Iñupiaq men in qayaqs, Noatak, Alaska, circa 1929. Edward S. Curtis Collection, Library of Congress Digital Collections.
Crossing the Chilkoot Pass, circa 1898. Courtesy Candy Waugaman and Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park.
The Gold Rush boomtown of Nome on the Seward Peninsula, 1900. Courtesy of U.S. Geological Survey Photographic Library.
The new James Dalton sign on the Dalton Highway, September 23, 2018. Courtesy of Patricia Peirsol.
On Sunday, September 23, 2018, more than 75 people traveled up the Elliott Highway from Fairbanks to dedicate the James Dalton informational sign at Mile 1.1 of the Dalton Highway. Arriving in a bus and van generously provided by the Northern Alaska Tour Company and many individual vehicles, elected officials, friends and acquaintances of the Dalton family arrived for the unveiling. The overcast weather did not deter the enthusiasm and good company of the brief ceremony.
Dalton Highway sign unveiling ceremony, September 23, 2018. Courtesy Patricia Piersol.
The dedication included: singing of the Alaska Flag Song led by Joy McDougal; a brief presentation about the history of the sign project by Clark Milne; comments by Jeff Russell, Northern Area manager for the Alaska Department of Transportation (DOT); and closing remarks by Kathleen “Mike” Dalton about her husband and her efforts to provide information about him, about northern resource development related to the Haul Road, and a tribute to the male and female truckers who logged many miles on the Dalton Highway. A champagne toast followed the unveiling of the sign.
Kathleen “Mike” Dalton with family and friends at the new James Dalton sign on the Dalton Highway, September 23, 2018. Courtesy of Joan Skilbred.
A crowd-funding project that raised $7,500 towards the cost of building the sign and 10 years of maintenance was sponsored by the Tanana-Yukon Historical Society in cooperation with the sign designers and advocates, engineer Clark Milne and local architect Patty Peirsol, and Northern Region DOT.
For more about the James Dalton sign project and the unveiling event, see the article in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner newspaper published on September 29, 2018.
