Map of Alaska By the Alaska Road Commission. 1909. (Upper left sheet) Compiled from Surveys of the Alaska Road Commission, the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Army Surveys, and the Canadian Geological Survey. Drawn by Jas. H. Watson. C.E. Superintendent A.R.C. Andrew B. Graham Co., lithographers, Washington, D.C. (insets) Aleutian Islands

• Main Authors: United States. Alaska Road Commission, Andrew B. Graham Co., U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey
• Format: Map
• Language: unknown
• Published: Alaska Road Commission 1909
• Subjects: Roads; Yukon; Nunivak; Nunivak Island; Yukon river; Alaska; Aleutian Islands
• Online Access: https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~240035~5512099; https://media.davidrumsey.com/MediaManager/srvr?mediafile=/Size4/D5005/6821001.jpg

One color map on 4 sheets. Upper left sheet. Composite has been created for the set. With 2 insets. Shows roads, trails, railroads, telegraph lines, etc. Relief shown by contours. contour interval 1000 feet. Includes the list of members of the Commission. The map is a monster production, much larger than any other general map of Alaska published in this time period. The Board of Road Commissioners for Alaska, more commonly known as the Alaska Road Commission or ARC, was created in 1905 as a board of the U.S. War Department. Prior to its creation, the Alaska Interior was largely roadless up until about the 1870s, with only a network of trails established by the native people of Alaska, which Russian, and later American, traders and prospectors used as well. Prospectors and others wished for an easier overland route between a year round port in southern Alaska and the Yukon River. The US Army began surveying and determined the best route would be north from Valdez. The Army started construction of a pack trail from Valdez to Eagle in 1898. By 1899 this project was also known as the Trans-Alaska Military Road. In the early 1900s, congressional committees investigating transportation needs in Alaska, including a 1903 visit by a Senate committee on Territories, recommended that the War Department construct a trail system and upgrade the newly built Valdez-Eagle trail to a wagon road. Congress approved legislation establishing a commission to oversee these and other improvements on January 27, 1905, Congress approved legislation establishing a commission to oversee these and other improvements on January 27, 1905 and the Alaska Road Commission (ARC), was organized May 15, 1905, by order of the Secretary of War. See note field above.