Alcan Hwy

joe b. wrote:
An interesting subject as to the name of the highway. So far I haven't seen any of the early photos posted that call it the Alaska Hwy.

Here's another one, from this article.

And virtually all of the 1940s postcards use "Alaska Highway".

Just curious why the name Alcan is such a sore spot? I would think they would want the recognition for being part of the road.

I didn't mean to bring up history!
It was the Alaska-Canada Highway shortened to "Alcan". This was in some of the information during the 50th anniversary. Tricia Brown has much of the history in her book "The World-Famous Alaska Highway.
I do not remember when the big name change was. I believe it was right after the 50th anniversary. In Tricia Brown's book it says about 1971 when The Yukon Department of Highways and Public Works took over maintenance in the Yukon Territory. The US stopped funding part of the maintenance.

An interesting subject as to the name of the highway. So far I haven't seen any of the early photos posted that call it the Alaska Hwy. The one Murray posted calls it the Canadian-Alaska Military Hwy or to shorten that you could go to Can-Al or Canal, not to be confused with the Canol Hwy named after the Canadian Oil Pipeline.

Murray may be correct in that the original Mile Zero sign was at the roundabout, it wasn't there for many years in my driving experience. The first driving trip I did through Dawson Creek, in 1962,following the road signs, took me down to the downtown Milepost sign Zero as Eagle shows in his photos. Very nice photos by the way. The first time I remember seening the last photo he posted at the roundabout was in about 1989 as I was driving out of Alaska to the Lower 48.

Still strikes me as strange that some Canadians want to call the highway, after a state in a different country. LOL Of course, over the years I have talked to some Canadians that believe that Alaska is part of Canada and they refer to it as Yukon Alaska Territories. One time I had to see a doctor in Edmonton and he insisted that I must have a Canadian health card since Alaska was a part of Canada. He was an excellent doctor but must have cut class on the day geography was discussed. LOL

For those who did not see the downtown's "original milepost zero" location at 102 Avenue at 10 Street - this is a picture facing the southwest corner in September 2011 :


Facing northwest corner - overlooking north end of 10 street at Alaska Highway :


Mile 0 Alaska Highway at 10 Street facing east near historical roundabout :


Roundabout intersection at historical and world famous signs with plaque monument :


I also wondered about how which of these two locations was the more significant 'true' mile zero.....

I assumed the downtown sign was in place for the readjustment of the true distance starting point, as the roundabout area was the more closer spot of the original location as the historical signs and plaque were in place there as for whatever reason the roadway around there might have been revised (as was my guessing)....Now that explorenorth has clarified the roundabout intersection is the original starting point of the Alaska Highway all along.

sue.t wrote:
When the US Army was building the route, it was the Alcan Military Project, or something similarly worded. So it was usually called the Alcan or the Oil-Can (for all the empty oil drums left along the route).

On April 1, 1946, six months after the end of the war, the US Army officially handed over the route and associated facilities to the Canadian Army. The Royal Canadian Engineers became responsible for the maintenance and construction of the Alaska Highway. Then along came springtime and the Canadians realized there was a lot of work ahead of them to make the route a driveable highway. My Dad was one of the fellows who did some of the maintenance work in the 1950s. And so I have a copy of the book that documents the Canadian Army's maintenance and construction activities from 1946 to 1964. :B

Sue
My uncle Jack was one of those guys that most likely worked with your dad Sue. He was a mechanic with the Canadian Military and worked on the " Hwy in question" ( grin). He stayed in Whitehorse for many many years after that and operated a towing company that sold , windshields, radiators, tires and of course installed them as well. I was only in Whitehorse once as a kid when he was still part of the place, I " think" it was called Yukon Salvage"
I remember my uncle visiting us down here a couple times and i remember him saying the early days of the Hwy were REALY good for his company.
Sue, I think that was the name of the company but not sure as I only saw it once when I was about 10, so forgive me if I got that wrong th that name.
Soup.

Well, I'm not afraid to say I used the term "Alcan" out of ignorance. Before we took our trip to Alaska in 2013, I knew nothing about the road or how it came to be. I only knew that it traversed Canada before entering Alaska, so I thought the name Alcan was a natural. I know differently now and really have enjoyed learning about the Alaska highway and the territories it spans. I bet there are many people like me who just didn't know.

Thanks to Sue and the "Milepost" I am re-educated! :)

Dale

Pretty cool, sue t. I will tell everyone we are going to the Kenai in Russian America.

When the US Army was building the route, it was the Alcan Military Project, or something similarly worded. So it was usually called the Alcan or the Oil-Can (for all the empty oil drums left along the route).

On April 1, 1946, six months after the end of the war, the US Army officially handed over the route and associated facilities to the Canadian Army. The Royal Canadian Engineers became responsible for the maintenance and construction of the Alaska Highway. Then along came springtime and the Canadians realized there was a lot of work ahead of them to make the route a driveable highway. My Dad was one of the fellows who did some of the maintenance work in the 1950s. And so I have a copy of the book that documents the Canadian Army's maintenance and construction activities from 1946 to 1964.

So, anyway, I can understand Americans still using the term Alcan 70 years later in reference to the military project. But gee, the US purchased Alaska from Russia just 149 years ago and it became a state only 57 years ago, so I guess you wouldn't mind if we call it Russia. :B

joe b. wrote:
The Alaska Hwy opened for public use in 1948, which makes me wonder why they would be putting up tourist mile post prior to that date. The one up at the round about must have been a military one. Murray, do you have any photos in your collection of that early sign?

The black and white photo seems to say Alcan at the bottom, not Alaska Hwy.

The original mileposts weren't for tourists. The "Alcan" on that photo is handwritten so pretty much meaningless when looking for the official name - the "Canadian-Alaska Military Highway" sign is the significant part.

This photo of the Mile 0 sign is from the Nov-Dec 1943 issue of The Highway magazine. A woman at Dawson Creek Tourism confirmed the location as what is now the roundabout - the grain elevators were to the right of this view.