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 House they put him on the WP&YR railroad, and four steam engines powered the train up into the Canadian mountans. At the top, at Lake Bennet, they released three engines. One “puffer” would do for the rest of the ride. And before they left Bennett the Army fed them—apple pie, cheese and sweet pickles.

Link to Another Story “The Steepest Railroad Grade”

Late afternoon found them in Whitehorse and this time someone had booked hotels. They actually stayed for a few days, filling in as freight handlers—getting supplies off the train and onto steamboats.

Willis knew nothing of surveying, but the Army figured he could learn on the job so they assigned him to a survey crew. With fourteen other men, Willis would survey the portion of the route headed north from Burwash Landing, about 200 miles north of Whitehorse at the north end of Kluane Lake.

Three or four of the crew had experience. “And then there were the rest, all prepared with enthusiasm and good health to offer.”

They couldn’t all head for Burwash Landing at once, “the old Curtis Condore biplane… had a limited capacity’. But eventually Willis’ group made it into the air.  “The coastal mountains on [their] left loomed white and mysterious clear to the horizon.”

Two hours and 150 miles later they touched down on the four feet of ice that covered Kluane Lake. And from the lake they “struggled their way” to their assigned quarters—in Willis’ case a one room cabin for six they called the “Boar’s Nest.”

Burwash Landing Today