Watson Lake, Yukon, is famous for its signpost forest. Signpost forest, you ask? Yes, this community has a forest composed entirely of signs, all kinds of them.
It all began in 1942 during the construction of the Alcan (Alaska) highway when the engineers working on the highway erected signs listing places, directions and distances to locations in Yukon, to other Canadian locations and to U.S. locations as well.
Carl Lindley, a homesick WW II soldier, added his hometown sign to the army signpost and started a tradition.
Since then, people from all over the world have added hometown signs to the forest. At last count, there were about 60,000 signs that include vehicle licence plates, homemade placards and other glyphs, symbols and signifiers.
In 1992 when Carl Lindley returned to Watson Lake with his wife, Eleanor, for the first time since 1943, he was overwhelmed at how the signpost forest had grown.
During a sign reenactment ceremony, he replaced his original sign – the first one had since rotted away.
The signpost forest is one of the best-known attractions along the 2414 km highway from Dawson Creek, B.C. to Fairbanks, AK.
The sign pictured above gives the history of the forest including a picture of the original signpost.
Happy Tuesday.
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