Welcome to the Sign Post Forest

In 1942, during construction of the Alaska Highway, the United States Army Corps of Engineers erected mileage posts at their camps listing places, distances, and directions in the Yukon, other Canadian cities, cities in the United States of America, and other parts of the world. One of these posts stood at the Wye, the corner of the Alaska Highway and the road to the Watson Lake Airport, where the Sign Post Forest stands today, and it is the only mileage post of its type to survive from the highway's construction. Carl Lindley, a homesick soldier with Company D, 341st Engineers, repaired and repainted the sign after being injured near the border of BC and Yukon and recuperating at Watson Lake, then added his hometown of Danville, Illinois, beginning a time-honoured tradition. People from around the world continue to add their hometown signs to the Sign Post Forest daily in spring, summer, and fall. In 1992, Lindley returned with his wife, Eleanor, to Watson Lake for the first time since 1943 and, at a sign re-enactment ceremony, replaced the original Danville, Illinois sign that had long since rotted away. Over the years, ordinary citizens of what became Watson Lake, the Lions Club, the Hippie Club, and finally the Town of Watson Lake protected and nurtured the Sign Post Forest. It became one of the best known attractions along the 2,414-kilometre highway from Dawson Creek, BC to Fairbanks, AK, and by the end of 2004 the forest contained almost 55,000 signs.

Yukon · Canada