On the north bank of the Tanana River, near present day Tok, Alaska the black soldiers of the 97th Engineering Regiment would finally reach the starting gate. The white soldiers of the 18th Engineering Regiment raced north through Yukon Territory toward the Alaska border. From the north bank of the Tanana the 97th would race …
Category Archives: Bulldozer
Cresting the Continental Divide
Moving west from the Gulf of Alaska into the interior means cresting a rugged range of mountains that separate two great drainage systems. One system drains from their crest back to the Gulf. The other drains north through the Yukon River System to the Bering Sea. The generals who routed the Alaska Highway through Alaska …
Pushing Over a Tree
Pushing a tree over isn’t a skill most of us need to acquire. But then most of us aren’t working as “catskinners” on the Alaska Highway Project in 1942. If you know which levers to pull and which pedals to stomp, you just line the big cat up with its blade out front, pile in …
D8 A Bucket of Olive Drab
“A Bucket of Olive Drab,’ the Caterpillar Company called the D8 Bulldozer they shipped to the Army. They also called it the “indispensable, all-purpose weapon of the Engineers”. The big crawlers made the Alaska Highway Project possible in 1942. The Big Machines Could be Delicate Too The D8 weighed in at twenty- three tons. Its …
Malevolent Mentasta
A vaguely malevolent sounding name, “Mentasta”. It describes a precisely malevolent stretch of road through the mountains of the Alaska Range. Through late June and early July, the black soldiers of the 97th Engineers had finally begun to build road. The men of Company B forged out front clearing a rough right of way. The …
Delicate Heavy Equipment
Progress on the Alaska Highway in the summer of 1942 depended not only on the soldiers but also on their heavy equipment. The problem of keeping the big machines running plagued the line companies and put motor pool mechanics at the heart of every regiment’s operations. Heavy Equipment Breaks With the “midnight sun” shining …