Emma Kelly lived in Topeka, wrote for a Chicago newspaper, thirsted, as they say, for adventure. In 1897 word came south from the Klondike that men had struck gold, and young Emma decided to head north to Dawson City. She arranged financing, acquired a list of newspapers that would print stories she sent back, and …
Tag Archives: Yukon
What Extreme Cold Does to Equipment—and Beer
Extreme cold does things to equipment that the soldiers of the 97th and 18th Engineers never imagined. As the last two regiments working on the Alaska Highway, in October and November 1942, working in northernmost Yukon Territory, they became experts on the subject. The 18th Combat Engineers Young Black Soldiers of the 97th Even in …
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Segregation came to Skagway in 1942.
Segregation meant that soldiers, at least the black enlisted soldiers, in Skagway in 1942 lived separate, not just from their officers, but from everyone else as well. Six year old Carl Mulvihill spotted black soldiers quartered across the alley from his house. Excited, he waved and called. They ignored him. Only later did he learn …
A Taste for Exotic Furs—And Gold
A taste for exotic furs swept across the civilized world. Exotic furs grew on exotic animals and a lot of them lived at the far northern reaches of the American Continent. More on Furs On that remote portion of the globe, Native Americans, First Nations if you’re in Canada, had developed a tribal civilization …
Appendicitis
Appendicitis doesn’t normally amount to a major threat—unless you get it on the North Bank of the White River in Northern Yukon in November 1942. The you need bush pilot Les Cook and his Norseman Monoplane. Comrades place the young soldier on a litter and carry him two miles to the river. The bridge …
Bonner and Bess and the Memorial Cairns
Bonner and Bess Cooley live at the heart of Teslin, Yukon. They may, in fact, be the heart of Teslin, Yukon. More on Teslin Today A few years ago, we travelled through Yukon researching the book we would title, We Fought the Road, and in Teslin we met Bess and Bonner They helped us, taught …
New Plan and new route
General Hoge’s new plan and new route would absolutely get the Alaska Highway completed on time or he and his soldiers would die trying. For more on Hoge’s Reassessment https://www.chrisdennis111.com/struggle-in-july/ On July 15, the point where the men of the 340th Engineers needed to meet the oncoming men of the 35th lay a very long, …
Struggle in July
With 1800 miles of Alaska Highway to build and the summer half over, General Hoge took stock. Up in Alaska the 97th Engineers had struggled to get in place. They got going and then ran into Mentasta Pass. In Yukon it had taken the 340th Engineers the first half of the summer just to get …
Slims River Bridge
Slims River threatened to stop the soldiers of the 18th cold in July 1942. At the southern end of Kluane Lake, Slims River feeds it with melt water from the Kaskawulsh Glacier. The road the soldiers built rounded the southern end of the lake, eight miles of deep muskeg and mud, to the mouth of …
Challenge in Series
Challenge one for the epic Alaska Highway Project in 1942 had been to mobilize thousands of men, acquire their equipment and move everybody and everything over vast distances to the Far North. More on Challenge 1 Meeting that challenge had immediately created challenge two. Thousands of men and massive stocks of equipment and supplies jammed …