Radium Line
The Northern Transportation Line -- also known as "the Radium Line" -- is shipping company that operated a fleet of tugs and barges on the Mackenzie River and its tributaries, and the Beaufort Sea and Canada's Arctic Archipelago.[1][2] The line was a subsuidiary of the Eldorado Mining and Refining Company. It was known locally as "the Radium Line" because many of its vessels included "Radium" in their names. The fleet has included the
- Radium Queen, 330 h.p.[1]
- Radium Scout, 136 h.p.[1]
- Clearwater, 270 h.p.[1]
- Radium Yellowknife, 1330 h.p.[1]
- Radium Charles, 1200 h.p.[1]
- Radium King, 800 h.p.[1]
- Slave, 270 h.p.[1]
- Peace, 270 h.p.[1]
- Radium Express, 240 h.p.[1]
- Radium Cruiser, 136 h.p.[1]
- George Askew, 135 h.p.[1]
- Radium Prince, 240 h.p.[1]
- Radium Lad, 120 h.p.[1]
- Radium Gilbert, 480 h.p.[1]
- Great Bear 240 h.p.[1]
- Radium Franklin[2]
- Radium Dew[2]
- Radium Miner[2]
- Radium Prospector[2]
- Radium Trader[2]
- Angus Sherwood[3]
- Kelly Hall[3]
- Knut Lang[3]
- Vic Ingraham[3]
- Johnny Hope[3]
- NT Marjory[3]
- Keewatin (tug)[3]
- The Lister[3]
One of its early, lucrative, ports of call was the now abandoned Port Radium, at the western end of Great Bear Lake.[1] Port Radium was the source of much of the Uranium ore used to build the first atomic bombs during World War 2.
Navigation on the Mackenzie River is difficult.[1] The ice didn't melt until well into June, and started to freeze in October. Currents on the Mackenzie averaged four to five miles per hour. The Great Bear River, the tributary that drained Great Bear Lake averaged nine miles per hour. Further, some segments of the rivers were shallow, so all the vessels were built with shallow draft. Even so sometimes the vessels needed the assistance of tractors for tows over sandbars.[4]
The North American railway grid used to extend to Waterways, Alberta, a river port where the Clearwater River emptied into Lake Athabasca. Lake Athabasca drained into Great Slave Lake, through the Slave River. Most of the Slave River was navigable, except for one section that required a long portage. Goods had to be unloaded from railcars, at Waterways, and loaded on barges, where the Radium Queen, Radium Scout or Clearwater towed them to Fort Smith, NWT, just upstream from the rapids that required the portage. The rest of the fleet serviced the rest of the River.
In 1962 the railway was extended to the river port of Hay River, NWT, at the mouth of the Hay River, on Great Slave Lake, eliminating the need for the portage and the unloading and reloading of barges.
In 2016 Northern Transportation ceased operations, and the Government of the Northwest Territories acquired some of its assets, including port facilities at Hay River, Inuvik and Tuktoyatuk, and some of the firms fleet of tugs and barges.[5] Those assets were acquired for a modest $7.5 million.
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 B.T.R. (1948-09-09). "Freighting to the Northland". Saskatoon Star-Phoenix. p. 13. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=uZRjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=UnoNAAAAIBAJ&pg=1515,786523&dq=radium-yellowknife&hl=en. Retrieved 2012-09-05.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Peter van Wyck (2010). Highway of the Atom. McGill-Queen's Press. ISBN 9780773581401. http://books.google.ca/books?id=g40M-x-__uQC&pg=PT47&dq=%22Radium+Prospector%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=oWm8UPaQHIakyQG2mYDgDw&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAA. Retrieved 2012-12-03. "By 1936 Eldorado had purchased Northern Transportation, and successive boats were commissioned to service sections of the Highway: the Radium King (1937), the Radium Queen (1937), the Radium Lad (1937), the Radium Gilbert (1946), Radium Charles (1947), Radium Yellowknife (1948), Radium Franklin (1951), Radium Dew (1955), Radium Miner (1956), Radium Prospector (1956), and Radium Trader (1956)."
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 "Commercial Tugs (> 50 ft.) Built in Canada Since WWII". Shipbuilding history. Archived from the original on 2023-03-22. https://web.archive.org/web/20230322170647/http://shipbuildinghistory.com/canadaships/tugs.htm. Retrieved 2023-07-25.
- ↑ "Company Fleet Tied Up: Winter's Rush In North Halts Water Shipment". Edmonton Journal. 1949-10-24. p. 13. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=CyJlAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-4cNAAAAIBAJ&pg=1258,7731330&dq=radium-express&hl=en. Retrieved 2012-09-06. "The Slave and Peace encountered considerable slush ice on the last two days of their voyage to base and, due to low water, experienced difficulty going over sand bars. At one point, about a mile from destination, the ships had to be pulled over sand bars by tractor."
- ↑ Gabriela Panza-Beltrandi (2016-12-16). "GNWT purchases barges, other assets from NTCL for $7.5 M". My True North Now. Archived from the original on 2023-07-25. https://web.archive.org/web/20230725234134/https://www.mytruenorthnow.com/19164/news/gnwt-purchases-barges-other-assets-from-ntcl-for-7-5-m/. Retrieved 2023-07-26. "Over the past decade, NTCL’s business has declined. After running into financial trouble, the company informed the territorial government earlier this year that they would be discontinuing their business with them."
