Anchorage: From Its Humble Origins as a Railroad Construction Camp: City History

Alaskans were galvanized in 1915 by selection of a route for the new federal railroad to be built into the interior. Railroad workers, merchants, and government people rushed ot the mouth of Ship Creek at the north end of Cook Inlet where a construction camp soon became a city - Anchorage. Author Elizabeth Tower follows the city's roller coaster ride through the 20th Century it became a hub for World War II operations, survived a devastating earthquake, emerged as "Air Crossroads of the World," and became Alaska's largest city. Meet the people who shaped Anchorage, including Col. Otto Ohlson, the autorcratic, cigar-smoking general manager of the Alaska Railroad; Col. Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr., the former West Point commandant given the overwhelming task of defending the huge territory; Robert Reeve, who arrived as a stowaway and built Reeve Aleutian Airways; newspaper publisher Robert B. Atwood, who campaigned relentlessly for state-hood; Irene Ryan, the waitress turned legislator who helped pass laws assuring Alaska a share of its oil resources; and Walter J. Hickel, the ex-Kansas boxer whose optimism encourage Anchorage rebuild after the earthquake.