[4] The pass also holds the Alaska record for the most snow in a single day: 62 inches or 1.6 metres fell on December 29, 1955.
[citation needed] Not until 1950, when a freight company foreman demonstrated that the pass could be kept open with snowplows, was the road drivable year-round.
[citation needed] The trail through the pass remained gravel until 1955, when the Alaska Road Commission (part of the US Department of the Interior) paved it.
[7] In the early 1970s, Thompson Pass was the scene of frantic activity as thousands of workers built a portion of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System from a camp located nearby.
[11] The Upper Tsaina River SNOTEL weather station is located close to the summit of Thompson Pass at a height of 1750 feet (533 metres).