Category Archives: Ray Bonnell

Relics of the Alaska Highway Rest in Delta Junction

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Delta News Web

FAIRBANKS – Some people think the Alaska Highway ends in  Fairbanks.
However, most residents of Delta Junction will tell you their  hometown is the northern terminus of the highway.

A monument on the Chena  River bank used to proclaim Fairbanks as the end of the Alaska Highway, but that  signpost was moved to Delta Junction in about 1991.
Constructed in 1942  as the Alaska Military Highway, the road quickly became known as the  Alaska-Canadian (Alcan) Highway. According to “Building the Alcan Highway:  America’s Glory Road,” some road crews nicknamed it the “Oilcan Highway” because  of all the empty 55-gallon fuel drums scattered along its length. Now, it is  officially called the Alaska Highway.

A road linking Alaska with Canada  and rest of the U.S. had been discussed for many years.
In 1933, an  Alaska musher, Clyde “Slim” Williams drove his sled and dog team from Alaska to  Chicago to help promote such a route. When the snow ran out in Washington state,  he put wheels on his sled.

The 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor and the  perceived Japanese threat in the North Pacific and Alaska spurred  development.

President Roosevelt approved the project on Feb. 11, 1942,  and work began that spring.
To speed construction, the project began at  multiple locations along the route. Construction crews began working north from  Dawson Creek, British Columbia, east and west from the Whitehorse area in the  Yukon Territory and east from Big Delta (now Delta Junction) in  Alaska.

The original plan called for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers  personnel to punch through a pioneer road, followed by civilian contractors who  would build a standard road. However, it quickly became apparent this was  unrealistic, at least in terms of getting the road built in one construction  season.

Consequently, civilian contractors worked alongside Army  personnel, improving the pioneer road so military convoys could safely use it.  By the time the road was competed in November 1942, 11,000 troops and 7,500  civilians had worked on the highway.
A small cache of equipment and  vehicles used during highway construction can be seen at Delta Junction. The  equipment is located between the Delta Junction Visitor Center and the Sullivan  Roadhouse Museum, and includes an Osgood 200 face shovel, Caterpillar D8  bulldozer with Letourneau ripper, Studebaker US6 6×6 cargo truck and several  other vehicles. The Osgood excavator is shown in the drawing. Much of the  equipment was donated by local residents.

Drawing by Ray Bonnell This Osgood 200 face shovel excavator located in Delta Junction was used in the construction of the Alaska Highway. Drawing by Ray Bonnell

Jeff McNabb, a Delta resident  who helped acquire and move the equipment, told me the site itself is another  remnant of World War II history. The property was once a transfer point for the  CANOL Pipeline, a project to supply fuel for the Alaska Highway and Northern  Staging Route (a series of airfields, through which military aircraft were  ferried from the U.S. to the Soviet Union.) At Big Delta, a stub line went south  to supply fuel to the Big Delta Army Airfield (now Fort Greely).

The  Alaska Highway has been straightened and improved over the years. There are just  a few spots left where you can see or experience the original road. The  equipment at Delta Junction is one of the only places in Alaska where you can  still touch a piece of Alaska Highway history.

Ray Bonnell is a  freelance artist and writer and longtime Fairbanks resident. See more of his  artwork at http://sketchesofalaska.blogspot.com

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Historic roadhouse at Black Rapids, Alaska escapes destruction

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Delta News Web

Roadhouses were essential in Alaska during the early historical period. Situated a day’s travel apart (about 25 miles) along main trails they provided shelter and food for travelers, and often served as community centers. As trails and roads improved or were re-routed, some roadhouses fell into disuse. With the introduction of automobiles people could travel further in a day, and more roadhouses were abandoned or converted to other uses.

There used to be about 30 roadhouses along the Valdez-Fairbanks Trail (Richardson Highway). Now only a handful are left. One of those is Black Rapids Roadhouse (shown in the drawing) about 40 miles south of Delta Junction. It is right across the highway from the Delta River and Black Rapids Glacier.

The roadhouse opened around 1904 and was added on to Alaska-style over the years. It appears the oldest part of the roadhouse (the two-story log section at the south end) began as a single story and that the second floor was added later. Sections were gradually added to the north, east and west.

By the 1990s it was a rambling structure, and, like an ancient English manor house, parts of it had fallen into decay. It finally closed in 1993 and by the end of the decade was thought destined for destruction. Several of the additions had collapsed, the roof on the center section was caving in and the two-story portion was propped upright with poles.

In 1999, Annie and Michael Hopper bought the property, planning to build a lodge (the new lodge at Black Rapids) on the ridge behind the decaying roadhouse. Convinced the old roadhouse could be saved, the couple undertook restoring the roadhouse as well as building a new lodge. After getting the structure added to the National Register of Historic Places and being assisted by a small group of dedicated volunteers, they tore down irreparable portions of the structure and set about stabilizing the roadhouse’s oldest section.

After carefully raising the structure in sections, they put in concrete footings and new bottom courses of treated timbers. Salvaged or new logs replaced damaged ones and roofing was repaired. Now the building looks about like it did in 1915. The Hoppers hope to rebuild additional portions of the roadhouse with salvaged materials, finish the restoration and eventually open it as a museum.

Of course, if the Black Rapids Glacier had its way, there might not be a roadhouse to restore. Back in 1937 the glacier, which now sits far up the valley across the river, surged forward, threatening to overrun the Delta River, Richardson Highway and roadhouse. Experts estimated that the glacier traveled 220 feet per day. Between Dec. 3, 1936 and March 7, 1937, it covered about four miles.

The mile and a quarter face of the glacier stopped just short of the Delta River. If the glacier had overrun the river, it wouldn’t have been the first time. Geologic evidence points to another surge about 600 years ago that dammed the river. The Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline runs along the base of the mountains behind the new lodge, and engineers were very concerned about possible threats to the pipeline from the glacier. Fortunately for the old roadhouse, new lodge and pipeline, scientists think a repeat of the galloping glacier is unlikely any time soon.

Ray Bonnell is a freelance artist and writer and longtime Fairbanks resident. See more of his artwork.

Drawing by Ray Bonnell Historic Black Rapids roadhouse as it looked in Fall 2011.

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