Dawson Creek - Mile 0 of Alaska Highway

When you first get to Dawson Creek, you have to take a very famous picture....so here it is!

Afterwards, we decided to take a self guided historic walking tour of the downtown.

What a great time we had exploring the past and the present of this town with all the plaques and murals depicting what the community looked like back in the day contrasted with what exists now.

There were beautiful murals depicting famous people as well as historic moments.

One of the people we met along the way was a young man, Clarence Paterson. We were just schmoozing and before you knew it, we were talking for at least 45 minutes. Clarence and his wife are expecting their first child....He owns his own business, Paterson Industries, which specializes in facility construction, maintenance, and service (that's a little plug for you Dahling!)....they love to travel and might make it up to Maine for some hunting! We exchanged phone numbers and, of course, my blog information….perhaps we might meet again in the states.

Another thing we did was visit the Alaska Highway House which is a museum chronicling the history of the building of the highway…I bet you didn’t know that this Canadian Alaska route was built right after the US was attacked by Japan in World War II…..Alaska and the west coast were extremely vulnerable…..We needed a way to get military supplies and troops to Alaska and ensure the defense of North America…..thus the idea of the highway from Dawson Creek to Fairbanks, Alaska….1523 miles!. The Army Corp of Engineers and about 11,000 enlisted men worked on the pioneer road….the conditions were horrendous both in the summer and winter for the men. They were required to build this road in less than a year and they accomplished it in 8 months. In 1954, the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada recognized the Alaska Highway as an Event of Historic Significance. In 1996, the Alaska Highway was designated as the 16th International Civil Engineering Landmark by the Canadian Society for Engineering and the American Society of Civil Engineers.

We had a pretty busy day!