America's Most Accessible Glacier - A Government Road

Americans have been fascinated with Alaska glaciers since as early as the 1880s and as tourism to Alaska grew in the early 1900s, the Mendenhall Glacier became a popular and accessible destination. The local newspaper, the Daily Alaska Empire, on August 4, 1921 printed the following:

Completion of the branch road from Glacier Highway to Mendenhall Glacier was announced today by the Alaska Road Commission. The branch leaves the main road at Duck Creek near Mendenhall Dairy and runs to the glacier. The road forms part of an eventual loop which will cross the Mendenhall River and run past Auk Lake to Auk Bay.”

Though started in 1921 Alaskans and tourists alike to this day travel by automobile (or bus) to the glacier to witness its splendor. The photos above illustrate what they saw then, versus what they see now.