JIM WELLER (1:123/140) wrote to STEVEN HORN at 21:59 on 10 Apr 2006:

 JW> Diefenbacker felt the road would pay for itself by making mineral,
 JW> oil and gas exploration and extraction more accessible. He compared
 JW> it to the first national railroad that was built solely to bring
 JW> British Colombia into the Dominion but paid for itself
 JW> inadvertently by silver discoveries near cobalt and later, nickel
 JW> near Sudbury. Those mines might have been delayed 50 years or more
 JW> without a railway going through the heart of the mining country.

The Dempster Highway began as a Diefenbaker road to resources but was
finshed well after his death.  With the exception of a road to Old Crow, no
one talks about major highways here but then we have the Alaska Highway
which has done wonders for our economy even though it started its life as a
military project.

 JW> The pipeline will end at and tie into the continental system at
 JW> High Level not Fort Mcmurray. (Yellowknife will not be in its
 JW> path.)

But that means it might be a while before Yellowknife gets gas.  At least
we will get natural gas quickly if our pipeline goes ahead. 


Incidentally, we saw the Russian helicopter which is being used to bring
heavy loads into Ekati.  Quite the machine.

Take care,

Steven Horn (steven.horn{at}gmail.com)
Moderator, ALASKA_CHAT 
--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+