The Alaska Highway...all the way to the end!

On Monday, August 6th, we left the roadside pullout under perfectly clear blue skies and continued our southeasterly course along the ALCAN. With no buffaloes to slow our progress (sadly), we sped toward Dawson Creek, BC. After our standard detour to the visitor center, we took in the rest of the building, formerly the railway station master's office and home. Each of the small rooms was decorated with 1940s era furnishings and such. Very quaint.

We wandered around outside and stepped into the (air-conditioned) former Alberta Pool Elevators building, now a giant art gallery exhibiting the work of local artists as well as historic photographs taken during the construction of the highway. Just beyond these two historic buildings we found the monument to mile zero of the ALCAN, complete with an arch above it.

This way to Alaska!

The Alaska Hotel

Nearby, in the center of the roundabout, stands the Pioneer Surveyor Statue, pointing the way to Alaska. Constructed by Karl Mattson, the statue was built of scrap iron and depicts a surveyor in garments and with equipment authentic to the early 1940s. It commemorates the men who were, at times, only a few paces ahead of the bulldozers in surveying the road's center line.

With our self-guided historic walking tour map in hand, we charged off toward the center of town and the town's chief attraction. Erected by the Junior Chamber of Commerce after the original one was hit by an errant driver in 1946, the Mile '0' Post marks the beginning of the ALCAN Highway and displays the mileage to various points along the way. Strolling through the little town, we could see that fires or unpaid taxes claimed many of the historic structures, including an entire block accidentally leveled by the 1943 explosion of 60 cases of dynamite stored for use on the highway.

As we walked through the little streets in the (relatively) blistering heat of the mid 70s, we found several murals painted on the sides of buildings depicting historic scenes of the town. The Alaska Hotel seemed to be almost covered in murals. Originally named the Dew Drop Inn when it was constructed in 1933, the hotel obtained a liquor license in 1942. With the influx of US Army soldiers the same year, many of them spent what little free time and money they had in line around the building waiting for a drink. Legend says the bartender would sell a man his drink then make him go to the end of the line for the next one. Ha!

Next door we found the Alaska Highway House, a museum displaying the hardships and triumphs of the ALCAN project. We watched part of the PBS documentary 'Building the Alaska Highway' where we saw interviews and testimonies of some of the soldiers who toiled in the construction of the century's second most important feat of engineering (the first being the Panama Canal). An entire wall was dedicated to the depiction of the entire 1523 mile route, complete with anecdotes about the trials and successes along the way.

Stamp Mural

The conditions under which these thousands of men worked were not only uncomfortable but dangerous in a number of ways. Many of the men were from Southern states and some didn't know how to take care of either their equipment, or themselves, in minus 40 degree temperatures. Some froze to death walking back for help, others took a nap and never woke up. As if the winter wasn't bad enough, the summer saw temperatures in the 90s, warm enough to melt the newly uncovered permafrost ground to a quagmire of tractor-eating mud. The fast pace of the first two months (800 miles completed) slowed to a virtual crawl once the regiments encountered the permafrost.

Map of the ALCAN at the
Alaska Highway House

In addition to the merciless weather conditions, the mosquitoes were as thick as clouds and, according to one former soldier, would dive-bomb the men. In the heat of summer, working 12 hour shifts, they were dressed in long pants, long-sleeved shirts, hats with netting to cover their faces and necks, and gloves just to protect every possible inch of skin from the relentless pests. And, to add insult to misery, the food provided to the men was, at best, awful. Living primarily on hash and Spam with very infrequent opportunities for fresh meat or vegetables, the men had little to enjoy about mealtimes. One interviewee mentioned that during one food shortage they were fed pancakes 3 meals a day for a month. Gross.

Dawson Creek mural

Making our way in the sunshine back to the RV, we continued our journey until we stopped in Grande Prairie, Alberta, a comparatively huge town of 55,000 people, with all manner of box stores and strip shopping centers nestled into the west central part of the province among thousands of acres of farmland. We ate a nice dinner in the WalMart parking lot before driving on to find a pullout along Highway 40. It took us 3 and 1/2 hours to find one, and we fell into bed as soon as we stopped. What a long day!