Peace of the past

The building of dreams: By Karla Marsh

In 1942, young Ernie Scanlon left his jos at an aircraft manufacturing plant in Ontario and signed on with a construction company contracted to work on the Alaska Highway.

With the company paying the travel expenses, Ernie boarded a train for a long trip across Canada. He met other men on the train destined to labor on the great road and together they arrived at Dawson Creek, the end of the railhead, on July 8, 1942.

Ernie was first employed on the Alaska Highway as a cat skinner. The section of the road that he worked on was located about 130 miles north of Fort Nelson.

Civilian construction companies, such as the one Ernie worked for, widened and improved the highway after the army punched through an initial ‘pioneer road’.

It was when the American army had completed the entire pioneer road from Dawson Creek to Fairbanks in November of 1942 that Ernie saw another opportunity to make a living on the Alaska Highway.

He returned to Ontario and bought a 1943 International truck, then drove back to western Canada and got a job with the American Army hauling supplies from Edmonton, Alberta to Fairbanks, Alaska.

It was a good job, according to Ernie. A one way trip took an average of about four days, with a wait sometimes at either end for a load. The truck was warm even during the cold winter of ’43, and he could stop at army camp along the highway for meals.

With the army supplying the gas, oil and even the tires, Ernie made about nine cents per mile.

The new road was rugged and accidents occurred frequently, recalls Ernie. “It seemed like almost everyday something happened. People often drank too much while they were driving.”

On one occasion Ernie saw a carload of soldiers being shipped back to the United States for burial. They had all apparently been killed in a vehicle accident.

After his freight hauling days were over, Ernie returned to his hometown in Saskatchewan. But like many who worked on the Alaska Highway, he eventually came back to the Peace River country to settle.

It was at Mile 13 near Farmington that Ernie homesteaded and raised a family. Cat skinner, freight hauler and finally homesteader, Ernie Scanlon came to build a highway and came back again to build his dream.