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
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