Cranberry Portage was an important part of the pre-European contact trade routes of the North American Cree peoples. During the Fur Trade , this location was used as a campsite and portage between Lake Athapapuskow and the North Saskatchewan River System stretching from the foothills of the Rocky Mountains near Edmonton to Lake Winnipeg and the Grass River System, which flows more directly to Hudson's Bay after joining the Nelson River.

In the early 20th Century, rich Gold, Copper, and Zinc deposits were discovered nearby in what would soon become the area of Flin Flon, Manitoba. Mining development in the area fueled a great deal of local infrastructure development, begining with the extension of the rail line and Highway 10 from The Pas, Manitoba to Flin Flon, both of which passed through Cranberry Portage, a requirement of having large lakes lying North and South of the traditional portage.

Following the conclusion of World War II, the Department of Defense took a decided interest in the location of Cranberry Portage.

With the recent memory of the German V-2 Rocket Program, the development of the Russian Nuclear Missile Program, and the subsequent development of the DEW Line (Distant Early Warning System) in the high Arctic in the late 1950's/early 1960's, the Department of Defense felt it prudent to also construct secondary back-up radar stations further South. Cranberry Portage with its road and rail access, being conviniently located 60 kilometers from a perceived Russian military target such as the Flin Flon Area mines and smelters, was an ideal location to establish such a back-up system in the interests of National Defense, and became one of the locations for a Mid-Canada Line Installation.