In
1958 the Canadian government made the historic decision to build
a 671-kilometre (417-mile) road through the Arctic wilderness
from Dawson City, Yukon, to Inuvik in the Northwest Territories.
Oil
and gas exploration was booming in the Mackenzie Delta and the
town of Inuvik was under construction. The road was billed as
the first-ever overland supply link to southern Canada, where business
and political circles buzzed with talk of an oil pipeline that
would run parallel to the road. The two would ultimately connect
with another proposed pipeline along the Alaska Highway.
