Yukon who is who

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Liard Tom 
	
Liard Tom was raised in a cabin thirty kilometres upriver from the Upper Liard River Bridge, and he trapped with his father on the Rancheria River.((Michael Gates, "Three inducted into Transportation Hall of Fame." //Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 13 June 2014.)) In the summer months, the family moved to a tent at Lower Post, British Columbia near the Hudson's Bay Trading Post.((Jim Robb's The Colourful Five Per Cent, "Regarding the late Frank Slim and Liard Tom." //Yukon News,// (Whitehorse), 16 February 2011.)) Liard Tom often travelled to Atlin and Dease Lake before the advent of the Alaska Highway. He worked for the Hudson’s Bay Company and was fluent in English and Kaska.((Michael Gates, "Three inducted into Transportation Hall of Fame." //Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 13 June 2014.)) 

William Albee and his family walked from Watson Lake to Frances Lake before the Alaska Highway was built. Liard Tom’s daughter Angela (Carlick) was fourteen when the Albee family appeared out of the bush. Her father guided them along the trails he knew so well. Albee wrote an article about the trip and it was published in the //National Geographic// in May 1942.((Roxanne Stasyszyn, "National Geographic's Yukon trail." //Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 18 March 2011.)) Copies of the Albee films are held at the Yukon Archives.

Tom guided for the military building the highway. He knew the area between Watson and Rancheria because he trapped there. He travelled from there to Atlin by dog team. He also knew the area to Fort Nelson and travelled that way in his younger years. He flew with the government surveyors all the way down the Liard River to the Fort Nelson area and even saw the great falls past the Liard Hot Springs. They landed in Pine Lake and met the First Nation guides from Teslin who came there on horseback.((Jim Robb's The Colourful Five Per Cent, "Regarding the late Frank Slim and Liard Tom." //Yukon News,// (Whitehorse), 16 February 2011.)) Tom’s knowledge of the land around Watson Lake was invaluable to the United States Army.((Michael Gates, "Three inducted into Transportation Hall of Fame." //Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 13 June 2014.)) 

Liard and Edna Tom moved their family to Watson Lake after construction started on the highway and Liard started working on the Watson Lake airport in the summer of 1942.((Jim Robb's The Colourful Five Per Cent, "Regarding the late Frank Slim and Liard Tom." //Yukon News,// (Whitehorse), 16 February 2011.)) He worked slashing and cutting trees as the bulldozers levelled the runway.((Michael Gates, "Three inducted into Transportation Hall of Fame." //Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 13 June 2014.))  
	
In 2014, Liard Tom was inducted into the Transportation Hall of Fame as the Person of the Year.(("Yukoners ushered into the Transportation Hall of Fame." //Whitehorse Star// (Whitehorse), 6 June 2014.)) Tom’s daughter Angela Carlick and son William Carlick received the award.((Michael Gates, "Three inducted into Transportation Hall of Fame." //Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 13 June 2014.)) 

Liard Tom Creek is located on the Lower Post map sheet, 104P16.