Original black and white photo of underground tunnel construction - forerunner of Camp Century and project Iceworm - in Greenland from 1955. Soldier from the American engineering troops examines the thickness of the ice layer in the Greenlandic subsoil

Price: 1,850.- DKK

Item number: 498632

Description: Original b / w vintage photo, gelatin silver, from November 1955 taken by the US Army.

The picture shows an American soldier from the engineering troops, USACE, checking the thickness of the ice in the Greenlandic subsoil. A knowledge that the USA i.a. needed during the construction of passages in the underground city of Camp Century, which was built a few years later north of Thule Air Base / Pituffik, as well as during project Iceworm, which was about constructing a network of railway tunnels under the ice sheet that would house more than 600 nuclear missiles .

The text on the picture reads:

"File Number, SC 446064 Army engineers study construction of arctic "subways"
Snow falls on the Greenland Icecap at approximately two or three feet a year and never melts. Each layer is discernible and the army corps of engineers has measured snow falls back to the year 1916. As it packs harder its density becomes an important factor in anticipating the success of sub-surface tunnels and structures. This engineer is using a special instrument to measure density.
Official U.S. Army photo released by the Dept. of Defence Released at Wash.. D.C. Novembner 17. 1955."

The image bears a sticker from Birnback Publishing Service.

Dimensions of photo without frame: 25.70 x 20.50 centimeters.

This is an original b / w photograph from. 1950s with common signs of wear. Contemporary frame included.

SKU 2791