November 30, 2013

Mid-Canada Line Site 415 - Cape Henrietta Maria

Mid Canada Line Radar Site 415
Photo: Julian Pullara
Site Name: Mid-Canada Line Site 415
Location: Cape Henrietta Maria, Ontario
Built: 1957 
Operational: 1957 - 1965  
Coordinates: 54.732, -82.408 
Lot/Concession:
Condition: Remediated?
Current Ownership: Unknown
Distance from paved road: Accessible only by air, perhaps water
Condition of access road: Unpaved


Overview/Background:

A troposcatter repeater station was set up at Cape Henrietta Maria to transmit across James Bay to Mid-Canada Line Site 410 - Cape Jones as well as communicate with Sector Control Station 500 Winisk.  I'm unclear how the DDS sites between Cape Jones and Cape Henrietta Maria communicated with each other, as I believe there were two on the Bear Islands.  Also, I'm unclear how Cape Henrietta Maria communicated with Winisk.


Larry Wilson has pictures on his web site of MCL Site 415
http://www.lswilson.ca/scs400.htm
Here is a very detailed report, including maps, pictures and details of the remains of MCL Site 415
http://www.merc.ontera.net/reports/mclrs-01.pdf

Here is a video about the environmental impact the MCL sites are having on aboriginal communities.



Directions:

There's a gravel airstrip of unknown condition at (54.756213, -82.398964) that is just north-east of where the Cape Henrietta Maria site was.  Good luck!

Here is a video from someone who flew in, in spring of 2012.

Trip Report:

I have not visited the site, would love to, but realistically I don't see it happening without major financial backing.  This is just a palce-holder for the information I've gathered for a potential trip.

Maps:



3 comments:

  1. Communications along the line was by line-of-sight microwave radio links. There were two sites on Bear Island, 412 and 413. Travel between Winisk and Bear Island via 415 was by Avro Anson aircraft.

    ReplyDelete
  2. https://youtu.be/gKGmH_cFG2Q

    ReplyDelete
  3. https://youtu.be/rgFaHzRyHts

    ReplyDelete