Fox Harbour, Labrador

The End: Closure and Dismantling

The American manned Gap Filler radar station at Fox Harbour was officially closed on 28 June 1961.

I think that the people of the town were disappointed when the site closed as it provided many things for the town when at that time in our history the people had very little of anything. During its operation there were only a couple of local people employed there as janitors. The power plant operators were from Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and other parts of Canada.

I have many fond memories of going to the site to the movies, the Christmas parties and gifts and the activity associated with the operation of the place, planes and ships arriving, etc. Some people thought that the buildings should have been left and used for some other purpose. Ironically in 1982 the Canadian Coastguard came to Fox Harbour and constructed a multi-million dollar Loran-C site in a self contained building, similar to what the Americans had on the hill, only about 2 kilometers away.

The American military had dismantled their radar and communications equipment and departed from the Gap Filler complex. There was a caretaker, George Poole (deceased 27 December 1994 at age 83), who had keys to the buildings after they were vacated but George only completed periodic checks. I would guess that he would have walked to the site for his checks as he lived just across the harbour about a mile or so from the site. To the best of my memory, there was no pilfering of any of the property. Most of the furniture was sold locally or given away - I'm not sure now. The road up the hill was not cleared during the winters after the Americans left and the buildings were all left unheated.

The buildings were eventually sold to a contractor by the name of Power who in turn subsequently sold everything to the International Grenfell Association.

When the International Grenfell Association (IGA) people arrived in 1964 they cranked up the generators and turned on the power. It was good to see the lights on again, if only for a few days. IGA came in the fall of 1964 and took the movables from the buildings and in the spring of 1965 they came in with a truck and hired some locals, including myself, to dismantle everything. There were 8-10 men on the project and the job was finished by the end of September, except for the steel framing. Once dismantled, everything was shipped to St. Anthony but the steel framing was left there for another year and was taken down during the fall of 1966. I guess you could say that by the fall of 1966 there was very little to remind you that a radar station had once existed at Fox Harbour.

The generators were moved to Flower's Cove in Newfoundland and Lanse au Loup in Labrador. The large fuel tank on the hill eventually imploded and collapsed. Pieces were removed from time to time by people looking for steel. The fuel tank at the bottom of the hill still stands.

The road up the hill is still passable and the CBC have a tower located there for radio and television. The Coast Guard maintains a tower on the hill for marine radio communications. The St. Lewis Heritage Society have erected a viewing platform near the new memorial plaque on the hill. There is also a walking trail from the old radar site towards the sea.

I live at 2 Airport Road in St. Lewis. When Drake-Merritt had their construction camp at Fox Harbour back in 1955-1956 they had a large garage right on the spot where my house is at now. I purchased this land from the Province in 1979. Our population is about 300 and most of the town depend on the snow crab plant and in fishing for the crab for its livelihood. There are some jobs with Coastguard, DFO and the services i.e. clinic, post office, school, power plant, stores, etc. I enjoy living here with the changing seasons, our unspoiled countryside, clean air and water and very little crime.