| Site Description | Fort Conger is located in Quttinirpaaq National Park on northeastern Ellesmere Island. The nearest community on Ellesmere Island (Grise Fiord) is located more than 800 km to the south, while Canadian Forces Station Alert is approximately 100 km to the northeast. Fort Conger is situated approximately 10 m from the ocean on the eastside of Discovery Harbour, with a steep bank (2.5 m high) leading from the site to the ocean.
The standing structures, building foundations, and artifacts present at Fort Conger are legacies to the achievements of several remarkable expeditions, as well as the hardships suffered by their participants. The British Arctic Expedition of 1875-76 was the first of these, followed less than a decade later by the better-known Lady Franklin Bay Expedition (1881-84). Under the command of Lieutenant Adolphus Greely, this expedition was able to amass a considerable amount of scientific data, despite the harrowing escape and rescue of its few surviving members. In early 1899, American Polar Explorer Robert Peary arrived and used Fort Conger to stage a series of attempts to reach the North Pole.
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| Project Description | Parks Canada approached Dr. Peter Dawson, Department of Archaeology, University of Calgary to inquire about the possibility of using laser scanning to create a 3D digital archive of the site. In the summer of 2010, Chris Tucker and Peter Dawson used a Z & F Imager 5006i laser scanner, equipped with a motorized M-Cam camera retrofitted to the scanner for automatic color mapping, and a Minolta Vivid 910 laser scanner to capture 3-dimensional mages of Fort Conger for the purposes of conservation, preservation, and community outreach education. This was the first time laser scanners had been used in the Canadian High Arctic. Dr. Richard Levy, University of Calgary, then created 3D models and animations. Utilizing all of this data, CyArk created a web portal integrating the highly accurate laser scan data with a rich collection of documentation, including photographs, video footage, drawings, and historic documents assembled by Parks Canada’s Margaret Bertulli and Lyle Dick. |