And, of course, the marker for the actual start of the Alaska Highway:
Behind the first picture is the Alaska Highway House, the local historical museum. It has a few artifacts from the actual building of the highway in 1942 and it shows a continuous loop of an NPR special done about the Highway a number of years ago. That was interesting, and what was more interesting was the comments make by a number of the men who actually helped build the highway. It was quite a feat of engineering and shear determination.
Next, I went to the local visitor's center, which is also the local railroad station, although passenger service stopped in 1960:
They have some interesting information about Dawson Creek in the early days.
Next, I went to the Walter Wright Pioneer Village, which was a collection of old (now restored) buildings from around the area with period furnishings and other items. Pretty nice way to spend an hour or so:
Next, I hopped on the bike and headed west on Hwy 97 to the little town of Chetwynd, which turned out to be another little town that has hit the boom times. From there I rode to Hudson's Hope, a little town about 40 miles back toward Dawson Creek and then off to the WAC Bennett Dam on the Peace River. The dam was built during the 1960's to supply electricity to rural British Columbia and can generate 2.7 gigawatts of power...making it the second largest hydro-electric dam in North America. There was a very nice hour-long tour down in the dam and its workings and I thoroughly enjoyed the visit. Here are a couple pics:
The dam itself is an earth-filled dam over 500 feet in height and almost a mile long. Pretty interesting.
I then headed back on Hwy 29 toward Fort St. John, which is the first major town on that Alaska Highway after Dawson Creek. Hwy 29 runs along the Peace River (where the dam is) and some of the views were stunning:
Tomorrow, it's off on the famous Alaska Highway to Fort Nelson, BC, about 300 miles up the road.
Miles today: 236
Total: 4,171
