The BC Tel telecommunication system stretched up the British Columbia coastline to Annette Island via Trutch Island. Hodgson King & Marble built this vast station on BC’s Coast and the housing for the staff who manned the station. In addition to its civilian uses, the USAF also used the network as part of the communication relay chain for the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System, which officially terminated at Annette Island. The sites were manned by BC Tel personnel from 1961 through the network deactivation in the late 1980s. Providing communications in BC’s remote areas was essential to the province’s growth and Canada’s security.