The Milepost

The Milepost is a long-running regional travel guide focused on road travel through Alaska, the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and northern British Columbia. It began in 1949 as a compact guide to the Alaska Highway, the route commonly known as the Alcan, and developed into a comprehensive reference for travelers driving through the remote northwestern corner of North America. The guide is issued as a book and is updated annually, allowing it to function as both a travel publication and a practical planning tool for long-distance journeys. Its coverage extends well beyond the original Alaska Highway. Later editions describe major highways throughout the region, along with the Alaska Marine Highway system and selected destinations and side trips such as the Kenai Peninsula. The guide organizes information by route and milepost, enabling readers to follow a road sequentially and identify communities, services, scenic points, campgrounds, hikes, historical sites, and alternative drives. It also provides maps, charts, cross-references, and distance information intended to help motorists estimate travel between locations. The publication combines editorial travel information with paid advertising. In this respect, its format has been compared to a specialized regional directory: commercial listings appear alongside descriptions of lodging, restaurants, fuel, repairs, attractions, and other traveler services. The book also includes short histories of many settlements along the covered routes and information about public facilities and recreational opportunities. This mixture of route intelligence, practical listings, maps, and advertising gives The Milepost a distinctive role in northern travel publishing. The scale of the guide expanded substantially over time. The first edition contained only 72 pages, while the 2014 edition reached 752 pages and documented a much broader network of roads and destinations. The publication's continuing value rests on the difficulty of navigating large, sparsely populated areas where services can be separated by considerable distances and where route conditions, facilities, and seasonal access are important to trip planning. Morris Communications has published The Milepost since 1997. The publication has shared publishing offices with Alaska magazine, linking it to a broader regional publishing operation. Beginning in 2009, The Milepost was also offered in an interactive digital format and as a downloadable edition, extending the brand beyond its traditional printed volume. Its core identity remains that of an authoritative annual road guide for travelers exploring Alaska and Canada's northern territories.

The Milepost was first published in 1949 as a guide for travelers using the Alaska Highway, the major overland route connecting the continental road network with Alaska. At launch, the publication was relatively small, containing 72 pages. Its organization around highway mileposts made it particularly suited to a route where settlements and services were widely dispersed and where travelers needed practical information in the order they would encounter it on the road. Over succeeding decades, The Milepost broadened its geographic and editorial scope. Rather than remaining solely an Alaska Highway guide, it came to cover the principal highways of Alaska, the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and northern British Columbia. Coverage also expanded to include the Alaska Marine Highway and information about popular destinations and regional excursions, including special material on the Kenai Peninsula. The guide's route-based structure remained central, but its contents increasingly resembled a complete regional travel reference. The publication combines several types of information. It describes communities and roadside facilities, identifies places to eat and stay, lists fuel and other traveler services, and provides information on campgrounds, hikes, side roads, public facilities, and attractions. It also contains concise histories of many settlements along the routes. Maps, charts, and cross-indexing help readers compare routes and calculate driving distances between covered points. Paid advertising is integrated into the book alongside editorial descriptions, giving the guide a directory-like commercial model while retaining the practical character of a travel handbook. The physical guide grew considerably as its coverage expanded. By 2014, the edition had reached 752 pages, a substantial increase from the 1949 original. This growth reflected the addition of more highways, communities, facilities, recreational sites, maps, and destination sections. The annual update cycle supports the guide's usefulness in a region where services, access, and travel conditions can change and where travelers may need advance knowledge of long stretches between supply points. Since 1997, Morris Communications has been the publisher of The Milepost. The publication has shared publishing offices with Alaska magazine, placing it within a regional publishing environment focused on Alaska and the northern part of North America. In 2009, the brand extended its distribution model by offering an interactive digital format and a downloadable version. This move supplemented rather than replaced the printed guide, preserving the book's established role while making its route information accessible through digital devices. The Milepost's enduring identity is tied to the practical realities of northern road travel. It is not simply a general-interest tourism book: its value comes from detailed sequential route coverage, distance references, service listings, maps, and planning information for long journeys across sparsely populated areas. Its historical development—from a short Alaska Highway pamphlet-sized guide to a large annual reference covering an extensive northern transportation network—shows how the publication evolved with the region's tourism and road infrastructure.

• 2014

  Guide reaches 752 pages

  [1]The Mileposten.wikipedia.org

  The 2014 edition demonstrated the publication's expansion from its original short highway guide into a large reference covering roads, services, communities, and attractions across the northern region.

• 2009

  Digital edition introduced

  [1]The Mileposten.wikipedia.org

  The Milepost became available in interactive digital and downloadable formats.

• 1997

  Morris Communications begins publishing the guide

  [1]The Mileposten.wikipedia.org

  Morris Communications became the publisher of The Milepost and operated its publishing activities alongside Alaska magazine.

• 1949

  First edition published

  [1]The Mileposten.wikipedia.org

  The Milepost was introduced as a 72-page guide for travelers on the Alaska Highway, also known as the Alcan.

A detailed, annually refreshed road-trip reference for Alaska, the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, northern British Columbia, and connected marine and highway routes.

• Travel guidebook · 1949

  The Milepost annual printed guide

  The core product is an annually updated printed guide organized around highway routes and mileposts. It covers Alaska, the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, northern British Columbia, and associated transportation routes. Entries describe communities, accommodations, restaurants, fuel, repairs, campgrounds, hikes, scenic locations, side trips, public facilities, and historical background. Maps, charts, cross-references, and distance information support detailed trip planning. Paid advertising appears alongside editorial route information.

• Digital travel guide · 2009

  The Milepost interactive digital edition

  Introduced in 2009, the digital offering extends the guide's route-based content beyond the printed book. It provides interactive or downloadable access to information about northern highways, communities, services, destinations, and travel planning. The digital format complements the annual print edition and adapts the publication for travelers using electronic devices.

• 2009

  Add interactive and downloadable digital formatsProduct launch

  Background

  The Milepost had traditionally been distributed as a substantial printed annual guide. Digital distribution created a way to make its route information available in an electronic format.

  Action taken

  The publisher introduced an interactive digital edition and a downloadable version of The Milepost.

  Aftermath

  The digital formats broadened access to the guide while the printed annual edition remained the brand's principal reference product.

  Source

1. 1The Mileposten.wikipedia.org
2. 2The Milepost official websitethemilepost.com