The Early Days
My wife (Liselotte) and I arrived in Pagwa in mid April 1953 and we spent a total of 14 months at this location, departing in mid June of 1954. It is somewhat ironic to recall that we moved to Pagwa from Armstrong Ontario where there was a radar station being constructed and eventually manned by USAF personnel. Barnett-McQueen from Fort William (with Port Arthur - now known as Thunder Bay) was the primary contractor for both Armstrong and Pagwa. I worked in Armstrong for three months before being transferred to Pagwa. The Project Engineer in Armstrong had been Tony Inderwick who eventually assumed the responsibility for Pagwa and I became his assistant.
Initially, my official designation was "building inspector" with the Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) during my tour in Pagwa. I had daily contact with Armstrong via a teletype machine and there was a myriad of tasks to keep me out of mischief for most of each day. Part way through my tenure I became employed by Defence Construction (1951) Ltd. (DCL) along with all of my colleagues.
The base was functioning when we arrived in April 1953 and one last orgy of building was expected to happen within the coming three months in order to have it fully operational. Presumably the "temporary construction buildings were retained as a result but 15 months were to elapse before the work was finally completed and in that time attitudes changed and uses for them were envisaged. Heat and electricity had never been disconnected so they could easily have been mustered in as temporary accommodation.
We inherited a "house" in Pagwa which had originally been built for the project engineer. After looking at an aerial photo on your web site, it appears that some temporary construction buildings were retained within the perimeter fence and I recall them as the office building which used to house the permanent CMHC staff and two bunkhouses which were used for transit worker accommodation. The long low cookhouse might have also survived along with our "house" (only a tar papered shack really) just to the west of that in which we lived during our 14 month stay in Pagwa.
Trapping for beaver had been the primary activity of the Pagwa River Village Cree community, all of whom carried the odor of the curing process which was then done beside the fire in the centre of the house; the smoke escaping through an opening in the roof. However the arrival first of the construction outfits, followed by the permanent USAF presence was having its’ negative effect and the younger community members saw less incentive in the maintaining of trap lines entailing several months away from home during the harsh winter when the pelts were at their best. Hudson’s Bay had the exclusive trading rights and each cured pelt fetched the trapper only $2.00 each; it being a pittance compared to the $3.00 plus per hour as the going rate for laborers. One other honest work deterrent was the location of the USAF garbage dump beside the river which yielded quite a harvest of good used clothing as well as lots of edible food waste.
I do not recall the exact numbers but I believe that there were about 150 USAF personnel already installed when we arrived. There were DOT families, Erikson with his wife and three daughters; Greenwood the Hudson’s Bay Store manager with his wife and child; as well as a number of USAF family dependents living in their house trailers. Aside from the Hudson’s Bay store, Erikson had a General Store. It’s prices would have been more competitive with Hudson’s Bay if CNR rail freight charges no longer burdened the cost of his goods. To this end he invested in a small bulldozer and started cutting a road through from Savoff to Highway #11. Savoff had been named after an officer in the Tsar’s Army who had chosen to try an enterprise about 10 miles east of Pagwa on the CNR line. There was only a surviving Speeder shelter there during our stay. Erikson never lacked for volunteers from the base to help in this project. The latest map I have of Ontario indicates the existence of a low quality road from Pagwa to Highway 11 - evidently then Erikson’s pioneer work had borne fruit.
Movies were shown every evening in the various messes to which we had free access and there was considerable social life in which we participated. We had PX privileges, and being a smoker in those days, the 9 cents a pack of Pall Mall had a much greater appeal than the 31 cents a pack of Players. Short cross country hikes on skis or snowshoes was a favorite winter pastime.
The once a week train arrival from Hearst was a great event as well as it’s return trip from Nakina the next day, that is when heavy snows never interfered, once it was three days late. VIP’s visited periodically, the highest ranking being an RCAF Group Captain. The DC3 which landed him on the icy DOT strip came to an abrupt stop after a skid and disgruntled orderly room clerks were detailed to 24 hour guard duty in sub zero weather for the week or so it took to make the repairs before it could fly out again.
Conversation was usually a lively affair with most being World War II veterans. I recall the Quartermaster, a Sergeant Brown. He was an American who not only served with the RCAF in World War II and wore it’s Wings with pride, but he had also hired out as a pilot during the Spanish Civil War.
We had a dog named Noodle - but on occasion our pack numbered as many as six. Most of these belonged to the fur trappers in the village who used them to pull sleds during the season. The dogs were then allowed to roam free during the summer months. There was nothing formal about our association - we just sort of came together and their presence during our cross country hikes probably helped in keeping bears, moose and such away. Wildlife abounded hereabouts and we were happy when a terrified bear tried unsuccessfully to gain access to our house early one dark winter morning having been detected by the Americans who were giving chase on foot and in vehicles - all trigger happy and armed to the teeth.
I never detected any real esprit among the USAF personnel, most of whom regarded Pagwa as being at the end of the world. Some enterprising family men had established their wives in house trailers, two of which were inside the perimeter fence; children were significantly absent because of inadequate schooling facilities, with the exception of (Provost) Sgt. Muir whose young son and daughter were still under school age. Racial discrimination might have been a factor as there was a school in the village attended by the local Cree. The system had inadvertently stationed a young colored airman there who was subsequently segregated and eventually relocated back to the US.
My wife’s vocabulary did not have the word "boredom" in it. Her many and varied talents gave her enough to do. She excelled at making clothing for both of us during our tour in Pagwa.
We visited Pagwa several months after our departure in June 1954, but both the cookhouse and our house which were outside the perimeter were then slated for demolition. A senior NCO and his family were in our old house and we were gratified to hear that the flower garden my wife had worked on in the front just prior to our departure was then a blaze of colour from the flower seeds she had planted which had been richly nourished in the muskeg we had spread there.
This detail was provided by Bill Steers for use on the Pinetree Line web site, in December 1998.