Breaking New Ground—Stories from Defence Construction Breaking_new_ground | Page 33
Did You Know?
The towers for the Doppler detection and microwave
communication equipment at the Mid-Canada Line
stations ranged in height from 50 to 350 feet, and were
designed to withstand winds of 120 miles per hour even
when encased in a layer of two inches of ice.
Project: The Mid-Canada Line
By the end of 1954, DCL was responsible for awarding
the construction and some winter transportation
contracts for the Mid-Canada Line—a radar network
that would eventually become eight attended Section
Control Stations spaced some 400 miles apart with 90
unattended Doppler Detection Stations spaced some
30 miles apart between them.
DCL’s Annual Report for 1954–55 noted that the
Mid-Canada Line would be the most important project
for the company in the coming year; in 1956–57, it
was still the largest defence construction project under
DCL’s administration.
Construction proved easier in some areas than others.
In Quebec and Labrador, aircraft were the only practical
means of transporting materials and personnel in many
areas (the project cost included $15 million for Air Force
helicopters alone) while the muskeg south of Hudson
Bay required the use of winter tractor trains—a tractor
pulling between six and eight sleds of some five to
seven tons each. Other sites were supplied by ship.
BREAKING NEW GROUND
DEFENCE CONSTRUCTION CANADA
DCL President Dick Johnson would later note that DCL
was responsible for groundbreaking work on winter
ground transport, including handling a considerable
amount of the northern work between November and
April. He credited the construction industry for its
“growing mastery of an uncompromising climate.”
At the same time, the project was experiencing difficulties
on other fronts, and staff warned that cost and deadline
projections from Bell were not realistic. In 1957, the Air
Force intervened to take direct responsibility for finishing
construction, including working with DCL and the
construction contractors. The Mid-Canada Line became
fully operational on January 1, 1958, one year behind
schedule and over-budget by approximately $225 million.
Although shipping, transportation, weather and division
of responsibilities all factored into the delays and
overruns, DCL’s role in the project attracted relatively
little attention and even less blame. This was very much
in keeping with Dick Johnson’s comment about the
early years that “DCL kept a low profile and got the
jobs done.”
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