They built 'em tough in those days . . .

Having dismissed the current housing 'revival' in the previous post, let's pay tribute to those who built - and still build - under much more difficult conditions than most of us could ever dream of.  Vintage Wings of Canada has put up the account of Kelly Bridge, who built an airfield in the Arctic Circle with just three men and a bulldozer back in 1956.  It's a tale of hard work, privation and determination.  Here's an excerpt.

IIOC engaged The Tower Company Ltd. of Montréal, to find a suitable runway location at Hopes Advance Bay. To that end, the Tower Company shipped construction equipment, two prefabricated buildings, food, fuel and supplies from Montréal to Ungava Bay.

Those supplies were offloaded above high water mark at Hopes Advance Bay and stored through the 1955-56 winter for use the following spring and summer. During the summer of 1956, a crew from Montreal would fly in to erect the buildings and construct the runway.

In early June, 1956, I returned for my third summer with the Tower Company and learned of my assignment to build the runway at Hopes Advance Bay. Not a bad deal for an engineering student just turned twenty-one.

In the office, I carefully reviewed the inventory of supplies and equipment offloaded the previous summer at Hopes Advance Bay. Once there the only feasible way to receive additional supplies before completing the runway would be by seaplane. Iffy at best, since Hopes Advance Bay’s thirty foot tide is one of the highest in the world. Landing a float plane on a nearby lake and then hauling a deliveries overland across the tundra on a skid pulled by a bulldozer was possible but impractical.

If we didn’t complete the runway during the summer and early fall, the thawed surface layer of frozen ground (the “active layer”) would refreeze and earth-moving would be impossible. We wouldn’t be able to fly out from the incomplete runway and would be marooned until the nearby lakes froze sufficiently to enable a ski-plane to land on the ice to lift us out. Not a happy prospect.

Summers are short in the sub-Arctic but summer days are long. So, in order to complete the runway before winter returned we worked long hours. Very long hours. This meant selecting an experienced and multi-skilled crew.

Interestingly, I only required a crew of three aside from myself. My cook was also a carpenter. The carpenter and I doubled as electricians. My bulldozer operator, a jack of all trades, knew how to erect the two 20’ by 40’ panelized buildings. As ringmaster, I could drive the dozer, supervise the crew erecting the buildings, set up the generator and wire the buildings.

There's more at the link, as well as many more photographs.  Recommended reading.

I wonder how many 21-year-old engineering students would be prepared to tackle that as a summer job today, particularly serving as jack-of-all-trades and with only three assistants?  Yeah, I know . . .

Peter