Have a old 1938 D7 and was wondering about its history

9G6378WSP I was told it was used in the building of the Alaska Highway and I was wondering if there a way to figure it out through the serial number

Hi, rhyse-howells-9748.

There quite likely is a record of it if it was used on that job. The military does tend to be a tad 'fanatical' about that sort of thing. It may also be in Cat's records as having gone to the Army Corps Of Engineers at that time.

I don't have any records of serial numbers and production years but I suspect that serial number might well place it in that time frame.

Just outa curiosity, what is the other unit in the background?

Just my 0.02.

I believe it’s a 1952 D4

Alcan highway was built in 1942, if the 9g is a 1938 model, would be doubtful it was there?

Hi, Folks.

As I understand it, the 9G series was built until somewhere in 1940 when the 7M replaced it. I suspect that if there were any 9G series machines remaining in the Army Corps of Engineers inventory, they would have been put into service along with whatever else they could get their hands on. Some of the 'purported' documentaries of the construction do appear to show 7M series D7s, along with possibly 8R D8s.

Also, as I understand it, there were 'ackshully' two versions of 'building' the Alcan Highway, the first by the Army Corps of Engineers which established an 'access road' from Dawson to Fairbanks as an URGENT defence supply route to Alaska and the Aleutians. The second version was mostly done by civilian contractors under AEC supervision pretty much immediately after the first was completed to widen the original road, improve the alignment and many of the original grades and make it more 'all-weather'. God only knows what equipment the civilian contractors used.

Just my 0.02.

Utah Construction Company was the lead contractor on the expansion of the ALCAN highway during the war. Here is a link to wikipedia about them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_Construction_Company. They also built the Western Pacific line from California to Salt Lake City, they were part of the Six Companies that built the Hoover Dam and many, many other large projects.

Thanks

Ken

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mh3ROwZkajQ

a History of said Highway--

Eddie B.

Youtube has quite a bit of video re: Alcan Highway -- link to one with Caterpillar information - stories. The Machine That Built the Alaska Highway in 8 Months - 1942

I have a french manual instruction 9g2876 and he is printed junuary 1940