Blending interviews and historical photographs with breathtaking original high-definition video, BUILDING ALASKA, a 90-minute documentary, tells the dramatic stories of the great railroads of the early 20th century and how they opened the region up to gold seekers, copper mining and people in search of a new frontier; of the Alaska Highway construction and invasion of Alaska by the Japanese in World War II; and of the biggest earthquake ever in North America–all of which laid the groundwork for the creation of America’s 49th state, which celebrated its fiftieth anniversary of statehood in 2009.