Alcan Hwy

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.

joe b. wrote:
That corner hasn't changed a lot since Sue's dad took that photo, with his silver Ford in the background. This was the "original" Mile Zero milepost, which is still there, a couple of blocks from the one on the highway.

Most people think that was the original Mile 0 sign , but it wasn't. It was built in about 1946 to try to get people to come downtown where the businesses were/are. It worked very well. The original was where the round-about is, 3 blocks away.

sue.t wrote:
Yeah, I'm pretty sure that reads, "Alaska Highway" :B
This was likely in 1958

The titles on the first series of postcards from the highway, in 1942-43, read "Alaska Highway". This is the earliest photo I have of a sign on the road:

That corner hasn't changed a lot since Sue's dad took that photo, with his silver Ford in the background. This was the "original" Mile Zero milepost, which is still there, a couple of blocks from the one on the highway. The congestion of traffic from tourists and local trying to drive the streets had them installing a new one up by the old grain elevator. As You can see the old one shows the end of the Alaska Hwy as being Fairbanks and it was 1,523 miles away. Fairbanks had a, somewhat matching milepost marking the end of the Alaska Hwy, located next to the visitor's center on the Chena River. Then someone in Delta Junction started a fuss and got their undies all bunched up and claimed Delta was the end of the Alaska Hwy since the Richardson Hwy, coming up from Valdez to Fairbanks was already in place and that the Alaska Hwy just joined the Richardson in Delta.

There was a nice museum in the Hotel building shown in Jack's photo. Don't know if it is still there or not. If a traveler follows the highway signs going through Dawson Creek, it is easy to miss the old intersection. If you walk out to the old milepost to get your proof that "I was here" photo, watch for traffic as many of the locals seem to see tourists as moving "targets" as they drive this street. LOL

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that reads, "Alaska Hi-way" :B
This was likely in 1958

A guide published by the Canadian government in 1956 for travellers on the Alaska Highway




The map on the centrefold

explorenorth wrote:

joe b. wrote:
Always have wondered why they didn't spell the town Toke, to go with the way it is pronounced.

That spelling would relate well to the lifestyle as well :)

Ain't that the truth. ;)

Have to concur with Joe....it was only after spending a year at school in Texas (admittedly 30 years ago now) that I understood "highways" had numbers. Shoot, for quite a while I struggled with even names like "Parks Highway" or "Glenn Highway".....it was always:

- "The road to Glennallen"
- "You're going to Fairbanks? Did you take the old road or the new road?"
- "At Glennallen, will you go North to Big Delta or south to Valdez?"

Speaking of "why is it pronounced that way", (given that I spend too much time in Texas), I'll just leave it to speculation as to how Valdeeez is often pronounced incorrectly.

joe b. wrote:
Always have wondered why they didn't spell the town Toke, to go with the way it is pronounced.

That spelling would relate well to the lifestyle as well :)

The original military project was called the Alaska Canada Road or something like that. The military working on the road shortened it to Alcan, named for the state of Alaska and the country of Canada. I would think that most Canadians would prefer the name, Alcan since their country gets equal mention. Northern roads, especially in Alaska, are referred to as to where they go. If you live in Nenana, on the Parks Hwy, the Parks is called the Anchorage Hwy or the Fairbanks Hwy depending on which way you are headed, north or south. I only became aware, after I moved from Alaska to Colorado, that Akaska Highways have numbers, just like real highways in the lower 48.

Therefore the Alcan project was named the Alaska Hwy because that is where the road was headed. Even though the majority of miles are in Canada. Tok was a shortened version for a military construction camp located there, Camp Tokyo was the camp as it was on the road to Tokyo, remembering the highway was built during World War ll. Always have wondered why they didn't spell the town , Toke, to go with the way it is pronounced.

Back to the original post, if the OP has more questions, please ask them. Lots of forum members with lots of good knowledge that are happy and willing to share with others.