They could really build geodesic domes in those days. Most of the abandoned domes are intact, after half a century, unmaintained, in an Arctic climate. They're aluminum frames with Fiberglas panels.

Geodesic domes were taken over by the "natural materials" people in the 1960s and 1970s. This doesn't work. Geodesic domes need standard manufactured components built to tight tolerances. Then they just bolt together. Domes built with wood and shingles do not work very well.[1]

Google proposed to build a big geodesic dome for their HQ in Mountain View. It probably would have been better than what they did build, which looks like some kind of sports arena.

[1] https://www.domerama.com/dome-basics/domebook-1-2/

Got to play around on a White Alice (?) station near Homer, Alaska maybe 40 years ago or so. It was an abandoned station on Ohlson Mountain (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohlson_Mountain_Air_Force_Stat...).

There was a huge dish pointing straight up. A friend and I walked around on the dish. There was a very small compartment more or less where the elevation axis was. The slightly creepy feeling I might get stuck in it kept me from going in but my friend did.

Another large structure was likely a transmitter. A large surface with a grid of smaller antennas covering one side.

Most cool to me though were the rooms with 6 foot high panels with all manner of analog meters, switches, lights.... Nothing worked of course, most everything was smashed. I wish now that I had brought some tools and removed as many of the components as I could.

My overall impression was a kind of wonderment that so much money and effort would be expended by the U.S. government to watch for Soviet aircraft/missiles. So much equipment built, foundations poured, cinder blocks stacked...

And then I suppose sophisticated satellites made it all obsolete.

Eventual replacement:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Warning_System

An upgrade was recently announced with a collaboration with Australia:

* https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/canada-early-warning-de...

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jindalee_Operational_Radar_Net...

Reminds me of when we used to drive past a Pinetree Line station every summer on the way to visit my grandparents.

Great site. The DYE-2 and DYE-3 stations built on the glacier that they just abandoned remind me of something you'd see in a post apocalyptic movie or game.

This video shows some explorers looking around inside. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMTTjVIMWoE

My other favorite Cold War site is Safeguard, a 70's era anti-ballistic missile system that cost six billion and was only operational for six months. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_R._Mickelsen_Safeguard...

I think the most impressive part about these sites was the way they networked them together with UHF/Microwave Troposcatter links, which basically just scream RF into the sky and then listen for the small amount of energy that's reflected off the troposphere on the other end. (It's a little more complex than that)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropospheric_scatter

This method was the back-bone of long distance Cold War communications links (As well as HF using ionospheric propagation) until Satellites started becoming more commonplace in the 70's