Breaking New Ground—Stories from Defence Construction Breaking_new_ground - Page 19

Started jointly by the United States and Canada in the 1950s, the Pinetree Line was the most southerly of three radar lines designed to detect enemy aircraft to protect North America. Those pesky Canadian beavers… sovereignty and cost control. For the 11 Canadian sites already under construction, the design authority Sioux Lookout, 1952—John Blackie The Pinetree radar site was on a hill roughly 11 miles was the RCAF; for the twelve Canada-United States from the town of Sioux Lookout, and had to be more or Air Defence (CANUSAD) stations, construction was to less carved out of the bush. The road to the operations be by Canadian contractors through DCL; for the ten site had been built and the domestic site cleared. North East Air Command (NEAC) stations, the contracts The contractor had built a combined bunkhouse/ were arranged by the U.S. Corps of Engineers, but were cookhouse/office and two smaller buildings to serve with Canadian contractors Fraser-Brace-Terminal and as a powerhouse and a cabin for visitors. Off to the side Drake-Meritt, in part because of DCL’s negotiations with of the domestic area were two more cabins—one for the Corps. the project manager and one for the contractor’s superintendent. This was the first time, but certainly not the last, that guaranteeing the involvement of Canadian contractors A small creek ran along the edge of the camp, so we would be an important issue for DCL and the Canadian decided to put in sand points and use it as the camp government. When the United States and Canada water supply. However, a colony of beavers seemed to signed an agreement in June 1955 for nine additional feel otherwise, building a dam above the camp to create “gap-filler” temporary radar stations, much of the work a small lake. Our creek, naturally, dried up. for the six on Canada’s east coast was subcontracted to one of the Canadian firms that had been involved in building earlier Pinetree sites. For the three other sites, DCL entered into a management contract with the U.S. Corps of Engineers. BREAKING NEW GROUND DEFENCE CONSTRUCTION CANADA 9