Simulating the Canol Project
Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2011 6:27 pm
I was looking at the map of Canada, wondering about a "railroad to nowhere" NW out of Winnipeg? I found Fort MacMurray.
Interesting in its own right, it was the first successful shale oil facility in the world. [Even the surface tar sands were used in
antiquity by Cree natives to waterproof their canoes] The first successful oil separation process dates from here in the 1920s.
It is modest in scale, but was useful during WWII - and again today. I simulated it with a combination of oil wells and oil
refinery plants - small in number.
Reading about the place, I found it was the logistic jump off point for the CANOL project. I knew vaguely about it - but decided
to study it a bit. CANOL was a deep secret in WWII - even from those building it! Even a good guess - build an oil pipeline from
near Great Bear Lake (where Camp CANOL was located - was rejected - who might want such a thing? A pipeline to nowhere?
The idea was that "he who controls Alaska controls the world" - and if you are air minded - it is not a bad axiom. Alaska
is equal distant from Japan - Europe - the US Gulf Coast and US East Coast - and even closer to the US West Coast and Midwest.
It is the air hub of the world in air cargo terms - the global hubs for FEX and its arch rival are in Anchorage - and the USPS has
hitched a ride on that platform (instead of building its own hubs and running its own fleet of aircraft). More immediately -
if someone seized the coast - they could threaten places like Seattle - the biggest aircraft plant in the world was at Renton at the
bottom of Lake Washington - with air strikes. And cut off any logistics headed to Allied units in the area across the Gulf of Alaska.
So the ALCAN was to be built. But modern war needs fuel - and a road - even after it was upgraded - would be maxed out without
the need to send fuel trucks along it. So an interior pipeline was sought - from a nearby and unneeded oilfield. Up by Great Bear Lake
is just such an oilfield - but the route West is impossible - worse than the ALCAN route - and wholly unsurveyed. Never mind, the
decision was made to do it - and in six months!
The story is long and epical. But in 20 months they got it done. Oil from CANOL to Whitehorse. An entire refinery was built there -
bought in Texas so it need not be built - and secondary lines used to send fuels to Fairbanks, to Skagway and to points South
along the ALCAN (so you could fuel planes and trucks). Originally 2, 3 and 4 inch pipe was laid - but eventually (I have photographic
evidence) eight inch pipe was used - and it is STILL used - the main USAF source of fuels in Alaska.
How to simulate it?
While a sort of pioneer trail was built - the significance of the route was efficient movement of oil and fuels. Trails don't do that. RR and roads
move everything.
I decided - put the refinery at Whitehorse - but damaged. ONLY IF supplies are sent and it is repaird - will it appear there in useful form.
Then I decided - do the same for oil wells. The wells simulate the end of the pipeline - where the oil appears - rather than where the wells really
are. Again - ONLY IF supplies are moved there and the facilities are repaired will they begin to make fuel and supply points at Whitehorse.
From Whitehorse, the Whitehorse and Yukon RR simulates the extended pipeline to Skagway. And the ALCAN simulates the small pipelines
along it - particularly when upgraded to road.
The problem is timing. CANOL begins in June 1942 and takes until February 1943 to complete. Repair of the facilities at Whitehorse should not
be turned on early - and anyway - sans supplies - it will not happen. It takes time to move the supplies. If the Allies turn on repairs about
the start of 1943 it works perfectly. If they turn it on sooner it implies more of an effort. I am not too worried about it. In most games a small
amount of fuel and supplies at Whitehorse (in addition to what gets there by road and RR) isn't going to be a big deal. But it might be of value
in some situation - precisely those the project was built to address. If the enemy does not come - it does not matter if the Allies get a bit too much
fuel and supplies a bit too soon. If he does come - until he comes what came before does not matter much either. It is after he comes that it matters.
As with many things - Axis conquest early has lots of benefits - not least the Allies are not yet ready to deal with them in force in the area. This
is a general truth globally - and here we are adding yet another minor case - as chrome mostly.
Nevertheless - I have paid a lot of attention to all the map edges. The Allies are getting lots of things that make it harder if the enemy goes in that
direction - and also makes directions the enemy does not go become sources of supply for the map that are somewhat supplimental if there is a
big problem on the other ones.
Interesting in its own right, it was the first successful shale oil facility in the world. [Even the surface tar sands were used in
antiquity by Cree natives to waterproof their canoes] The first successful oil separation process dates from here in the 1920s.
It is modest in scale, but was useful during WWII - and again today. I simulated it with a combination of oil wells and oil
refinery plants - small in number.
Reading about the place, I found it was the logistic jump off point for the CANOL project. I knew vaguely about it - but decided
to study it a bit. CANOL was a deep secret in WWII - even from those building it! Even a good guess - build an oil pipeline from
near Great Bear Lake (where Camp CANOL was located - was rejected - who might want such a thing? A pipeline to nowhere?
The idea was that "he who controls Alaska controls the world" - and if you are air minded - it is not a bad axiom. Alaska
is equal distant from Japan - Europe - the US Gulf Coast and US East Coast - and even closer to the US West Coast and Midwest.
It is the air hub of the world in air cargo terms - the global hubs for FEX and its arch rival are in Anchorage - and the USPS has
hitched a ride on that platform (instead of building its own hubs and running its own fleet of aircraft). More immediately -
if someone seized the coast - they could threaten places like Seattle - the biggest aircraft plant in the world was at Renton at the
bottom of Lake Washington - with air strikes. And cut off any logistics headed to Allied units in the area across the Gulf of Alaska.
So the ALCAN was to be built. But modern war needs fuel - and a road - even after it was upgraded - would be maxed out without
the need to send fuel trucks along it. So an interior pipeline was sought - from a nearby and unneeded oilfield. Up by Great Bear Lake
is just such an oilfield - but the route West is impossible - worse than the ALCAN route - and wholly unsurveyed. Never mind, the
decision was made to do it - and in six months!
The story is long and epical. But in 20 months they got it done. Oil from CANOL to Whitehorse. An entire refinery was built there -
bought in Texas so it need not be built - and secondary lines used to send fuels to Fairbanks, to Skagway and to points South
along the ALCAN (so you could fuel planes and trucks). Originally 2, 3 and 4 inch pipe was laid - but eventually (I have photographic
evidence) eight inch pipe was used - and it is STILL used - the main USAF source of fuels in Alaska.
How to simulate it?
While a sort of pioneer trail was built - the significance of the route was efficient movement of oil and fuels. Trails don't do that. RR and roads
move everything.
I decided - put the refinery at Whitehorse - but damaged. ONLY IF supplies are sent and it is repaird - will it appear there in useful form.
Then I decided - do the same for oil wells. The wells simulate the end of the pipeline - where the oil appears - rather than where the wells really
are. Again - ONLY IF supplies are moved there and the facilities are repaired will they begin to make fuel and supply points at Whitehorse.
From Whitehorse, the Whitehorse and Yukon RR simulates the extended pipeline to Skagway. And the ALCAN simulates the small pipelines
along it - particularly when upgraded to road.
The problem is timing. CANOL begins in June 1942 and takes until February 1943 to complete. Repair of the facilities at Whitehorse should not
be turned on early - and anyway - sans supplies - it will not happen. It takes time to move the supplies. If the Allies turn on repairs about
the start of 1943 it works perfectly. If they turn it on sooner it implies more of an effort. I am not too worried about it. In most games a small
amount of fuel and supplies at Whitehorse (in addition to what gets there by road and RR) isn't going to be a big deal. But it might be of value
in some situation - precisely those the project was built to address. If the enemy does not come - it does not matter if the Allies get a bit too much
fuel and supplies a bit too soon. If he does come - until he comes what came before does not matter much either. It is after he comes that it matters.
As with many things - Axis conquest early has lots of benefits - not least the Allies are not yet ready to deal with them in force in the area. This
is a general truth globally - and here we are adding yet another minor case - as chrome mostly.
Nevertheless - I have paid a lot of attention to all the map edges. The Allies are getting lots of things that make it harder if the enemy goes in that
direction - and also makes directions the enemy does not go become sources of supply for the map that are somewhat supplimental if there is a
big problem on the other ones.