The Kiskatinaw Bridge

By L. (Les) Norman Shurtliff

The year was 1942. That spring Lt. Ryan Benson had been given the assignment to build the curved wooden bridge over the Kiskatinaw River. The U.S. Army was building the Alaska Highway from Dawson Creek, B.C. Canada, to Alaska through some 1500 miles of wilderness. Ryan's job with his command was to build the fi rst major bridge or obstacle before

• Language: English
• Publisher: West Point Print and Media LLC
• Release date: Jul 2, 2021
• ISBN: 9781956001204

Book preview

Acknowledgements

This novel, The Kiskatinaw Bridge , was a very fun historical book to write. Maybe the reason for this was that I really felt inspired to write the story and give meaning to one of my favorite places for our family to picnic and swim when our kids were growing up. So, the book is very important to us. In 1971 our family went on a life-time adventure. We drove from Overton, Nevada to Alaska with our Ford Econo van and a Terry travel trailer to see a greater world. It was a fantastic experience for a young teenager. And even back then the Alaska Highway was considered a frontier and pioneer road. The some 1500 miles from Charlie Lake, B.C. to Alaska was just a gravel road and we had to put a large screen on the front of our van to protect the lights and windshield from flying rocks. It was quite an adventure. Now, the Alaska Highway is mostly paved, but it still rates as an important tourist attraction for the adventurous in spirit, both old and young.

Because this book is my own doing and work, I claim responsibility for any errors and mistakes. I am not an expert on North Eastern B.C. history or the Kiskatinaw Bridge. I am, however, an avid reader and lifetime lover of the history of western North America. My sole interest in writing this book is to promote the fabulous history of this wonderful people of Northern Canada and our wonderful pioneer ancestors.

I would also like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all those individuals who have believed and helped on this project. First of all, thanks to the Director of the Fort St. John Museum, Tamara Secrist, who provided me with much of my historical information in this book. Her help was invaluable for piecing this story together. Also, Jim McKnight, a son of the local pioneers who read the manuscript and lent valuable help with the story. Thanks to my sons and daughters who have encouraged me and worked and helped with the writing of my books. Thanks I give to my wife, Christal, for her love and support through the years. She has truly blessed my life forever. There have been many who have read and lent suggestions to the manuscript. I thank these people for their friendship and valuable contributions to the finished product. And last of all, a big thanks goes out to the publishers and marketers who wanted to publish another book written by a poor country farm boy. Thank you…….

L. Norman Shurtliff

Dedication

This novel ‘The Kiskatinaw Bridge" is dedicated to all my family, friends, and associates who have lived in Northern B.C. all of these years with us, and have braved all the cold winters, and hot summers with all the mosquitos. We love the Peace River Area and it has been our privilege to live here for more than 40 years. We love you and have fond memories of you even if you have moved away, the memories still exist. This fun historical novel has been written and now this work is dedicated to you.

The Kiskatinaw Bridge is the longest and highest wooden bridge still in operation in Canada"

Preface

The story of the young lieutenant, Ryan Benson mirrors my own life somewhat in my opportunities of growing up on a farm in Southern Nevada, and then later living on a large ranch in central British Columbia, Canada. I also went on a mission to Argentina and then finished up my university degree in Agronomy before launching a career as a chemist in an oil and gas refinery. My family members have been farmers for generations, and so as a family we owned and operated a large greenhouse facility in Taylor, British Columbia for the past forty years. The history of this area and the building of the Alaska Highway and the Kiskatinaw Bridge has always intrigued me and was the motivation to write this novel. It has been a good life to raise a family of seven children on a farm and teach them the value of good hard work. We have had successes and failures as a family, but the most important lesson learned in life is to learn to love each other as we work together. Speaking kindly to each other and having clean language is a big part of that interaction. In a big family, we learned early on to not use harsh words or speak terrible words in anger. It was much easier to get along and get the work done if we worked together as friends, and used kind words and treated everyone with proper respect.

What prompts a poor country farm boy from Southern Nevada, transplanted to Canada, to write a book, any book? It isn’t money or fame writing to a limited audience. It is really simply a love for my family and what made us successful. It was a monumental concern for my wife, Christal, when I was dating her that we observe the simple courtesy of treating everyone kindly. She did not want us to make fun of other people or denigrate others. Using good clean language became one of our foundation principles for our own family and part of the basis of our marriage. This book is a humble attempt to bring that guiding principle to others. It really can impact your life for the better, and help everyone around you be happier. And isn’t that really the objective of life, to be happy?

List of Characters

Current Day

Marcy Toolson – young daughter – 8 years old

Tommy Toolson – young son – ten years old

Sara Toolson – mother

Edward Toolson – father

Melissa Davidson – Grandmother – Jenny Iverson

Jason Davidson – Grandfather – Ryan Benson

Patrick Iverson – Great Uncle – Lenny Simpson

Matty Jones – Store Clerk at Rolla Store

Mark Jones – RCMP Constable

March 1942 to October 1943

Patrick Iverson – Author of book called: The Kiskatinaw Bridge - Lenny

Ryan Benson – 1st Lieutenant of the US Army Corp of Engineers – Jason Davidson

Uncle Lennard (Lenny) Simpson -- Camp Cook

Lt. George Mason – friend and tent mate

Cindy Barlow – High School sweetheart

Sargent Reilly – Army Recruiter

Col. James A. O’Conner – Army CO of the Southern Section of Alcan Highway

Brig. General Willian M. Hodge CO of the entire Alcan Highway project

Jennifer (Jenny) Iverson – Assistant Camp Cook – Melissa Davidson

Gloria Timmins – Asst. Camp Manager and Hotel Owner

Milton Thomas -- Gloria’s partner and Hotel Owner

Steve Jones – Dawson Creek Farmer

Lottie Jones – Sister of Steve Jones

Julie Jones - - Sister of Steve Jones

Doug Jones – Father of Steve Jones

Danica Andrews – Young waitress

Private Smithson – young dead soldier

Col. John Wheeler – New CO

Prelude

Over the years the bridge has been excellently maintained.

This picture shows the 9’ curvature of the Kiskatinaw Bridge.

The historic Kiskatinaw Bridge was built during World War II in 1942-43 in only nine months as a war measure against an attack or invasion of Alaska by the Japanese forces. The United States (U.S.) government was concerned about protecting Alaska not only from ground forces but also by air attack. Therefore of the three proposed routes the one furthest inland and connected by airfields was the one selected. A land route highway would actually be very important to connect the lower mainland U.S. with Alaska for a trucking supply route as well as for civilian traffic. President Roosevelt had been in favor of the Alaska Highway project, (Alcan Highway for short) for several years. However, because of the economic situation as well as cooperation between governments the project never got off the ground. On December 6 th 1941 with the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the subsequent entrance into the war, the priorities changed considerably and the Tote Road or Alaska Highway project finally got off the ground with full funding.

The Alaska Highway Mile Zero began at Dawson Creek, B.C. This supply depot and staging area was where the railroad tracks ended, so Dawson Creek is where the highway began with the amazing 1520 miles of wilderness to Delta Junction in Alaska as the destination. The construction started slowly in March of 1942 and initially finished in 1943. However, upgrades have been constant projects to the current day. The Alaska Highway construction peaked at 11,500 troops with 7,500 civilian workers, using in excess of 11,000 pieces of equipment. The highway opened to traffic in the summer of 1943. The Taylor Suspension Bridge at mile 35 was the largest and longest bridge of the 133 bridges built along the highway. It measured 2,130 feet long and was built by Dufferin Paving Company and John A. Roebling’s Sons who built the famed Brooklyn Bridge. This magnificent highway was built through many areas of permafrost and muskeg; constructed in the heat of summer and mosquitos through the freezing cold temperatures of winter and it is still a monument to those intrepid soldiers and workmen who conquered their unique challenges and won the victory.

The Kiskatinaw Bridge is a subset of this colossal enterprise. At mile 20 it was the first major hurdle to conquer along the highway’s route. An old small one lane wooden pioneer bridge at the site needed to be refurbished and upgraded to begin with so supplies and men could travel further up the dirt road to the Taylor Ferry where the major suspension bridge needed to be constructed across the huge Peace River. Dow Construction of Toronto, Ontario, Canada received the contract to build the Kiskatinaw Bridge from the U.S. Public Roads Administration (PRA) in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers. At the bridge site, the Kiskatinaw River takes a hair-pin curve that the highway follows. The new bridge over the Kiskatinaw River was designed to be the first curved wooden bridge in Canada with a curvature of nine degrees and an elevation of over 100 feet above the water level. It had a one degree slope from south to north and a length of 534 feet long. This two lane bridge would be built of creosoted timbers from approximately 500,000 board feet of Southern B.C. Fir. The cement footings, pedestals and piers required 800 cubic yards of concrete to build its foundation, supporting the three major trestle/truss spans. A delay in the shipment of the fir timbers to the railhead at Dawson Creek until after the spring thaw made it necessary to wait several months for construction to begin.

The Kiskatinaw Bridge had a maximum capacity of 25 tons and so in 1978 the highway was rerouted and a new bridge was built across the Kiskatinaw River to accommodate modern traffic and the expanded needs of the oil and gas industry. The historic Kiskatinaw Bridge was the first curved wooden bridge built in Canada and it is still in use today and is a huge tourist attraction. The bridge and the surrounding area where the construction site was is now a provincial park, called the Kiskatinaw Provincial Park. This historic bridge is one of only a few curved wooden bridges still left in operation in Canada today.

Chapter 1

Present Day

L ook Mom we found this old box in the attic, exclaimed Marcy Toolson. You told us we had to clean up our toy mess up there and we found this heavy box in the corner. Marcy and Tommy came excitedly into the kitchen carrying the heavy cardboard box. For an eight and ten year old it was almost too much to lift, let alone carry. Can we open it?"

Well, let me see what you have there. Sara Toolson took the box from her two children and laid it on the kitchen table. Wow, this is a real find. I haven’t seen this box before. It looks very old. Maybe we should wait to open it until your father comes in for supper. Harvest is just about done and he should be finished early tonight. We are going to have his favorite meal, moose stew and biscuits. What do you think? Both young children were bobbing their heads up and down with the announcement that mother was making their favorite meal.

Can’t we at least open it and see what’s inside? questioned Tommy enthusiastically. We won’t break anything. We just want to know if it is a box of old toys from pioneer days.

I guess that is okay, suggested their mother. I can’t see any harm in that, but it’s probably something from your father’s childhood. It looks pretty old. Sara Toolson found a knife and cut the old cracked masking tape between the cardboard flaps. She bent over the box and blew the dust from the top of the box and then carefully opened the lid flaps, and peered inside. Hah, hah…the joke’s on you guys. There are only old papers and some old books! laughed Sara. And we know how much both of you like to read. You’d both rather be outside playing with the animals than inside the house reading a book, chuckled their mother.

Awh shucks…. Sighed Tommy. I was sure there were some tractors or train sets or something important! He looked at his younger sister with dejection written all over his face. Do we have to lug this box all the way back up the stairs to the attic? Tommy slammed the cardboard lid back into place with dramatic finality.

Well maybe we should have Dad take a look first. He may want to examine the papers and the books and decide if he wants to take it back to the attic or if we are going to throw it out. Sara carefully opened the box again and took out each book carefully. The first dusty book was a history of the building of the Alaska Highway. Then another book was a weathered leather bound book that had bright red lettering, Diary of Melissa Davidson. A third book was the Journal of Patrick Iverson. Sara Toolson laid each book carefully on the table. Then she went into the box again and sorted through the rest of the papers which looked like important family documents and ancient genealogy forms. The typing was starting to fade, but was still quite legible on the yellowing papers. Sara took out a wide letter size folder with a string tied around it. The front of the folder was marked in bold letters, The Kiskatinaw Bridge by: Patrick Iverson. Sara Toolson was astonished at what she saw before her. She didn’t know that much about her husband’s pioneer heritage. But, what she did know was that these were old keepsake journals and books from his family’s past legacy that were probably important keepsakes.

Sara quickly started putting the books and papers back in the box and worried that she had done the wrong thing and invaded her husband’s personal possessions. Well, I guess we will just put these things back in the box and leave it for your father to decide what to do, she whispered to her two children. Okay, what’s next? I need some wood brought in for the fireplace. And I need someone to help me with the dishes. What do you say?

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Sara, we aren’t going to stop until we get to Grande Prairie to gas up. So, now I guess it’s time to start reading this book written by my Great Uncle, Patrick Iverson. I told my brothers and sister that we would bring the books down to the reunion. It has been seventy-five years since the Toolsons immigrated to Canada. We are going to do the great road-trip circle to the family reunion in Idaho and then we will go down to Disneyland after the Thanksgiving holiday for the kids, if they are good on the trip and watch TV in the back seat of the van all the way, laughed Edward Toolson.

Sure Dad, came the response from the back seat, amid a chorus of guffaws and horse whistles. You already know that the only reason we came on your road trip was to see our cousins and go to Disneyland like you promised us for a whole year.

Well, Mom is going to read me this book while we drive on our trip and you guys will have to just entertain yourselves back there. I don’t want any interruptions, okay?

No problem, Dad. We don’t want to listen to your book anyway. That is why we brought our ear buds and tons of movies for the TV.

Just make sure you stop often so that we can go to the bathroom, piped up Marcy.

Sara Toolson was excited. It had been three long weeks since they had discovered the old cardboard box in the attic. Edward had rifled through much of the materials and scanned a couple of the books, but this was the book that he was interested in reading. So, they had decided to make it a family project on their road trip. Here goes announced Sara!

Chapter 2

March 1942

Dark the night was, as dark as Ryan had ever known a night to be. The days were getting markedly longer though, as the dead was left behind and spring approached. There were now only nine hours of daylight and fifteen hours of darkness here in Northern British Columbia, and those daylight hours were increasing every succeeding day. He had to admit to himself that he was lonely and homesick. Ryan had only been in Northern B.C., Canada for a month, and in the Kiskatinaw Camp for only two weeks. But, the isolation and non-stop work had created a toll on his morale. There was nothing to do but work. Now that the nights were so long, Ryan couldn’t sleep any more. He lay awake on his cot looking up at the black ceiling of his four-man military tent. He was the only one at the present time that was in the tent. His only tent mate, Lt. George Mason, was on leave in Dawson Creek for the weekend. They were part of an advance party of the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers that had the task or assignment of re-furbishing the old one-lane bridge over the Kiskatinaw River at mile 20 of the newly proposed Alaska Highway. The new two-lane bridge that they would build in the coming months would be spectacular. The project was getting a slow start and just beginning. But, Ryan and his tent mate friend were worried that they would not get enough done before the really rainy, wet, spring temperatures arrived and the construction would come to a standstill because of the spring thaw. For that reason alone he was depressed. Still, he knew that wasn’t the only reason, the real reason was something different. He wished that he could be back home working with his brothers and his family in the sugar beet spring planting that was currently going on in his home town of Rupert, Idaho. Ryan was the youngest in the family, which had its rewards and also disadvantages. He actually hated farming, and the hard life he had had growing up. But, today he would trade it in an instant. Moving irrigation lines and wheel moves really wasn’t that bad he mused. His two older brothers had bought the family farm from his father when he retired, and his two older sisters had married other farmers in the area. So, he was free to pursue anything that he wanted to do in life, which was the obvious advantage. He didn’t have to follow the family traditions, or live in Rupert the rest of his life, he was free. Originally, the freedom he had felt when he left home was exhilarating, now, not so much.

Ryan could not sleep even though he was bone tired. His mind was in full run mode, and he just lay awake reminiscing about the decisions he had made. Where had he gone wrong? He tried to decide which decisions were right and which decisions were the problems that had brought him to this moment in