The Iron Trail

The race to build the first railroad in Alaska at the turn of the twentieth century and reach the vast untapped mineral wealth of the interior was a daring, high risk adventure played out between rugged visionaries and some unscrupulous promoters. The hardships, perseverance and the actual engineering achievement of the people who finally succeded in building the railroad in this forbidding territory have long been ignored. If you have ever viewed the swift unpredictable rivers, huge mountains and glacier activity along the Southeastern coast of Alaska, or traveled the remaining original railroad bed to McCarthy and Kennicott the very thought of attempting a railroad line extending over 200 miles from the coast to the interior through this terrain is just plain incredible. The "Iron Trail" is written in a turn of the century style which is perhaps a bit flowery but entertaining just the same. Most of real people and places have been renamed for the book but are identified in the forward. Throughout reading this book I couldn't help thinking what a marvelous movie setting and adventure story is behind this truly spectacular engineering achievement.