The Mid-Canada Line
The Mid-Canada Line, an Air Defence Early Warning Line stretching across Canada's 55th parallel of latitude from Labrador to British Columbia, became operational in January 1958. Built in one of the world's most difficult areas for construction and transportation, the rocky, rugged bushland, the thousands of lakes, the sub-Arctic tundra, the treacherous muskeg, one writer viewed the successful completion of the line as comparable with the building of the transcontinental Canadian Pacific Railway. It was considered a credit to Canadian ingenuity and enterprise, and it cost $224,566,830.00 And yet, by April 1965, just seven years later, it had disappeared from the scene, gone with little fanfare.
It all began in February 1953, when the Canadian and US governments asked the Canada/US Military Study Group (MSG) "to study those aspects of the North American Air Defence System in general, and the early warning system in particular, which are of mutual concern to the two countries." The MSG then asked the Air Defence Commanders of Canada and the US to prepare separate and independent briefs on the subject. By July 1953 RCAF Air Defence Command had completed its brief, and both this report and that prepared independently by the USAF attached first priority to the construction of an early warning line along the 55th parallel. An analytical study of the same problem by the Canada/ US Scientific Advisory Team (CUSSAT) also supported the reports. Consequently, on 8 October 1953, the MSG recom- mended to both governments "That there be established at the earliest practicable date, an early warning line located generally along the 55th parallel between Alaska and Newfoundland, " and outlined their consideration as to the minimum operational requirements. By the end of November 1953 the Mid-Canada Line had been approved in principle.
In October 1953 the RCAF was asked to review a Defence Research Board proposal for a Radio Fence System. To back up a bit, shortly after the Second World War Defence Research Board (DRB) had demonstrated that a doppler detection system could detect aircraft with a high degree of reliability. Professor G.A. Woonton of McGill University discussed the use of a doppler system with US officials in Washington in early 195 1, and because of the association with McGiU University in its development, this system became widely known as the "McGiil Fence". During 1952 DRB estab- lished several test systems which were extensively flight tested, and two reports were prepared with the results. DRB estimated an initial cost of $69,700,000 for proposals in the second report, and the RCAF estimated the first proposal at $85,000,000.
In the meantime, things were happening rather quickly. In December 1953 the RCAF undertook a study of the logistics and construction implications of a line along the 55th parallel. Tractor trains were organized to assist with the studies. One was dispatched eastward from Fort Nelson, B.C., to link up with a second traveling westward from Flin Flon, Manitoba, and a third left Lake Nipigon in Ontario and headed northward for Lansdown House, this one under the command of the Army. The area between the east coast of Hudson Bay and the Atlantic is, as many of you know first hand, very rugged terrain, and the study in this section was limited to photo interpretation carried out under the direction of the joint Intelligence Bureau. The basic purpose of the study and the tractor trains was to select access routes based on the DRB report mentioned above. In February 1954 the RCAF Telecom staff advised that the DRB report contained insufficient data on siting criteria, and stated that a strip map some fifteen miles wide, approximately along the 55th parallel, would be needed to provide the necessary detail. Consequently, the main benefit deriving from the tractor trains was confirmation that certain parts of the country could he crossed only in winter and then only by means of tractors and sleighs.
A Steering Committee consisting of the Chiefs of Telecommunications, Construction Engineering, Air Plans, Air operations and Material; the Special Assistant to the Deputy Minister Construction Engineering; the Army Chief of Engineering; a representative of DRB; a Treasury Board representative; the President of Defence Construction' Limited; and a representative of the Department of Defence Production, also began operating in December 1953. Early in 1954, at the direction of the Steering Committee, a Systems Engineering Group (SEC) was established, headed by Group Captain G.M. Faweett (succeeded in August 1954 by Group Captain E.C. Poole), to study and make engineering recommendations for a target date of 1 June 1954. By April 1954 the SEG was off and running, and consisted of three RCAF Construction Engineering Officers, thirteen RCAF Telecommunications Officers, two RCAF Operations Officers, one RCAF Supply Officer, and ton Civilian Industrial, Electrical, and Civil Engineers. During this same period the Army was very busy producing accurate contour maps of a fifteen-mile wide strip along the 55th parallel from aerial photos taken especially for the purpose by Air Transport Command. The maps were essential for physical siting purposes and hence received top priority.
Concurrently, DRB continued testing doppler systems, and installed test systems both in the Ottawa area and in southern Ontario, working very closely, of course, with the SEG. On the target date of 1 June 1954 the SEG did not have its final report ready, but did submit an interim report which recommended the adoption of a single doppler line at a now estimated cost of $120,000,000. With amazing speed, and rather surprisingly 1 think, on 30 June 1954 the Cabinet approved the installation of the Mid-Canada Line between Hopedale, Labrador and the B.C. Alberta border, based on this preliminary engineering report from the SEG. The final. SEG report was submitted 27 August 1954 through the Steering Committee to both the RCAF and USAF, and the Canadian and US govermnents. Both governmentsapproved the Final Report in September 1954, although as stated, the Canadian Cabinet had already approved construction of the line some three months earlier, based on the preliminary report.
At this point, let's pause for a minute and think of the enormous task this approval represented. When it was cormpleted, the MCL consisted of eight Sector Control Stations (SCS) located at Dawson Creek, B.C.; Stoney Mountain (Waterways), Alberta; Cranberry Portage, Manitoba; Bird, Manitoba; Winisk, Ontario; Great Whale River, Quebec; Knob Lake, Quebec; and Hopedale, Labrador. These locations were all manned. In a double staggered line between were ninety Doppler Detection Stations (DDS), all unmanned. All ninety-eight stations were interconnected by tropospheric scatter communications systems and the Line was, naturally, linked into the overall Air Defence System (DEW/Pinetree). As a function of identification several Line Clearance Aerodromes were established some ten to thirty miles north of the line at appropriate traffic points, and well go into the use of these in a moment. These sites/stations were stretched across 2700 miles from Hopedale, Labrador in the cast to Dawson Creek, B.C. in the west, and included 264 permanent buildings from small stores buildings to large hangars., two major and ten minor airstrips; a multitude of helicopter pads; 370 towers and radio masts of various sizes, including many over 350 feet high; sixteen large scatter dishes; 322 diesel alternator units, plus literally thousands of items of radar, doppler detection, radio relay, multiples, point-to-point radio equipment, etc. The transportation of all these items represented over 200,000 tons of equipment, plus all the personnel involved. The terrain was forbidding, and most locations were accessible only by air, sea, or tractor train, or a combination of the three. Each site presented its own unique problems of water, services, and power. And yet, despite the obvious problems, the Line was operational in just a little over three years.