Maurice R Merrigan at the Peace River Suspension Bridge, 1942 or 43
During World War II, my grandfather spent a couple of years working on the Alaska Highway and the Canol Pipeline. I recently inherited some of his photos, and among them were 30-some-odd of his time in Alaska and the Yukon. Many weren’t captioned, but I’ve tried my best to put together the information I could about them. I wish I knew what kind of camera he was using, as the photos have such a rich lower register. It might just be the era, but they remind me so much of Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange, and how I picture Steinbeck. Maybe that’s just how the light was hitting the planet at that time.
Canol turned out to have been a disaster, a hugely expensive contract awarded in part to Bechtel, which only operated for 11 months, and eventually being the subject of harsh condemnation by the Truman Committee. The Peace River Suspension Bridge (pictured here just prior to completion) only managed to survive until 1957 (14 years) before collapsing. But I always heard it explained more in terms of a New Deal Public Works project that was putting people to work, which is an end in itself.
The photos can also be viewed on Flickr, which has higher-resolution versions of everything.
-H
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Fort St. John, British Columbia, 1942
Peace River Suspension Bridge, 1942 or 43
Maurice R Merrigan on the Peace River Suspension Bridge, presumably on opening day, 1943
Maurice Merrigan and Jim Merrigan, Okes Camp, St. John, British Columbia, 1942 or 43
Unknown Men with Fish. Door Reads: Canol 9048 IMP Noble C-226
Maurice Merrigan and “Big Bill”, Okes Camp, St. John, British Columbia, 1942 or 43
Okes Base Camp, St. John, British Columbia, 1942 or 43
Caption Read “Eskimo Woman”, 1942 or 43
Panning for Gold or Simply Washing Pans?, 1942 or 43
Alaska Highway Truck Convoy, 1942 or 43
