elebrating our 40th anniversary of publishing is already paying dividends to the editorial and production departments. We are currently working on a digital archive of our full library of issues—but it isn’t quite done yet. This means conducting research in our historic issues requires us to pull an old magazine out of a stack to flip through its pages, an absolutely delightful way to gather information that provides opportunities for us to find what we need—and so many more interesting tidbits besides.

Our 40th anniversary highlight this month is written by the extraordinary and talented Rindi White, and the article looks at growth in the Mat-Su, echoing a similar theme published in 1985. While looking for the inspiration for White’s article, I stumbled across a profile of glaciologist Dick Ragle, “Ice Man of the Arctic,” published in November 1985, which feels particularly fitting for this issue that explores innovation and expertise in the Arctic.

Ragle was the in-demand expert at the time for constructing and maintaining floating ice roads in the Arctic, for example across the Beaufort Sea to connect Alaska’s north shore to gravel islands, such as Northstar. What’s a floating ice road? Similar to land-based counterparts, they facilitate the movement of gravel and equipment, only their foundation is sea ice.

According to the article: “The first step in building a floating ice road is developing an ample saltwater ice base. That’s done by drilling holes at intervals in the existing sheet of ice, augering water to the surface from beneath, flooding the existing surface, and allowing the fresh topping of water to freeze. Each flood is termed a ‘lift,’ and each lift is 1.5 to 2 inches thick. Once the saltwater base is completed—usually at least 5 feet thick—fresh water is spread over the top from water tanker trucks filled from fresh water lakes on shore.” Fresh water, Ragle explained, made for a harder and smoother surface.

He described his services as assisting with the design, construction, and monitoring, though he didn’t make any of the engineering decisions. “Sometimes I’m more like a crutch,” Ragle said. “They want me around in case something goes wrong. One time Bill Fowler [then-president of Alaska International Construction, a general contractor working with Shell to build the Seal and Tern gravel exploration islands] told me he wanted me on site because if any of the trucks went through the ice, I was to jump in after them.”

The charming and informative profile ended with this concluding thought from Ragle: “Building an ice road is just like building any other road… The only difference is that your materials are water and ice instead of gravel and asphalt. A good floating ice road is smooth as silk and a joy to behold, and there’s no environmental problem, either. To paraphrase General Douglas MacArthur, ‘They just melt away.’”