On July 15, 2023, the Alaska Railroad will celebrate its 100th birthday.

But the roots of the railroad go back to 1903 when John Ballaine and a small group of Seattle-based investors decided to develop a rail line from the port city of Seward to the Matanuska coal fields.

On November 21, 1942, the Anchorage Daily Times announced the holing through of the Whittier tunnel through a rock formation to provide access to the new port of Whittier on Passage Canal, an arm of Prince William Sound. The most prominent headline of the November 21st edition declared, “Open Alaska Railroad Whittier Tunnel.”