Link to:
Photos & Coordinates | Sources
In the spring of 1962, at the height of the Cold War, the Canadian government began building a nation-wide Nuclear Detonation and Fallout Reporting System (NDFRS) to measure the pattern and intensity of radioactive fallout in the event of a nuclear explosion. A network of 2,000 small Fallout Reporting Posts, 200 of them distributed throughout Manitoba, would be constructed to take local fallout measurements. In Manitoba, results from each Fallout Reporting Post would be transmitted to Filter Centres located at the Pine Falls Armoury and Brandon Armoury where teams of women in the Canadian Women’s Army Corps would summarize and pass on the data to one of three Nuclear Detonation Reporting Posts (NUDET), located at RCAF Portage la Prairie and RCAF Gimli, and in the Great Falls Generating System. NUDETs would use the data to determine the location of the explosion and its fallout yield, and transmit this information to the Regional Emergency Government Headquarters (REGHQ) at Camp Shilo.
At least 100 of the 200 Fallout Reporting Posts in the Manitoba complement were constructed by mid-1962. Some were situated in railway stations, buildings belonging to federal and provincial offices, and RCMP detachment offices. Others in more remote locations were built underground to protect the operators from radiation. This post, designated as KE4, consisted of a 10-foot vertical metal tunnel that led down to a horizontal corrugated-metal cylinder, about 14 feet long and eight feet in diameter, that housed the radiation monitoring equipment, storage shelves for food, water, and other supplies, and beds for two people. The post, located on PR308 near a former forestry office in the Northwest Angle Provincial Forest, near the entrance to Moose Lake Provincial Park, was locked and welded shut at the time of an August 2020 site visit.
This Fallout Reporting Post was removed in November 2023 and moved to the Miami Railway Station Museum.
Entrance to Fallout Reporting Post KE4 (August 2020)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Interior of Fallout Reporting Post KE4 (May 2021)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Fallout Reporting Post KE4 being uncovered (November 2023)
Source: Gilles Messier
Fallout Reporting Post KE4 being loaded onto a trailer (November 2023)
Source: Gilles Messier
Fallout Reporting Post KE4 ready for transport to Miami (November 2023)
Source: Gilles Messier
Fallout Reporting Post KE4 at the Miami Railway Station Museum (March 2024)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Fallout Reporting Post KE4 at the Miami Railway Station Museum (March 2024)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.20370, W95.34926
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Canadian National Railway Station / Miami Railway Station Museum (Letain Street, Miami, RM of Thompson)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Fallout Reporting Post GH3 (Northern Manitoba)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Fallout Reporting Post HG1 (Northern Manitoba)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Fallout Reporting Post JG3 (Northern Manitoba)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Fallout Reporting Post KE4 (Northwest Angle Provincial Forest)
“Exercise planned to confirm fallout patterns,” Brandon Sun, 11 April 1962, page 3.
“100 fallout stations set in province,” Winnipeg Tribune, 23 July 1962, page 25.
“Fallout post still ‘voiceless’,” Winnipeg Free Press, 28 August 1962, page 3.
“Simple shelters? Monitoring radioactive fallout across Canada, 1959-63” by Andrew Burtch, Canadian Military History, Volume 20, Number 4, Autumn 2011, pages 49-62.
We thank Kelly Barnert-Loewen, Mike Hameluck, and Gilles Messier for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 6 March 2024
Historic Sites of Manitoba
This is a collection of historic sites in Manitoba compiled by the Manitoba Historical Society. The information is offered for historical interest only.
Browse lists of:
Museums/Archives | Buildings | Monuments | Cemeteries | Locations | OtherInclusion in this collection does not confer special status or protection. Official heritage designation may only come from municipal, provincial, or federal governments. Some sites are on private property and permission to visit must be secured from the owner.
Site information is provided by the Manitoba Historical Society as a free public service only for non-commercial purposes.
Send corrections and additions to this page
to the MHS Webmaster at webmaster@mhs.mb.ca.Help us keep history alive!
