This much is certain: you can’t find a decent taco anywhere in Alert.
LIFE IN A NORTHERN TOWN
Alert is a community that sits almost literally at the top of the world. It’s a research facility on the northern tip of Ellesmere Island in Nunavut, and it’s just a hop, skip and jump away from the North Pole. (Okay, it’s 508 miles.) Alert’s main claim to fame is that its the northernmost permanent settlement in the world.
After the end of World War II, both the United States and Canada developed an interest in funding a network of stations in the Arctic that could serve as transportation and communications hubs while also facilitating scientific research projects. As part of their efforts, construction began on a joint U.S./Canada weather station named “Alert,” which opened on Easter Sunday in 1950.
A crew had hoped to break ground, er, tundra a year prior but a harsh spring and unfavorable ice conditions kept ships from sailing any further north than Resolute Bay. Alert’s first weather report was finally sent out on July 1st. (The facility’s namesake: The HMS Alert, a British navy schooner that wintered in nearby Cape Sheridan in 1875.) Sadly, that same year, nine members of the Royal Canadian Air Force died in a plane crash while attempting to drop supplies nearby. It was just the first of two major tragedies that have befallen the facility.
THE REALLY, REALLY COLD WAR
In 1958, as Cold War tensions festered, the army took an interest in Alert. They were also eager to maintain the country’s sovereignty over the region. Alert quickly expanded into a military outpost, but, no doubt due to its extremely isolated location, it was never a focal point for espionage or any international intrigue involving the Soviet Union.
The most exciting things that happened in Alert during the remainder of the Cold War:
• In 1964, a Norwegian daredevil named Bjorn Staib tried to reach the North Pole, using Alert as his staging area. His expedition failed.
Ghost rider: A phantom motorcyclist supposedly haunts Scugog Island in Ontario.
• This wouldn’t be an Uncle John book if we didn’t note that, in 1965, Alert got its first flush toilets.
• A year-round team arrived in 1971 to monitor seismological readings and operate something called a “super-neutron monitor” for Atomic Energy of Canada, the nuclear science and tech company.
• In the early ‘70s, Italian businessman and adventurer Guido Mozino led 27 hearty souls out of Alert and towards the top of world to recreate Robert E. Peary’s fabled Arctic campaign.
• Japan’s Naomi Uemura passed through Alert before becoming the first person to reach the pole alone in 1978.
• On October 30th, 1991, a Canadian transport plane headed for the Alert research station crashed 19 miles short of the facility’s runway. Four people on board were killed instantly. It took rescue teams 30 hours to reach the survivors in the middle of a fierce blizzard. Of the 14 remaining souls that endured the storm only one of them, the pilot, perished. The disaster was later chronicled in the 1993 TV film Ordeal in the Arctic, starring Richard Chamberlain.
ON TOP OF THE WORLD
So what’s it like up there? Global warming be damned, snow covers the ground ten or more months out of the year and temperatures can reach as low as -40 degrees Fahrenheit in the wintertime. And the wind chill? It could freeze your skin in seconds. Going outside during the winter without heavy thermal gear and a lifeline is considered madness. However, the Arctic’s midnight sun keeps everything well lit from April through early September. Local wildlife, including wild foxes, hares, and wolves routinely pass through on their way to drink water at Dumbell Lake.
At its peak in the ‘80s, over 200 people lived in Alert. Over the years, the population has steadily declined as the facility becomes increasingly automated and as cutbacks take their toll. The Canadian government has outsourced many of the remaining positions to outside contractors in recent years. The facility itself is pretty drab, consisting entirely of unremarkable, warehouse-like buildings designed to endure all that frigid weather.
At its closest point, Greenland is only 10 miles (16 km) from Canada.
As boring as life up there might sound, those who venture to Alert keep themselves entertained. Employees traditionally add signs pointing to their hometowns, complete with the mileage, to a growing collection that greets visitors. A radio station and the occasional live concert also help keep things lively. “Ladies eat free,” according to a sign posted outside The Igloo Restaurant, Alert’s cafeteria. What’s on the menu? Pea soup, scallops, and “wild cod steaks.”
In 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited Alert during his campaign tour to promote continued Canadian sovereignty over its northernmost regions. On November 9th, 2009, the Olympic Torch also reached the facility during the relay for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
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CRAZY FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Football has been a part of Canadian sporting life since 1861. The Canadian Football League or CFL (sometimes called the Crazy Football League) is the oldest professional sport league in North America. Football has a long and interesting history in Canada, and by some accounts it is the second most popular sport after hockey.
Some facts:
• The championship Grey Cup trophy was stolen from Lansdowne Park in Ottawa and held for ransom for two months before being returned safely.
• The 1950 Grey Cup was called the Mud Bowl because the field was so wet—at one point fans literally thought a player was drowning on the field.
• The week before the 1939 Grey Cup in Toronto, the weather turned wet and then cold. To soften the rock-hard turf, the grounds crew decided to pour over 1,700 liters (400 gallons) of gasoline on the field and set it ablaze the day before the game.
After 20 years of promising, John Marillo of Windsor swam to Detroit after chugging eight beers (2013).