Mile Zero stands in downtown Dawson Creek. The marker commemorates where the Alaska Highway begins - 1,500 miles of road stretching to Fairbanks, Alaska, carved through wilderness in eight months during 1942. The highway was a military necessity: Japan had invaded Alaska's Aleutian Islands, and America needed a land route to defend the territory. Eleven thousand soldiers and 16,000 civilians built the road through muskeg, mountains, and permafrost, working through subarctic winter with inadequate equipment and primitive conditions. The highway they created connected Canada's Peace River country to Alaska's interior, transforming Dawson Creek from agricultural town to gateway. The Mile Zero post is the most photographed object in northern British Columbia.
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and subsequent Aleutian invasion created urgency. A land route to Alaska was suddenly critical. In March 1942, construction began simultaneously at multiple points. The Army Corps of Engineers oversaw civilian contractors and African American troops who did much of the hardest work. They built through terrain that fought back: bottomless muskeg that swallowed equipment, rivers that flooded, permafrost that shifted, cold that killed. The pioneer road opened in October 1942 - rough, barely passable, but functional. Improvements continued for years. The eight-month construction remains one of history's greatest engineering achievements.
Dawson Creek existed before the highway - a farming community in British Columbia's Peace River region, named for the creek named for George Mercer Dawson, a geologist. The highway transformed it. Suddenly Dawson Creek was Mile Zero, gateway to the north, last major services before 1,500 miles of wilderness. The agricultural economy gave way to tourism and transportation. The Mile Zero post became the essential photograph, the proof that you'd started (or finished) the journey. The town embraced its identity, hosting an Alaska Highway House museum and various highway-themed attractions.
Driving the Alaska Highway remains a bucket-list trip. The road has improved vastly since 1942 - paved, widened, maintained - but the distances remain real. From Dawson Creek to Fairbanks is roughly 1,400 miles through some of North America's most remote country. Services are sparse between communities. Wildlife ranges from bison herds to grizzly bears. The scenery is spectacular: northern Rockies, vast boreal forest, mountain passes with eternal snow. The drive takes several days at minimum; most travelers take longer, stopping to absorb the landscape that once took months to cross.
The Alaska Highway connected more than points on a map. It opened Canada's northwest to development, linked Alaska to the continental U.S., and demonstrated what military engineering could accomplish under pressure. The construction cost lives - roughly 30 deaths from accidents and exposure, plus countless injuries. African American troops who built critical sections faced segregation and discrimination even as they created infrastructure that saved their country. The highway's legacy is complicated: survival, sacrifice, racism, engineering triumph. The Mile Zero marker commemorates beginning; the full story includes much more.
Dawson Creek is located in northeastern British Columbia, roughly 400 km north of Edmonton via Highway 2 or 600 km northeast of Prince George via Highway 97. The Mile Zero post is downtown, adjacent to the visitor center. The Alaska Highway House museum covers construction history. The town offers full services - fuel, lodging, supplies - the last major stop before the highway stretches north. The drive to Fairbanks takes 20+ hours of driving, typically spread over several days. Best season is summer; winter driving is possible but challenging. The experience begins at Mile Zero: photograph the post, gas up the vehicle, point north.
Located at 55.76°N, 120.24°W in northeastern British Columbia. From altitude, Dawson Creek appears as a town in agricultural land - the Peace River farmland extending in all directions. The Alaska Highway is visible heading northwest, the beginning of 1,500 miles to Fairbanks. The terrain transitions from prairie to boreal forest along the route. The Rocky Mountain foothills rise to the west. The town's significance as Mile Zero is invisible from altitude - it looks like any prairie community - but the highway that begins here is the longest road trip in North America, starting from this unremarkable point and ending in Alaska.