I drove the ROCC Bus for two years 1991 & 1992. Those were great times, never touched the wall.

-Walter Ross

[Editor's Note: Since the tunnels were so narrow, buses were frequently scratched against the sides of the tunnels. Walter's driving record is impressive!]

 

Since the South Tunnel was wider, people were permitted to walk in and out if desired. I found the 10% grade was a great way to keep the legs and lungs in shape, and I used to walk it when I lived in Birchaven.

-Len Campaigne

 

I lived down near Lake Nipissing and came in usually thru the Portal near Trout Lake. Occasionally, I would come in thru the Main Portal on CFB North Bay, especially when I had to visit the US Orderly Room "topside" before work "in the Hole." I recall one time when I forgot which Portal I had parked at and rode the bus to the wrong Portal at the end of a (swing) shift! Working with the CF at North Bay and at Winnipeg (and later at HQ NORAD) was a highlight of my career and I will always remember my days in The Great White North!

-Senior Master Sgt Ken Youden (ret.)

 

I fondly remember the kitchen staff in the UGC dining hall. Their breakfast bagels were legendary. Nothing made a morning shift better then filling up with one or two.

-MCpl Allan Silk

 

When we arrived at North Bay in September [1963] the computer was not operating so we put lockers together. Walked up the tunnels a few times. The North tunnel was not yet open, one day we walked up to the wall at the end of the north tunnel, and a week later they had to use chain saws to cut the ice out of the tunnel as it was just about to the top of the tunnel. I used to take my car down and could park by the steps going into the complex, but we had to leave the windows down some because they were still blasting in the tunnel.

 

I was also on duty with the MP guard at the south entrance when the Taxi drove by the gate hitting the chain across the road and carried on down the tunnel and up the North tunnel. Guess he figured he was on the wrong road when the wall started closing in on them. It was close to Christmas so they both had too much Christmas cheer.

-Ernie Killen, Sgt (ret)

 

The art of ordering a pizza underground: Most of the time we were on 8 hour shifts, which went over one meal hour, so many folks "Brown Bagged" it. There was a place in the break room to store and heat your food and some crews would have pot-lucks on the holidays. The Underground mess hall was open during days and evenings for meals, so the only time you really needed to order in was Midnight Shift. This brought some unique challenges since at night the buses stopped running and there was an on-call duty driver with a van. It was the early 80's and at that time the Guard Shacks at North and South were manned with a Military Policeman. (Later on we went high-tech with cameras and a centralized guard system) Primarily you had only one Pizza place to order from as their drivers knew how to get to the South Entrance. You contacted the Guard and the Driver to see what they wanted on "their" pizza, and called in the order. You then went to the driver's room gave him the cash (No one ordered with a Credit Card back then) . He would head up to the south entrance and await your pizzas. About 40 minutes later the Guard would call thanking you for his share and tell you the pizza was inbound, where upon you would go back out to the entrance and receive your pizzas less the driver's share. All was a small price to pay to have an underground pizza party on those long night shifts.

-Maj Jim Maunsell

 

MY grandfather worked there for quite a while and I once got to take a tour. Pretty impressive place. Also constructed a fort with some friends of mine at the young age of 9 up the hill just above the entrance to the hole.

-Patrick O'Keefe

 

I first started logging my hours in the UGC in 1963 as a young secretary. In the winter time, we often took the bus underground when it was dark, and at the end of our work day when we surfaced it was dark again. So, at times, we only saw daylight on the weekend! Many of us kept a flashlight in our desk because if there was a power outage, it was black! Then there were the fire exacuation drills - under the building, over the rocks, around pipes, steep grid stairs, and probably a 'stroll' out the South Tunnel (uphill all the way). Not to easy to do in high heels so most of the ladies soon learned to keep a pair of walking shoes close by.

 

Throughout those years, there were many name changes and reorganizations, but one constant was always the very fine folks, military and civilian, I met and worked with. So my BUM certificate hangs on my wall as a reminder of a very special time and place, but most importantly, the very special and dedicated people who went about their daily job of keeping our country safe, as they continue to do to this day.

-Claudette Eckensviller (UGC 1963-1968, 1988-1996, intervening years above ground)

 

The day of the BIG BANG. March 1968, myself and Cpl Al Fink were sometime around 06:00 shutting down the power plant and paralleling with Hydro. Al was one of the few members allowed to transfer the load to Hydro. The engines were shutdown and our shift was over at 08:00. I heard about an explosion in the power plant after I woke up. I went to work that night as usual. It was a mess, Carbon laden equipment everywhere. Pieces of the engines laying about. Extra civilians were on hand to clear away the debris. I feel that deaths would have occurred had the coffee break by power plant staff been the normal 15 min. At 10:20 am the exhaust system exploded. Sgt. Stan Katrouski was the first one out of the coffee room and just got his butt into the diesel fuel room before the large entrance doors to the eng. room came flying past him. The remainder of the crew looked in shock from the safety of the coffee room as the engine room filled with smoke and flame. There was a maintenance miner in the engine room pushing a water hose up into the exhaust crossover tunnel. He was blown about and his flesh was impregnated with carbon. He survived from what I remember. Another miner was on his way out the Vehicle tunnel and heading for the crossover tunnel. I believe he also was injured. There wasn't an engine serviceable after this. The plant staff cannibalized parts from each engine to get one unit operational. This was to at least have lighting for an evacuation of the complex should Hydro fail.

 

Now my theory as to why the explosion occurred. These engines did not have complete combustion and there was hydro-carbon carryover into the exhaust tunnels. A water spray system had been installed within the crossover tunnel to cool the rock. This minimized the rock cave ins of the past. However the cooling effect also condensed the hydro-carbons in the exhaust and the collection clung to the tunnel walls. This was the reason for the shutdown and miners preparing to hose it down. There is a Cleaver Brooks gas fired boiler next to unit #1. On restart-up of the boiler which did not light off very well, raw Nat. gas went up the crossover tunnel and when ignition occurred the smoldering hydro-carbons also ignited. There was a very large volume of combustible fumes in the tunnel that exploded. The pressure took the path of least resistance and came down the exhaust pipes to damage the engines and room equipment. The staff was split up into two shifts to repair, re manufacture parts and clean and clean again the engine room.

-Dave Connolly

 

[I was] one of the first newspaper photographers [underground], I photographed the underground site back in the late 50s when it was "a hole in the ground"...very exciting.

-Dave Palangio, former Nugget Chief Photographer

 

I was the electrical supervisor for this complex 2003-2005 with 22 WCE. I recall how as a sort of initiation we would take new electricians tasked to assist with projects up those stairs down past the chillers that led maybe a hundred feet or so up eventually to a series of ladders and then eventually to a dead end. It was a long hike and took awhile, but it really brought home what an unusual place this was. We replaced the failing lamps with CFLs in 2004. Still no idea why those stairs exist or what may have been beyond the concrete cap at the end of them. Any ideas? The miners would occasionally play tricks on us by leaving a mannequin in the weirdest locations around dark corners. Always fun discovering one by flashlight when under the building or around some dark tunnel. Very interesting place to work.

-Kevin Payne

 

As a youngster, I recall stories told by my father who was employed for 20 years as a carpenter for the Construction Engineering section in charge of maintenance of this facility as well as the above ground infrastructure. He referred to the UGC as "the Sage" and that is was located below the water level of Trout Lake. You have to understand the imaginative mind of a youngster as I protrayed this place much like an oversized aquarium where you had panes of glass everywhere and you saw fish swimming by...lol. After returning from 8 years in the tarsands of Alberta and acquiring an interprovincial elect licence, I found myself registering at the local Manpower office for work and being referred up to the Base for a casual position. After 26 years and many hours spent in just about every crevice of this facility, I am still in awe of the engineering aspect of this complex and hope to see it utilized in some form for years to come.

-Bernie Morin

 

Fond memories of SAGE & ROCC, served 2 tours in North Bay 82 - 87 underground in the CE Elect Shop and 91 - 95 above & below as a Graphic Panel Operator & Elect Shop Supervisor. Still have my Honorary Member of The Brotherhood of Mushroomers in my Man cave.

-Frank Kane