Dawson Creek BC. Mile Zero on Alaska Highway

In 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour Hawaii. This event forced the American and Canadian governments to re-evaluate their security.

Dawson Creek is located at Mile Zero on the Alaska Highway. Its population exploded in 1942 when U.S. troops led American and Canadian civilians in a rush to construct a 2400 km/1491 mile military supply route to Alaska. Pushing the trail through was accomplished in an amazing 8 months and 12 days. Building this road through this vast untamed wilderness of Northern Canada and Alaska was not an easy feat. The workers had to battle the mountains, muskeg and mosquitoes. Frostbite, extreme cold and heatstroke were other factors.

In March 1942, Dawson Creek, a small Northern Canadian community with the population of 600 people bustled and swelled with activity when the first trains filled with American troops arrived. In a matter of weeks the town's population exploded to 10,000. On November 20, 1942, mile 1061 (known as soldiers' summit) saw the ribbon cutting ceremony that officially opened the "Alcan" Highway. The 1528 mile road included 133 major bridges and more than 3000 culverts. The cost of this construction was approximately 140 million U.S. wartime dollars. After the war, this wilderness highway captured the imagination of urban pioneers everywhere and the Great Alaska Highway legend gathered momentum. On September 28 1996 in a ceremony held at Dawson Creek the Alaska Highway was designated as the 16th International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.