Building anything in Alaska comes with challenges. Mountains, glaciers, rivers, permafrost, earthquakes, brutal winters, and enormous distances have forced engineers to find solutions that simply aren’t necessary in most other places.

Yet Alaska is home to highways carved through wilderness, railroads crossing mountain ranges, massive dams, tunnels, bridges, and an 800-mile pipeline stretching from the Arctic to Prince William Sound.

So join us today as we dig into some amazing projects and count down our picks for the Top 10 Greatest Engineering Feats in Alaska. What did it take to build these projects? Which one presented the greatest engineering challenge? And which deserves the title of Alaska’s greatest engineering feat?! It’s the episode that's engineered for success!

Alaskan Beer of the Week: Lingonberry Farmhouse Ale by Stoney Creek Brew House

Music By: Blackwater Railroad Company [www.blackwaterrailroad.com] and Scott Buckley [https://soundcloud.com/scottbuckley]

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We’ve learned what Alaska’s salmon hatcheries are and why they exist, but do they actually work? In Part 2 of our look at Alaska’s salmon hatchery system, we follow those fish from the hatchery back to the fishery, looking at just how successful these programs have been and the questions they raise along the way. How do you know if a salmon came from a hatchery? Can there actually be too many salmon in the North Pacific? And are hatcheries helping Alaska’s wild salmon or putting them at risk?! It’s the episode that asks whether you can have too much of a good thing!

Alaskan Beer of the Week: Squirrel's Inn Hazy IPA by Stoney Creek Brew House

Music By: Blackwater Railroad Company [www.blackwaterrailroad.com] and Scott Buckley [https://soundcloud.com/scottbuckley]

Support Us on Patreon: [https://www.patreon.com/thelastfrontier]

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How wild are Alaska’s salmon, really? In Part 1 of our two-part look at Alaska’s salmon hatchery system, we bring in friend of the pod Uncle Dave, a marine biologist who spent years managing fish hatcheries for Great Lakes salmon. Together, we dive into what hatcheries actually do, how Alaska’s system compares to other regions, and where the line between “wild” and “hatchery” salmon really begins to blur. What caused the need for hatcheries in Alaska? How many salmon eggs do Alaskan hatcheries collect? And how do you put a barcode on a hatchery salmon?! It's the episode you'll swim upstream for!

Alaskan Beer of the Week: Swirl Chocolate Vanilla Porter by Magnetic North Brewing Company

Music By: Blackwater Railroad Company [www.blackwaterrailroad.com] and Scott Buckley [https://soundcloud.com/scottbuckley]

Support Us on Patreon: [https://www.patreon.com/thelastfrontier]

Support the show