Yukon who is who

James Yee Chew Quong (1917 - 2003)

James Quong was born in Lethbridge, Alberta. He studied civil engineering at the University of Saskatchewan until WWII when he found himself designing roads and aircraft landing strips.¹⁾ He was working on the Alaska Highway in 1942 as an engineering aide in the United States Public Roads Administration.²⁾ He was an engineering student then, at the University of Saskatchewan.³⁾ He started drafting wooden bridges for the Alaska Highway.⁴⁾

Quong worked in the Dawson Creek office and subsequently at the Fort St. John Bridge Department until the end of 1943 when he was relocated to Edmonton. In 1944, he was sent to the Whitehorse bridge office at Camp 911 (Utah Camp) to assist in closing that PRA (Public Roads Administration) office.⁵⁾ In 1933 and 1934 he was directly involved in constructing 133 permanent bridges to replace temporary wooden ones built on the Alaska Highway pioneer road.⁶⁾

In 1945, Quong was transferred to the Canadian military’s Northwest Service Command as a technical officer before they took over maintenance of the highway. That year he transferred to the Department of Highways when they took over highway and bridge maintenance from the Canadian military. His responsibility included all Yukon public works projects.⁷⁾

Quong graduated from the University of Saskatchewan in 1946 to qualify as a professional engineer.⁸⁾ He worked on highway and bridge maintenance engineering until handover of the Highway to Canada in 1946. Under the Canadian Army’s Northwest Highway System, he was Technical Officer in the Highway Maintenance Establishment in highway and bridge maintenance. He was involved in all of the bridge construction including design of replacement structures such as the Slims and Duke River bridges. Among the last bridges to be built by the Canadian Army was the M’Clintock River bridge. Of over 180 bridges on the NWHS in 1946, the Canadian Army replaced or rebuilt nearly 100 of them during its 18-year tenure. The use of large span corrugated metal culverts has replaced many of the original bridges.⁹⁾

James Quong planned on only staying in the Yukon for five years, but he ended up staying through his career. He married his wife Diamond and they lived in the Takhini army housing and raised three daughters and a son in Whitehorse.¹⁰⁾

In 1964, Quong was transferred to the Department of Public Works (DPW) as Bridge Maintenance Engineer and was subsequently involved in management. Among other assignments, he was manager of technical services and was acting manager of Civil Engineering for eight months until his retirement in 1981. He was involved in the replacement of many of Yukon’s bridges, including the Robert Campbell Bridge in Whitehorse.¹¹⁾

Quong was the vice president of the Professional Engineers of the Yukon in 1964 and was conferred a life membership in the organization in 1983. When he retired from DPW in 1981 he was Departmental Representative/ Manage of Civil Engineering.¹²⁾ He received the Commissioner’s Award for public service in 1982.

In 2008, his daughters (eldest Meiyan) were at university out of the territory and his son, Ken, lived in the Yukon and is a doctor and a talented photographer like his father. Diamond is 92.¹³⁾ In 2009 Quong was posthumously inducted into the Transportation Hall of Fame as a transportation pioneer. He is honoured for his skills as an engineer and for his innovative bridge designs. He was the key engineer for designing bridges on the Dempster Highway and helped design the Skagway Road.¹⁴⁾ Highways created a stone monument to honour him in 2008 and it is installed at the Icefield Ranges highway rest stop on the Alaska Highway.