Canadian Civil Defence Museum’s Alsask Dome

Just inside Saskatchewan, no more than a hair’s-width away from the border with Alberta, there’s a curious structure. You can’t miss it, standing sentinel a bit to the north of the main highway between Calgary and Saskatoon. It’s massive, strange in form and dominates the view on a little rise above the surrounding prairie, evoking at minimum a double take from everyone who sees it. That requisite look of amazement is often followed by a “what the heck?!”

Fenced in by razor wire…what is…or was that? What purpose did is serve? These questions surely cross the minds of most on discovering this towering oddity. It’s military for sure, it must be old and seems completely out of place here among farmer’s fields. More puzzled looks and some head scratching. Looking for answers? Read on.

You’re looking at a radar dome put here to protect you and I and the “free” world (or minimally the US and ally Canada) from annihilation. A product of the Cold War and part of a massive line of defence built in anticipation of all out conflict, it’s a reminder of a frightening time. Not all that long ago in history everyone thought full on nuclear war was inevitable.

Canadian Civil Defence Museum’s Alsask Dome: a Cold War installation being preserved. Nuclear threat imminent with Chris Doering & Connie Biggart (BIGDoer/Synd)

Here’s the “CFS Alsask” Dome, built in response. It had a simple but important function: scan the skies for enemy (read: Soviet) aircraft and missiles. It was two hated foes, armed with nukes, facing off with Canada caught in the middle (over the Pole was the expected route). Two superpowers sparring and it’s little us (military wise) between it all. Imagine it!

Scroll down for photos and to comment.

Operating night and day, good weather or bad, it was part of the Pine Tree Line, a network of similar installations spanning the country and looking ever northward.

The dome dates from the early 1960s and was in use up until the latter half of the 1980s. Inside was a large rotating antenna (some of the mechanism remains) that kept watch. It’s protected from the elements by a structure made of interlocking fibreglass panels and looks very much as though an oversized golf ball. Underneath, in a two story steel structure, crews monitored activity and relayed data to the appropriate channels. These rooms are now all empty but once housed much gear. On spotting the enemy, a call would go out, fighter aircraft dispatched and preparations made to alert the probable target(s). Hey guys, hate to tell your this but…INCOMING! Duck and Cover! Kiss everything you know and love goodbye!

There used to be three domes on the property, but two were made redundant not all that long after being built and subsequently torn down. Changes in technology meant that what took many all could now be done by one. There’s no evidence on site showing they ever existed. For a period after closing the dome was used by NavCanada for general aviation monitoring, but that didn’t last long.

A short distance away there was a communications (GATR or Ground Air Transmit Receive) building. On the south wall a character taken from Pogo Comics, a gator paying homage to and painted by those who worked in this ancillary structure. Plain and utilitarian otherwise, the stuff inside requited a lot of cooling as evidenced by all the vents on the one wall. Land lines came by way of Alberta Government Telephones even though technically the Alsask Dome is in Saskatchewan. Old AGT signage marking underground cables speaks of this arrangement. That firm morphed into presented day Telus Communications in the 1990s

In support of the dome was a huge base, CFS Alsask, in the nearby town of the same name and home to hundreds of people needed to keep everything functioning. Some of the buildings from this operation remain and can be seen here: Canadian Forces Station Alsask.

The Pine Tree Line was one of three such parallel network of domes and the most southerly, the others being the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line in the far north (with some in the US and Greenland) and between the Mid-Canada Line. All have long since been decommissioned with most installations demolished. The CFS Alsask Dome is the last one left from the Pine Tree Line making it very historically significant.

Get a more detailed history of the dome from a previous visit, go here: CFS Alsask Dome.

While the dome’s is no longer needed and hasn’t been for some time, it’s interesting to note the threat has never completely vanished. Technology wise things have advanced far and keeping watch for the bad guys can be done more secretly.

The Cold War lasted from the 1940s-1990s, with the peak of tensions occurring in the 1950s-1970s period. It terrified a generation. Today, the probability of nuclear war doesn’t seem forefront in the general public’s mind. Maybe we’re all in denial and accept that once in motion nothing could stop the horror and we’re all done for anyway. Who wants to be the ones that lived? It’ll be a zombie apocalypse! Let me die quick!

Today the Dome is in the hands of the Canadian Civil Defence Museum who has been cleaning up the decades of pigeon poop and making the site available to tour. It’s a long hard job but they’re a dedicated bunch. Down the road it’s hoped to turn the building into a museum and interpretive centre with displays speaking of the Cold War back when it was operational. The Canadian Civil Defence Museum (and Archives) has website, here: CCDMA – Preserving Canadian Cold War History. Be sure to tell them we sent you and please offer up your love via a donation.

We’ve been fortunate to work with the group on a couple articles over the years. They have an old transit bus, which it’s planned will become a rolling mini-museum they can take to community events and such. Photographing it is on our to-do list.

The mindset of Canada during the Cold War, it’s participation and preparedness, is an unknown to most people which the CCDMA is working to change. It’s fascinating what went on. And they can tell you all about it should you pay the dome a visit or see them at some event.

In the future Team BIGDoer is planning to host intimate photo workshops at the CFS Alsask Dome. Schedule to be announced later. A donation to the Canadian Civil Defence Museum is all it’ll take for you to participate.

They’re saying…

“Love your pictures, comments, and articles. I would be sad to lose them. That said, I’m sure so much time goes into doing this, Wow! But I, for one, truly enjoy them.” Irene Storteboom.

From that crazy time…
Cold War Bunker Revisited.
In Event of Nucular Attack!

If you wish more information on what you’ve seen here, by all means contact us!

Date: April, 2019.
Location: Alsask, SK.
Article references and thanks: Canadian Civil Defence Museum, Fred Armbruster, Trent Holmes.

The CFS Alsask Dome is private property but tours can be arranged.

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Radar Dome Alsask

Inside the “Alsask” Dome.

Alsask SK Radar Dome

The machinery that spun the radar antenna.

Alsask SK Dome

Endless prairies near the Alberta/Saskatchewan border.

Alsask Saskatchewan Dome

A most amazing Cold War relic.

Alsask SK Radar Dome

Reminders of what was.

Radar Dome Alsask SK

Steel girders underneath.

CFS Alsask Dome

In support of the dome which is seen in the distance.

CFS Alsask Saskatchewan

Military plain and utilitarian.

GATR Building Alsask

On the walls of the “GATR” building.

Old AGT Sign

AGT has not existed for decades.

Canadian Civil Defence Museum

Property of the Canadian Civil Defence Museum.

Prairie Sunset Saskatchewan

Razor wire and some nice colours in the sky.

Canadian Civil Defence Museum Alsask Dome

This late night view.

CCDM Alsask Saskatchewan Dome

On select days you can tour the dome.

42 responses

  1. Linda Martine says:

    My dad went in nwt in 1964.

  2. Connie Biggart says:

    Great photos!

  3. Amber Misner says:

    This place is super neat. I read one of your blog posts about it some time ago to my husband and when he was working in the area he stopped to check it out.

  4. Candice MacDougall says:

    This dome can be seen from my family’s land. Just saw it on the weekend. Thanks for the article!

  5. Richard Graydon says:

    Drive by there often and always wondered what was left inside. Did you know there was a Cold War bunker at the train station in Big Valley?

    • No much inside really. And with all the pigeon poop gone (done not all that long ago), there’s even less. Still, that rotating antennae thingy is cool. While we knew some train stations had shelters underneath, we did not know that specifically about Big Valley’s. Interesting! Now let’s grab a shovel and see if it’s still there!

  6. Wendy Ogilvie-Meers says:

    We see that all the time.

  7. Phillip Hunt says:

    Wow, that’s so amazing.

  8. Jon Merz says:

    They may need to fire that thing up again.

    • With the US and Russians butting heads, you might be on to something. No, if the bombs were to drop, there’d be no hope anyway so why bother.

  9. Bill Moore says:

    I worked on that antenna when it was configured as an FPS 107 search radar, this photo shows it configured as an SIF antenna (selective identification feature) 🙂

  10. Six Feet Under says:

    This is the most amazing website. Photography that’s top notch and writing that engaging and compelling. I’d kill to visit the places you get into.

    • Aw shucks, we appreciate all the kind words. Thank you, thank you, thank you. We are so blessed to get all the places we do – even we’ll admit that.

  11. Paul Varro says:

    I always thought it was a giant golf ball…

  12. Allan McNeil says:

    I have drove by this many times

  13. Colleen Andrews says:

    Part of the DEW line.

    • Pine Tree Line actually. The DEW line was a similar network of installations but much further north. Pine Tree was the lowest. Between them was the Mid-Canada Line.

  14. Glen Bowe says:

    Is it still there? I thought it was being moved to a museum or something like that?

    • It’s in the hands of a museum group, the Canadian Civil Defence Museum (great guys), but there’s no plans to move it. They hope to fix it up and offer tours in the future.

  15. Steve Campbell says:

    Don’t quite understand why early warning radar sites are being abandoned or closed down

  16. Yvonne Barber says:

    My uncle was an Air Force Colonel there in the 70’s. I remember visiting, but don’t remember seeing this. Maybe he wasn’t allowed to show anyone then??

  17. Eric says:

    I like the shot of the dome with the razor wire in front.

    • Thank you! That’s the classic shot and is a reminder of just tight the security was at the dome back when it was operational. That stuff is incredibly sharp.

  18. Janusz says:

    Interesting! And nice dome long exposure stuff.

    • It is such a cool place. And thank you for liking what we do. I think we went thirty seconds for those shots which nicely softened the fast moving clouds.

  19. Jo Tennant says:

    It looks much like the dome along 36 St NE in Calgary – which I always understood was for weather – or was that just rumor?

  20. mfluhr says:

    I love radomes!

  21. I would be interested in seeing this beauty up close! Look forward to hearing more about it!

    • Maybe you’ll get the chance. If plans go well, we should be hosting a small evening photo workshop at the dome sometime soon. We’ll let you know when it happens.

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