miles

Of alaska and the arctic.

The mission is based in alaska's largest airfield, at fairbanks.

The city now has a population of over 2,000.

The cameras of the u.S. Army air corps

Capture life as the airmen cause a stir around the city.

They acquire alaskan mascots.

Alaska is of critical strategic importance.

The crews' photos help plan possible responses

To the growing threat from russia and japan...

With one general saying,

"whoever holds alaska will hold the world."

[cheering]

In recognition of their work,

Arnold is given a key to the city of fairbanks.

But alaska remains isolated--

There is no rail or road route connecting to the lower 48.

One man has been pushing to end this isolation.

[bell rings]

Clyde "slim" williams is an alaska celebrity.

He arrived in 1900 and blazed trails all over the territory.

For years he's campaigned for a land link

To the lower 48.

He calls it the alaska highway.

To publicize his plan, in November 1932

He mushed from fairbanks through the toughest terrain to seattle.

It took five and a half months.

But the government ignored the hoopla.

Now, in 1939, williams and fellow adventurer john logan

Decide to repeat the journey...

On motorcycles.

♪

They use their frontier skills to overcome challenges.

♪

♪

To fuel their bikes, they rely on folks living way off grid...

In logging camps...

And on alaskan native settlements.

♪

♪

Six hard and increasingly hairy months later,

Williams and logan reach pavement,

Lashing their bikes together for the final leg to seattle.

Despite all this effort,

The government again rejects the idea.

[air raid siren]

[explosions]

December 7, 1941, changes everything for alaska.

Japan attacks pearl harbor, hawaii.

America is thrown into war.

Japan also turns its attention

To alaska's aleutian islands,

Strung far into the pacific.

Their first target is the u.S. Navy base

At dutch harbor.

[explosions]

On June 3, 1942, imperial forces bomb the remote outpost,

Killing 78 americans.

♪

This rare captured footage

Shows the unbelievable happening three days later...

Japanese soldiers conquering american soil.

This aleutian island is defended

By only ten u.S. Navy weathermen and their dog, explosion.

Enemy soldiers round up the defenders...

Parading john mccandless and rolland coffield

Past the lens.

The weathermen spend three years as prisoners of war.

Coffield survives...

As does mccandless.

With alaska under attack, american troops and equipment

Need to be transported north as quickly as possible.

The pressure of war means slim williams's dream

Is finally going to be reality.

The alaska highway.

Announcer: Here from a tent city in the heart of the wilderness,

The army wages a war against nature and the elements.

In 30-below-zero temperature, they're blazing a trail

For the construction of a 1,500-mile military highway

From the united states to alaska.

Narrator: By November, the road is complete...

An extraordinary achievement of american engineering.

With alaska connected,

Construction workers, men and material freely flow north.

Now preparations can begin

For one of the most remote campaigns of world war two.

So remote, everything is shipped 2,300 miles west

To the aleutian island of adak.

It will act as the jumping-off point

For the mission to expel the japanese.

Academy award-winning director john huston

Documents the build-up.

John huston: Typical of the aleutian chain,

It is windswept, treeless, rain-soaked.

Next to worthless in terms of human existence.

But strategically adak is one of the most important locations

In the world.

Narrator: Only seasoned pilots

Can cope with its boggy landing strip.

♪

It's from here that in may 1943

American troops begin their campaign

To liberate the aleutian island of attu.

Announcer: Troops don warpaint--

Camouflage for what they expect to be

The bloodiest of battles against a foe fighting to the death.

[machine gun fire]

[machine gun fire]

Narrator: U.S. Army air force bombers begin the only battle

Fought on north american soil during the conflict.

♪

At dawn on may 11th, u.S. Infantry hit the beach.

[artillery fire]

The battle rages on for three weeks...

[artillery fire]

As the japanese defenders fight to the death.

Victory is only achieved when all 2,400 are wiped out...

For the loss of 500 american lives.

[bugling]

American advances elsewhere in the pacific

Overshadow the victory at attu.

To the soldiers who spilled blood on the aleutians,

It becomes known as the forgotten battle.

♪

After regrouping, u.S. Forces assault nearby kiska...

Only to find the japanese have fled,

Leaving behind tons of military hardware,

Including midget submarines.

And amid the debris,

The weathermen's dog, explosion, who is still alive and well.

Alaska is now liberated.

[cheering]

In August 1944 fdr spends six days

Inspecting troops in alaska.

♪

For company he's brought fala,

His scottish terrier and america's favorite dog.

When they return to the lower 48,

Critics claim he ditched fala in the aleutians...

Only to send an expensive warship back to retrieve him.

You know, fala's scotch...

[laughter]

And being a scottie,

As soon as he learned

That the republican fiction writers

Had concocted a story

That I had left him behind on an aleutian island

And had sent a destroyer back to find him,

At a cost to the taxpayers

Of two or three, or eight or twenty million dollars,

His scotch soul was furious.

[laughter]

Narrator: As hostilities end on american soil,

Alaska's role keeps evolving.

America donates planes to soviet russia

To help bolster the fight on the eastern front.

At fairbanks, where b-10s once landed,

Russian crews take delivery of american-made aircraft

And paint on the soviet star.

Soviet pilots fly the planes to the eastern front

4,000 miles away.

Fairbanks hosts hundreds of russian personnel

In a rare moment of cooperation between the two countries.

♪

The soviet visitors find life very different than at home.

In 18 months nearly 8,000 planes

Make the transit through alaska...

Advancing the allies to victory in may 1945.

♪

But all too soon, yesterday's ally will become today's enemy.

In the aftermath of world war two,

Tensions with russia rise.

It's the start of the cold war.

On July 9, 1953, huge blasts rock the territory...

[explosion]

Not a-bombs, but a volcano.

Newsreel announcer: Erupting for the first time

In the history of mankind,

Mount spurr is an awesome and truly spectacular sight.

Narrator: The eruption sends an ash plume

70,000 feet into the air.

Ash shuts down anchorage.

Announcer: Nearby elmendorf airfield

Has been blanketed with a fine soot,

And it's been a job to keep the runways clear.

The powerful blower of a jet engine

Has been pressed into this argument with the dust,

And by the look of it, the debate continues.

♪

Narrator: The cold war escalates,

And an ice curtain slams down across the region.

Alaskan natives find themselves on the frontline...

Especially on two islands in the bering strait.

Just two miles separates

Russia's big diomede and america's little diomede.

[birds squawking]

For centuries islanders have survived

By collecting eggs

And catching birds on the cliff faces.

And free movement between the islands

Is part of their way of life.

As tensions mount, the soviet authorities

Evacuate its big diomede population to siberia,

Forever separating families.

From a military backwater, alaska has evolved

Into a strategic gem, on which the government showers money.

The military quickly becomes the territory's largest employer.

Alaska's northerly position is perfectly placed

For a network of radar stations

That will detect russian bombers coming over the north pole.

When complete, the distant early warning line

Will stretch 3,000 miles from alaska to greenland.

To enable this, the military builds

Permanent bases in arctic alaska...

Connecting once-remote locations to the outside.

Across the dew line

A new generation of americans are living a frontier life.

Announcer: But perhaps the true historical role of the dew line

Will prove to be the opening up

For peaceful and productive purposes

Of a vast new frontier above the arctic circle.

Narrator: In July 1957, test wells come good

When 250 million barrels of oil are found

40 miles from anchorage.

Roughnecks from across america flood into alaska

To exploit its black gold.

Anchorage is booming.

Only 40 years ago a tent city for railroad workers,

It is now as modern as any metropolis in america.

For 90 years, the federal government in washington, d.C.,

Has administered alaska from afar.

But with rising oil wealth and a growing population of 220,000,

They want statehood.

Alaskans campaign to become the 49th state of the union.

Finally, in 1958,

President eisenhower signs the alaska statehood act.

Announcer: A 49th state born, with uncle sam

As pleased as the celebrants in alaska,

Who tossed the wildest celebration

Since gold rush days.

[cheering]

Narrator: Crowds in anchorage cheer

As local pageant queen rita martin

Gives old glory a 49th star.

[cheering]

♪

A year later anchorage turns out again...

For the annual fur rendezvous...

A festival celebrating what makes alaska, alaska.

They may be part of the union, but alaskans still feel

They stand apart from the lower 48,

Thanks to their unique culture and traditions.

Isolation and harsh beauty

Will always define this state

As america's last frontier.

♪