At Mentasta Pass the black soldiers of the 97th met their toughest, most dangerous problems; met them and solved them.
Back in March, Generals Sturdevant and Hoge hurriedly planning their assault on the North Country wilderness, ordered the 97th from Florida to Valdez, Alaska. From Valdez they directed them up the Richardson Highway to Slana, Alaska. From Slana they directed them to follow and upgrade the old Valdez-Eagle Trail through the Wrangell Mountains. That plan probably made sense on the generals’ maps.
It fell to the young black soldiers of the 97th to make the generals’ plan work in the reality of Alaska.
By the first week of June the regiment reached Slana, and on June 7 they started turning the Valdez-Eagle Trail into a road.
Captain Doyle described the first days. “Starting from Slana, Alaska, with inexperienced operators, the cats started a side hill cut on the Slana sand hill. While the operators were still getting the feel of the dozers and graders and carryalls the road followed the Slana River to Lake Mentasta.”
Massive mountains loomed out front. The soldiers could see there would be no getting around them, they would have to build through. Thirty miles out they came to a small lake sunk deep in massive mountain rock, Mentasta Lake. The young soldiers turned their dozers and carryalls east to penetrate the mountains at Mentasta Pass. Forward progress came to an abrupt halt.
The old pack horse trail twisted and turned through the pass, hugging the sheer cliff. Some sections disappeared in washouts; sliding mud plugged others. Threading bulldozer tracks back onto their sprockets while the dozer hung over a precipice turned out to be a skill not everyone could master. Sgt Monk explained in an interview years later that the operator “…got to know how to drop that blade to keep from tumbling down the mountain.”
The 97th built just thirty miles during their first two months; spent most of that time in Mentasta.
