April 13, 2010 | Tips from Travellers >
Dawson Creek, Historic & Heritage Sites
Find more information about Dawson Creek - Historic & Heritage Sites
View a larger image on flickr.com
My Mom came to the Peace River Country as a young woman in 1939 with her family. They were political refugees fleeing Nazi Germany. She worked at the original Dawson Creek hospital.
When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, the leaders in Washington decided they needed to have a supply route to Alaska. They wanted it done in less than one year. They needed men and equipment and lots of both.
Mom remembered the
arrival of the US troops and Canadian civilians along with all the equipment that came to build the Alaska Highway in 1942. She said the quiet agricultural town burst at the seams overnight. There were soldiers and equipment and noise and mud everywhere.
My Dad was one of the civilians who came here as a young man to operate heavy equipment on the construction of the highway.
They met at a dance hall on a Friday night.
The Dawson Creek of that time meant a lot of things to a lot of people.
There are great original photographs of the period at the
Alaska Highway House downtown by the Mile "O" Post and also at the
Dawson Creek Art Gallery.
The
Sudetan Hall (original hall built by Mom's people, moved and restored) at
Pioneer Village also houses a great collection of original photos of the Czechoslovakia pre and post WWII as well as the building of a new community in a new land.
April 01, 2010 | Tips from Travellers >
Dawson Creek, Historic & Heritage Sites
Find more information about Dawson Creek - Historic & Heritage Sites
View a larger image on flickr.com
My Dad came to Dawson Creek to work on the
Alaska Highway as a civilian in 1942. He operated heavy equipment along side the American soldiers.
In what was one of the earliest and coldest autumns ever recorded, Dad said the equipment took a real beating that year. The temperatures froze lubricants, seized transmissions and snapped axels. Equipment had to be kept running 24 hours a day, shutting them off was out of the question.
Wrecked and abandoned vehicles were a common sight on the sides of the road as it grew in miles. The combination of the brutal cold weather conditions and the scarcity of spare parts meant many were left to rust where they broke down.
A lot of the creeks that had to be crossed were swift water and resisted freezing even in the harsh cold. Often rushing through the interior of the smaller vehicles, cold water drenched men and steel alike. The underside of any vehicles that crossed became immediately ice coated and had to be kept moving or else the ice would lock the wheels within seconds of standing still.
The cold temperatures not only froze the equipment, it brutalized the men too. Dad said one of his friends froze to death alone when his bulldozer broke down and no help was available. Many of the men who worked the road experienced frostbite that year.
When you travel the highway you will see the rusting relics of the abandoned equipment. It's a fitting tribute to the effort it took to build the Alaska Highway.