Camping Canadian: September 2014

September 27, 2014

1958 Bell Quebec-Labrador Troposcatter Network

Background:

I'm interested in pinpointing the exact locations of each of the sites involved in the Bell troposcatter network built between Goose Bay and Sept-Îles betwen 1957-1958. Using information from the September 1966 IEEE Xplore publication, periodicals of the time, and some help, I think I've nailed down more or less where the sites were. It helped that the newspaper articles of the time mentioned the names of the locations for me! The illustration below from the IEEE shows the general layout of the sites (along the line marked "10")

In 1958 Bell Telephone Co. of Canada made a radio network using troposheric scatter (troposcatter) comprised of 5 "spans" (hops) between 6 points on the map ranging in distance between 80 miles to 150 miles apart. This was to relay military as well as civilian communications from Labrador to Sept-Îles, where terrestrial microwave and then land lines would be available to take the communications the rest of the way. These are the same style of troposcatter billboard antennas as were used for the Mid-Canada Line connection to Mount Kempis, which was also built by Bell; so they were basically built to the same specification, by the same people.

I've illustrated the sites on Google Maps (above) to show where I believe the general or specific locations of the troposcatter antennas were based on information, some deductive reasoning, and some help from Alex Lupták.

Melville Air Station (Melville AS)

Melville AS Bell Troposheric Scatter Site
Photo Courtesy of Pinetreeline.org
Exact Photo Credit TBD

Site Name: Melville Air Station (Melville AS)
Location: Goose Bay, NL
Built: 1957-1958
Operational: Unknown
Coordinates: 53.29448, -60.54243 (013F07)
Lot/Concession:
Condition: Remediated
Current Ownership: Unknown
Distance from paved road: Unknown
Condition of access road: Unknown

Melville Air Station (near Goose Bay) has been remediated, but where the antennas were located is easy enough to figure out by using vintage pictures. The distance between Melville and Sona Lake is ~150 miles, the distance we're told in the IEEE publication was the longest "hop" in the network.

Melville Air Station Bell Troposcatter Antenna Location
atlas.gc.ca

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View Larger Map | Get Directions | View Bird's Eye

Sona Lake

Site Name: Sona Lake
Location: Near Churchill Falls
Built: 1957-1958
Operational: Unknown

Coordinates: 53.5640, -63.8454 (023H09)

Lot/Concession: Unknown
Condition: Partially Remediated
Current Ownership: Unknown
Distance from paved road: Unknown
Condition of access road: Poor

The Sona Lake site would have been a troposcatter repeater between Melville and Emeril. Bing satellite imagery shows a flat spot at the end of a trail to the top of Sona Hill. From comments on the blog, help from PL Tremblay, and thanks to the the Nalcor and Hydro Quebec guys locally, this is where I believe the Sona Lake was located. The height is right, the site should provide a view to both Emeril to the West and Melville to the East. Power for this site would likely have been provided by on-site Diesel generators since there wasn't much of a power grid in that area in the late 1950s.

View Larger Map | Get Directions | View Bird's Eye

Emeril

Emeril(?) Winter 1972-1973
Photo Credit: Robert Smith Ghobhain

Site Name: Emeril, Labrador
Location: Near Ross Bay Junction, Labrador
Built: 1957-1958
Operational: Unknown
Coordinates: 53.13405, -66.0895 (023G01 1990 Ed)
Lot/Concession:
Condition: Re-purposed site
Current Ownership: Unknown
Distance from paved road: 2Km
Condition of access road: Good

Somewhere around Emeril (Labrador) a troposcatter repeater comprised of four or six billboard antennas pointed in two or three different directions was erected. According to Alex Lupták's keen eye, it looks like the site was quite a bit East of Ross Bay Junction; but I'm not sure all six billboard antennas were at the same site, or if some of these were between the rail and the airstrip at the top of another hill to the west. A trip to the air photo library is needed.

View Larger Map | Get Directions | View Bird's Eye

From PL Tremblay's trip to the site at the end of September, clearly the foundations are still there, but the overall site has been repurposed.

Emeril Station foundation?
Photo: PL Tremblay

Original part of Emeril Station?
Photo: PL Tremblay

Original footing from a tropo antennas at Emeril Station?
Photo: PL Tremblay

Original footings from a tropo antenna at Emeril Station?
Photo: PL Tremblay

Photo: PL Tremblay

Then we have the mystery building, culvert, storage nook, or bunker. Whatever you call it, it has a couple of vents, what looks like a plywood door. Any suggestions as to what the structure's original purpose was would be welcomed! I was thinking explosives storage.

Photo: PL Tremblay

Schefferville

Site Name: Schefferville
Location: Near Schefferville, QC
Built: 1957-1958
Operational: Unknown
Coordinates: Near 54.8143, -66.7544 (023J15)
Lot/Concession:
Condition:
Current Ownership: Unknown
Distance from paved road: Unknown
Condition of access road: Unknown

It is documented that a troposcatter site was at Schefferville, however I don't know where. Looking around using recent satellite imagery I haven't been able to locate any traces of billboard antennas. I haven't found any vintage pictures of troposcatter antennas either.

View Larger Map

Canatiche

Canatiche, Summer 1973
Photo Credit: Robert Smith O'Ghobhain

Site Name: Canatish, QC
Location: Near Canatish Lake, QC
Built: 1957-1958
Operational: Unknown
Coordinates: 51.249369, -65.606836 (022P04)
Lot/Concession:
Condition: Partially Remediated
Current Ownership: Unknown
Distance from paved road: Unknown
Condition of access road: Unknown

Canatish was positioned between Trouble Mountain and Emeril to act as a repeater. Today the location is not realistically road-accessible, and can only be reached by rail, helicopter, or maybe float plane. The ruins of the site are clearly visible with satellite imagery. The footings of the billboard antennas and foundation of the main building are clear.

View Larger Map | Get Directions | View Bird's Eye

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atlas.gc.ca
1983 Topographic Map 1:50000 Scale

Trouble Mountain

Site Name: Trouble Mountain
Location: Trouble Mountain, QC
Built: 1957-1958
Operational: 1958-
Coordinates: 50.172400, -66.737427 (022J02)
Lot/Concession:
Condition: Repurposed
Current Ownership: Private
Distance from paved road:
Condition of access road: Good

Trouble Mountain is cited as the last tropo hop in the network; from here terrestrial microwave would be used to tie in with the usual telecom network. I am not sure if this is the exact site of the tropo billboard antennas, but I think I see footings NE of the building. The oldest topographic map I could find (Published in 1979, made with 1976-77 air photos) also happens to show "microwave" antennas at the same location as those billboard antennas should have been... coincidence?

View Larger Map | Get Directions | View Bird's Eye

atlas.gc.ca
1979 Topographic Map showing two microwave towers at the suspected location of the Trouble Mountain Tropo site

Pictures:

I was very pleased to find this testimony and these pictures from Robert Smith Ghobhain.

In reading of the Abel Danger Chicago's Candyman and Her Short for Snuff Swaps - Chapter 8, I see of the Thiokol snow-cat, and this bring back memories of 1973-74 when I be at Canatiche in Northern Quebec and at Emeril and Cartwright in Labrador. I was stationed at these places as a radio technician for Bell Telephone and then later for Newfoundland Telephone maintaining the South Polevault Scatter Radio system.

There were five people stationed at Emeril and Cartwright site with a supervisor, two technicians, a cook, and a diesel mechanic , and four at Canatiche with two technicians, a cook, and a diesel mechanic.
Canatiche station was about 3,000 feet up, Emeril station about 2,000 feet up, and Cartwright station about 500 feet up. Cartwright had a small fishing village down below on the bay.

Maybe I am in a different time place, and I have moved, or maybe the others have moved. But, still I have the pictures to show that I was really at these places.

The two years I spent in Northern Quebec and Labrador was a good education for me of how other people lived, and that the black flies and the mosquitoes thrive very well there. They really like the smell of any deodorant and the perfumed fragrance.

Cartwright station was a good place to be, as there be more people around. The people from the fishing village would come up to the site to visit. Even the mounties stationed at the village would come up to visit. The site still retained the 'comforts' of the former facilities of the Sargeants Mess from the U.S Air-Force.

Canatiche and Emeril stations were not the easiest places to be. As they be more isolated, access by helicopter. There be the Quebec & North Shore Railway that stopped at mile 84 and at mile 227, only if their be anybody getting on or off at the valley below. This how we got most of our supplies, by the train.

Robert Smith O'Ghobhain
Sarnia, Ontario
January 7th, 2013
Original Post: http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/archive.cgi?noframes%3Bread=265569

Canatiche, Summer 1973
Photo Credit: Robert Smith Ghobhain

Canatiche Winter 1972-1973
Photo Credit: Robert Smith Ghobhain

Cartwright Winter 1973-1974
Photo Credit: Robert Smith Ghobhain

Emeril Winter 1972-1973
Photo Credit: Robert Smith Ghobhain

Trackmaster @ Cartwright, Winter 1973-1974
Photo Credit: Robert Smith Ghobhain

Credit: IEEE Spectrum September 1966 p.79-100

Credit:

A big thank you to Alex Lupták who contributed to this post!

References:

The News and Eastern Townships Advocate, April 24th 1958 (Page 20)
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=koQuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=syoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1887%2C5201029

The Daily News St John's, Wednesday December 3rd, 1958 (Page 4)
http://collections.mun.ca/daily_news_pdfs/1958/12/19581203.pdf

September 21, 2014

Casey, Québec 2014 Trip

Old Road to Casey Airstrip

Between September 13th and September 15th I took a trip to the Casey Emergency Airstrip to check out what I hadn't seen before, and meet some new faces from L'Association Les Ailes Québécoises. I detailed in my last Casey-related post what I wanted to accomplish, and at least attempted to get to each of the sites I mentioned. Pierre Nadon, whom I met at Casey, pointed out additional sites that he and his friends from the flying club had unearthed before I arrived. Unfortunately for me, it had been raining for quite some time, and the dirt road from Mont Laurier to Parent was rather miserable to drive on. It took ~8.5hrs to drive from Ottawa, ON to Casey, QC with few stops. On the way back I went East; taking me through La Tuque, Shawinigan, Trois-Rivières, and Montreal. It took longer, but the road was better - it also wasn't pouring rain, so that probably helped!

Airstrip

Casey Emergency Airstrip

I paid better attention to the condition and construction of the airstrip than I had before, and took a video of driving around the perimeter of the entire airstrip. The initial construction of the airstrip seems to have been concrete, with expansion joints filled with tar. The entire airstrip is ~2500M long, but the middle 75% of the runway is paved over with asphalt, and at each end is still just concrete. At either end there are parts of the concrete that have deteriorated and crumbled somewhat, but the majority of the airstrip is in superb condition. As the airstrip is no longer maintained, the trees on either side have encroached where previously it was cleared. The runway surface has some pebbles and sand on it in spots where ATVs have tracked the surrounding dirt onto the airstrip; a good sweeping would clear it up quite nicely.

Munitions Storage

Munitions Stoage
(pad where bldg was)

As I'd been told, and seen from the available satellite imagery, I found the munitions stoage facility at the end of a trail at the south end of the air strip, on what I believe was a man-made, or at least man-reinforced, peninsula in the middle of a swamp. There were berms on all sides of the bunker in the air photos, and they are still as high as they had been when they were originally built. I would guess they are 10-15ft high. From the hole someone before me had dug in the side of the berm, I'd say they are sand and then topped with a layer of larger stone for structure. The pad the building was on is concrete, thick and in perfect shape. The pad is covered in moss and small seedlings, but could easily be cleared off with a flat shovel, or used as it is to pitch a tent. Berms on all sides gives shelter from the worst of the wind. Unfortunately someone has dumped some garbage on the NW side of one of the berms, away from the pad. Rumour has it some locals believe the ammunition bunker is *inside* the earthen berm, which clearly, it is not.

Garage

Garage at Domestic Site

In the spring of 2012 I had seen what I now know as the garage building at the Casey domestic site, where the barracks, mess hall, and other comforts were located. I had not noticed the exhaust vents located in the floor, or noticed that the large L shaped hole in the floor has stairs leading down, and we presume was used to get under vehicles to perform maintenance.

Generator Building

Generator Bldg

Behind the garage, through what is now the forest, is another cement foundation with channels in the concrete for what I believe would have been cables or conduit. It has been going back to nature seemingly at a greater rate than the garage, and Pierre Nadon had a good question; why? Why is the generator building covered in shrubs, leaves, dirt, and moss - when the foundation of the garage is mostly bare and easily accessible and viewable for what it once was. Well, I think there's a simple answer. Someone, interested in the history of Casey like us, has very possibly cleaned off the cement pad/foundation of the garage while exploring. The garage is also right beside the road that leads to the airstrip, and is easily visible - drawing more attention. The generator building is not obvious, and not easily accessible. I believe I'll need to shovel off the foliage and dirt the next time I'm there to try and uncover the original footprint of the generator building. Without trees growing into the concrete, hopefully the concrete wont deteriorate at quite as fast a rate.

Control Tower

I had completely missed the control tower the last time I went to Casey, but Pierre was able to point it out to me. The basement is flooded, and there is no way out since the stairs had fallen in many years ago. It's a rather gruesome horror show of dead things; mainly mice and frogs. Luckily you can see the entire basement, and it's quite clear there isn't anything interesting down there anyway.

NEWS: Russia to fly Open Skies treaty flights over the US between September 21 - 29

Tu-154M Lk-1
Photo Credit: Mark Kwiatkowski

It fascinates me that every time there is an Open Skies Treaty-sanctioned overflight of the US by a Russian ~~spy~~ observation plane (in accordance with the treaty it has US personnel on board too) there isn't a peep in the US Media. I can only assume this is because Americans would freak out and riot of they knew they were being photographed from above by a Russian observation flight.

ITAR-TASS: Russia - Russian inspectors to make Open Skies flight over US

MOSCOW, September 21. /ITAR-TASS/. A group of inspectors will begin a monitoring flight by observation aircraft Tu-154M Lk-1 over the United States under the International Open Skies Treaty, the acting head of the Russian National Centre for Reduction of Nuclear Danger told Itar-Tass.

“An observation flight at a maximum distance of up to 4,900 kilometres will be made from September 21 to 29 from the Open Skies airfield Wright-Patterson, Ohio,” Ruslan Shishin said.

The Russian observation aircraft would make a flight on a route coordinated with a party under observation and American specialists aboard the airplane would control how monitoring equipment was used and the treaty’s clauses were fulfilled, he said.

The observation flight is made to make military activity of the signatory nations to the treaty more open and transparent and to step up security through higher confidence-building measures. This is the 30th flight Russia makes over the territory of the treaty’s signatories in 2014.

The Treaty on Open Skies was signed in 1992. As many as 34 countries joined the agreement. Observation flights are made over Russia, the U.S., Canada and European states. Open Skies top tasks are development of transparency, assistance to supervision over fulfilment of the arms control agreements, broader capacities to avert crises and settle crisis situations within the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and other international organisations.

http://en.itar-tass.com/russia/750548

What's all this about anyway?

My intent by making this blog is to provide information for others who are interested in visiting and exploring the sites of former Cold War military facilities in Canada, and their surroundings.

My personal goal is to visit (and camp when possible) at all of the locations where the Pinetree Line stations were across Canada, and along the way visit the microwave repeaters, troposcatter repeaters, airstrips, and other supporting facilities. As a lot of these places are far from civilization, and often on the top of local hills or mountains, I hope to see the relatively the same view the men and women of the USAF and RCAF saw in from the 1950s to the 1980s.

If you would rather reach me directly than comment on an individual blog post, email me at steffan.watkins@gmail.com