Topography
SNC Lavalin Heavy Equipment 17 May 2007
Lower Camp, early 1962 courtesy Doug Johnston
Aerial view 1966 courtesy Jack Copping
Entrance to Upper Site Taken approx 1989
The Cape Dyer Glacier Mar 1965 (courtesy Dale Brown)
Suntanning Inside an ice cave Mar 1965 (courtesy Dale Brown
Sunday Excursionists April 1960 courtesy Martin Allinson
Snow Tunnel April 1960 Photo was taken looking back through the 'snow tunnel'. This had been formed by upper layers of the tongue of a glacier continuing to move forward when the lower layers slowed down, or stopped, when they met rising ground. It was the moment, in glacial time, when the crest of the wave curled over. Courtesy Martin Allinson
Snow Tunnel April 1960 courtesy Martin Allinson
Snow tunnel March 1960 courtesy Martin Allinson
AA Tower The only Radome that sat beside an AA tower that had a West facing dish and no East facing dish. To find the mirror image of this tower you would have had to go all the way to Alaska, to the other end of the Line. There were many AA towers with two dishes, but only two with only one dish. courtesy Martin Allinson.
DYE Main Lower Camp Taken from a helicopter in 1961 (courtesy Doug Johnston)
DYE MAIN Lower Camp Christmas Dinner 1961(courtesy Doug Johnston)
Lower Camp Dining Hall DYE-Main 1962(courtesy Doug Johnston)
Inuit Housing Lower Camp(courtesy Doug Johnston)
Radar Tower Taken late spring, June 1957 (photo by Ron Fry)
The Middle Camp Construction Camp Taken June 1957 (photo and comment by Ron Fry)
This picture was taken in the late Spring, June 1957. Middle camp was the living quarters for the laborer, construction workers. They lived in the
insulated buildings pictured and took their meals up at the main dinning
room in the modules where we lived and worked. Most of the laborers were
French Canadian. Middle camp was just a little way South and East of the main (upper site) module train. Easy walking distance. Those guys worked as laborers up at the
main site, not on the runway. It had been the living quarters for the guys that built the main station. And even the early electronic guys lived
there for a while till the module train was ready. The laborers that lived there ate and used the recreation facilities in the modules.
The Lower Site Construction Camp Taken May 1957 (photo and comment by Ron Fry)
The lower camp was near the runway, but I'm not exactly sure how far away. Not very far. I didn't get down there much. As I remember it was a
fair distance down the lower camp. Anyway I guess south of the main site. I think you can see the fjord in the background behind the camp.
Sealift Activity The Sealift Area Taken August 1957 (photos and comments by Ron Fry)
In August of 57 the Corps of Army Engineers brought an LSD up the fiord. They had frog men
blast the under water icebergs and clear a path for landing barges to come in to shore. They had cats, cranes, etc. all manner of unloading equipment. It was really quite a spectacular thing. All heavy equipment and supplies arrived this way. The supplies were towed on skids and wagons by cats up the hill to the site. Loading a wagon
Snow Machine circa 1957 (photo and comment by Ron Fry)
I'm including a nice photo of the snowmobile that we used to get around in. I mentioned that we didn't get down to lower camp much. It was further away than we were allowed to walk. They had rather strict rules about going very far from the modules. You had to have transportation in the snowmobiles, carry a sleeping bag, and wear full arctic gear etc, The weather could change in an instant. One time I was wandering around at the upper airstrip and fog moved in. I was caught in a "white out" and wandered around in circles till I ran into one of the little
orange flags that ran along the side of the runway. I just sat down and waited it out for an hour or so. Anyway the point is the rules made a little more sense to me after that.
Comment on the DEWDROP (by Mike Bullough)
This relates to the "Dew Drop" system between
Cape Dyer and Thule. Comments (above) regarding Danish personnel refer only to
the site at Thule. Cape Dyer Dew Drop terminal was operated by Canadian
contractor personnel.
What is not mentioned is that there was a submarine cable communications system from Cornerbrook in Newfoundland via Cape Dyer to Thule. This and the Dew Drop provided the two communications routes to Thule BMEWS. The submarine cable suffered breaks at Cape Dyer due to iceberg activity in the fjord. Subsequently the Cornerbrook and Thule sections were spliced in deep water bypassing Cape Dyer. The cable still suffered frequent breaks, due to ice activity at the Thule end, and trawlers at the Cornerbrook end. The cable was abandoned after establishment of the satellite link from Sunnyvale to Thule.
Mike Bullough
Goose Air Base & Resolution Island 1971 - 1973
Cape Dyer, Hall Beach, Cambridge Bay, Lady Franklin Point 1973 - 1978
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