Truckers' Rebellion

Truckers' Rebellion. . , Rebel truckers took the law into their own hands when a ferry toll was imposed., Weigh and Pay , The federally-built Alaska Railroad was losing money, in part because it was cheaper to truck freight to Fairbanks on the Richardson Highway. In an effort to force freight onto the railroad, the U.S. Department of the Interior established fees in 1935 for truckers on the Richardson Highway. When truckers refused to pay, the Department instituted a toll for use of the Alaska Road Commission (ARC) ferry here at McCarty, now called Big Delta. To avoid the toll, truckers began using the ferry without permission. In September 1940, Deputy U.S. Marshal O'Connor was dispatched from Fairbanks and arrested 14 men., Frontier Law , On October 14, 1940, while O'Connor was providing testimony in Fairbanks, truckers seized Deputy U.S. Marshal Dennis Doyle, took his shotgun and locked him in the scale house at McCarty. They moved ten loads of freight across the river before releasing Doyle and returning his gun. The Grand Jury in Fairbanks refused to charge the truckers with assault and the previously arrested truckers were acquitted. Shortly after, the ferry was removed from the water for the winter and the controversy simmered down., Pirate Ferry , In June 1941, the truckers built a pirate ferry to avoid the government-owned ferry and toll. The government retaliated by erecting a gate twelve miles up the road at Shaw Creek, where truckers had to show their toll receipt. The truckers reacted by pulling down the gate., Conflict Conclusion , The ARC and the truckers finally agreed that fees collected would be placed in escrow until a consensus could be reached. The validity of the tolls was upheld in district court. With the onset of World War II, the railroad started making a profit and the Department removed all fees on the Richardson Highway in July 1942. A bridge was built across the Tanana River in 1943, making the ferry obsolete and ending the conflict., Background [photo]: Pirate ferry and push boat in operation, [Photo captions, clockwise from top right, read] , . This scale was used to weigh freight, determining the ferry toll for the trucker. Truckers were charged $9.27 per ton., . Sign erected at the ARC ferry, . Doc Gordon, running the ferry, . Above: Flying the pirate flag on the Paul Bunyan, (the push boat for the pirate ferry).