A Railroad to Somewhere?

 Over Memorial weekend, Bryant and I made our way out to the cabin.  First though, we rode up Hatcher's Pass and then went out to eat, so we didn't make it out there until quite late.  Late in Alaska this time of the year doesn't equate to dark, and nothing unusual caught our attention as we drove into the cabin site and unloaded our belongings.

The next day, I suggested we go take a look at what our railroad neighbors were up to.  We didn't have to walk too far to see that the Railroad to Nowhere was making some impressive progress to get Somewhere.  Regardless of the fact that it is unknown whether it will ever be economically feasible to actually use the tracks to transport whatever goods or natural resources this state might find to extract. 

Looking south on the railroad bed

Maybe I'm not being quite the visionary that William H. Seward was when he negotiated the purchase of Alaska from Russia.  But in the meantime, I take comfort in the idea that hundreds of people are employed and laboring to lay some infrastructure for future generations. 

Looking north on the railroad bed

 Most of the time, I don't get too caught up in whether I'm pro-development, conservationist, or a preservationist, but this project literally was in my backyard and I went through a whole range of emotions and found a seat in each camp at different points.  In the end, the idea that one can never really own any parcel of land was reinforced and because we never did settle into the idea of developing the land more for future use, it wasn't too hard to let it go. In the beginning railroad phases, we feared we'd end up with the worst case scenario; they would build the railroad, but not purchase a slice our property in the processes.

Railroad property to the left; ours to the right.  In the
background is a washed out view of the Alaska Range.

Luckily they didn't.  They wanted our hill, which they will eventually completely rip down to railroad grade elevation and use the gravel underneath to fill low areas.  If a diamond can be found among this destruction, it has to be that when the trees were all cleared it left behind broad expansive views to the north of the Alaska Range. I now own land that has a view of North America's tallest mountain, Denali. Never mind that 100 feet below my soon to be top of the hill with a view, there will be a set of railroad tracks and a train that may someday carry something to somewhere. 
For another perspective on the railroad project:  http://www.frontiersman.com/news/officials-hail-rail-construction/article_3a467a5e-cf1b-11e2-8d4d-0019bb2963f4.html