Los Banos Rotary Club History
Engineer Tells Of Arctic Project

J. A. Ashoff, district plant superintendent of the Pacific Telephone Co.'s Fresno district, Tuesday noon gave members of the local Rotary Club a very descriptive and interesting account of intricate radar installations recently made within the rim of the Arctic Circle Ashoff was one of the chief engineers on the project and was closely associated with it during the construction period.

Known as the DEW line (Distant Early Warning), the installation was made by the United States as a vital link in our national defense system. Pointing out that development of the atomic and hydrogen bombs has created an entirely new problem of defense, Ashoff pointed out that nine of today's big bombs, dropped at points on a line between Boston and New York, would wipe out one-third of this nation's wealth and one-fourth of our population. Radar posts in the Arctic, he said, could pick up possible enemy bombers and relay information to our air bases in time for possible interception by our fighter planes.

Ashoff accompanied his talk with a series of colored pictures, showing the bleak, frozen country where the posts are located, some of the terrific construction problems encountered, and the indescribable beauty of the country as viewed from the air.

June 25, 1954

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