text: There was this guy, John Ballaine, who most Alaskans never heard of who had a dream around 1900. He decided what Alaska needed was a railroad to the center of the state. This was before cars. He laid out the route and began construction in 1903. Workers laid track from what would become Seward To Turnagin Arm by 1907. Sadly that was the year of the Wall Street "Panic of 1907 which occurred because so much gold was found in the Klondike, Nome, Fairbanks and Australia its value dropped to the floor. Ballaine's dream died that year as his Canadian investors panicked and withdrew funding. The federal government finished the Alaska Railroad using Ballaine's route in 1923.
  Probably some lessons here about the role of Wall Street effected investments, federal involvement, foreign investors and of course dreams...