The Kemano hydroelectric facility came online in 1954 to provide electricity for the world’s largest hydroelectric-powered aluminum smelter. This was the largest privately funded construction project in Canadian history. The Kemano tunnel and powerhouse had three phases of construction over a 70 year period. In the 1950s, the Nechako reservoir was created behind the 97 m high and 457 m wide Kenney dam. The dam reversed the flow of water from a 13000 km² area of Fraser River watershed toward the powerhouse. A 16 km long horseshoe-shaped tunnel with an 8 m span was blasted through the coastal mountains at an elevation between 790 and 830 m above sea level to carry water westward to a powerhouse built underneath Mount DuBose near sea level. In the early 1990s, construction started on a second tunnel using a 5.73 m diameter tunnel boring machine. Only the downstream portion of this tunnel was completed before the project was suspended by the provincial government. In 2007, Rio Tinto purchased Alcan, and subsequently spent billions of dollars to upgrade the smelter in Kitimat. To ensure long-term reliable electrical power, the second tunnel needed to be completed to provide a back-up to the original tunnel. The project consists of two phases. The first phase, completed in 2013, consisted of the construction of the interconnections between the new tunnel and the existing penstocks and a second surge shaft and tunnel adjacent to the second tunnel. The second and final phase involves refurbishing the existing 8.4 km of the tunnel and completion of 7.6 km of tunnel, with a new tunnel boring machine that was commissioned in 2018. Of note, the relationships and interactions with the First Nation communities have significantly evolved from the beginning of the project to the present.

IIn the early 1980s, the Canadian Geotechnical Society began an initiative called the “Canadian Geotechnical Heritage Book Project”. The project was to document the history of Canadian geotechnique through the eyes of Dr. Robert Legget and Dr. Robert Hardy, the two most prominent figures in the history, and more than 70 other individuals who were interviewed. Unfortunately the project was halted in 1986, but all information collected, including paper transcriptions of the interviews, was archived at the University of Alberta. Since then, a small portion of the information collected has been used, and is being used, for various research purposes. There is still a tremendous amount of additional primary source information available for researchers of the history of Canadian geotechnique.

Prior to Kenneth Roscoe’s work at Cambridge University, the only available shear testing device was the Direct Shear (DS) test, which had a significant limitation in that it did not permit rotation of the principal axes during shearing. In this test, the sample was forced to fail along a specified failure surface between the upper and lower parts of the shear box. In 1953, Roscoe improved the direct shear test with the addition of hinged walls. This test facilitated rotation of the principal axes, enabled simple shear and did not force the soil to fail through a specified failure surface. This test has been termed the Simple Shear test. The Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI) later modified the Roscoe 1953 shear test by using a cylindrical sample and a wire reinforced rubber membrane to constrain the sides. This test is termed the Direct Simple Shear Test (DSS). The Roscoe 1953 and the NGI 1966 test are still commonly used today. The key development since the 1960s has been the addition of cyclic loading capabilities. This has furnished the Cyclic Direct Simple Shear (CDSS) test a very important device for investigating the behaviour of soils subjected to seismic, wave and other dynamic load effects. The main controversy with respect to the efficacy of DSS has focused around the ability of the test to impose uniform stresses throughout the sample and whether the test invokes plane strain conditions during shearing. The results of a detailed literature review related to the above-mentioned considerations are discussed in this paper.

Following the 1968 discovery of oil in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, an increase in exploration in northern Canada generated widespread interest in pipelines southward across the Canadian arctic. Pipeline routes spanned the Yukon, Mackenzie Valley and the west coast of Hudson's Bay. Geotechnical issues associated with northern development were spurred leading to greater understandings in permafrost engineering and the impact of linear development on permafrost. In 1969, the Associate Committee on Geotechnical Research of the National Research Council of Canada (NRCC) organized a conference on permafrost problems related to mining and oil and gas production in the North. The conference was held at the University of Calgary. During the 1970s several large pipeline projects were initiated and eventually abandoned, including Beaufort Oil Pipeline project, Canadian Arctic Gas Study, Foothills Yukon, Foothills Dempster Lateral and Polar Gas (east and west). A significant amount of research was funded at the University of Alberta and the Geological Survey of Canada.

Most of this work ended gradually as a result of the Berger Inquiry report released in mid-1977, which recommended a ten-year moratorium on pipeline construction in the Mackenzie Valley, leading to alternative routes in the Yukon. Subsequent economic imperatives and discovery of hydrocarbon reserves in southern Canada essentially stranded the northern gas and oil resources.

The paper presents an overview of these early developments, including the enormous increase in engineering knowledge of permafrost engineering, pipeline-frozen soil interaction, slope stability in permafrost and other aspects. Full scale pipeline testing in Inuvik, Norman Wells, and Calgary are discussed as is a summary of ditching trials in the high Arctic that tested trenching principles that are still applied today.

As ably summarized by the engineer and historian Henry Petroski, the degree to which a profession’s history is known, remembered, preserved, and honoured influences how this profession is acknowledged and respected outside the confines of its own practice. The Canadian Geotechnical Society (CGS) has long recognized the importance of preserving its history. Through its Heritage Committee, the CGS actively maintains the Canadian Geotechnical Virtual Archives, which are part of the cgs.ca web site.

The paper presents an overview of the contents of the Virtual Archives, which holds records relating to the CGS from its formation to the present. This includes details of the society’s history, profiles of past contributors and groups of contributors, and summaries of geotechnical projects of historic significance. These are freely available in the form of digitized articles, photographs and videos. It is believed that becoming familiar with these heritage items will give Canadian geotechnical professionals a sense of identity and pride in our profession.

NGI is the custodian of three historical libraries, the Terzaghi Library, the Peck Library and the Casagrande library. This collection of manuscripts, photographs, original technical drawings, artistic drawings, anecdotes, university courses, correspondence and project reports by four of the leaders of our profession is unique, from a geotechnical and a bibliographical point of view. The geo-libraries are today the largest collection of original manuscripts that documents the birth of a scientific subject. The paper tells the story of the libraries and takes the reader on a illustrated tour of the libraries. The libraries are above all a monument to the friendship, mutual respect and trust of the four geotechnical leaders. Originally (1967) a wall of 12 metres run of Terzaghi material from Vienna, the historical libraries are now both a large physical and digital repository forever available to our profession. In addition to their valuable technical content, the collections give insight into Terzaghi, Peck and Casagrandes' personality and creativity, work habits and methods, new developments and accomplishments, relations with people, their sense of organisation (or disorganisation) and the activities they enjoyed. One can find, for example Terzaghi's "Notes on Construction (1912-13)" which cover almost the entire field of civil engineering and led to the invention of soil mechanics. The libraries are also treasures of inspiring quotes that many of us have not heard before or forgotten. As advanced insight, a short time in the libraries reveals that:
‒ Karl Terzaghi was a brilliant, fearless and enthusiastic man, a clear independent thinker.
‒ Ralph Peck was a conscientious, diplomatic, down-to-earth and caring gentleman.
‒ Arthur Casagrande was a gifted teacher and consultant with bold, “no-nonsense” ideas.
‒ Leo Casagrande was a pioneering educator and consultant, a man of substance with amiable personality.