Page:America's Highways 1776–1976.djvu/539

 A location crew fording the Donjck River.

Access to the entire project was limited to three major routes: by rail to Dawson Creek, B.C., by boat to Skagway and then rail to Whitehorse, and by boat to Valdez, Alaska, and then by highway to Gulkana. This restricted access inevitably resulted in serious congestion at all three points. In the spring of 1942, 600 carloads arrived by rail at Dawson Creek within a period of 5 weeks. At one time 200 carloads were awaiting shipment at Prince Rupert, B.C., for Skagway or Valdez.

The level of activity soon made it apparent to PRA personnel that a project office had to be established close to the scene of action, and in April 1942, a district office was established in Seattle. This office was later moved to Edmonton, Alberta, in January 1943 as contractor operations accelerated.

Initial reconnaissance to establish a preliminary location for the Alaska Highway was conducted by air, on foot, and with pack trains and dog sleds. Aerial reconnaissance was new but invaluable in locating the route from Watson Lake to Whitehorse and crossing the Continental Divide. However, it was necessary to send ground reconnaissance teams on foot or with dog sleds to survey many sections of the highway. When feasible, a winter road was used by surveying parties, but the very nature of a winter road, located through the wettest areas and on frozen rivers in contrast to the requirements for an all-weather route, demanded that the reconnaissance teams do much hiking to locate the route of the proposed road some distance away. When dog sleds were used, usually a couple of engineers, their guides and dog teams would set off for weeks at a time and cover hundreds of miles. Much of this work was performed in temperatures between &minus;20° F. and +40° F., and with the exception of an occasional trapper’s cabin, the men lived in the open under a canvas fly.

When sufficient reconnaissance work had been done, though far from complete, work began on locating the centerline for the pioneer road. Sixty packhorse outfits were organized at the beginning of May 1942, to accompany survey crews working out of Ft. Nelson.

These PRA survey crews began nagging line for the Army clearing crew. In late May, Army and Public Roads location parties moved north from St. John to establish that section of the pioneer road. Aerial photographs of the area ahead were made available to the location engineers in the field camps, enabling them, by use of compass and prominent landmarks, to locate critical “control” points in the route selection. Much of the time, particularly in the Ft. St. John sector, this preliminary line was flagged and blazed just ahead of the bulldozers. In fact, at times the locators expressed fear of being run over by the heavy equipment. In some areas ground reconnaissance was not really completed until after location surveys had started. However, no significant rerunning of surveys was required.

The rate of actual construction in 1942 is difficult to conceive, but the fact that practically all of the pioneer road was built in 5 months, and most of it in 4 months, gives an idea of the urgency of the project. The Army involvement in construction of the pioneer road consisted of seven engineer regiments comprising a force of 394 officers and 10,765 enlisted men.

As soon as the Army troops started construction, it was apparent that, without help from the civilian contractors, it would be impossible to complete the access road or keep anything resembling the originally planned schedule. Consequently, work forces began to be merged. By the end of July, contractors were being shifted about and rescheduled all up and down the line to supplement and speed up construction of the pioneer road regardless of prior arrangements.

Army requests for the construction of the Dawson Creek railhead, pipeline, flight strips, and other installations, coupled with a labor and spare parts shortage and increasing equipment breakdowns, compounded to further delay the work despite the closest kind of cooperation. Perseverance prevailed, however, and on October 25 the final breakthrough came at Beaver Creek in the Yukon Territory near the Alaska border. A formal ceremony at Soldiers Sum- 533