Subarctic cold threatened vehicles then the vehicles threatened the men who drove them. Treacherous winter roads caused wrecks that killed and maimed. Relatively good traction, in severe cold, disappeared when temperatures warmed toward freezing. Griffith in his Trucking the Tote Road to Alaska remembered, “I have seen tools, chains, men and even trucks sliding down …
Category Archives: Alaska Trails and Roads
Strikes, Gold Strikes, in the Far North
Small Gold strikes occurred during the last decades of the 19th century in Alaska. Sitka had one. Windham Bay had one. In 1880 Joseph Juneau and Richard Harris made a bigger strike in Juneau. Then Skookum Jim, his friend Tagish Charlie and George Carmack made a massive strike in Canada, at Rabbit Creek in the …
Rika Wallen’s Iconic Roadhouse
Rika followed her brother, Carl, to the United States from Sweden, lived for a time on his farm in Minnesota then moved on to San Francisco where she cooked for the fabulously wealthy Hills Brothers Coffee family. She came to San Francisco as Erica, but an affectionate estate staff shortened her name to Rika. The …
Bennett Came First
Bennett, in 1898 and 1899, made sense as a first stop in Yukon Territory for the thousands of would be miners passing through on their way to the Klondike gold fields. The majority of them made their way on ships to Skagway, Alaska; struggled up the Chilkoot or the White pass; and settled at the …
Outsiders Inevitably Came to the Far North
Outsiders inevitably made their way further and further north. Europeans found their way to every part of the world that offered anything of value to them. When Europeans decided they liked clothing made from fur, European traders went north looking for the exquisite pelts of the native animals. Furs attracted the First White Men to …
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Mushroom Ice
Mushroom ice opposed soldiers in British Columbia and Yukon. In Alaska mushroom ice defeated them. During the winter of 1942/43 commanders positioned regiments along the length of the brand new, rough draft of an Alaska Highway to keep it open for truck convoys from Dawson Creek to Fairbanks. More on Subarctic Ice Against daunting …
Rugged, Remote and Austere
The Only Possible Route Rugged, remote, austere, breathtakingly beautiful and viciously inhospitable, the area spanned by the route of the Alcan Highway is unique in the world. Nature is a dictator, not a ‘mother’ in the North Country. The Highway threads through a vast expanse of raw nature with virtually no population. Alaska, alone, encompasses …
Twenty-something Mary, the Legend Continues
Twenty-something Mary moved to Alaska and never looked back. That doesn’t mean everything went smoothly. Legendary Alaskan, Mary Hanson In the early 1930’s Mary got pregnant; had a miscarriage; took herself to Nenana for medical treatment. Not by any means the Mayo clinic, whatever medical facilities Nenana had to offer did the trick. Twenty-something Mary …
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Line on the Map
The line on the map that the Corps of Engineers would turn into the rough draft of the Alaska Highway in 1942, started at Dawson Creek, British Columbia and ended at Delta, Alaska. The Corps had no idea what lay in front of them. The land of the Midnight Sun could offer a traveler …
Stampede to the Klondike
A stampede of gold seekers descended on Skagway, Alaska in 1897. As the crow flies, Caribou Crossing and Lake Bennett lay just a few miles from Skagway and from Lake Bennett the Yukon River flowed north to the Gold Fields. No, as they say, big deal. More on Skagway Unfortunately, the stampeders weren’t crows, and …