Operation Ennadai 1

Library and Archives Canada: 16mm, VHS.
"This film details the operation of the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps who along with the United States Army Transportation Corps successfully transported 256 tons of construction materials and other supplies from Fort Churchill to Ennadai Lake, a distance of 470 miles. The journey, completed in the winter of 1948/1949, established a signal station at Ennadai Lake and achieved a secondary objective of training army personnel under arctic conditions. The journey is covered in detail from start to finish including: preliminary preparations at Fort Churchill; eight day loading of 125 tons of equipment; problems encountered en route (70 mile detour to find thick ice, cracked fuel line, severe cold endangering soldiers in open cabin tractors, heavy snow drifts, broken sled roller on main sleigh, sleighs stuck in snow); periodic deliveries of clean clothes, mail and other supplies flown in by RCAF Norseman aircraft and RCAF Lancaster; establishment of camp at Ennadai Lake; return journey to Fort Churchill. The operation demonstrated that tractor trains can cover northern terrain and that heavy loads can be moved long distances successfully. Specific recommendations for future such journeys are also detailed. The operation travelled the following route: South along Churchill River, up the fringe of Hudson Bay to Seal River, across Button Bay to North River Indian Settlement, on to Duck Lake, Nueltin Lake and finally Ennadai. Maps are used throughout to illustrate the route taken with the use of animated arrows."