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Yukon Nuggets

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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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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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1943

An Alaska Highway Story

The first overland, motorized mail service into the Yukon was delivered by the American military. Like almost everything else during World War II, the Americans ran the show in the Northwest. So it's not surprising that they ran the mail.

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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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1944

Rusty Dow

Today, the Alaska Highway is considered the main street of the Yukon and Alaska. Easy to drive and quick to get there. It wasn't always so. Back in the early 40s, there was no highway. In the late 40s you…

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1945

THE CANOL PIPELINE & REFINERY

Most Canadians didn’t know what was going on. It wasn’t exactly a top-secret military project, but the Americans were playing it pretty close to the vest. Hardly anyone in the Yukon knew about this massive construction project.

On June 4th,…

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1945

The British Yukon Navigation Company

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The British Yukon Navigation Company, a division of the White Pass and Yukon Route, operates busses from Whitehorse to Dawson Creek. The White Pass manages the train, the riverboats to Dawson City and Mayo, and the SS Tutshi

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1945

The Dalton Trail

The trail was known to the Chilkat Indians for centuries, and it was jealously guarded. So much so, that few gold-seekers used this route to the Klondike. That is until Jack Dalton came along.

The Chilkat called it the Grease…

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1946

Alaska Highway Turnover Ceremonies

April 3rd, 1946. It was plus 32 degrees Fahrenheit or 0° Celsius on today’s thermometers. The afternoon sun shone brightly, and nearly 300 Whitehorse residents were there to witness history in the making. On the gravel road between the Two…

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1946

Camp Takhini

When the Canadian military took over the operation of the Northwest Highway System in 1946, a new era began in Whitehorse. The town became the headquarters for a substantial military presence in the Yukon. As many as two thousand Army…

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