Today was a beautiful fall day in Dawson Creek.
I think the weather was the warmest we have experienced this year. We enjoyed walking through Dawson Creek, the starting point of the Alaska Highway. Because we traveled up the southeast coast with the Marine Highway (ferries) we didn’t go through the beginning of the Alaska Highway.
The museum at the center of town reports that, “in the spring of 1942, at the height of World War II, the Army Corps of Engineers began construction of an overland route to Alaska. Nine months later at a cost of over $140m, the road was completed. This is a road construction feat unsurpassed in modern times. There are 133 bridges and 8,000 culverts enbodied in the 1,523 miles of gravel highway.” In 1948 the road was first opened to civilian traffic. The road was maintained by the Canadian Army until 1964 when maintenance was turned over to the Canadian Dept of Public Works. Today the road is officially paved for the entire route but that statement is partially in the theoretical. While I’m sure that every mile of the road has been paved at some time, at any one time there are large sections of construction, gravel, and the dreaded frost heaves. The joke in Alaska is that there are only two seasons: snow and road construction. The Alaska Highway certainly gets better later in the summer after a few months of road construction.
The beginning of the highway was at the edge of the railroad station. The original milepost marker was knocked down in 1943 by a local driver but this mile marker marks the spot.
After the original milepost was destroyed, the town took the opportunity to build a monument in the center of town.
Today the town of Dawson Creek appears as a very alive small city. Very pretty murals celebrating the history of Dawson Creek cover downtown buildings. Most of these murals are along the allies between the blocks (so the doors and windows are painted, not actual entryways. You may notice heating vents incorporated into the murals. Some of these pictures are a series covering an entire block. The next six pictures show the transformation of Dawson Creek from a little village of 600 people in 1942 into a city of 10,000 with the arrival of the building crews.
In February 1943 a fire exploded 60 cases of dynamite causing an explosion that destroyed a huge section of downtown. The Dew Drop Inn was built in 1933 and has continued since that time as a hotel and cafe. It was closed when we walked by, I'm guessing perhaps closed for the season.
This shop was in a different alley.
And here's another alley.
Last, a depiction of a car dealer that is still in operation.
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