The Sikanni Chief River, glacial, 300 feet across, pours through a canyon between two mountains and directly across the route of the Alaska Highway north of Fort St. John. The grade down to the river and back up exceeds ten percent. And The Alcan builders needed to bridge it. The segregated 95th Engineers, working north …
Category Archives: Alaska Highway
A Failed Command
The segregated 95th came to Dawson Creek under command of Colonel David Neuman. I posted a few days ago about their sad reception . Their commander soon made things incomparably worse. More on Racism and the 95th Engineers When, in wartime, soldiers write letters, Army censors review them. And censors noticed a pattern in …
Racism and the Road
The United States Army didn’t create racism in the ‘40’s. The United States had struggled with race for 170 years and, in 1942, thoroughgoing racism and vicious discrimination permeated American society and government. The Army and the Corps merely reflected that sad fact. But its racism stained the story of the Epic Alaska Highway Project …
Racism and the 95th Engineers
Racism complicated the management of the Epic Alaska Highway Project. Skin color repeatedly trumped every other consideration. In June 1942 thousands of United States Army soldiers and thousands of civilian contractors from the United States and Canada sprawled across Northern Canada and Alaska; struggled to get organized and make progress on the desperately needed land …
Into the Muskwa Range
The Muskwa Range loomed in the Southern Sector. On the Alaska Highway project progress happened in June 1942 in Yukon. In Alaska and British Columbia, not so much. Down in Yukon In Alaska the 97th had struggled to get over Thompson Pass, still waited for their heavy equipment to make its way to Seattle and …
Crossing Paths with Sam McGee
Crossing Paths with Sam McGee The US Army Corps of Engineers crossed paths with Sam McGee in June 1942. Hell bent to build a land route from the lower 48 to Alaska, the Corps descended on Northern Canada and Alaska early in the year. By the end of June three regiments had themselves relatively organized …
The 340th Gets Started
The 340th Engineers heavy equipment convulsed the Skagway docks again at mid-June 1942. Vessels bearing heavy equipment jammed in one behind the other. Colonel Lyons and his regiment had reached their starting point at Morley Bay in the nick of time. Read more about getting to Morley Lyons’ pre-positioned troops in Skagway, Whitehorse, and Morley …
Climax at the Teslin River
The Climax came at the Teslin River. At mid-June 1942 the black soldiers of the 93rd raced, a long train, through the Yukon woods building a road for the white soldiers of the 340th to the Teslin River. Way behind schedule and burning with impatience the soldiers of the 340th had moved in behind them …
Traffic Jam in the Woods
In June 1942 a traffic jam followed the black soldiers of the 93rd Engineering Regiment as they raced through woods and mud toward the Teslin River, building a road to get the white soldiers of the 340th Engineers into the interior. More on the Race to the Teslin River Colonel Lyons, commander of the 340th, …
East of Tagish
East of Tagish work speeded up. Recall that in April 1942 General Hoge had dispatched the black soldiers of the 93rd to Carcross to build a road to the Teslin River for the 340th. He had done so to get the black men out of Skagway and he didn’t propose to leave them long in …