‘It’s part of our national heritage. There is no better way to preserve it’
A Cold War-era radar tower — constructed to scan the skies for Soviet bombers, then abandoned on the Prairie grasslands — will soon be restored to its former glory.
Edmonton’s Canadian Civil Defence Museum and Archives has purchased the Canadian Forces Station Alsask site near the Alberta-Saskatchewan border nearly 450 kilometres southeast of Edmonton.
The isolated historic site is home to a four-storey steel and fibreglass domed tower that once housed a military command centre.
‘Enemy missiles or flying bombers’
The site was one of hundreds of NORAD stations, a vast network of radar towers constructed across North America during the height of festering conflict between NATO and the Soviet Union.
“This site was developed to monitor the skies to see if the Russians were sending over enemy missiles or flying bombers,” museum founder Fred Armbruster said in an interview with CBC Radio’s Edmonton AM.
“There are a few towers left but the towers don’t have domes. This is the only tower to have its original dome.”
In 1949, the Soviet Union tested its first atomic bomb. In the following years, fear that the Cold War would turn hot became palpable, and efforts to guard against it took many forms.
As Canada joined its southern neighbour in an effort to unearth homegrown communists, both real and suspected, government agencies went to great lengths to prepare in case the Cold War heated up.
The tower was part of the Pinetree Line of NORAD stations, which dotted the countryside both north and south of the Canadian-U.S. border — in the first coordinated effort against a surprise attack.
‘It was the front line’
Of the more than 50 stations constructed, the Alsask site is the last original structure remaining of the Pinetree Line, Armbruster said.
The site would have been responsible for sounding the alarm in the event of an aerial attack over the Prairies.
An air-raid siren would wail and warnings would have been transmitted to military stations across the network, using “November, Jade Ring,” the station’s call sign.
“It was not just protection for the government officials but it was also for civilian protection,” Armbruster said.
“It was the front line so we could prepare ourselves and react.”
Construction on the military radar tower near the Alberta-Saskatchewan border was completed in 1963.
Construction began in 1961. The site was fully operational by 1963.
In its heyday, the property housed three radar domes, worker housing, a school and a swimming pool. It was staffed by nearly 200 military and civilian workers.
“They had their own doctor and dentist,” Armbruster said.
‘It has turned into a pigeon apartment’
The military vacated the site in 1986. The tower was used as a civilian air-traffic control site for a few years before it was abandoned in the early 1990s.
It was owned by the Regional Municipality of Milton, Sask., for a few years before a private owner purchased the land two years ago, hoping to convert it into an observatory.
“I always stayed in contact with the gentleman and let him know, ‘If this doesn’t work out for you, we’ll always be here and keep us in mind,’ ” Armbruster recalled.
The owner did decide to sell.
“Just over a month ago, they gave us a phone call, because they felt that we would be best suited to ensure that it would be taken care of and preserved,” Armbruster said.
The museum made an offer on the property and closed the deal last week for an undisclosed price.
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The site, gutted of its radar equipment and targeted by vandals and largely untouched for past two decades, has fallen into disrepair.
Thanks to funds from a private donor, Armbruster hopes to restore the 2.5-acre property.
“The structure itself is 100 per cent sound,” he said. “However, through broken windows and other stuff, it has turned into a pigeon apartment.”
Our first intent is to preserve and the protect the site.
– Fred Armbruster
Depending on the availability of future funding, the museum plans to eventually construct an additional pair of domes on the site to house an interpretive centre and gift shop.
Repairs have already begun and the group hopes to open the dome to the public by early next year.
“Our first intent is to preserve and the protect the site, so it doesn’t erode,” Armbruster said.
“It’s part of our national heritage. There is no better way to preserve it than having people be able to see something like that, touch and feel it.”
