Fortuna Air Force Station Site, North Dakota

The Fortuna Air Force Station, located just a few miles from the Canadian border, was a General Surveillance Radar Station, one of 23 built in the early 1950s that monitored the nation’s northern perimeter for potentially hostile aircraft, especially ones coming over the poles from Russia. The station became part of the Semi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) system in 1961. Its systems were upgraded many times over the years, until it was transferred to the FAA, and closed by the 1990s. Most of its structures have been demolished.