Gunnar Nilsson (1922 - 2001)
	
Gunnar Nilsson was born in Sweden where he and his siblings grew up on a farm. He immigrated to Canada in 1953 and worked in Alberta before moving to the Yukon in 1956.((Miche Genest, "Popular, hard-working optimist dies." //The Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 10 January 2001.)) One of his first jobs was upgrading the water and sewer system in Whitehorse. He built several houses and was good at welding and mechanics.((Andrea Buckley, “No troubled waters when duo built bridges.” //The Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 7 June 1996.))
	
Gunnar and Hector Lang formed a partnership and spent a few years in the 1960s building bridges on the North and South Canol roads, the Campbell Highway, the Faro road, and other places throughout the territory.((Andrea Buckley, “No troubled waters when duo built bridges.” //The Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 7 June 1996.)) One summer they built twenty-two bridges on the South Canol Road. In 1970, Nilsson and his wife Mickey Lammers started up a sawmill south of Marsh Lake, calling the property Sloughmill.((Miche Genest, "Popular, hard-working optimist dies." //The Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 10 January 2001.)) 

Nilsson was interested in silviculture and represented the industry as a technical delegate to the Canada-Yukon EDA from 1992 to 1995. An experimental forest on the left side of the Mayo Road, just north of the Takhini Bridge, is named for Nilsson and his wife.((Miche Genest, "Popular, hard-working optimist dies." //The Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 10 January 2001.))

Nilsson is also remembered as a mechanical wizard. He modified a machine to turn sawdust into wood pellets and then sold them for $5 a bag. He had a dream to start a transportation museum and eventually donated vehicles to the Yukon Transportation Museum in Whitehorse.((Miche Genest, "Popular, hard-working optimist dies." //The Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 10 January 2001.))

Gunnar Nilsson and Hector Lang were the first two inductees into the Transportation Museum's Hall of Fame in 1996. In 1997, Nilsson was presented with the Commissioner's Award for Public Service for acts of generosity and his willingness to help fellow Yukoners.((Miche Genest, "Popular, hard-working optimist dies." //The Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 10 January 2001.))