Cable From the Dew Line!

[DavePEI]

From Tim Griffin - a sample of 100 pair sheathed cable from the Dew (Distant Early Warning) Line Near Iqaluit, capital of the Canadian territory of Nunavut, received today. This was from a line heading to the upper portion of the Frobisher Bay Air Base. This cable is about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. I have a great uncle who was injured during the construction of the site there back in the late 50s or early 60s in a serious fall. Thanks, Tim!

[TelePlay]

Dave,

Are you going to let it thaw out?

That's very interesting. I had forgotten about the DEW line. I was quite young when I first heard of it, the whole early warning strategy, but it's coming back. Fascinating reading to catch up on it. Didn't know that. And of interest, rather than paraphrase the information, this is an interesting factoid about the DEW line:

"In late 1954 the USAF contracted the design and construction of the DEW Line stations to Western Electric, who were given until July 1957 to build 63 separate stations stretching from northwestern Alaska to the east coast of Greenland – a distance of over 6,200 miles (10,000 km). Against all odds and despite the challenge of constructing sensitive electronic installations in mostly uninhabited, prohibitively cold and nearly inaccessible locations, Western Electric handed the "keys" to the DEW Line over to the Air Force almost three months ahead of schedule."

I also did not know that they built a prototype in Streator, Illinois for research, development and training. That's about 100 miles south west of Chicago.

Here's that location and what it looks like, what's left of it, today.

[DavePEI]

"In late 1954 the USAF contracted the design and construction of the DEW Line stations to Western Electric, who were given until July 1957 to build 63 separate stations stretching from northwestern Alaska to the east coast of Greenland – a distance of over 6,200 miles (10,000 km). Against all odds and despite the challenge of constructing sensitive electronic installations in mostly uninhabited, prohibitively cold and nearly inaccessible locations, Western Electric handed the "keys" to the DEW Line over to the Air Force almost three months ahead of schedule."

Northern Electric was also in full Dew Line/defense construction mode. There were parts of the London, Ontario plant where you couldn't get in without military clearance, where the were producing equipment for the Dew Line.

My great uncle (my father's first cousin, but we often called him an uncle) James Elliott Jr. worked on the Dew line in Iqaluit, and was injured severely in a fall there. He was never able to hold a full time job again,but the stories he could tell.. He was one of my favorite uncles as I grew up. So acquiring a piece of this cable actually had a family connection.