Hector Lang (d. 2001)
Hector Lang's father was mayor of Medicine Hat for twenty years and was last elected when he was 79 years old.1) Hector had a university degree in agriculture, but he liked heavy construction. He was a naval officer in the Second World War. He met Margaret Campbell, an army nurse, through a friend and they married in 1943. After a rocky start selling construction equipment, he worked for ten years on dams, bridges and buildings from Calgary to Edmonton and Cold Lake.2)
In 1958, Hector moved Margaret and their four kids to Whitehorse and a guaranteed job with Poole Construction Ltd. on the hydroelectric dam project. Weather stopped them in Dawson Creek for eighteen months while Hector helped to build three railway bridges. In Whitehorse, they lived in a trailer at the Robert Service Campground with the other construction workers. He met Gunnar Nilsson on this job and the two became friends.3)
Hector and Gunner formed Hector Lang Construction and Gunnar Construction, an informal arrangement where they paid the bills and split the profit. The won a bid to build three bridges for the South Canol Road. They pitched a tent on the site and finished the $13,000 job in three weeks. They did a varity of jobs including putting up three buildings in Faro’s Anvil camp and building bridges for exploration companies. The bridges were usually between $8,000 and $20,000 and they were paid when the work was done. One time, Hector received stamped plans from a head office giving him the go-ahead, two months after they had completed construction.4)
Hector Lang and Gunner Nilsson were the very first members named to the Transportation Hall of Fame.5)