Peace of the past: Odd incidents not surprising

By Karla Marsh

Life could be pretty wild and woolly in the Peace Country in 1942 and 43, according to Ernie Jarvis. Ernie moved camps for the Public Road Administration and although he spent a lot of his time in the bush, he did have opportunities to travel the new Alaska Highway and to observe town busting at the seams with soldiers.

This photo is of Ernie Jarvis, Clarence Crook and Julius Stokke when they came to the Peace Region in 1928.

From what Ernie saw, things were a whole lot rougher than they had been. With thousands of soldiers far from their hometowns in the US and with few recreational facilities to serve them here, it was not surprising that there was the odd incident. Drinking establishments were very popular and when a disturbance broke out involving the soldiers, the military police or MP’s had to be called.

Ernie once witnessed an MP breaking a full bottle of beer over the head of a soldier who was resisting arrest.“It didn’t knock him out, but it sure slowed him down,” recalls Ernie.

On another occasion, a soldier who didn’t want to go peacefully, met an even worst fate. He had been causing a ruckus in a local rooming house when the MPs were called, and when he ran away to the lumber yard, he was shot.

Travelling the new highway could be quite a dangerous experience too, recalls Ernie.

He wanted to see how close the new road came to his trapline on the Sikanni, so he caught a ride up the highway with an army transport truck.

Ernie rode in the back with the soldiers and what a ride it was. The driver drove so fast and the ride was so rough that Ernie didn’t know if he would survive or not.

One soldier actually found the ride so hair-raising that he had Ernie pound on the cab of the truck to get the driver to stop. The soldier got out on the side of the road and they drove off without him.

In 1942 and 43, the Alaska Highway was restricted to military TRAFFIC. If you wanted to go up the highway, you needed a permit. There were control stations at Dawson Creek, Charlie Lake and other points up the road.

Ernie heard tell that on one occasion at a checkpoint at mile 142 a game warden without a permit was turned back and a bootlegger without a permit was let through!

“A case of booze could get you anywhere,” says Ernie.