The National Broadcasting Company and its affiliated stations present the Pacific Story. [♪triumphant music playing on radio and radio In the mounting fury of world conflict, events in the Pacific are taking on ever greater importance. Here is the story of the Pacific and the millions of people who live around this greatest sea. The drama of the people whose destiny is at stake in the Pacific War. Here as another public service is the tale of the war in the Pacific and its meaning to us and to the generations to come. [♪triumphant music playing on radio Canada on the Pacific. [♪triumphant music playing on radio Look here, Hausner, you've got to get me on that steamer. It's impossible. You've got to get me on it. Don't slam your fist on this counter. Who's got a better right? I've been trapping for this Hudson's Bay Company since before you was born. There isn't room for another man on that steamer. Well, you've got to find room for me. Every one of these men is trying to get passage on that steamer to Langley, and I tell you there's no more space. There's room for me on the top deck somewhere. Gold or no gold, I can't get you on, and that's all there is to it. That steamer isn't going to pull out of Victoria without me. I'll see Finlayson. Finlayson can't help you any more than I can. Well, I'll see Finlayson. Go ahead and see Finlayson. Go ahead. Who cares who's doing what? Who is it? It's Griddick, Mr. Finlayson. Who? Griddick. Griddick the Trapper. All right, I'll let you in. All right, let's have a little air. Look, Mr. Finlayson, you've got to help me get on that steamer to Langley. You're no prospector, Griddick. You're a trapper. And what have I made out of it? After all the years I've trapped for you in the Hudson's Bay Company, what have I got? Nothing. Mr. Finlayson, you've got to help me get across the strait to Langley. Gold hunters have come here before, Griddick. But every man in Victoria here is reaving for the gold fused up the Fraser. They've gone gold crazy. Yeah, and men are coming in every day from the outside. There's a whole tent city growing up outside the stockade. Are you going to be led by the nose by those two Yankee prospectors? Well, they must have found some dust. They probably did, a little. They took it down to San Francisco and did a lot of talking about it. And now just because a mob follows them back up here, why you... They think they're going to find gold, Mr. Finlayson. They're standing in line, waiting to buy grub at the trading store. They're loading canoes and dugouts and packhorses to grow up the river. And they're paying cash for everything they can lay their hands on. But what can they get? The blacksmith has been hounded for picks and shovels and iron ladles. They bought him out. Victoria simply isn't stuck to outfit this mob. But the ones that get up the Fraser River first are going to get the gold. And you've got to help me get on that steamer to Langley. Hey! Hey, Finlayson! We demand that you charter another steamer to get us across the strait to the mainland. Quiet! Quiet! We want to get over to the mainland, and we're going to get there! Quiet! Quiet! We want a steamer, Finlayson. Quiet! How can I get you a steamer? There isn't another one in Victoria. Get one for us! You're a sailor, aren't you? Yes. I've been a seamen all me days, and I'm through with it now. I'm going up the Fraser. I can't help you. Hosmer! Hosmer! Yes? Clear these men out of my office. I'm going with them. What? If there's gold up there for them, there's gold for me too. I've quit. But you're a clerk, Hosmer. What do you know about prospects? I know as much as the rest of them. And all we want of you, Finlayson, is a boat! Well, I haven't got one. You're a sailor. Why don't you build yourself a raft? That's a good idea, Madam. That's exactly what I'll do. Who's with me? I am, all right. My father was in Victoria when that happened, back in 1858. Not much more than a boy he was. Within a month, another ship came in with nearly a thousand gold seekers. After that, boats and ships came in every few days, bringing from a hundred to a thousand men each. Victoria grew from a trading post to a wild frontier town. Gold seekers flocked in from every direction. They crossed over the mainland and pushed up into the Fraser River country. Hey, look at that, Maudseet. The rocks broke off, aye? Yes. The old rock trail, to down it to the river. We can't go any further. We've got to get through. Take off your shoes. The only way we can sail over these rocks without slipping and going down into that river is barefooted. Get them over now. Get them over. Some scrambled along the walls of the river. Some dragged pack animals as far as they could and then abandoned them. Some fought their way up the river in canoes. When they could go no farther, they cached the canoes in trees or hid them under the moss. They pushed through the wilderness, blazing trees so they could find their way back. Icy winds and snow swept through the mountains. Many fought on until disaster struck. Avalanche! Avalanche! Look out for the snow! Look out for the snow! Some were lost in avalanches of snow, never to be found again. Some pushed on, making camp wherever they could. Hey, how much farther do we have to go, Maudseet? You should have stayed aboard your ship, sailor. If we can't find no gold, it's better that we go back. Others have found it, sailor, but you're a trapper, isn't it? And you, Maudseet, you've been a prospector all of your life. We're not going back. But we're running out of food. There's deer and caribou tracks all around us. Throw some water on that campfire, sailor. What's going on? Oh, which way are we going now? There's another creek on the other side of that ridge down there. See it? Oh, that's a long way. There seems to be gravel on both sides of it. Select the fire, sailor. We're moving. All right. I'll fix it, idiot. They slogged over the ridge, over the rugged ridge, and down into the gravel of the valley. They dug into the gravel and spread it out on the palms of their hands and let it run through their fingers. Look at that. Look at that. Those little pebbles. That's gold. Gold. Gold. Give me my washing pan. My washing pan. Give it to me. Yeah, yeah, here. Hey, let me. Really, gals? Hold your tongue. Look. Look at. Look at the gold. Gold, really? More gold than I've ever seen in my life. Look at. Look at. Another strike. What about the police? They're snogging again. They're digging it out of their knackers. Don't go up there and stick out a clank. I'm putting them in business. I'm going up to the face of the river. Face the river. Gold. The Fraser River Gold Rush was the birth of British Columbia. Victoria became the capital. And 13 years later, in 1871, British Columbia joined the Dominion of Canada. That was the beginning. Yes, Captain George Vancouver had taken possession of Vancouver Island three-quarters of a century before. And Captain Cook had landed on the island years before that. But it was the Fraser River Gold Rush that was the birth of Canada on the Pacific. We're a new country out here, a young and strong and promising country. People used to think of us as the backyard to eastern North America. They forgot we look out over a great ocean. Now many changes have taken place. Across the Pacific, great things are happening. The Pacific's battleground. China, the sleeping giant, is rousing. Russia is becoming a power in the Pacific. We're no longer a backyard. We become a front porch looking over the Pacific. One day we may even become the front door to the east itself. This is the port of Vancouver in British Columbia. Look out for all there. Watch it. All right, take her away. Take her away. Hatch number one has failed. We're ready for hatch two. All right, patting down hatch one, open hatch two. Great activity here. Say, Foreman, what are you loading here? Wheat. Swing that blow around. Vancouver here is the world's chief grain port. Foreman, where is this cargo wheat bound for? This cargo? England. Wouldn't it be cheaper to freight it over land to the east and then ship it across? No, sir. This wheat comes from as far east as Saskatchewan. And still it's cheaper to ship it through Vancouver here than it is through the east. All the way down the west coast here and through the Panama Canal? Yes. As a matter of fact, we can ship British Columbia lumber from here through the Panama Canal, up the Atlantic coast and down the St. Lawrence to Hamilton, Ontario in competition with the lumber cutting Ontario itself. Do you think then that Vancouver may become as important as the big eastern Canadian city? Vancouver here is Canada's third city in size now. And the way to becoming its leading port. Why, we're already competing with the east for the middle country between them and us. That's important. You know, take my word for it, mister. Someday Vancouver is going to be the capital of the whole western Canadian empire. Number two hatches already. Number two hatches already. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to get back to work. Vancouver's a great city today. A city of 306,000 people. Yet it's only 58 years old. It came into being when the Canadian Pacific Railroad was built across Canada from Montreal to the Pacific coast. Many people didn't see the value of building that railroad out here. There's no sense to it. There's only 10,000 white people in all British Columbia. Build a railroad across the mountain for them? Wait till the west grows up. How do you know a railroad can be built across those mountains? It'll take years if a railroad can be built through it all. And then what'll you have? A railway leading to nowhere? A man named William Van Horn took over the job of building the railroad. In Winnipeg he started piling up the plough. Get up there! Come on! Lay it on the ground! Get down! Come on there! Hit those trees! Hey! Get up there! How are you going to handle all these supplies, Van Horn? They're piling up mountain high! We'll need all of it. Coming in so fast we haven't got a place for it. Rails from England and Germany, lumber from Minnesota and Rat Portage, stone from Stonewall, ties from the forests around here... I'm going to build 500 miles of railway this season. 500? But the season isn't long enough. There'll be snow before you get organized. You're wasting my time. We'll be laying track across the prairie before... 5,000 men and 1,700 teams worked like mad on the prairie that summer. The days were too short, so Van Horn put on nightgames working by the light of the lantern. Come on, come on! Come on! Come on! Alright, give me a hand with this tie. Bring that trapper over here! Bring her around! Anyway, get off the track! My train coming up! Watch yourself! There's the track! Bring it up any meat and flour this summer, Mr. Van Horn! Yeah, meat, flour and cooks, and tailors, shoemakers, blacksmiths, carpenters and doctors. We're bringing up everything we need to push this railroad further. Van Horn pushed the railroad across the prairie. In the mountains they had the real trouble. Look out! Look out! That pack pony's slipping off the trail! Grab that pack pony! Grab it! Hold that pack pony! Hold it! There it goes! There it goes! Down into the canyon below! That smashed a bit down there. Mr. Van Horn, I doubt we'll ever be able to put this railroad through here. We've got to put it through! Well, I've built railroads all my days, but I've never seen anything so dangerous and difficult. Every foot of it's through solid rock and hard pans. Up through gorges and along narrow ledges like this one. Across mountain torrents and... I don't know, Mr. Van Horn, it looks like... The government gave Van Horn ten years to build the railroad, Montreal to the Pacific. He built it in five. Those that drove the last bike were heard around the world. United the nine provinces of Canada into a nation. And beyond the seas men saw that a new day had come. The new transcontinental railroad has brought Japan hundreds of miles nearer to London and Liverpool. It has brought the Pacific to Montreal and Toronto. That has put Eastern Canada in direct touch with China and Japan. It has added a highway of steel to the defense of the nation. And opened up a new empire overlooking the great Pacific. The first train reached the Pacific from the east in 1885. And where the railroad came to the Pacific, Vancouver was born. And with it, Canada on the Pacific was born. The world became aware of our great mountains, rivers, lakes, of our resources, our western coastline. But it was the completion of the Panama Canal that built up our country here. And changed us from the back country of the east to an almost independent region. I'll think of Vancouver here. Here's a shipping executive. Tell me, how important is the Panama Canal to us in western Canada? Well, it's been the making of us. Because of the canal we can ship a great many products to Europe and the eastern markets. But without the canal, we could never leave the west here. And not only that, the canal has enabled us to ship out experts that, as a matter of course, used to go eastward by rail and lake to ports on the Atlantic. That's been a big factor in building up Canada on the Pacific. It's turned Vancouver from a provincial town into a metropolis. It's made western Canada a rising young... As Vancouver and western Canada grew, peoples from many lands came here. Sikhs from India, Chinese, Japanese, many Japanese. As far back as 1907, there were riots over the Japanese in Vancouver. Back in 1922, we began controlling the number of Japanese fishermen by licensing them. Long before the war in the Pacific broke out, we were having trouble with the Japanese. Well, if you ask me, there are more Japanese here than there has a right to be. Yes, they're coming in illegally. And since the outbreak of the war in China, they're getting more and more arrogant. I say boycott the Japanese. If they make it so tough for them, they'll move out. I say that we demand that Ottawa stop shipping iron to Japan. Yes, they machine gunned the British ambassador to China. How long are we going to put up with them? They're no good for Canada. Well, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police registered the Japanese in British Columbia, some 24,000 of them. An investigation was made, and they reported that there was no evidence of subversive activities, but a number of Japanese were arrested just the same. Tension ran pretty high after Pearl Harbor, and five days later... Sure, they closed all the Japanese language schools and tied up the 1,100 Japanese fishing boats and stopped the Japanese newspapers, but they left the Japanese right down there on the waterfront in full view of our ship traffic, didn't they? Yeah, you're right about that. Yes, and what about those Japanese farmers around our airport? Yes, and all those Japanese up in the Fraser River Valley, around every one of our big power transmission lines. I say get them out of here. Move them out, every last man and woman and child there is. Yes, sir! There were suggestions that the Japanese be moved inland into other provinces, but some of the other provinces wanted them no more than we did. Things were happening fast. Hong Kong was captured, Singapore fell. There were wild rumors about the next Japanese move. Then, on February 18th, the City Council of Vancouver took action. Did you see this in the paper? City Council passed a resolution to remove all Japanese from Vancouver. Oh, by heaven! If the government in Ottawa won't move them out, we will! That's what we should have done in the first place. Nine days later, the government in Ottawa took action. All Japanese were to be restricted and evacuated. They were moved inland. And there's a great question if they'll ever be permitted to come back to British Columbia again, or even to stay in the other provinces where they are now. Most of us out here made up our minds to send them back to Japan when the war is over. But now our big job is to help win the war. Today, Northwest Canada is playing an important part in the war in the Pacific. We're the link between the heart of the North American continent and the powerful military base of Alaska. The Pacific Northwest, all of it, Alaska, Western Canada, and the northwestern part of the United States, is all one strategic area. And the first wartime development out here was the Northwest Staging Room. Yeah, it sounds like that's it now, sir. I can hear it, but I can't see it. There it is. There it is, sir. See it? It's a big transport. Oh, yes. Yes. You suppose they had trouble finding the airport here at Whitehorse? Oh, I hardly think so, sir. After all the time we've been working to get this airport ready. It's been a big job, hasn't it, Muggins? Yes, sir, it has. Not only getting this one ready, but building all those other fuels between Whitehorse here and Edmonton. Mm-hmm. Yeah, big transport they're coming in. Well, it's the first official tour of inspection. All the big wigs. Yes, sir. This is going to be a great air route someday, this Northwest Staging Route. Maybe someday, Muggins, you're going to be proud that you helped build it. Proud and altered. Well, looks like they're coming in for a landing. Yes. That's good. We're to the terminal. Well, how was the trip, Colonel? What would you say, pilot? We were out of snow-capped mountains, the deep gorges, forest land. But the weather was great. Yes. How about the navigational aids? With those radio ranges every 200 miles, it's a cinch. Good field you have here at Whitehorse. And all the others between Edmonton and here are just the same. This gives us a safe airway link between Canada and the United States and Alaska. I'm afraid that we don't have to fall back on it. I hope we don't have to, Colonel. If we do, it gives us an airway removed from the Pacific coast and fairly free from the possibility of enemy attack. And in any case, it gives us an air route for the development of this country out here. Things don't look good in the Pacific, Colonel. No, I'm afraid they don't. Thank heavens we've got him this far. That was in 1941. Three months later, war had come to the Pacific. It had come right to our own doorstep. Alaska had become more important than ever before. We knew it might be attacked. We knew that in defending Alaska, we here in western Canada were defending our own advanced base. We set about expanding our facilities on the northwest station. Every man possible is working on our construction gang. We're enlarging our airports, improving ground and air communications, and putting up living accommodations in other buildings. All right, bring that bulldozer over here. Heavens! Time was short, and we knew it. If the Japanese should get control of the seas, our northwest staging route would be the only supply route to Alaska. Then arrangements were made to build the Alaska Highway, an inland route to Alaska. With our airway, we helped lay out the highway across mountains over muskeg swamps and forests. Kimber! Kimber! All right, on to the next one! The leading crews of the United States Army hewed their way through foot by foot. Behind them came tractors to drag off the trees, bulldozers to grade the surface, digging machines to sink drainage ditches, construction crews to build 700 bridges. From Dawson Creek to Fairbanks, Alaska, they built this military artery, 1500 miles long, in six months. And hardly had to finish it when the first convoy of trucks rolled over, from northwestern Canada up into Alaska. It was none too soon. The Japanese struck a Dutch harbor in the Lutions, took Kiska, and that too. Alaska had become a great forward base. The northwest staging route and the Alaska Highway had become military arteries to the Pacific front. The highway and the staging route, which run almost parallel, are helping each other. The use of the highway is greatly facilitating the completion and maintenance of the staging route. The Americans have gained control of the eastern Pacific, and supplies are now going to Alaska by the sea route and the Juno Cut-Off. The Alaska Highway is being used to service the air bases of the northwest staging route. Air power is growing in northwest Canada. The story of the development of Canada on the Pacific is the story of the development of transportation, the development of shipping, the building of railroads, the development of the northwest staging route, the Alaska Highway. And now our air power is growing. This is the Boundary Bay Field in British Columbia. That young chap there just won his wings. Where are you from, left hand? I'm from New Zealand, sir. Come here to learn to fly into the British Commonwealth Air Trading Plant, eh? Yes, sir. But first I had a five-week preliminary course in mathematics, mechanics, and air armament at another field. Now that you have your wings, you'll probably be shipped out pretty soon. Probably, yes, sir. But after the war, I'm coming back up here. Great opportunities, I think. Yes, sir. I've flown over most of this country, and I've got an idea that aviation is going to be the big thing up here. It's rugged country, of course, but there are mines and industries and forests like I've never seen before. This whole country is a natural for air transport and travel, and someday I'm coming back up here. For the first time, people are looking up here to this great northwest. One of these days now, the attention of the whole world will be on the Pacific. The war in Europe will be over, and the world trade will shift in this direction. War has already taught us that this is all one strategic area, Canada, the United States, and Alaska. And now world observers are looking forward to what lies ahead. We're looking out across the Pacific. Alaska's on the great circle air route from almost everywhere in North America to almost everywhere in Asia. Yes, that's the basis of our postwar planning. The international airlines will go through northwest Canada here. That's right, and that'll mean the development of the Arctic frontiers of Canada and Soviet Russia. The air transport has already made Asiatic Russia a neighbor of ours. It'll make it more so in the postwar world. The northwest staging route and the other pioneer air routes through the Canadian northwest will become the air highways of the future. And over these routes, great transports will bring us in direct contact with the future. Well, I guess we're about ready to take off. Yes, they took on 40 more passengers here. Beautiful airport they have here in Edmonton. Is this your first trip over this line? I haven't been up this way much since the close of the Second World War. Most of the airports on this route to Asia are about like this, comedied even the biggest airliners. Yes, the airports in Alaska and Siberia are just about the same. Where are you bound for? From Moscow. Just opened an office there. I'm going down to Beiping. I get over here every few weeks. You do quite a bit of flying over this way too, don't you? Yes. I'm going down to Tokyo and then jump over to New Delhi. And up to Lake Baikal for a little vacation. Our development has been more and more in this direction the last few years, and I expect to be making this trip every month or so now. And you haven't been over Siberia in the last few years? No, not since the end of the Second World War. I've got something to see. Great country. Not only Siberia, but this whole country through here. From here on up through northwest Canada and Alaska. All aboard. Flight 47 for Alaska, Siberia, China and India. All aboard. Well, come on, let's get aboard. Good morning, gentlemen. Everything all right with you? Yes, everything's fine. How's the weather ahead, Commodore? Oh, we don't pay any attention to the weather anymore. Well, see you next trip, Commodore. You bet. I'll be looking for you. Yeah, there's an interesting chap. One of the officials of this airline, is he? Yes, one of the top executives. New Zealander. Learned to fly in British Columbia during the Second World War. Said he was coming back afterwards over, and here he is. Transportation has brought western Canada to the doorstep of the world. We've seen it come, we Canadians here on the Pacific, and now we're watching the development of air power. We've come a long way in a short time, as years go. We've seen the magic of the transformation brought about by the transcontinental railroads and by our shipping since the opening of the Panama Canal. But now, our forests and mountains reverberate with a drone of aircraft motors. This is the music of the future for Canada on the Pacific. Through air power, western Canada will be developed and take its place in the great era of the Pacific that lies ahead. You have been listening to the Pacific Story presented by the National Broadcasting Company and its affiliated independent stations as a public service to clarify events in the Pacific and to make understandable the cross-currents of life in the Pacific Basin. For a reprint of this Pacific Story program, send ten cents in stamps or corn to University of California Press, Berkeley, California. We repeat, for a reprint of this Pacific Story program, send ten cents in stamps or corn to University of California Press, Berkeley, California. The Pacific Story is written and directed by Arnold Marquis. The original musical score was composed and conducted by Thomas Palusso. This program came to you from Hollywood. This is the National Broadcasting Company.
