WATSON LAKE
and the journey to
FORT NELSON
Early in 1897 and American, Frank Watson left California at the age of 14 and travelled north with his father to seek gold in the Klondyke. They worked two claims on Bonanza Creek until sometime after the flood in 1903 when he headed to the Upper Liard River area. He married Adela Stone and they settled on the shores of Fish Lake (later named Watson Lake) and led a life of prospector and trapper. More people settled in the area and with the building of the airport as part of the air route to the Yukon and Alaska, and the construction of the Alaska Highway the town grew. 

The Alaska Highway, or Alcan Project, was a response of the American Government to the perceived threat of Japan during the second world war. The Japanese had established forward supply base on the island of Attu, at the end of the Aleutian chain. The highway was build by the American Army in 8 months 12 days during 1942, not bad for a 1522 mile stretch of road crossing mountain ranges and swamps, starting at Dawson Creek, BC, and ending at Delta Junction, Alaska.


While working on the Alaska Highway in 1942 a homesick US army GI Carl K Lindley of Danville IL, Company D 341st Engineers, started what was to become the "signpost forest", when he erected a sign here pointing the way and stating the mileage to his hometown. Others followed his lead and are still doing so to this day. In July 1990 the 10,000th sign was erected. Carl K Lindley and his wife visited the site in 1992, 50 years after his first sign was erected. Today the town of Watson Lake maintains the site, erecting more posts, as they are needed through the “Adopt-a-Post” program.

There is quite a long distance between settlements up here, it is 283 miles from our last stop in Whitehorse and 335 miles to our next one in Fort Nelson. The sign show here appears to give long distances to Ross River, Faro and Carmacks, but you have to remember that Canada is completely metric and the distances are in Kilometres. To convert to miles multiply these numbers by 0.625. Still its a long way to each of these place when you consider that the road is just loose gravel or dirt.
 

A little way out of Watson Lake heading for Fort Nelson we encounter a herd of wild buffalo, idly crossing the road. You stop and wait for them to cross before proceeding. We had heard of a truck driver who sounded his horn, and a large male charged and rammed his truck causing lots of damage.
 
 
 
 
 


 

Muncho Lake: a largish lake surrounded by bare mountains and trees. The road here is cut out of the mountains and is but a mere bench above the lake. It meanders and twists as it follows the lake.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 

Stone River - A river of stones.
Stone Mountain (and most of the mountains around)  - completely bare mountains, devoid of soil, with a few trees on the lower slopes. The valleys leading out of these mountains are really rivers of stones, little water flows.