Radium Scout
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The Radium Scout is a tugboat that was operated on the Mackenzie River system by Northern Transportation Company.[1] She was built in Edmonton, in 1946, by the Standard Iron and Engineering Works. Then, as was typical of vessels built for the Mackenzie River system, she was then partially disassembled into load that could fit on flatcars, and shipped, by rail, to Waterways, Alberta (now part of Fort McMurray). The river port at Waterways was then the northernmost extent of the North American rail grid. At Waterways she was reassembled, and launched onto the Clearwater River.
She was in use until 1976, mainly on the Athabasca River and Clearwater River.[1]
The Northern Transportation Company was informally known as "the Radium Line" for two reasons. First, the most important cargo carried by the line was Uranium ore, mined in remote Port Radium, on Great Bear Lake - the primary source of the Uranium used to build the atomic bombs by the Manhattan Project. Second over half the names of the line's fleet started with "Radium"', including the Radium Queen, Radium Scout, Radium Yellowknife, Radium Charles, Radium King, Radium Express, Radium Cruiser, Radium Prince, Radium Lad, Radium Gilbert, Radium Franklin, Radium Dew, Radium Miner, Radium Prospector, Radium Trader[2][3]
In 2005 the Atomic Energy Canada published a stody on the toxic legacy of the mining of radioactive ore at Port Radium.[4] It said that the Radium Scout and all other surviving vessels, with the exception of the Radium Gilbert, were uncontaminated.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "The Radium Scout". Fort McMurray Heritage Society. https://www.flickr.com/photos/woodhead/30661479192/. Retrieved 2023-05-31.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 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)."
- ↑ "Status Report for the Historic Northern Transportation Route redacted colour". Atomic Energy of Canada: p. 86. December 2005. https://www.andra.fr/dvd_radium/pdfs/Status%20Report%20for%20the%20Historic%20Northern%20Transportation%20Route%20redacted%20colour.pdf#page=88. Retrieved 2018-01-13. "Ships were used along the NTR to move barges loaded with uranium ore and concentrates (among other materials and supplies). Some vessels also transported cargo on board. Fifteen Radium Series vessels used along the NTR were identified in SENES (1994). Three were determined to have been scrapped, and the disposition of one, the Radium Cruiser, was unknown. Radiological investigations were conducted on the other eleven vessels. Only one, the Radium Gilbert, showed any evidence of contamination."
