The climax of the Alaska Highway Project approached as October turned to November in 1942. On the southern portion of the Highway, two regiments had met at Contact Creek in September and opened the road from Dawson Creek to Whitehorse. Work all along that stretch of the Alcan transitioned from building to improving. Up north, though, two regiments labored toward the climax, on into October and November, struggling to close the last gap in the highway.
Ice Posed the Biggest Problem in the Winter
The 18th struggled northward, grappling with ice, permafrost and deteriorating weather. Early in October, Company B worked toward White River. Behind them Company A built bridges—eighty feet over Lake Creek Ford, fifty feet over first Koidern River, and 145 feet over second Koidern River. The rest of the regiment laid corduroy and built culverts.
As winter settled in, the 18th loaded supplies on sledges and towed the sledges with D8’s. Fred Rust recalled the scene. The road consisted of a “…mudway twisting and turning up a wooded valley with a dozer convoy dipping and twisting along like a roller coaster in slow motion” through “Christmas trees and brush”.
When two platoons from Company B crossed the White River on October 10th the mercury hovered near thirty-five below.
Colonel Robinson’s 97th regiment worked south out of Alaska to meet them, and October 10 found them at the Alaska-Canada border.
Working alongside the 97th, Duesenberg Construction Company brought additional men, dozers and equipment to the assault, and the White River lay just fifty-two miles to the South. But supplies, for soldiers and civilians alike, had to come all the way from Valdez—and over the fearsome Thompson Pass. Snow piled ever higher in the pass in November, threatening to close it sooner rather than later.
Duesenberg’s Book About the Highway
The climax better hurry.
It says someone is using my name already when I put in my email I will get help so I can get this done right