The Construction Camps

The early camps set up by the US Army were largely comprised of tents and movable buildings on skids. By 1943, there were semi-permanent housing and camp facilities for the contractors and PRA employees working on the Alaska Highway.

There were two types of camps: headquarters and construction. Headquarters camps were few and far between; the only Canadian headquarters was located in Whitehorse. These camps accommodated up to 1,000 personnel and included recreation halls, medical facilities, and communications services. Construction camps were set up every 16-25 km along the Alaska Highway and accommodated between 6-12 engineers and 100-200 construction workers. They typically included barracks, offices, one large kitchen and combined mess hall, a field shop, and a storage warehouse. Due to the mobile nature of the work, the facilities were often primitive to say the least.

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