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1943

Carl Lindley

Danville, Illinois is a town of about 33,000 people located 120 miles south of Chicago. It is the birthplace of actors Dick Van Dyke, Gene Hackman and famed Hollywood dancer Donald O’Connor. But for the Yukon, Danville is important not…

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1943

First Broadcast - TITA Theatre

When the men and women of the American army, along with civilian contractors, were building the Alaska Highway, there wasn't much time for entertainment. There wasn't much entertainment to be found, but in the spring of 1943 there was an…

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1943

First Yukon Bus Service

When the Northwest Service Command Bus Line was opened all the way to Fairbanks in 1943, it became the most northerly bus service in the world.

The American military began their bus service from Edmonton to Fairbanks on November 13,…

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1943

Haines Highway

We knew it as "The Haines Cut-Off Road", and what a road it is - especially in winter, but that's another story. The Haines Road passes through about 160 miles of strikingly beautiful landscape connecting Haines, Alaska with Haines Junction,…

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1943

Overland Telegraph

For its time, Morse code, like the worldwide-web today,was the technology for instant communication that made the world a smaller place. Samuel Morse was given a patent for his code in 1830s.

In 1844, the first commercial Morse Code system…

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1943

The Overland Telephone

It began in August of 1942, this little known, yet vital link in the Northwest Service Command's operations. A little more than a year later, overland telephone service was available from the southern United states and Canada all the way…

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1942

African-Americans building the Alaska Highway

"Miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles. Temperatures of sixty below zero and dropping ...and the people... where are the people?"

So asked an African American soldier who worked as part of the military construction team during the…

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1942

Charlie Lake Disaster

The morning of May 14th, 1942 was windy but warm as the hastily built pontoon boat left the southern shore of Charlie Lake. The 17 U.S. soldiers on board were members of the 341st Engineer regiment of the American army.…

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1942

First Truck Over The Highway

Two young American soldiers made northern history back in September of 1942. Driving a Dodge half-ton weapons carrier, they left Dawson Creek and headed northwest into the history books.

Corporal Ottawa Gronke was from Chicago Illinois. Private Robert Bowe hailed…

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1942

General Hoge

He had a distinguished record in World War One. This American soldier achieved the rank of Brigadier General in the U.S. Army, but his major challenge came when he was ordered to build the Alaska Highway. 

On February 11th, 1942,…

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1942

Signs on the Alaska Highway

The Alaska Highway was famous for many things, most notably, signs. During the heyday of construction, they were everywhere.

If anyone doubted who owned the Alaska Highway during the war, a huge sign on the outskirts of Dawson Creek erased…

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1942

The Alaska Highway Opens

It was a bitterly cold day. The CBC announcer said, because of wartime restrictions, he was not allowed to give the temperature. But the bands played on; the red, blue and white ribbon was cut; trucks roared past the viewing…

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1942

The Americans & White Pass

The American military took over operation of the White Pass railroad on October 1st, 1942. The toy railroad, as the troops called it, was a vital transportation link in building the Alaska Highway. Little did they realize, however, that the…

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1941

Lend-Lease Program

In the summer of 1941, the German military machine controlled much of Europe, and was rapidly advancing against the crumbling Soviet Red Army. The United States, while not at war, was alarmed at the deteriorating Allied war effort in Europe,…

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1937

Grant McConachie

It was the most powerful aircraft in Canada flying on floats. The visionary pilot at the controls was man who would make trans - Pacific flying commonplace in years to come. But on July 5, 1937, he was flying his…

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1937

The Whitehorse Star in the 30s and 40s

Times were tough in the Yukon just before the outbreak of World War II. The territory had become a backwater, out of sight and out of mind, especially by the Federal Government. In 1937 the feds gleefully agreed to allow…

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1936

Riverboats as Archaeology

You wouldn’t think the Yukon river-boat days are gone long enough to attract the attention of archeologists. Nevertheless, a British Columbia archaeologist, sponsored by the Institute of nautical archeology at Texas A & M University, is conducting a…

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1936

Sinking of the first SS Klondike

Once in the mid 70’s I took a boat trip on the Yukon River with G.I. Cameron. The former mountie who had been stationed for many years at Fort Selkirk was a wealth of knowledge about the…

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1936

The Gleaner

The sternwheeler, the Gleaner, a three decked boat more than one hundred feet long, could carry 150 passengers and a lot of freight. Yet the river boat never ran the Yukon River. Instead, she operated in the Yukon southern…

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1935

Ephraim J. Hamacher

Most of the photographers who took the Klondike challenge of 1898 travelled all the way to Dawson City. When the rush was over, most left the land of gold forever. Ephraim Hamacher did neither.

He was born in Kitchener, Ontario,…

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1932

SS Baychimo

Al Oster has written a lot of story songs about the Yukon. One that doesn’t get as much attention as it deserves is about the Ghost ship of the Arctic. It was called the SS Baychimo.

Back in the…

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