Concept and Construction
In the late fall of 1958, the Construction Engineering sub-division of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) began estimates for construction of a facility in the North Bay area.
North Bay had the four major characteristics of the prime location for this site:
-lots of solid rock that could physically support the facility;
-an ample supply of water from nearby Trout Lake, needed for cooling the complex;
-a pre-existing network of rail, highway and communications; and
-a local air force base (then called RCAF Station North Bay) for administrative support.
Working with Defence Construction Limited for contracting, the RCAF had a fixed budget, a tight deadline, a large computer system to work a building design around and a lot of rock to dig.
With the tight deadline, excavation on the tunnels began before the drawings of the building had been finalized.
Learn more about the construction process in the slideshow below. Use the arrows to navigate and click on the image to expand them to their full frame.
Although the exact configuration of the computer system had yet to be confirmed, by November 5, 1956, the decision had been made to recommend that “…subject to a satisfactory cost sharing agreement being reached with the United States, authority be granted to proceed with the procurement and construction, within the area of the North Bay sub-Sector…of a SAGE…configuration.” To view the entire document, click on the link below:
Personal Stories
I was stationed to North Bay in the fall of 1958 and discharged from the RCAF in 1962, I was a Safety Equipment Tech. While in the Air Force, we had the chance to tour the complex. We entered by way of the South tunnel, and passed an ore truck that was headed out, in an area of the tunnel that was widened out for this purpose. There was no blast doors at that time, only a guard at the entrance.
-Bill Scott
In 1959 I was working in Air Force HQ in the Directorate of Air Defence Requirements and was assigned as one of my duties to take on the job of the North Bay Air Defence Centre. I attended the first meeting at which it was suggested that these centers should be put underground and where Canada agreed to provide the first such a Center. Remained on the project from its inception until after it went operational. I was on the committee that designed the lay out of the underground building and the center's communication system. While it was still under construction I was posted to North Bay with the advance party to oversee the installation of the computers and communications systems. During this period I lectured most of the visitors to the site using the plastic model that was built of the site. When we went operational I continued on the site until 1964 when I was posted to Staff College in Toronto.
-Dave Terrell, LCol (ret.)