I have and item saved from the
Legion Magazine of June/July 1944. The Canol - the word stands
forCanadian Oil - pipeline was an American effort to ensure
the safety of their oil supply to Alaska following the Japanese
occupation of the Aluetian Islands. It was ultimately abandoned
in 1945 andshut down the next year, after costs of between $133
and $144 million dollars had been incurred
by the American government. It was later declared a junkyard
of American stupidity, in part due to work of inferior quality,
and was the subject of an investigation by the U.S. special
committee known as the Truman Committee. More than 10,500 US
military and several thousand civilians had worked on the pipeline.
But the ugly scars of the project remained strewn along the
Mackenzie Valley. They used 4-inch pipe, very small.
Royal Canadian Signals at that time were using "long wave"
frequencies - around 200 KHz. It was very dependable and clear
in winter but subject to very heavy static crashes in summer.
The American Signals unit had only high frequency (HF) and they
frequently brought us traffic that they could not clear.
The enlisted people that the US Army brought in to work on the
project were black, with white officers. They lived in tents
and the camp near Ft. Smith in 1943 was named Camp Lac Noo Kye.
