About the Museum

The museum's purpose is to provide information for non-DEWLiners, Cold War historians, and others who want to learn more about the Distant Early Warning Radar Line (DEWLine). From 1957-93, the DEWLine served as an electronic barrier, or eyes in the sky, between the two major Cold War antagonists, the USSR and the United States. Start your journey by clicking on any of the photo icons below.
Constuction

Constuction

It only took 32 months to build the DEWLine. Only those associated with this massive construction project know the extent of the difficulties involved, the hardships endured, and the intense effort required to build this surveillance system in so short a time.

Operations

Operations

The radar consoles at all of the DEWLine's 33 stations across the Arctic were manned 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, for 36 years, without fail. The operation and maintenance of the equipment and the site itself was a constant challenge.

Clean-up

Clean-up

Thousands upon thousands of 55-gallon fuel drums scattered across the Arctic tundra. Open dumps full of debris. Hazardous waste left in the open. Vehicles left to rust away in the Arctic wilderness. How could this have happened? Why did it happen?

Video Gallery

Video Gallery

Here are over forty YouTube videos about to the DEWLine. Some are long and some short, but all will be of interest to visitors seeking more information on the DEWLine. So, go get your popcorn and enjoy the movies.

Photo Galleries

Photo Galleries

We are using Flickr to hold our collections of photo galleries. Many of the galleries are personal photos from DEWLiners while other galleries are theme based. Enjoy.

Resource Library

Resource Library

We have attempted to create a central repository for documents, links to appropriate websites, and other resource material of interest to visitors who want to expand their knowledge of the DEWLine.

DEWLine Aboriginals

DEWLine Aboriginals

The Inuit where involved from the early construction days, through all the operational years, and into the clean-up phase. The DEWLine was just one of the many influences, both good and bad, that has impacted the Inuit culture.

The Museum Project

The Museum Project

We are a “virtual” museum by necessity because we have so few artefacts to exhibit. However, we are working with “The Diefenbunker, Canada’s Cold War Museum” to create a “physical” space to possibly display what few artefacts we do have. Learn more about that project.

The iconic, 90 foot tall, tropospheric scatter antennas located at FOX-Main (Hall Beach).

33 Radar Stations stretching across 3600 miles of some of the most desolate and coldest land on earth.

A map of North America near the Arctic Circle showing 30 radar sites spread out along the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line. Running from Alaska, across Northern Canada to Greenland, the line is approximately 3,600 miles long.

Typical DEWLine Stations

There were two types of stations, Main and Auxiliary. The sites were placed approximately 100 miles (160 KM) apart, along the 69th parallel about 200 miles inside the Arctic circle.

Originally, there was a third type of station called an Intermediate site (I-Site), located midway between each of the Main and Aux sites, and would have been home for about 5-people. The 28 I-Sites proved ineffective and were abandoned in 1963.

Main Site

There were six main sites. They were comprised of two parallel module trains connected by an overhead bridge. A typical Main Site would have a population of 40-70 people depending upon the season.

Auxiliary Site

There were 23 Aux-sites. They consisted of a single module train about 400 feet long by 25 feet wide and would have been home to about 14-20 people.

Meet our virtual team

We're all a little long in the tooth now (i.e. Old!) but we all share a common passion for all things DEWLine. The saying "Once a DEWLiner, always a DEWLiner" applies in spades to the team members.

Paul Casey

Project Lead & Artefact Scrounger

Paul served as the Safety Officer on the North Warning System, (the DEWLine’s successor), 2006-9, and NWS Project/Site Manager from 2012 to present. He is constantly bringing back "treasures" from the Line. Paul also heads up our project of working with the "Diefenbunker, Canada's Cold War Museum," to establish a physical museum presence.

Paul Kelley

Content Advisor

Paul served on the DEWLine as a Crypto Radician from Feb 1961 to May 1962. Paul is a prodigious writer with an eye for detail and a way with words. Many of his Arctic adventures appear in the War Stories section of Larry Wilson's Omnibus website. You can read some of Paul's stories by clicking on the globe icon below.

Send us an email.

Looking for more information? Have a question about the DEWLine? Have a story or artefact to contribute? Ask away and we'll do our best to help.

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