As the inevitability of World War Two loomed in the dying months of the Great Depression of the 1930s, Canada"s road and transportation infrastructure remained primitive and outdated. Reg Jennings, a disenchanted banker, switched careers in the mid-twenties to join a road building crew in Southern Alberta. Slight of build but quick of mind, Reg saw unlimited opportunities to build up the nation"s transportation corridors. During the early months of the war, Britain and its allies issued requests for a network of airports capable of accommodating the Commonwealth Air Training Plan. About the same time, Mervyn (Red) Dutton was winding up a hall of fame career as a hockey player and executive who had spend his off season months as a dirt mover with his father"s railroad grade building outfit. Reg and Merv came together in Calgary in the early 1940s on the original Calgary airport construction on the tract of land now known as Renfrew. The two men formed Standard Gravel and Surfacing Company of Canada Limited in 1941 and embarked on a bold odyssey, taking on a variety of construction projects including airports, road building, grading, surfacing, housing development services, product manufacturing, pipelines, drive-in theatres and dam building. At one point Standard Gravel and Surfacing Company of Canada Limited was the mother company for thirty-five separate business enterprises. The reflections in this book represent the stories as told to the author by the two principals in 1973. They shared their stories in a series of interviews in Calgary at their offices, in their homes, and at their winter homes at Borrego Springs, California. While the manuscript gathered dust for more than thirty years, Gerry Stotts worked with a group to preserve the road-building lore of Alberta, both in artifacts and in documented history. He urged that the recollections of Reg and Merv be published. Terry Gales, current Vice-President and General Manager of Standard General Inc., agreed. Roy Jennings, son of the founding partner, John Denholm, Keith Matthews Arnold Welter and Jim McHendry, former Standard employees, also contributed with valuable insights and factual corrections to the manuscript. he history reflects the recollections of two construction pioneers who contributed not only to the development of new techniques through on the job innovation, it recalls on-site descriptions of road building, dam construction, commercial development, pipelining, mine development and other initiatives.