Evening star., 1941-11-27
(SeCond OF q SerieS.)
Ry ROBERT J. CASEY,

Daily news.
FORT NELSON. British Colum-
hia. Nov. 27-Overhead the bombers
have been riding-a few of them
thus far. There will be fleets of
them, possibly tomorrow, on their
way to the defense of Alaska and
the Pacific Coast.
From the radio shack echoes a
news bulletin, spattered with the
crackle of the northern lights.
Saburo Kurusu, thousands of miles
away from here, is exchanging one
shop ultimatum for another, and it
strikes you suddenly that miracles
of speed and sound and telegraphy
have brought you nearer to Asia
than to Washington. With the
turning on Of the radio beams a
few days hence this lost spot in the
ancient wilderness may be on the
high road to war. certainly on a
bypass to lands half across the
world.
There is whirl of machine tools
from the construction camp repair
shop and the iron racket of gears
from the snowy distance where the
caterpillarS are working.
Engineers Get Busy.
The young man by the airmail
sack is reading a newspaper, COM
menting from time to time on the
progress of some ice hockey player
named Pete. who used to live next
door TO him in Winnipeg.
Yes, sir" he SAYS, its mar
velous. This awkward chap gets
to be big shot and I'm able to
read all about it in this mornings
newspaper from Vancouver. Yes,
sir, things do change, and time goes
by at 300 miles an hour" He is
speaking TO Baptiste. the constable
man from the settlement across the
river.
But BaptiSte has not heard him
Baptiste is too busy getting his sled
and dog team off the landing strip
to make way for the southbound
Yukon-Southern plane.
The new skyWay over which
United States planes soon will be
able to fly day or night. without con-
Germ about the weather. was a sort
OF idyllic dream until the engineers
dropped in one day to pay their
factory at the old post on the river.
After that things began to get prac-
tical. Almost Immediately here was
4 movie set for something by Rob-
ert w. Service. place with nothing
whatever to recommend its use as
an alrdrome except that ii was
about $50 miles north of Fort St.
Johns. another fine stop on the
journey into the great nowhere
The HudSons Bay store marking the
scene of an Indian massacre gave it
an identity on the map.
25 Below and Howling Dogs.
A few Indians and trappers lived
IN log houses about the store
Numerous dogs-the visiting engi-
neers estimate about l000-howled
in wild chorus as they got the scent
of strangers. The weather was 25
below and getting colder. Nobody
In the neighborhood seemed much
interested in the idea of building
an airfield.
You came into a place like this
before the rivers froze in the fall,
and you stayed until the spring,
and having accustomed yourself to
that routine. you fine it a little
hard to think in terms of four
hour trips to Edmonton and the out
side. There was not any road COM
ing into Fort Nelson. Ninety per
cent Of the population of this thriv-
ing community had never seen a
road, If you wanted supplies you
ordered them when you we're out
side. They were loaded onto a boat
somewhere along the Peace River
After that they were carried 1900
miles or so by steamship. raft
portage and canoe. until finally
they were dumped on the shore of
the Fort Nelson River.
When you wanted to get back to
civilization generally you followed
the same route as the goods. only
IN reverse. If you wanted materials
in a hurry for say. an airport, you
were not likely to get them, and it
takes some material to build an air.
port, particularly the sort of air.
port needed for unit in an all
weather skyWay such as this one
was going to be.
800 Miles From Nearest Rail.
An airplane passenger looking
down on landing field anywhere
along the many travelled routes sees
only field, fiat surface that
probably was always there Weeds
and all the rough buildings gen.
orally look like something that you
buy in sections out of a mail-order
catalogue. But he is wrong about
that; even in civilization it takes
time and sweat on the ground to
make an airplane fly. and no mat
ter how rough the planks in the
buildings, they have to be hauled
from somewhere and slipped to-
gether in spot like this. 300 miles
in a direct line from the nearest
railroad
The problem was more compli-
Gated. The engineers have esti-
mated that for each of the five
stations on the Edmonston- White
Horse run 800 tons of equipment,
exclusive OF building materials and
food for 100 men, would be required.
Tractors, trucks, ditchers, graders.
bulldozers. rollers and drainage pipe
all Of that was dumped off the
trains a. the railhead. From there
on 1t had to be dragged northward
BY tractor crews. who laid out their
own trail through an unknown, un-
tried desolation.
Battered Through Forest.
The winter was we'll along when
Government appreciation was finally
given to the airway scheme, and
the trail breakers were late getting
past Fort ST. Johns and into the
Muskeg, the swampy fats that can
be traversed only when the ice
covers them. Despite that, two
thirds of the load had been dragged
to the camp site before the frost
went out with an early spring. The
other third was left in a cache on
the Sikkini, the chief river, where
scoWs were built to float it 100 miles