Hunger permeates Chester Russel’s memory of his first weeks on the Alcan Project. The stuff of legend, his regiment’s race against the spring thaw got them to Ft Nelson in the nick of time—just before the winter trail disappeared from under their rolling dozers and trucks. That meant, as Chester remembered, “no supply line.” Awards, …
Tag Archives: Northern Canada
Speaking of Chester Russel
Speaking of Chester Russel a few episodes back, I told you about his unique background. Then I told you how he stumbled into “Catskinning” (operating a bulldozer) by accident. Private Russel at Ft. Nelson In his interview with Earl Brown and Hank Bridgeman Chester remembered details that no book of Alaska Highway history includes. And …
Obsession Genesis, Next Step
Sent: Tuesday, July 16, 2013 3:51 PM Subject: Next Edition So last night I wrote out a new edition and sent it… And it promptly disappeared into cyberspace. As soon as that occurred, the message turned into the most profound and eloquent piece of writing I’ve ever done–or ever read, for that matter. Sorry you …
A Hard Good Life
A hard life can be a good life. Many of us today have lost touch with that fact. The Mennonites who came to Manitoba, Canada at the turn of the century came for better lives. They didn’t expect easy ones. Three generations on, in 1921, one austere, deeply religious, family welcomed baby Linda to the …
Cooperation built the Alcan
Cooperation between soldiers and civilians and between the citizens of two countries made the colossal project, the Alaska-Canada Highway, happen. Canada entered WWII when Great Britain did, two years before Pearl Harbor pulled the United States in. Mackenzie King and Canada’s other leaders recognized the Japanese threat to North America long before leaders in the …
Chappie
Chappie, actually Chaplain William J. Brown, drove as many as two thousand miles a month up and down the Alaska Highway in 1943. He brought spiritual guidance to the men working to straighten and improve the Highway, and they nicknamed him Chappie. During that first year of its existence, the Alaska Highway offered only a …
Inwood to Skagway
Inwood, Iowa to Skagway, Alaska—Doctor Peter Dahl moved his family to an utterly different, utterly unique world. Wife Vera liked Iowa just fine, but “whither thou goest…” The move struck eleven-year-old Lew, ten-year-old Robert, and even three year old Roger as pure excitement. Buffalo Soldiers in Skagway In his memoir, After the Gold Rush, …
Olive A. Frederickson
Olive Frederickson, as incredible a woman who ever lived, came to my attention through this blog. I posted about the unique individuals who choose to live in the most remote parts of the Subarctic, and I got a comment telling me about Olive—and her book, The Silence of the North. In the summer of 1910, …