Private Russel at Ft. Nelson

Private Russel and his fellows at Ft. Nelson not only struggled to find food to eat, they also struggled to fix the trucks and tractors that their winter road trip up from Fort St. John had all but destroyed.

Ft. Nelson, Chester Russell’s Passage

The army rushed mechanics from Union Tractor Company in from Edmonton by air to help get the heavy equipment back in shape.  One of their number, Harry Garriott, found himself shocked and “staggered by the immensity and scope of the project”.

Vehicles with flat tires and no spares sat anywhere.  Many had broken axles. The mechanics did a quick triage then sacrificed the totally unserviceable vehicles to cannibalize parts for the rest.  And the relative warmth of spring that had melted the trail from Fort St. John alternated with brutal cold, forcing them to leave motors running lest the cold thicken the oil and freeze cooling systems.  Antifreeze that spring in Fort Nelson was a rare and precious substance.

Private Russel worked on the Highway as a bulldozer operator—a catskinner. The equipment shortage led him to that job by accident.

He explained in his interview with Brown and Bridgeman that his commander, an officer named Lueber, asked him to pick three other men and go back to Dawson Creek. The regiment had four D8 Caterpillar Tractors there and he wanted Chester and the men to somehow get them to Ft. Nelson.

“I was not no catskinner coming… up here… I’d never seen no D8. I was a cowboy.” He explained his love for rodeo. “I was pretty proud of myself… But I was no good, don’t misunderstand me. I was just an apprentice.”

Chester told them about his friend, Slim Pickens, “who was actually Lou Slinley.” Lou had “done all right, but he still said he’d rather be home and milking cows.

The D8’s got to Ft. Nelson, and Chester Russel had turned into a catskinner.

Muskwa River Today