Crossing Paths with Sam McGee The US Army Corps of Engineers crossed paths with Sam McGee in June 1942. Hell bent to build a land route from the lower 48 to Alaska, the Corps descended on Northern Canada and Alaska early in the year. By the end of June three regiments had themselves relatively organized …
Tag Archives: Yukon
The 340th Gets Started
The 340th Engineers heavy equipment convulsed the Skagway docks again at mid-June 1942. Vessels bearing heavy equipment jammed in one behind the other. Colonel Lyons and his regiment had reached their starting point at Morley Bay in the nick of time. Read more about getting to Morley Lyons’ pre-positioned troops in Skagway, Whitehorse, and Morley …
Traffic Jam in the Woods
In June 1942 a traffic jam followed the black soldiers of the 93rd Engineering Regiment as they raced through woods and mud toward the Teslin River, building a road to get the white soldiers of the 340th Engineers into the interior. More on the Race to the Teslin River Colonel Lyons, commander of the 340th, …
East of Tagish
East of Tagish work speeded up. Recall that in April 1942 General Hoge had dispatched the black soldiers of the 93rd to Carcross to build a road to the Teslin River for the 340th. He had done so to get the black men out of Skagway and he didn’t propose to leave them long in …
Getting Supplies into the Woods
Getting supplies into the woods–the next big problem. In Yukon in June 1942 heavy equipment had made it into the interior and galvanized the progress of the 93rd. But General Hoge’s battle with the folks in Seattle, at the other end of his supply line, raged through June. Hoge had, several weeks earlier, urgently …
Seventy Miles of Road
Mid-June 1942, the action in Yukon centered squarely on the seventy miles of road from Carcross to the Teslin River and the men of the 93rd Engineers who fought to build it. Never recorded, long forgotten, the performance of the men of the 93rd—especially the men of Company A—during the first two weeks of June …
The River Route
June brought the War to the North Country—to the Aleutians. Down in Yukon the black men of the 93rd Engineers battled a less vicious but ultimately much tougher enemy—mother nature. The white soldiers of the 340th, though, mostly still battled confusion—battled themselves. General Hoge finally had heavy equipment on the way. It would begin to …
The SS Nisutlin Forced the Rivers
SS Nisutlin and its Canadian crew forced the Yukon and Teslin Rivers to transport men and equipment for the 340th Engineers. General Hoge had ordered the 340th to build highway from Teslin through Yukon toward British Columbia. On the other side of the Continental Divide they would meet the 35th Engineers coming the other way. …
Gouging a Road through Yukon
The soldiers of Company A, finally gouging a road out of the wilderness powered through Yukon in May. The soldiers of Company B came right behind. For more on the 93rd On May 19th the North Country threw a curve at Company B when a forest fire flared about seven and a half miles from …
Johnny Johns from Paul Erlam’s Memory
I’m not very scientific about this, but I’m convinced that something in the air in Yukon creates wonderful, unique, larger than life characters. It could have to do with the weather, maybe the isolation. Or maybe mother nature protects her magnificent creation by making it so difficult to live that only unique, tough individuals can …