The following is extracted from the book “The DEW Line Story” produced by Western Electric Company in 1958.
1. SURVEYING
Mapping teams traveled more than 1,000,000 miles and reviewed more than 80,000 aerial photos as part of siting and mapping activities
2. PURCHASE ORDERS
More than 113,000 purchase orders were issued to 4650 supplier companies in the US and Canada as follows (orders total amounts):
- U.S. 47,137: $148,849,000
- Canada 66,295: $198,151,000.
3. MATERIAL TRANSPORTED
- By Aircraft: 140,400 tons.
- By Naval Convoy: 281,600 tons.
- By Cat Train: 17,600 tons.
- By Barge: 20,300 tons.
Total Tonnage: 459,900 Tons.
4. PETROLEUM FUELS, OILS and LUBRICANTS
75,000,000 gallons of petroleum products were shipped to the Line, enough to fill 9375 tank cars in a train 65 miles long. Some 43,000,000 gallons of this was shipped in 818,000 drums, which would connect New York to Pittsburgh with a two-foot wide pipe line.
5. AIRLIFT
This is the largest commercial airlift operation ever reported, with 45,000 commercial flights in 32 months delivering 120,300 tons over an average distance of 720 miles per flight. Involved were some 50 Canadian and 31 U.S. commercial airlines.
6. CONSTRUCTION
Gravel produced was more than 9,600,000 cubic yards, enough to build two replicas of the Great Pyramid or a road 18 feet wide and one foot thick from Jacksonville Florida to San Diego California.
Airstrips in the Arctic covered 26,700,000 square feet, or 625 acres. 46,000 tons of steel were used – more than enough for a USS Forrestal. 1800 piles were sunk an average depth of 12 feet into permafrost. Generating capacity of power generation equipment installed is 155,000 kilowatts per day – enough to supply a city the size of Spokane Washington.
7. PERSONNEL
If all 4650 suppliers employed as few as 350 people each a total of over 1,600,000 people worked on DEW Line products. Three construction companies used a total of more than 20,000 people in two and one half years on direct work. Peak numbers actually inside the Arctic at any one time was about 7500 men.
8. MISCELLANEOUS
22,000 tons of food was shipped in 1,000,000 containers in 32 months; 12 acres of bed sheets; 6 acres of rugs; 3 miles of window shades; 100,000 copies of 600 different manuals prepared to cover operation and maintenance of the line.