Made roughly a decade before statehood, this educational film is about the importance of Alaska, primarily by showcasing its many valuable resources. Copyright 1948.
Opening titles: A Coronet Instructional Film – Alaska: A Modern Frontier (Revised) (:06-:26). Horses help plow a field. Dirt roads and houses, including a Quonset hut (:44). Raging water. Globe of the world, airline routes from the United States to Alaska (:27-1:13). Alaska compared to the rest of the United States in terms of size. Aerial Alaskan sites: mountains, forests. Alaska on a map. North of the Arctic Circle, Alaska is seen as we know it, barren and windswept. Cool summers. Central Alaska, the heat is the same as New York City during the summer. A woman works in a garden. KSL Co. yard (2:12) Fields near a farm (1:14-2:42). Canadian border: “Entering Alaska, Leaving Yukon Territory” sign. Car drives down a road. Alaska, Dawson Creek, Canada and the United States on a map. Alaskan Highway. Dirt road stretches across rugged country. Fairbanks, AK. Buildings including the Dawson Co-Operative Union, mile 0 on the Alaska Highway (3:00), downtown, houses, buses. Alaska Railroad passenger car (2:43-4:14). DC-3 airplane on the tarmac. Smaller airplane takes off. United States to China airoutes go over Alaska on a globe of the world. Alaska Airlines DC-3. Small seaplane with pontoons. Mining machinery is being loaded into a plane. Machinery is unloaded at its destination. Gold mining. Big mining dredges for gold mining (4:15-6:07). Alaskan fishing village. Salmon is what the fishermen seek. Silver salmon jump in the water. A farmhouse. Horses help plow a field. Crops in a field. Poultry farms. Dairy farming. Map of Alaska. Nome, AK. Inside a small plane heading by Mt. McKinley. Snow on the mountains. Glaciers (6:08-8:03). Coast off the Bering Sea. Eskimo village. Eskimos wear parkas and walk. Boats with Eskimos rowing. Native Eskimo live. In Nome, tourists watch Eskimos. Log cabins, city life. State University near Fairbanks, AK. Construction and developing in Alaska. Alaska on the globe. Timber, minerals, fish, and farmlands of Alaska. Young children play in Alaska (8:04-10:17). End credits (10:18-10:23).
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
