Caribou Air Force Station
Caribou Air Force Station, also known as North River Depot and East Loring, is a defunct Air Force Station that operated from 1951 until some time when it was absorbed into Loring Air Force Base in 1962. It was located in Limestone, Maine, adjacent to Loring. Between 1951 and 1962 Caribou was an Operational Storage Site for Air Materiel Command (AMC-OSS), one of five in the United States, and the weapons storage and maintenance facility for Loring alert aircraft.
Caribou Air Force Station
By a contract with the Office of Chief of Engineers, the Black and Veatch firm of Kansas City, Missouri, was commissioned as Architects-Engineers for the planning of the project under the monitorship of the Midwest Engineer and Construction Office. This was a field agency responsible to the AFSWP and to the Chief of Engineers, and located at Kansas City, Missouri. During the planning phase, representatives of Headquarters, Air Material Command, made frequent visits to the Kansas City Office for consultation and familiarization purposes. The New England Engineer Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, solicited bids, awarded construction contracts, and provided supervision of the construction. During construction the Midwest Office maintained a clearance agency at the site for the purpose of screening all workmen and other personnel on the project, and for facilitating various contractual functions. Contracts involving construction of certain (classified) facilities peculiar to the mission of the site were awarded, and work supervised directly by the Midwest Office of Kansas City, Missouri. Prior to the start of construction approximately 80% of the area was covered with forests of softwoods consisting of pine, hemlock, birch, and spruce trees. The exact location of Site Easy was on the east side of the neighboring SAC base and in the northern most section. Contractors started building a self-sufficient area on August 4, 1951. Designed as a maximum security storage area for the most advanced weapons of mankind, construction during 1951 and 1952 included a large living complex of barracks and recreational facilities, warehouse, offices, weapon maintenance areas and twenty-seven storage igloos. The area was a complete mini-base whose mission would be to protect and maintain the nuclear weapons deployed by the United States.