The ALCAN: The Road That Connected a Country and Erased the People Who Built It

One thousand, three hundred, and eighty-seven miles. Built in just eight months during the height of World War II, the Alaska Highway (ALCAN) is more than an engineering marvel—it is a landscape of compressed history, wartime urgency, and human endurance.

In this special extended episode of Drive-Thru Towns, host Andrew Wilcox drives the entire length of the highway, from the wheat fields of Dawson Creek, BC, to the bison crossings of Delta Junction, AK. We uncover the stories the monuments often omit: the 3,000 Black soldiers in segregated regiments who built the most grueling sections of the road, the 5,000-year-old Indigenous trading villages displaced by the route, and the homesick 21-year-old soldier who nailed one sign to a post and accidentally created a global landmark.

• Mile Zero (Dawson Creek, BC): Why a humble grain elevator is the true heart of the highway's origin.

• The Sign Post Forest (Watson Lake, YT): How one soldier’s sign for Danville, Illinois, turned into a collection of over 100,000 hometown memories.

• The Meeting Place (Champagne, YT): The tragic story of Shadhäla-ra, a village that survived 5,000 years of history only to be "killed" twice by the highway’s arrival and its eventual bypass.

• Tok, Alaska: The town of three names (none of them certain) and the "miracle wind" that saved it from a wildfire.

• The Terminus (Delta Junction, AK): Ending the journey among a herd of Montana bison that treat the highway like a temporary neighbor.

We take a deep look at the racial dynamics of the construction effort. In 1942, the U.S. Army was still segregated. Black regiments, like the 93rd, 95th, and 388th Engineers, were often given the most difficult, swampy, and remote terrain to conquer. Despite facing systemic doubt from their own leadership, these men completed the most challenging bridges and mountain passes, physically connecting the continent at the legendary "handshake" near Beaver Creek.

Whether you’re planning your own Northward pilgrimage or listening from your armchair, follow us on Spotify for more stories of the roads that shape us.

• Instagram: @50statefamily

• LinkedIn: Andrew Wilcox

• Email: wilcoxlegal@gmail.com

• Host: Andrew Wilcox

• Theme Music: A profound thanks to Chloe Jones for the music. Hear her work at chloejonesmusic.co.uk.

Utqiagvik: The Top of the World, Where America Ends and the Dark Begins

There is no road to Utqiagvik. There never has been, and likely never will be. To reach the northernmost city in the United States, you must fly over hundreds of miles of roadless tundra or arrive by barge during the brief summer window when the Arctic Ocean isn't frozen solid.

In this episode of Drive-Thru Towns, host Andrew Wilcox journey’s to the edge of the world. While Utqiagvik (formerly Barrow) might look like a temporary pioneer outpost to the uninitiated, it is actually one of the oldest permanent settlements in North America, with a history of Iñupiat habitation stretching back to 500 AD.

We explore the duality of a place that endures 65 days of total polar night and 80 days of never-setting sun. From the tragic 1935 plane crash that claimed the lives of American icons Will Rogers and Wiley Post to the "Cold War miracle" of 1988 where Soviet and American crews joined forces to save trapped whales, Utqiagvik is a place where history is as deep as the permafrost.

• 65 Days of Night: Why the polar dark isn't something the Iñupiat "endure," but rather a culturally significant season for storytelling and community.

• The Rogers-Post Crash: The story of the Iñupiat hunter who witnessed the death of a national icon in a frozen lagoon 15 miles from town.

• The 1961 "Duck-In": One of the earliest Native civil rights protests in American history, where the community defied federal hunting bans to protect their food security.

• Operation Breakthrough: How two trapped gray whales briefly thawed the Cold War in 1988, capturing the world's attention.

• Reclaiming the Name: The 2016 vote to restore the name Utqiagvik—"the place to gather wild roots"—and reject the name of a British bureaucrat who never visited.

If you’re drawn to the stories of the Far North and the resilience of the people who call the Arctic home, follow the show on Spotify.

• Instagram: @50statefamily

• LinkedIn: Andrew Wilcox

• Email: wilcoxlegal@gmail.com

• Host: Andrew Wilcox

• Theme Music: Special thanks to Chloe Jones for the music Explore more at chloejonesmusic.co.uk.

Portlock: The Village Everyone Fled From

Deep on the Gulf of Alaska coast, on the rugged southern tip of the Kenai Peninsula, lies a ghost town that didn't die because the fish ran out or the economy collapsed. It died because of fear.

In this episode of Drive-Thru Towns, host Andrew Wilcox takes us to Portlock (also known as Port Chatham), a place so unsettling that an entire community abandoned it simultaneously in 1950. Settled in the 1920s as a thriving salmon cannery town, Portlock’s story took a dark turn in the 1940s when mutilated animal carcasses, missing hunters, and bodies with inexplicable wounds began to appear.

We explore the legend of the Nantiinaq—a large, hairy, human-like creature rooted in Alutiiq tradition—and the chilling reality of a town that simply walked away, leaving buildings standing and artifacts scattered, never to return.

• The Cannery Boom: How Portlock briefly thrived as a commercial hub for the Gulf of Alaska’s fishing fleet.

• The "Nantiinaq" Reports: The chilling accounts from the late 1940s that led local elders to believe a traditional Indigenous cryptid had claimed the area.

• The Great Exodus: Why the entire population fled by 1950, leaving a working fishing village to rot in the salt air without an official explanation.

• Modern Echoes: The unsettling experience of modern visitors who find the "Unga-type" isolation of Portlock still carries the weight of its abandoned history.

If you have a taste for the strange and the unexplained corners of the American map, follow the show on Spotify to catch every stop on our journey.

• Instagram: @50statefamily

• LinkedIn: Andrew Wilcox

• Email: wilcoxlegal@gmail.com

• Host: Andrew Wilcox

• Theme Music: Special thanks to Chloe Jones for the music. Discover more of her work at chloejonesmusic.co.uk.