The River Route

June brought the War to the North Country—to the Aleutians. Down in Yukon the black men of the 93^rd Engineers battled a less vicious but ultimately much tougher enemy—mother nature. The white soldiers of the 340^th, though, mostly still battled confusion—battled themselves.

General Hoge finally had heavy equipment on the way.  It would begin to land in Skagway in a matter of days—first for the 93^rd and then, later in the month, for the 340^th.  But that very success brought his plan’s second critical problem front and center.  He had assigned Colonel Lyons’ 340^th Engineering Regiment the section of highway from Nisutlin Bay south and east to Lower Post.  Before he could start, Lyons had to get over a thousand men; a mountain of supplies; and, when they finally arrived, hundreds of bulldozers, trucks, graders and other heavy equipment from Skagway to that starting point.

Recall that Morley Bay, a few miles east of Nisutlin Bay, would base Lyons’ operations and that Hoge’s plan depended on two routes to there from Skagway. One would use the WP&YT to Whitehorse then boats and barges over the Yukon River system and Teslin Lake.  The other, more direct, route would use the WP&YT to Carcross then seventy miles of road to the Teslin River.  It would use boats and barges from there over the relatively short stretch of river to Teslin Lake, Nisutlin Bay, and Morley Bay.

The black soldiers of the 93^rd had gotten themselves out in the woods and on their way to the Teslin River. By June 1 Lyons had deployed two companies of his second battalion along his river route, ready to do the heavy lifting.

At Skagway one platoon, would move ‘stuff’ from ships to railroad cars.  At Whitehorse another two platoons would move it from railroad cars to river steamers.  Another platoon arrived at Morley Bay on June 3 aboard the steamboat Keno. They would unload the material at the end of its journey. The Nisutlin carried another platoon to Morley Bay, and the SS Whitehorse carried still another.

The first platoon to arrive at Morley Bay scrambled to build a rough dock and an access road from it to the regimental base camp.

Colonel Lyons and most of his men waited, champing at the bit.