05/21/2026
These photos feature the Lake Cowichan Earth Station on its official opening on September 26, 1972, as well as a few on an unspecified date. The Lake Cowichan Earth Station was part of the Telesat Domestic Earth Station Network, a national communications satellite system built in the early 1970s. It enabled communication transmissions across Canada by receiving communications from satellites and feeding this information into telephone, television, and radio networks.
Canada was the first country to develop such a system using geostationary satellites. There were ten stations initially built, Lake Cowichan being one of them. Lake Cowichan's station was the "western anchor," one of 2 "heavy route" stations designed for large volume traffic—the other being Allan Park's station in Ontario.
Only the heavy route stations were staffed (Lake Cowichan's was staffed by about 20 engineers and technicians) and were much bigger than the other stations, with 98 foot satellite dishes rather than the 30 foot dishes at other sites.
Rumour had it that this station put a target on Lake Cowichan during the Cold War. The station has since been decommissioned.
If you would like to view more historical and iconic photos of the Cowichan Lake area, check out kaatzamuseum.pastperfectonline.com/Photo.
