Tahneta Pass Radio Relay Station, Alaska

Near the Glenn Highway, an unattended microwave station kept the White Alice route connected between Sheep Mountain and Tolsona.

Tahneta Pass Radio Relay Station was an Air Force communications site on the White Alice Communications System's A Route. Its direct TD-2 microwave links ran 12 radio miles west to Sheep Mountain and 42 radio miles east to Tolsona, near Gulkana. The route formed part of the rearward communications network for the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS) at Clear. Tahneta Pass carried communications; it did not operate a search radar or house missile-warning radar equipment. ^{[1] [2]}

Military role

Unattended, two-way White Alice TD-2 microwave repeater.

Direct links

Sheep Mountain, 12 radio miles; Tolsona, 42 radio miles.

Location

Glenn Highway near Tahneta Pass. A 1976 federal application places a microwave facility at approximately 61.8333 N, 147.3250 W. This is a licensed point, not a property boundary.

Military period

The BMEWS rearward-route station group was built in 1960 and opened in 1960 or 1961. A station-specific commissioning or closure date has not been established.

The Clear Warning Route

White Alice originally tied Alaska's aircraft-warning radars and command centers together. When the United States built the BMEWS radar at Clear, the Air Force extended White Alice with two rearward communications routes. The coastal A Route ran across Alaska toward Southeast Alaska and an undersea cable connection; a separate interior B Route ran through Canada. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dates construction of the rearward-route TD-2 stations to 1960 and their opening to 1960 or 1961. Tahneta Pass belonged to the A Route's chain of short, line-of-sight microwave hops. ^[1]

On this part of the route, Sawmill passed traffic east to Sheep Mountain, then to Tahneta Pass and Tolsona. Each repeater received traffic from one direction and passed it onward. Tahneta Pass therefore supported the continuity of the wider warning network, even though it was a small, unattended installation rather than a radar or command center. ^{[1] [2]}

Station and Equipment

The Air Force's 1983 White Alice study calls Tahneta Pass an unattended, two-way microwave repeater near Glenn Highway milepost 119. The Corps describes the rearward-route relay-station class as usually having a radio-relay building, a fuel tank and a TD-2 tower. TD-2 antennas used a direct path between neighboring stations, in contrast with the much larger troposcatter billboard antennas used on White Alice's long-distance spans. The Tahneta Pass route inventory identifies direct TD-2 links, not a troposcatter link. ^{[1] [2]}

The photographs below document the TD-2 tower and radio-relay building at Rabbit Creek, another Alaska White Alice station. They show the kind of microwave equipment used on the network, not the Tahneta Pass installation. The Rabbit Creek history includes further photographs of that station. ^{[1] [7]}

A 1967 Air Force installation directory lists Tahneta Pass Radio Relay Site by name. A federal microwave-licensing notice in December 1976 also locates a Tahneta Pass facility at 61°50'00" N, 147°19'30" W and lists a path toward Sheep Mountain. Those records independently place a named communications installation in the Tahneta Pass area. ^{[3] [4]}

Place in the Alaska Network

The 12-mile Sheep Mountain hop was among the shorter direct links in this part of the network; the Tolsona hop stretched 42 radio miles. From Tolsona, traffic continued along the A Route toward other relay stations and the Southeast Alaska connection. The two adjacent paths made Tahneta Pass a through-station rather than an endpoint. ^{[1] [2]}

Commercial Transition and Later Use

RCA Alascom began operating White Alice under a system-wide lease in 1976. The December 1976 federal notice recorded an RCA microwave application at Tahneta Pass; it is a licensing record, not a station opening date. Tahneta Pass appeared again among the TD-2 properties evaluated during the Air Force's 1978 appraisal program. In 1983 the Air Force still described the site as an unattended repeater in its study of the system's sale. ^{[2] [4]}

Later Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation records identify an AT&T Tahneta Pass Microwave Repeater near the Glenn Highway. They document continued telecommunications-property identity after the military network's transition. The exact date when Tahneta Pass ceased its White Alice military role is not documented in the available station histories. ^[6]

Historical Significance

A Department of Defense preservation inventory identifies the Tahneta Pass White Alice site as Alaska Heritage Resources Survey site ANC-00652 and records it as eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criteria A and G. Its significance lies in the Cold War communications network that linked the Clear missile-warning radar with command and communications facilities beyond Alaska. The inventory's 1960-1979 period of significance describes a historic-resource evaluation; it is not a precise operating-date range. ^[5]

Chronology

• 1960-1961 The BMEWS rearward-route TD-2 station group, including Tahneta Pass, is built and opened.
• 1967 An Air Force installation directory lists Tahneta Pass Radio Relay Site.
• 1976 RCA Alascom begins operating the White Alice system under a system-wide lease.
• December 1976 A federal notice lists an RCA microwave application at Tahneta Pass with a path toward Sheep Mountain.
• 1978 Tahneta Pass is included in the Air Force's TD-2 property-appraisal program.
• 1983 An Air Force study describes the site as an unattended two-way microwave repeater between Sheep Mountain and Tolsona.
• 2015 A Department of Defense inventory identifies the White Alice site as National Register eligible.