A Guide to the Alaska Highway ("Alcan")
Dateline: September 29, 2026.
When the Alaska Highway was being built, ease of construction, and thus speed of construction, was a primary concern. The 5-mile-long (7.8 km) section of highway being discussed here was generally flat and had plentiful gravel available. The south end was at Historical Mile 1111.6, the Quill Creek bridge (see the 1945 "Road Log, Alaska Military Highway").
By the 1980s, though, the many curves in the road and river erosion combined to make a relocation necessary. The new right-of-way was cleared in 1992-92, and in December 1994, the first tenders were posted to salvage wood from it. The same tenders were posted again in November 1995, but it was another 4 years before actual road construction began. On April 30, 1999, it was reported in The Whitehorse Star that Golden Hill Ventures had been awarded an $8.9-million contract for road construction between Quill Creek and Kluane Wildemess Village (kilometre 1787.5 to 1797.6), as part of the U.S.-funded Shakwak Project. The work, expected to employ 50 people, was expected to be finished by August 2000. The new road was opened in August 2000 as planned, and in June 2001, it was chipsealed.
In late April or early May 1999, we drove the Kluane River section of the highway for the last time before it was abandoned.
Click on the high-resolution aerial image below to greatly enlarge it in a new window. It shows the modern highway and the historic one from Quill Creek at the south end to the former Kluane Wilderness Village site at the north end.
Road Log
Eighteen photos for the road log were shot on September 26, 2026, and two older ones have been added.
Alaska Highway Km 1728.4: Quill Creek is at the bottom of the dip, and the Old Alaska Highway along the Kluane River is on the right just past it.
Km 0.0:
Km 0.1:
Km 0.8:
Km 1.1:
Km 1.8:
Km 2.1:
Km 2.1: the Fall colours were much better on September 4, 2021.
Km 3.0:
Km 3.4: a placer gold claim had been staked here a few weeks earlier.
Km 3.5:
Km 4.0:
Km 4.0: on September 4, 2021, that erosion damage had looked fairly recent.
Km 4.9:
Km 5.8:
Km 5.9:
Km 6.4: a cenotaph honouring U.S. Army First Lieutenant Roland Small, who died in a jeep accident near this site on August 9th, 1942. See more information and photos of this site on our Lt. Small Memorial page.
Km 7.1:
Km 7.8: back to the Alaska Highway, at Km 1736.7. About 300 meters to the right, at Historical Mile 1118, is the former Kluane Wilderness Village, which closed in 2006 after serving highway travellers for 42 years.
