Carl Lindley, 83; Sign Touched Off Fad

Carl Lindley, who spurred the creation of a forest of signs that became one of northern Canada’s most popular tourist attractions, died Wednesday in Chicago. He was 83.

He was a homesick Illinois soldier helping build the Alaska Highway during World War II when he planted a hand-painted sign that read “Danville, Ill., 2,835 miles” in Watson Lake, Yukon.

The road was being constructed so that the United States could defend Alaska from attack by Japanese forces. When Lindley erected his hometown sign in 1942, he had no idea that thousands of people--about 48,000 at last count--would follow him to plant what Canadians believe is North America’s largest “signpost forest.”

A row of 20-foot-high poles now stretches a village block in Watson Lake. It is littered with everything from scribblings on disposable pie plates to a yellow metal sign from Germany’s autobahn. The wall of signs is a top tourist draw in Canada’s Yukon Territory.

Lindley became a cult hero in Watson Lake, which became an important staging post on the Alaska Highway. He and his wife, Elinor, returned there for a visit on the 50th anniversary of his unwitting founding of the signpost forest.