Uploaded February 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Scenes of ground-clearing for the construction of the Northward Building in downtown Fairbanks, Alaska, circa 1950 (Color/Silent/16mm film).
This clip is from AAF-5778 of the Borkgren Collection held by the Alaska Film Archives, a unit of the Alaska and Polar Regions Collections & Archives department in the Elmer E. Rasmuson Library, University of Alaska Fairbanks.
The Alaska Film Archives appreciates your support. Your donation in any amount will help us continue important preservation work. Please visit the “About” section of our YouTube channel to learn how you can help today. Thank you! For more information please contact the Alaska Film Archives.
Scenes of ground-clearing for the construction of the Northward Building in downtown Fairbanks, Alaska, circa 1950 (Color/Silent/16mm film).
This clip is from AAF-5778 of the Borkgren Collection held by the Alaska Film Archives, a unit of the Alaska and Polar Regions Collections & Archives department in the Elmer E. Rasmuson Library, University of Alaska Fairbanks.
The Alaska Film Archives appreciates your support. Your donation in any amount will help us continue important preservation work. Please visit the “About” section of our YouTube channel to learn how you can help today. Thank you! For more information please contact the Alaska Film Archives.

![Constructing the Alaska Railroad, 1916
Scenes show early Anchorage and workers constructing the Alaska Railroad in 1916. According to the Alaska Railroad Corporation (link below), the U.S. Congress agreed in 1914 to fund construction and operation of a railroad from Seward to Fairbanks at an estimated construction cost of $35 million. In 1915, Anchorage was established as a construction town when the railroad moved its headquarters from Seward. Railroad construction crews peaked at 4,500 workers in 1917, and the railroad was completed with the driving of the ceremonial golden spike at Nenana by President Warren G. Harding on July 15, 1923 (Color/Silent/16mm film).
Learn more about the Alaska Railroad by visiting the Alaska Railroad Corporation Historic Timeline:
https://www.alaskarailroad.com/sites/default/files/Communications/Alaska_Railroad_Historic_Timeline_or.pdf
These scenes from Wonders in Motion were filmed by A.I. Smith. Smith and his wife visited Alaska and shot films of Anchorage and railroad work from Anchorage to the end of the line [Seward], according to the July 12, 1916, Anchorage Daily Times.
This is a clip from AAF-61 of the UAF Collection held by the Alaska Film Archives, a unit of the Alaska and Polar Regions Collections & Archives Department in the Elmer E. Rasmuson Library, University of Alaska Fairbanks.
The Alaska Film Archives appreciates your support. Your donation in any amount will help us continue important preservation work. Please visit the “About” section of our YouTube channel to learn how you can help today. Thank you! For more information please contact the Alaska Film Archives. Constructing the Alaska Railroad, 1916](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/sT4C-_TZ6Dk/mqdefault.jpg)






![Fall in Interior Alaska, circa 1940
A final glimpse of fall in the Interior: two friends picnicking in the sun, famed musher Leonhard Seppala’s cabin at Chatanika, the F.E. Gold Camp (Fairbanks Exploration Company), and a departing stage line bus operated by Billy Root. These everyday scenes hint at Alaska’s working life and travel in the 1940s (Color/Silent/16mm film).
Billy Root operated the Midnight Sun Transportation Company, serving Fairbanks-area communities and mining camps during the late 1930s and early 1940s. He was also a well-known local bandleader, with several newspaper headlines of the era touting the popularity of his orchestra, “Billy Root and His Ork.”
According to a July 14, 1939, Fairbanks Daily News Miner article about Billy Root, Transporting passengers is the easiest part of the stage driver’s job. There are newspapers and milk to be delivered, personal and business messages to be correctly relayed, U.S. mail to be carried, little favors to be done, miscellaneous purchases to be made—chores, no end. And, in between times, wash up, polish, and overhaul the rigs for the next trip. How Billy Root keeps up with his Ork is a question to ponder. Nevertheless, Billy and Gene [Gardiner] make two round trips daily from Fairbanks to Pedro and to Chatanika, and a special trip from Fairbanks to Cleary Hill Mines every Sunday morning.
This clip is from AAF-16345 of the Arnie M. Lee and Family collection held by the Alaska Film Archives, a unit of the Alaska and Polar Regions Collections & Archives Department in the Elmer E. Rasmuson Library, University of Alaska Fairbanks.
The Alaska Film Archives appreciates your support. Your donation in any amount will help us continue important preservation work. Please visit the “About” section of our YouTube channel to learn how you can help today. Thank you! For more information please contact the Alaska Film Archives. Fall in Interior Alaska, circa 1940](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/uWj_-B61CLw/mqdefault.jpg)

