Kenneth O’Harra

Kenneth O’Harra operated a fleet of twenty-two buses in Alaska in 1945. He arrived in Whitehorse in July to make arrangements for a Whitehorse to Fairbanks service.1) The O’Harra Bus Line Service was the first commercial bus company operating on the Alaska Highway between Whitehorse and Fairbanks. The company superintendent, Charles E. Porter, drove the first bus with six passengers on board. Porter arrived in Whitehorse on 30 August 1945.2) The company brought in a new bus from Kalamazoo, Michigan in October 1945.3) In January 1946, Kenneth O’Harra announced his plans to open a O’Harra Bus Lines lodge at White River. He expected it to be open and ready for the year’s tourist season and he planned to keep it open year-round.4) In October 1946, the O’Harra Bus Lines Whitehorse building was located on the back half of Lloyd Ryder’s lot near Second and Lambert. The company operated a bus service to Haines and Fairbanks for several years.5)

1)
The Whitehorse Star (Whitehorse), 27 July 1945.
2)
The Whitehorse Star (Whitehorse), 31 August 1945.
3)
The Whitehorse Star (Whitehorse), 19 October 1945.
4)
The Whitehorse Star (Whitehorse), 25 January 1946.
5)
Shelagh and Colin Beairsto, Yukon Historical and Museums Association, Submission to the City of Whitehorse, “Preservation of the Doctor’s House aka The Mast House,” 21 February 1998.