Cathedral Radio Relay Station, Alaska

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Current Role: Former military relay; later RCA Alascom station documented in 1976. Current operation and condition require verification.

Cathedral was an unattended, two-way TD-2 microwave relay on Alaska's White Alice Communications System. Its direct links joined Knob Ridge to the west and Tok Junction to the east. The chain carried rearward communications for the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System at Clear. Cathedral relayed messages rather than operating a warning radar. The Army Corps gives 20 radio miles to Knob Ridge and 25 to Tok Junction. ^{[1] [3]}

Role

Unattended White Alice TD-2 microwave repeater on the Clear BMEWS interior B Route.

Direct links

Knob Ridge, 20 radio miles; Tok Junction, 25 radio miles.

Historic structures

1961 as-builts show a 212 1/2-foot Type H tower, radio-relay building, 25,000-gallon POL tank, fenced compound and access road.

Service window

The Corps gives 1960 construction and 1960-1961 opening for the BMEWS TD-2 group, not a Cathedral-specific activation day.

Location reference

Approximately 63.384722 N, 143.796111 W is a later FAA-listed Alascom tower point. It is not a surveyed Air Force antenna position, parcel centroid or boundary.

Later name

Alaska DEC lists AT&T - Cathedral Microwave Repeater as UST facility 198 in 2026; present circuits and original-structure survival are unverified.

Setting and Site Identity

The Air Force sale study places Cathedral near Alaska Highway mile 1339 in the Cathedral Rapids region west of Tok. A 1961 as-built vicinity map shows a spur road leading from the highway to the relay compound. A 1976 RCA Alascom filing reported a Cathedral communications point at approximately 63.385000 N, 143.793889 W. A later Federal Aviation Administration tower list places an Alascom structure nearby at approximately 63.384722 N, 143.796111 W and records a second State of Alaska tower in the locality. The latter Alascom point is used above as an approximate site reference; it is not a surveyed position for the original Air Force tower. ^{[1] [3] [4] [5]}

A 2021 federal property appendix lists Cathedral RR Site F10AK0503 at a point several kilometers east of the registered communications towers. It separately identifies Cathedral Bluff Alaska Communications System (ACS) as F10AK0075. The difference between the property-inventory point and the communications-tower locality remains unresolved, and the two named properties have distinct records. ^{[6] [9]}

The Clear BMEWS Route

White Alice carried communications among distant Alaska defense facilities. A BMEWS expansion added two rearward paths from Clear: a coastal A Route and an interior B Route that crossed toward Canada. Cathedral was a middle node on the interior path. The nearby sequence ran Gerstle River, Knob Ridge, Cathedral, Tok Junction and Beaver Creek. The Corps gives 20 radio miles from Cathedral to Knob Ridge and 25 to Tok Junction; a 1976 RCA Alascom application also names both paths. ^{[1] [4] [10]}

The 1961 As-Built Layout

The Corps dates construction of the BMEWS TD-2 group to 1960 and its opening to 1960 or 1961. Cathedral site plans in the University of Alaska Anchorage archive are dated March 1961, with related drawings extending through the mid-1960s. The exact day Cathedral began carrying traffic is not documented. ^{[1] [2]}

The Cathedral plot plan shows the radio-relay building, tower and petroleum, oil and lubricants (POL) tank inside a fenced compound served by an internal service loop. A 16-foot gate opened toward the spur road from the Alaska Highway; a separate drawing records road grading. The tower foundation drawing specifies a 212 1/2-foot Type H structure, and the fuel-system drawing identifies a 25,000-gallon tank. The original installation acreage and precise modern property boundary remain unverified. ^{[1] [2]}

The Air Force sale study classifies Cathedral as an unattended relay rather than a staffed terminal. The equipment still required electrical power, stored fuel, inspections and periodic maintenance along a remote highway corridor. Later tower registers list structures of approximately 228 and 280 feet in the locality, but their relationship to the original 212 1/2-foot Air Force tower has not been established. ^{[1] [3] [5]}

Service and Transfer

The Alaska Communications System and White Alice were separate networks, although Alascom later operated facilities associated with both. The Air Force's 1983 study says White Alice was leased to RCA Alascom in 1976 and sold in 1983. Cathedral appears in its TD-2 station inventory, appraisal discussion and sale appendix as an unattended relay near highway mile 1339. The study places Cathedral within the system transfer, while its precise parcel and access interests remain unresolved. ^[3]

Property and Later Use

A later federal inventory identifies Cathedral RR Site, F10AK0503, with Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act interim conveyances 1508/1509 to Tanacross and Doyon interests in section 32, township 19 north, range 9 east, Copper River Meridian. The inventory places the property in a cleanup program but gives no site-specific contaminant findings or remedy. Nearby Cathedral Bluff ACS is listed separately as F10AK0075. ^{[6] [8] [9]}

Alaska DEC's underground-storage-tank financial-responsibility register listed facility 198 as AT&T - Cathedral Microwave Repeater on October 15, 2026, with AT&T Alaska as the facility owner and a policy period from June 2024 through June 2027. The record preserves the later facility name. The present condition of the original Air Force tower and the site's current communications use have not been established. ^{[5] [7]}

Historical Images

The Cathedral as-built plot plan below identifies the radio building, tower, POL tank, fence and access road. It records the station's historical arrangement rather than its present condition. The TD-2 tower photograph shown above was taken at Soldotna, another White Alice station, and illustrates the equipment family rather than Cathedral itself. ^{[1] [2]}

Chronology

• 1960-1961 The BMEWS TD-2 group is constructed and opened; Cathedral's as-built plans follow in March 1961.
• 1961-03 Cathedral as-built drawings are dated March 1961 in the UAA archive.
• 1976 RCA Alascom leases White Alice from the Air Force.
• 1976-12-13 Federal Register publishes a Cathedral microwave application toward Knob Ridge and Tok Junction.
• 1978 Cathedral appears in the TD-2 appraisal and property-interest process.
• 1983 Air Force sale study includes Cathedral as an unattended repeater in the White Alice sale account.
• 2021 Alaska DEC / federal ANCSA appendix lists Cathedral RR Site F10AK0503 and Cathedral Bluff ACS F10AK0075 as separate properties.
• 2026 Alaska DEC lists AT&T - Cathedral Microwave Repeater as tank facility 198.

Information sources (10)

1. PDFU.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Historical Overview and Inventory of the White Alice Communications System, 1988, especially B Route table, Cathedral as-built plates and station class account

   Source for the direct link distances, BMEWS role, class-wide dates and site-specific as-built building, tower, tank, gate and road arrangement.

2. WEBUniversity of Alaska Anchorage, White Alice Communications System Cathedral and Rabbit Creek Site Plans, collection HMC-0251

   Source for the archive's March 1961 Cathedral drawing dates, tower type and drawing-set identities.

3. PDFU.S. Air Force, Special Study of the White Alice Communications System Sale, 1983, especially pages 120-121, 193 and 234

   Source for the lease and sale sequence, Cathedral's unattended repeater description and Alaska Highway milepost.

4. PDFFederal Communications Commission microwave applications, Federal Register, December 13, 1976, page 54215

   Source for RCA Alascom's Cathedral filing point and proposed paths toward Knob Ridge and Tok Junction; application does not establish grant.

5. WEBFederal Aviation Administration, FCC Antenna Structure Registration Search Alaska Constructed Towers, 199+ AGL

   Source for later Alascom and State of Alaska registered structures in the Cathedral Rapids locality and their reported positions and heights.

6. PDFAlaska Department of Environmental Conservation, DOI ANCSA Sites Letter, Appendix A, May 27, 2021

   Source for separate FUDS identifiers and ANCSA conveyance descriptions for Cathedral RR Site and Cathedral Bluff ACS; inventory points are not a tower survey.

7. WEBAlaska Department of Environmental Conservation, UST Facilities With Proof of Financial Responsibility, accessed October 15, 2026

   Source for AT&T - Cathedral Microwave Repeater facility 198 and its listed owner and policy period, not proof of present circuit service.

8. PDFU.S. Bureau of Land Management, Report to Congress on Hazardous Substance Contamination of Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act Lands

   Source for Cathedral RR Site F10AK0503 in an ANCSA conveyed-land inventory, without site-specific remedial conclusions.

9. WEBAlaska Department of Environmental Conservation, Tanacross Airfield and Cathedral Bluff ACS cleanup chronology

   Source for the separate Cathedral Bluff ACS environmental case, which is not attributed to the Cathedral White Alice relay.

10. PDFNational Park Service / Alaska Office of History and Archaeology, The Coldest Front: Cold War Military Properties in Alaska

    Source for broader BMEWS A and B Route system context and Cathedral's B Route classification.