Extreme cold does things to equipment that the soldiers of the 97th and 18th Engineers never imagined. As the last two regiments working on the Alaska Highway, in October and November 1942, working in northernmost Yukon Territory, they became experts on the subject. The 18th Combat Engineers Young Black Soldiers of the 97th Even in …
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The couple, Lucky Donald Hall and his new wife, Zellma, moved into an apartment in Dawson Creek—a one bedroom, furnished with a bed and a footlocker. The lovebirds lived there very happily until spring. That, of course, means the spring of 1943, so the couple got to endure the great Dawson Creek explosion and …
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Canada attracts people up from the United States and we carry attitudes and assumptions north across the border. A famously friendly lot, Canadians don’t always challenge our mistaken assumptions. And they don’t take us to task for our attitudes. The things we get up to down here don’t always leave Canada, our oldest and very …
Bonner and Bess Cooley live at the heart of Teslin, Yukon. They may, in fact, be the heart of Teslin, Yukon. More on Teslin Today A few years ago, we travelled through Yukon researching the book we would title, We Fought the Road, and in Teslin we met Bess and Bonner They helped us, taught …
More about Dawson Creek in 1942 Delivering chickens? The number of jobs that had to be done to build the Alaska Highway staggers the imagination and most of them never occur to us. Leo Perra’s dad delivered food to the soldiers on the highway, and several months ago Leo commented to that effect on one …
People in Carcross knew, vaguely, that there was a war on. Townspeople even installed black out curtains on their windows—just in case. But the sudden influx of soldiers came as a shock. At first, they simply moved through to Whitehorse, but then, in May, they began to pour off the train and set up camp. …
Life in tiny Skagway developed a routine during the first forty years of the century. From mid-June through August, Steamships loaded with tourists piled into the harbor three to four times a week. A sheer rock cliff bordered the dock where they tied up, and it was covered with painted emblems, each representing a ship’s …
Even without the Corps of Engineers and the 1942 invasion, Skagway offers a fascinating story—a story few people outside Yukon know. The harbor and the railroad amounted to an economic reason to exist—if not much of one. Like the soldiers in ’42, Freight into Yukon came through Skagway. The railroad had to have engineers and …