The small Canadian town of Dawson Creek is home to several museums, including the Railway Station Museum and the Walter Wright Pioneer Museum. Because the town is considered the southern terminus of the ALCAN, or the Alaska - Canadian Highway, it's also home to the Alaska Highway House, a small museum that chronicles the building of the highway. Inside the museum, is a jeep that participated in the building of the famous road.
75TH ANNIVERSARY OF ALASKA HIGHWAY INSPIRES VINTAGE JEEP CARAVAN, ‘ALASKA OR RUST’
-- Vintage Jeep Enthusiasts to Drive the Entire Alaska Highway in ‘Willys’ Jeeps Over Five Day, 1,500 Mile Adventure --
PASCO, WASHINGTON-- February 03, 2017-- This July, to celebrate its 75th anniversary, a group of travelers from across the United States and Canada will drive the entire Alaska Highway in vintage Jeeps. The trip, dubbed ‘Alaska Or Rust,’ will span five days and cover the nearly 1,500 miles between the famed highway’s start in Dawson Creek, British Columbia, and the end at Fairbank, AlaskaA
The group will launch as three separate caravans: one from the East Coast, led by Bill Reiss, one from the Midwest, led by Scott Gilbert, and one from the West Coast, led by David Eilers. On their way to Dawson Creek, each caravan will make scheduled stops where additional travelers can join. Upon arrival at the highway’s entrance, the three groups will merge and convoy together throughout the whole of the Alaska Highway.
“The beauty of this trip is that it isn’t the high-speed, air-conditioned affair that’s become so common on the Alaska Highway,” said Bill Reiss, another of the trip’s organizers. “We’re driving our old, beloved Jeeps—models from the 40s, 50s and 60s—and by doing so, we’re paying homage to the rugged and beautiful story of both the Jeep brand and the Alaska Highway. It’s an adventure for us and a tribute to some incredible history.”
The ‘Alaska or Rust’ caravan has already attracted attention from sponsors like JP Magazine, a favorite periodical of vintage Jeep lovers, which will send a contributor, Traci Clark, to document the journey. Two sponsors have already joined the effort, Allied Jeeps and Overland Diesel. Additional sponsors will be announced shortly.
Fans are encouraged to join the adventure by following the group’s Website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts, which will update as connectivity allows. Additionally, a daily trip recap will be posted on organizer Dave Eilers’ trade publication, eWillys.com.
To join the trip, learn more or sponsor a portion of the journey, visit www.alaskaorrust.com.
About the Alaskan Highway:
The Alaska Highway was constructed during World War II for the purpose of connecting the contiguous United States to Alaska across Canada. It begins at the junction with several Canadian highways in Dawson Creek, British Columbia, and runs to Delta Junction, Alaska, via Whitehorse, Yukon. Completed in 1942 at a length of nearly 1,500 miles long, the highway was opened to the public in 1948. Legendary for being a rough, challenging drive, the highway proved perfect for showing off the capabilities of early military Jeeps.
"You are bidding on an original press photo of Truck & Jeep Cross Pontoon Bridge Alaska Highway Construction. Photo has some waving due to too much glue being used to attach the information sheet onto the back of the photo. If the photo in the listing shows any thin green, red, yellow and/or blue lines, they are the result of a bad scan & the lines are NOT on the actual photo. Photo measures 7 x 8 inches and is dated 9/3/1942."
Karl Teuschl, a documentary filmmaker from Germany, included a couple of our Alaska Or Rust folks in his newest film that was released yesterday in parts of Europe (Germany, Austria and Switzerland). It's a beautiful documentary that covers the Alaska Highway and gives viewers a good sense of the road conditions, the scenery and the feel of driving the highway.
Two of the Alaska Or Rust jeeps appear at the 18:30 mark. The interview with Marty Tilford, Don Brown, Rob and Diane Stafford starts at the 19:38 mark. It ends at 20:30. Most of it is in German. Unfortunately, Ann and I headed south just before the point where we would have met up with Karl, so after six months of emails he and I didn't get a chance to meet.
L to R: Diana Stafford, Rob Stafford, Don Brown, Marty TilfordA good shot of the remoteness of the highway.Nice inclusion of the eWillys sticker :-)
"Title: RPPC – Military Jeep on Alaska Highway thru Canada Postcard Description: Card was mailed, has light wear, no major creases. We are selling a large number of postcards in the near future. Some will be individual, some in large groups. Be sure to look at our other auctions as we list similar items simultaneously."
UPDATE: Herbert Lanks wrote a newspaper article with the same name that was published in February of 1944. You can read it here.
Here's a magazine article from the September 1944 issue of Popular Photography. This must have been quite the trip, as the Alaska Highway had been completed less than two years previously in November of 1942.
This somewhat silly movie included numerous jeeps and other war-time transport. It looks like the Sierras were substituted for Northwestern Canada. Perhaps the funniest part of the movie begins at 21:36 as a jeep rolls up behind a guy in a parka (a scene that looks fake). For some reason, two soldiers have climbed a Matterhorn-looking spire. One guy starts to fall, so the other uses a rope with a loop to keep him from falling. Then, somehow, the guy up top then climbs down on the same rope, but how does the top of the rope connect to anything?
