Cairns near Nisutlin Bay mark the final resting places for two men who came to the Highway and never left. Link to another story “Bonner and Bess and the Memorial Cairns” James Miller, who drove a tractor trailer truck up and down the Alaska Highway back when it was still dirt and gravel commented on …
Category Archives: Construction of the Alaska Highway
Christmas 1942
Christmas 1942 found the black soldiers and the white officers of the 93rd Engineers deep in Yukon. In our book, We Fought the Road, we shared two memories from that day. For December 25, 2020 my Christmas present to all of you is to share those memories here. Link to another story “Dear Pop” For …
Vivid Memories and Christmas on the Highway
Vivid memories of his time as a civilian surveyor on the Alaska Highway stayed with Joseph Hutlas for the rest of his life. Dances and a Christmas Eve service may have been the most vivid of all. Link to another story “Burwash Bounce” He told his stories to Donna Blazor Bernhardt and she included some …
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All Hell Broke Loose
All hell broke loose when the US Army invaded little Skagway, Alaska in the spring of 1942. Endless ships of every description came up the Lynn Canal, tied up in Skagway’s harbor and disgorged soldiers—thousands of soldiers—then turned and went back for more. For old timers the sudden arrival of the Corps brought memories of …
Lunging Dozers
Link to another story “Dumb Going Up There” Lunging dozers tried hard to solve a big problem for the soldiers of the 35th Engineers at Muncho Lake, four hundred sixty miles out from Dawson Creek. The Lunging dozers failed. But one very creative and damned courageous soldier, Lt. Miletech, succeeded. Tall mountain cliffs bordered Muncho …
Colonel Hoge
Colonel Hoge, William Hoge, of the United States Army Corps of Engineers stepped onto the platform of the Dawson Creek railroad station seventy-eight years ago this past February. In early 1942, his country, suddenly at war with the Empire of Japan found its Alaska outpost in dire danger. Its Army needed a land route from …
Mushy Spring Ice and Bush Pilot Bob Reeve
Mushy spring ice doth not a runway make. Famous Alaska bush pilot Bob Reeve found that out at Burwash. Willis and the surveyors were there. Link to another story “Stench and Reeve Airways” The Army occasionally hired Reeve to ferry personnel from place to place along the route of the Highway, and about two …
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Burwash Bounce
Burwash Bounce didn’t mean a thing to the Army, but it meant everything to Willis and his fourteen fellow surveyors. Link to Part 1 “Willis Grafe, Civilian Roadbuilder” Needing surveyors for the Alaska Highway Project, the Army blithely ignored the fact that most of Willis’s group of fifteen had exactly zero experience as surveyors. In …
One Night
One night, that is all Willis Grafe and his friends got as the guests of gracious Harriett Pullen. Willis had signed on to help the Army build the Alaska Highway and in early 1942 the Army intended to get him to where they needed him as quickly (and as cheaply) as possible. From the Pullen …
Willis Grafe, Civilian Roadbuilder
Willis Grafe, in early 1942, had a job he didn’t like in Salem, Oregon. And he heard a rumor. The United States Public Roads Administration wanted to hire surveyors to send north to Canada and Alaska to help the Army build a Highway. Link to another story “Civilians on the Alaska Highway Project” In his …