When Americans Built a Road Across Canada

The story behind one of Canada's most famous highways...and how it was built by a foreign army. From the Rocky Mountain foothills, all the way to Alaska—we take a road trip finding clues to its origins: rusted old trucks, strange-looking buildings, and abandoned gravel roads. This is the tale of the largest American invasion into Canada since the Gold Rush. This is the Alaska Highway.

The first thing we want to mention is that the Alaska Highway originally had a far less American-centric name: the Alcan Highway (Alaska-Canada). In the same way Canol Road comes from “Canada-Oil.” We much prefer the Alcan since the majority of the highway is, ya know, in Canada.

One of the central reasons Whitehorse became the capital of the Yukon (in 1953) is because of the boom it experienced during the construction—dethroning Dawson City!

We wished we had the time to drive up Canol Road when we filmed the episode. The disaster caused by its construction is STILL being dealt with today. Here’s an article about the cleanup from July 2022: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/...

The Teslin Taxi:

By the time the Alaska Highway was built, many Yukon communities still weren't widely accessible by road. However, there is at least one notable exception: the village of Teslin (Desleen), YK. It was all thanks to a multi-talented man named George Johnston. Johnston was a Tlingit photographer and entrepreneur. As a successful trapper, he used some of his earnings to purchase photography equipment, which he then used to document his vibrant community in some of the best Depression-era photography out there—particularly during the years leading up to WWII (a couple of these photos can be seen in the episode). He also bought himself a four-door Chevrolet, which was shipped from the dealer down the Yukon River, up Teslin River, and over Teslin Lake to reach him. Since there was no road in Teslin, George Johnston built one 4 mile stretch himself. He turned his Chevrolet—the first car in town—into the famous Teslin Taxi, charging $1 a trip. Johnston's four miles eventually became a part of the Alaska Highway, with Teslin at Mile 804! You can find many of his photos today at The George Johnston Museum in Teslin (they also have a great Facebook page).

There are certainly examples of the Alaska Highway benefitting the First Nations of the Northwest, but the change it brought was drastic.

The Yukon Archives includes a page about the impact on First Nations here: https://bit.ly/3i7bKTs

And they have a great bibliography here: https://bit.ly/3CijdWG

Joe Louis:

The heavyweight champion of the world was in Whitehorse for a stint during the construction. He was enlisted in the army and sent to raise the morale of troops around the world. He was spotted at the Regina Hotel where some Texan officers stormed out in protest at his presence.

Soviet Spies:

We made an entire episode about Soviet spies infiltrating Canada during and after WWII, and one of the ways they did so was by flying south along the Northwest Staging Route! There are even stories of spies escaping with suitcases stuffed full of secret documents. The North would soon become home to a series of detection systems to protect against the Soviet threat.

Clarifications:

The full cost of the construction is hard to pinpoint. The Canadian government repaid the American government $108 million “to cover airfields and flight strips... other assets...but not construction of the highway itself.” American investment in the highway is recorded as $147.8 million (between 2-3 billion US dollars today). Canada provided a lot of materials and waived taxes, fees, etc. The U.S. Department of Transportation clearly states that Canada paid the cost of the Canadian portion back in full.

11,000 American soldiers were joined by 16,000 American and Canadian civilians in constructing the highway.

The bridge crossing the Aishihik River is a replica of the original.

We mention that a store of dynamite exploded in Dawson Creek, BC, “leveling the town.” It leveled a large part, but not the entire town. Here’s a great article about Dawson Creek and the disaster, written months after the explosion: https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1...

00:00 Introduction

01:03 America at war!

02:01 Northwest Staging Route

03:06 Fighting Germany

04:08 The Plan

05:05 The Construction

08:54 Japan Invades!

09:42 Soldier's Summit

10:09 Victory!

12:33 Bonus Story: Canol Road

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

This is no ordinary highway. We are in the Yukon, and this road stretches for more than 2,000 kilometres, equivalent of the distance from Toronto to Orlando, Florida,

from far on the other side of the Rocky Mountains all the way into Alaska.

0:25

It's been called one of the greatest engineering feats of modern times. But this Canadian highway wasn't built by Canadians. It was built by a foreign army at a time when what happened here in the remote Canadian North had the potential to change the course of world history.

0:48

This is the Alaska Highway.

This is "Canadiana."

1:07

1941, the Japanese attack Pearl Harbour, and the United States suddenly finds itself in the middle of the Second World War.

Since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire. With Japan extending its reach across the Pacific, Alaska seems very vulnerable. The Americans desperately need to send weapons and supplies north, but it won't be easy. There are about 2,000 kilometres of Canada in the way.

Thankfully the two close allies were already working on a solution, and this little airport was part of it. They called it the Northwest Staging Route,

2:12

a series of remote airfields and landing strips stretching across Northern Alberta, BC, and the Yukon, letting American planes hop from one Canadian runway to another as they made the long trip north to Alaska. But it didn't take long for the sad truth to become clear. The Northwest Staging Route wasn't working. It was a long and dangerous journey. Inexperienced pilots were no match for the harrowing flight through the extreme winter weather of the north.

On the first attempt, 38 planes took off for Alaska. 27 of them crashed, (aeroplane thuds) and that failure was felt around the world because the route to Alaska wasn't just supposed to help the US fend off Japan. It was also gonna play an important role in the Allies' war against Hitler.

Fighting Germany

3:07

Months earlier, the Nazis had invaded the Soviet Union, and while American planes were crashing into the mountains of the Yukon, the Germans were pushing deeper and deeper into Russia. Soviet soldiers were dying by the millions in the fight against Germany. They needed help, and they needed it fast.

The Allies were already sending weapons and supplies, including hundreds of war planes, but getting those aeroplanes all the way to the front lines in Russia was incredibly difficult.

The long vulnerable shipping routes were prime targets for Nazi submarines and the Japanese Air Force. It would be much more effective just to fly the planes up through the Yukon to Alaska and then straight on into Siberia if only they could get them there without crashing.

The Plan

4:09

So Canada and the US teamed up on a new plan, this. Canada would allow the American Army to put an American highway on Canadian soil. The new road would link all the airfields together. It would allow truckloads of weapons and supplies to head north, and it would strengthen the Northwest Staging Route, making it easier to resupply and therefore easier to fly. So this highway would allow the US to defend Alaska while the Soviet Union would also get the help they needed in their fight against Hitler.

The United States would pay for it.

American soldiers would build it.

And until the end of the war, when it was handed over to Canada, the highway would essentially be American territory. Canadians wouldn't even be allowed to drive on it without a special permit.

But building it in the first place would be hell.

The Construction

5:05

Construction started in March 1942. More than 10,000 American soldiers were sent north. Men from places like Texas and Florida found themselves digging through the deep snows of places like Whitehorse and Beaver Creek, where temperatures could hit 50 below. They were plagued by frostbite. Some froze to death. Others drowned or were crushed by falling branches as they cleared a path through the forests.

When the spring melt came, things didn't get much easier. Tractors were swallowed whole by thawing muskeg swamps. Mud stretched for miles. Swarms of black flies and mosquitoes filled the air.

And on top of all that,many of the soldiers had to deal with blatant racism. A third of the American troops sent north were Black, soldiers forced to serve in segregated units under white officers and banned from most combat duty.

The commander in charge of the project, a bigot from the Deep South, made it clear they weren't welcome here either.

He gave them the hardest jobs

6:10

on the most isolated stretches of the highway, and while white soldiers got bulldozers, Black soldiers were given picks and shovels. And yet, in spite of all the snow, swamps, and bigotry, the Americans pushed on, carving a rough road out of the subarctic terrain with the help of civilian workers from Canada and the US as well as guides from local First Nations. They bulldozed trees, laid trunks across swamps, and conquered rivers with new bridges or by reinforcing old ones like this pioneer bridge from the gold rush days, which you can still find crossing the Asiak River today.

And in the process, the Yukon was transformed. Tiny northern towns suddenly found themselves overrun by a foreign army. Here in Whitehorse, a sleepy village of just a few hundred people, became a city of more than 10,000 practically overnight. An entirely new community sprang up too. The village of Haines Junction was founded as a temporary construction camp.

This old Quonset hut was built to house the American soldiers. But Haines Junction is still here today, and this hut is now their Catholic church.

The impact of the highway was felt deeply everywhere it went, and that wasn't always a good thing.

8:01

In Dawson Creek, a stockpile of dynamite exploded, levelling the town and killing five people. Construction crews accidentally set forest fires that raged across the north, while other forests disappeared beneath their bulldozers. They left so many empty oil drums along the road, it was nicknamed the Oil Can Highway.

As wildlife and the environment suffered, so did local First Nations. And the arrival of so many outsiders unleashed deadly epidemics like meningitis, measles, and influenza. Many indigenous people die, and communities that have been here for countless generations would never be the same. But still the construction carried on. That June, the Americans' fears were realised.

Japan Invades!

8:57

The Japanese did bomb Alaska, killing more than 100 and seizing control of two islands. Now they had a foothold in North America. A full-scale invasion seemed to be getting ever closer. The race was on.

The construction crews worked until they dropped, the days and nights blending together under a summer sun that barely ever set. And as the weather began to improve, they were speeding up. They built 2,400 kilometres of road through the Rocky Mountains across rivers and swamps and frozen tundra over land that had never been officially mapped. And they did it all in just eight months.

Soldier's Summit

9:42

This is part of the original highway at Soldier's Summit in Kluane National Park. That November, dignitaries from Canada and the United States met on this spot to officially declare the highway open. The ceremony was broadcast live across the country on CBC radio.

10:01

- [Announcer] This road is built for war,

but this road will be used when peace

and victory come back to us again.

Victory!

10:09

With the road finished, the Northwest Staging Route kicked into high gear. American military supplies raced north to defend Alaska against Japan, and thousands of aircraft, bombers and fighters and transport planes built in the United States but painted with the red star of the Soviet Union, headed up through the Yukon on their way to join the Russian Air Force in the fight against Hitler. That winter, the Russians turned back the Germans at the Battle of Stalingrad, the bloodiest and most pivotal battle of the entire war.

And by then, the Americans had already dealt a crushing blow to Japan at the Battle of Midway. The momentum had shifted. Hitler was doomed to fall, and Japan would follow soon after.

(audience cheering)

When the war ended, the United States handed the highway over to Canada just like they'd promised.

11:12

And to be sure there'd be no future questions, the Canadian government paid the Americans back for the full cost of the construction.

In the years since, the Alaska Highway has been paved and improved. In time, it's become a popular tourist attraction.

Where American soldiers once camped, and Soviet bombers flew by, you'll now find fleets of RVs on vacation.

But if you know where to look, you can still see hidden hints of the highway's origins, whether it's a strange-looking church or an abandoned patch of the original road or these old army trucks left here to rust.

And while the Americans who drove these trucks headed home more than 75 years ago, their mission complete, the changes they brought to the Canadian North are still being felt today everywhere this remarkable highway goes.

Bonus Story: Canol Road

12:33

The Alaska Highway wasn't the only road the American military built in the Canadian North, and the other one did not go well. I'll tell you about that disaster in a moment, but first I wanna quickly thank you so much for watching. We have lots more episodes to come this season, so make sure to hit subscribe and click the bell so you don't miss any of them. Each of these episodes is a ton of work, so we could also really use your help. Supporting us with just a few dollars a month through Patreon makes a huge difference. There's a link below. You can also help spread the word. Follow us on social media @thisiscanadiana. Or you can even buy "Canadiana" merch. We've got lots of cool new stuff available at the link below and even more coming soon. And if you like this episode, you'll probably like the other stories we've told this season, including tales of pirates, spies, and werewolves.

Now, back to that disaster I promised you. The Alaska Highway was such a massive undertaking that it needed a whole second road just to supply it. The Americans needed oil, and they planned to get it from a place far, far away, in the Northwest Territories.

To get it to Whitehorse, they would need to build a pipeline and a second road to go along with it. The Canol Road would stretch for hundreds of kilometres across the permafrost over mountains and rivers before finally meeting up with the Alaska Highway. And the pipeline would keep running all the way to Alaska.

But as we just saw, building a road through the Canadian North is no easy feat. In fact, the project went way over budget, costing five times more than expected and running a year and a half behind schedule. The US military even built some of it without permission from Canada or the American government.

The construction caused flooding and erosion, damaged the permafrost, set off forest fires. Plus there were a ton of oil spills. And in the end, that pipeline was used for less than a year before it was shut down. Since Canada didn't want it, most of the pipe was just sold off for scrap. The first pipeline ever built in the Canadian North would be remembered as an epic disaster.

Thanks again so much for watching. I'm Adam Bunch, and we'll see you next time on "Canadiana."