The Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous Festival has always celebrated all that is Yukon.  However with our festival leading up to its 50th Anniversary in 2014, we started 'officially' recognizing these aspects of Yukon.  2012 will recognize the 70th Anniversary of the Alaska Highway.  This follows the very successful festivals in 2010 where we recognized "Legends of the Klondike" and 2011 when we Celebrated Yukon's First People.

The following has been prepared utilizing resources from Yukon Government as well as Wikipedia.  Read and enjoy!

The Alaska Highway (also known as the Alaskan Highway, Alaska-Canadian Highway, or ALCAN Highway) was constructed during World War IIfor the purpose of connecting the contiguous U.S.to Alaska through Canada. It begins at the junction with several Canadian highways in Dawson Creek, British Columbia and runs to via Whitehorse, Yukon. Completed in 1942, it was 2,237 km or 1,390 mi long, but is becoming shorter due to rerouting. The historic end of the highway is near milepost1422, where it meets the Richardson Highwayin Delta Junction, Alaska, about 160 km (99 mi) southeast of Fairbanks. Mileposts on the Richardson Highway are numbered from Valdez, Alaska. The Alaska Highway is popularly (but unofficially) considered part of the Pan-American Highway, which extends south to Argentina.

Proposals for a highway to Alaska originated in the 1920s. Thomas MacDonald, director of the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads, dreamed of an international highway spanning the United States and Canada. In order to promote the highway, Slim Williamsoriginally travelled the proposed route by dog sled. Since much of the route would pass through Canada, support from the Canadian government was crucial. However, the Canadian government perceived no value in putting up the required funds to build the road, since the only part of Canada that would benefit was not more than a few thousand people in the Yukon.  However, some route consideration was given. The preferred route would pass through the Rocky Mountain Trenchfrom Prince George, British Columbiato Dawson Citybefore turning west to Fairbanks, Alaska.

The attack on Pearl Harborand beginning of the Pacific Theatrein World War II, coupled with Japanese threats to the west coast of North America and the Aleutian Islands, changed the priorities for both nations. On February 6, 1942 the construction of the Alaska Highway was approved by the United States Army and the project received the authorization from the U.S. Congress and President Franklin D. Rooseveltto proceed five days later. Canada agreed to allow construction as long as the United States bore the full cost, and that the road and other facilities in Canada be turned over to Canadian authority after the war ended.

The official start of construction took place on March 8, 1942 after hundreds of pieces of construction equipment were moved on priority trains by the Northern Alberta Railwaysto the northeastern part of British Columbia near Mile 0 at Dawson Creek. Construction accelerated through the spring as the winter weather faded away and crews were able to work from both the northern and southern ends; they were spurred on after reports of the Japanese invasion of Kiska Islandand Attu Island in the Aleutians. On September 24, 1942 crews from both directions met at Mile 588 at what became named Contact Creek, at the British Columbia-Yukon border at the 60th Parallel; the entire route was completed October 28, 1942 with the northern linkup at Mile 1202, Beaver Creek, and the highway was dedicated on November 20, 1942 at Soldiers Summit.

The needs of war dictated the final route, intended to link the airfields of the Northwest Staging Routethat conveyed lend-lease aircraft from the United States to the Soviet Union. Thus, the rather impractical, long route over extremely difficult terrain was chosen.

The road was originally built mostly by the US Armyas a supply route during World War II. There were four main thrusts in building the route: southeast from Delta Junction, Alaskatoward a linkup at Beaver Creek, Yukon; north then west from Dawson Creek (an advance group started from Fort Nelson, British Columbiaafter traveling on winter roads on frozen marshland from railway stations on the Northern Alberta Railways; both east and west from Whitehorseafter being ferried in via the White Pass and Yukon Route railway. The U.S. Army commandeered equipment of all kinds, including local riverboats, railway locomotives, and housing originally meant for use in southern California.

Although it was completed on October 28, 1942 and its completion was celebrated at Soldier's Summit on November 21 (and broadcast by radio, the exact outdoor temperature censored due to wartime concerns), the "highway" was not usable by general vehicles until 1943. Even then, there were many steep grades, a poor surface, switchbacks to gain and descend hills, and few or no guardrails. Bridges, which progressed during 1942 from pontoon bridges to temporary log bridges, were replaced with steel bridges where necessary only. A replica log bridge, the Canyon Creek bridge, can be seen at the Aishihik River crossing; the bridge was rebuilt in 1987 and refurbished in 2005 by the Yukon government as it is a popular tourist attraction. The easing of the Japanese invasion threat resulted in no more contracts being given to private contractors for upgrading of specific sections.

In particular, some 100 miles (160 km) of route between Burwash Landingand Koidern, Yukon, became virtually impassable in May and June 1943, as the permafrostmelted, no longer protected by a layer of delicate vegetation. A corduroy roadwas built to restore the route, and corduroy still underlays old sections of highway in the area. Modern construction methods do not allow the permafrost to melt, either by building a gravel bermon top or replacing the vegetation and soil immediately with gravel. However, the Burwash-Koidern section is still a problem, as the new highway built there in the late 1990s continues to experience frost heave.

The original agreement between Canada and the United States regarding construction of the highway stipulated that its Canadian portion be turned over to Canada six months after the end of the war. This took place on April 1, 1946 when the US Army transferred control of the road through the Yukon and British Columbia to the Canadian Army, Northwest Highway System. The Alaskan section was completely paved during the 1960s. Largely gravel even in 1981, the Canadian portion of the Alaska Highway is now completely paved, mostly with bituminous surface treatment.

The British Columbiagovernment owns the first 82.6 miles (132.9 km) of the highway, the only portion paved during the late 1960s and 1970s. Public Works Canadamanages the highway from Mile 82.6 (km 133) to Historic Mile 630. The Yukon government owns the highway from Historic Mile 630 to Historic Mile 1016 (from near Watson Laketo Haines Junction), and manages the remainder to the U.S. borderat Historic Mile 1221. The State of Alaska owns the highway within that state (Mile 1221 to Mile 1422).

Rerouting in Canada has shortened the highway by approximately 35 miles (56 km) since 1947, mostly by eliminating winding sections and sometimes by bypassing residential areas. Therefore, the historic milepost markings are no longer accurate but are still important locally as location references. Some old sections of the highway are still in use as local roads, while others are left to deteriorate and still others are ploughed up. Four sections form local residential streets in Whitehorse and Fort Nelson , and others form country residential roadways outside of Whitehorse. Although Champagne, Yukon was bypassed in 2002, the old highway is still completely in service for that community until a new direct access road is built.

Rerouting continues, expected to continue in the Yukon, with the Haines Junction-Beaver Creek section covered by the Canada-U.S. Shakwak Agreement. The new Donjek River bridge was opened 26 September 2007, replacing a 1952 bridge. Under Shakwak, U.S. federal highway money is spent for work done by Canadian contractors who win tenders issued by the Yukon government. The Shakwak Projectcompleted the Haines Highwayupgrades in the 1980s between Haines Junction and the Alaska Panhandle.

The Milepost shows the Canadian section of the highway now to be approximately 1,187 miles (1,910 km), but the first milepost inside Alaska is 1222. The actual length of the highway inside Alaska is no longer clear because rerouting, as in Canada, has shortened the route, but unlike Canada, mileposts in Alaska are not recalibrated. The B.C. and Yukon governments and Public Works Canada have recalibrated kilometre posts. The latest BC recalibration was carried out in 1990; using its end-point at the border at Historic Mile 630, the Yukon government has recalibrated in three stages: in 2002, from Mile 630 to the west end of the Champagne revision; in fall 2005, to a point just at the southeast shore of Kluane Lake, and in fall 2008, to the border with Alaska.

There are historical mileposts along the B.C. and Yukon sections of the highway, installed in 1992, that note specific locations, although the posts no longer represent accurate driving distance. There are 80 mileposts in B.C., 70 in the Yukon and 16 in Alaska with a simple number marker of the original mile distance. There are 31 "historic signs" in B.C., 22 in the Yukon and 5 in Alaska, identifying the significance of the location. There are 18 interpretive panels in B.C., 14 in the Yukon and 5 in Alaska which give detailed text information at a turn-off parking area.

The portion of the Alaska Highway in Alaska is Alaska Route 2. In the Yukon, it is Highway 1and in British Columbia, Highway 97. For a time, the Alaskan portion was proposed to be numbered as part of U.S. Route 97. The southern end of BC 97, connecting to US 97 in the lower 48.