the location of Cranberry Portage. With the recent memory of the German V-2 Rocket program, the development of the Russian Nuclear Missile Program, and the subsequent development of the DEW Line (Distant Early Warning System) in the high Arctic in the late 1950s/early 1960s, the Department of National Defence felt it prudent to also construct secondary back-up radar stations further south. Cranberry Portage, with its road and rail access being conveniently located 60 kilometres from a perceived Russian military target like Flin Flon Area mines and smelters, was an ideal location to establish such a back-up system in the interests of national defence, and became one of the locations for a Mid-Canada Line Installation. In March 1964, the Government of Canada ceased its operations in Cranberry Portage. The entire complex that was Mid Canada Line Sector Control Station 700 was sold to the Government of Manitoba, who in turn sold the facility to the Frontier School Division. By the late 1960s, the former Mid Canada Line Installation became Frontier Collegiate Institute Campus, Frontier Collegiate Residence, and the Area Four Administrative Offices. Most of the base facilities are still in use today although many of their purposes have changed. Today, the former Mess Hall provides all dietary services to high school students who reside on campus. The Officers Club is utilized primarily as a meeting room and location for large group presentations, and though the bar is still present, it has not been used for its intended purpose since the change of ownership. The helicopter hangar is now the home to the Area Four school buses. Officers houses are now homes provided to teachers at subsidized rents, while the three barracks are used only for storage. The facility-wide mechanical systems are also still operational including an underground freshwater storage tank. Cranberry Portage is home to the annual Bombardier Rally, where snow machine enthusiasts gather with their Bombardier vehicles. Demographics In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Cranberry Portage (Kelsey) had a population of 608 living in 253 of its 338 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 771. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. Notable people Irvin Head, sculptor Duncan Mercredi, poet References Local urban districts in Manitoba Portages in Canada