Our camping neighbors at Pocahontas were from Edmonton and assured us we would have no problem taking the scenic Big Horn route highway 40 to Dawson Creek. Highway 40 was a 2 lane paved road winding through the mountain wilderness of eastern Alberta. We spotted serval black bears, caribou, a moose with a calf, and even a grizzly bear!
THE ALASKA HIGHWAY
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| On September 28, 1996, a ceremony in Dawson Creek designated the Alaska Highway as the 16th International Historical Civil Engineering Landmark. |
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| The Alaska Highway starts at Mile "0" in Dawson Creek, BC and ends at Mile 1523 in Fairbanks, Alaska. |
Prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, there was no road to link Alaska with the Lower 48. With the start of WW II, Canada and the U.S. agreed it was a military necessity to construct a supply road to defend North America against the Japanese. The two countries reached a formal agreement that stipulated that the U.S. pay for construction and turn over the Canadian portion of the highway to the Canadian government after the war ended. Canada furnished the right-of-way, waived import duties, sales tax, income tax and immigration regulations, and provided construction materials along the route.
Construction of the highway began on March 8, 1942 and was completed just eight months later. It took the efforts of 11,000 American troops and engineers, 16,000 civilian workmen from Canada and the U.S., and 7,000 pieces of equipment to penetrate the 1,500 miles of wild mountain terrain. Living in primitive mobile camps, the men worked 7 day a week in temperatures as low as -70 in the winter and summer heat in the 90's, as well as enduring relentless mosquitoes, mud, dust, and little food as they bulldozed thorough the wilderness laying down eight miles of road per day.
Since taking over their portion of the highway, Canada has replaced the bridges and hastily constructed road. The brutal climate causes frost heaves, and potholes. Constant maintenance is required to keep the highway open year round.
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| Summer road and bridge work along the Alcan never ends. |
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| Where the pavement is torn up, dust and mud make quite a mess. |
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| The caked on mud was about a 1/2 inch thick. |
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| Most of the campgrounds have pressure wash stations to clean up after a day on the road. |
Watson Lake was an important point during the construction of the Alaska Highway. The airport, built in 1941, was a major refueling stop along the Northwest Staging Route.
The tradition of putting up a sign was started by a U.S. soldier working on the Alaska Highway. A personal sign can be dropped off at the Visitors Center where it will be added to the growing collection. We saw signs from all over the world.
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| At the end of every September, the number of signs in the "forest" is updated. As of September 2016, there were 83,885 signs. |
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| Road building equipment from the 1942 road construction project is on display at the Sign Forest. |
Like the Klondike gold rush stampeders of the the late 1800's who landed in Whitehorse to repack their supplies, we did the same with a visit to the grocery store. Leaving the Alaska Highway we averaged 45 MPH as we bounced along the scenic, potholed, frost heaved Klondike Highway on our way to historic Dawson City, Yukon Territory.
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| Our campsite view at Toad River. |
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| Watch out for Stone Sheep on the highway! |
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| Wood Bison graze next to the highway. |
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