Page 2 - Watson Lake Guide

WATSON LAKE
HISTORY AND THE HIGHWAY
JOURNEY TO THE KLONDIKE
Early in 1897, American (Lake Tahoe) Frank
Watson, at the age of 14, left California and
headed north with his father to seek gold
in the Klondike. They worked two claims
on Bonanza Creek until sometime after the
flood of 1903 when he headed to the Upper
Liard River area. He was the first white man
to travel over land to this area, most traveled
on the rivers. He married Adela Stone and
they settled on the shores of Fish Lake, later
to be known as Watson Lake and led a life of
a prospector and trapper.
DEVELOPING WATSON LAKE
He moved his family a few miles north to
Windid Lake as more people started to
settle in the area. He died in 1938 after
contracting pneumonia while in Lower
Post. He died en route to Fort Saint John
after being airlifted out on a mail plane.
His children and grandchildren continue
to be an intricate part of the Watson Lake
community.
RISE OF WATSON LAKE
Airport construction, in conjunction with
the construction of the Alaska Highway a
year later, signaled the true beginning of
the town of Watson Lake. The community
started as an accommodations and supply
centre for this construction.
YUKON’S GATEWAY
The “Alcan Project” was a response by
the American Army to the perceived
threat of Japan during the Second World
War. It provided an overland supply link
between Alaska and the lower 48 states.
The original highway, little more than a
rough trail of 2,450 km (1,522 miles) from
Dawson Creek, B.C., to Delta Jct., Alaska,
then on to Fairbanks, Alaska, was built in
the remarkable time of 8 months, 12 days.
Today, the town of Watson Lake is the
key transportation, communication and
distribution centre for mining and logging
in the southern Yukon and northern British
Columbia.