A Guide to Alaska-Yukon Highways
Alaska Highway & Canol Bibliography

To Page 2, Fort Nelson to Whitehorse
To Page 3, Whitehorse to Delta Junction

Click on the images below to enlarge them

Mile 0: The start of the Alaska Highway in Dawson Creek, British Columbia. For more information and photos about where it starts and ends, see this article.

This is the better-known Mile 0 monument in downtown Dawson Creek, and behind it is Alaska Highway House, a combination visitor centre and interpretive centre that's open year-round.

One of the excellent displays in Alaska Highway House shows a member of the 97th Army Corps Engineers, an African-American unit, in his muddy jeep on a section of corduroy road. Author William E. Griggs tells this story in his book The World War II Black Regiment That Built the Alaska Military Highway: A Photographic History

The historic Kiskatinaw Bridge, the last of the original wooden bridges built on the highway. It is accessed by a loop road at Km 27.8. Construction of the bridge by civilian contractors began in November 1942; 534 feet (162.5 meters) long, it curves 9 degrees along its length. It had a weight limit of 25 tons, and the large number of trucks exceeding that weight made construction of a new bridge necessary by the 1970s. This photo was taken on a frosty morning in early October.

Km 33.6: The impressive new Kiskatinaw River Bridge was opened in 1978. The bridge is 8.5 meters wide (28 feet) and 248.5 meters long (815.3 feet).

Km 51.6: From the hill down to the Peace River Bridge, the community of Taylor, British Columbia, can be seen ahead. This photo was taken during a rainstorm in late August.

Km 55.4: The Peace River Bridge at Taylor is the longest one on the highway. Opened in 1960, it is 649 meters (2,130 feet) long. The original bridge, which opened on August 30, 1943, collapsed on October 16, 1957 when the north tower foundation sunk.

Km 82.4: On the morning of May 14, 1942, the largest loss of life during construction of the Alaska Highway occurred when 12 of the 17 soldiers on a pontoon boat crossing Charlie Lake sank. In 2008, a large monument was erected to commemorate the tragedy. A visit to the significant and lovely site, preferably following stops at Mile 0 and Alaska Highway House in Dawson Creek, and the Kiskatinaw Bridge, provides another excellent introduction to the history of The Road.

Km 140: The view northbound as seen in July 1998. Within about 10 years, the days of seeing an empty highway in this area were over as oil and gas well drilling and production boomed.

The abundance of pipelines in the region north of Fort St. John help to make it very attractive to moose due to the ease of traveling and better browsing.

Wildlife along the Alaska Highway - cows on the road near Wonowon, BC.

Km 226 (Historic Mile 143): Looking north up the highway from Pink Mountain in early October.

Km 227: Looking north up the highway from Pink Mountain in mid May.

Km 246: The original tote road has been re-routed in many places (in some cases more than once in a single location), and past routes can be seen often. This is the view northbound.

Km 250 (Historic Mile 158): This re-routing of the original road is just south of the Sikanni Chief River. This photo looks southbound.

Km 252: A rainbow brightens up the long and sometimes steep northbound hill down to the Sikanni Chief River.

Km 258, Sikanni Chief Hill: Looking south at Km 258, the top of the hill down to the Sikanni Chief River, in mid September.

Km 279 (Historic Mile 175): Looking north up the Alcan to Buckinghorse River, BC, in early October.

Km 282: Below, one of the major re-routing projects on the Alaska Highway was at Trutch Mountain, Historic Mile 178. The old road went to the right to the top of the ridge at 4,134 feet in order to avoid the extensive muskeg below, while the new highway, opened on November 8, 1987, deals with the wet conditions in the bottom of the Minaker River valley. This section of the old road, about 30 miles long, is still driveable.

Looking north from near the summit of the Trutch Mountain section of the old road. There's a mule deer on the left side of the road down by the corner.

Southbound at about Km 350 in early October.

Km 451: It surprises most people to find out that the Muskwa River at Fort Nelson, BC, is the lowest point on the Alaska Highway, at 1,000 feet (305 meters). This photo was taken from the highway bridge.

The Fort Nelson Heritage Museum, located just West of the historic Mile 300 milepost, has a huge collection that should be considered a must-see for anyone interested in the history of the Alaska Highway. This photo was shot on a cold and foggy morning in late August.

To Page 2, Fort Nelson to Whitehorse

All photos are © 1998-2020 by Murray Lundberg, and are not to be reproduced without permission.