The Lucknow Sentinel, 1952-10-08, Page 5WEDNESDAY„ OCTOBER, 8,.1952
RELATES TRIP 'O'
BAFFIN, LAND POST
(Summarized by
Willard • Thompson)
The following: are excerpts
from letters; written be Bob'
Thompson,. while enroute to,
,Arctic 'Bay aboard the govern -
!tient Supply ship,, ',C, D. • Howe.
•' Sailing •from. Churchill; Manitoba,
Bob says in part, "The: town, .'.it-
.:..,lelf .doesn't:_. autount:_ to. • much -.a
few ,general stores, :two or three
aes'taurahts, 'a couple of hotels
and a oudson Bay Co: Store;;
rough • dirt, streets and no aide-
...walks.
ide-
..wialks. The, Indians halve rough'
shacks and .ten'ts . scattered all
a ,bout,: with a. bunch of thin,
mangy huskies tied up• outside.
By the docks there are huge
: grain elevators and warehouses,
..-:;:--- -.Ani about rfivce-'.miles.._
.,. town is an . army, navy and air-
force damp of 2400 men..
'While. in .Churchill we Were
taken through the Adai ac Whale'
and Fish Products' CO. They' catch
''a small type, -Of white whale'
around' here averaging 15 to ' 20
feet Jong..'Mese :.are •hauled in by
Eskimos behind .. motor , powered
canoes and: carriedup a ramp to
the processing room where.head
-.and• tail are slashed 'off .with
• sharp knives on long handles ,and
the outer blubber -like hide slic-
ed ,and.,peeled off. The oil that la
extracted " goes : to various con-,
corms, 'chiefly .Canada ' Packers,
andthe entire remainder: of 'the
whale is: ground up and• shipped
to•, fox and :mink farm's.
We were taken by a Danish of-
fie* from Greenland on •a . tour,
of Fort /Prince of ' Wales, which
• is several ..in'iles .,across the liar=
bor. .This fort'` -is -.-o huge stone-
• block construction..bristling. with
cannonsimilar to thosein front.
of, the 'Town 131all back, home. •It
was.built by the English in 1733.
and coomplete d ' •ini .1771, ' its pur-
pose being to control Hudson's
Bay for the. H.. B. CO:,„ but in .1782
itwas captured and; partially de-
stroyed ;by the French.
Our ship 'finaiLr sailed about
noon on August 15th; and at last•
we are. Arctic bound: Every inch:
of .'space 'below ` and:on the ,upper
;deck' is. loaded with supplies of
all kinds. The ship Lias a complete
dentist office, sick bayand oper-
ating room' and; :x-ray room . staff-
ed by two dentists, two doc•tors
and. ail ' x-ray' technician who
make the round trip: There are
also two nurses who are going' to
Arctic .outti is The._ nedicalLand
dental'. oases ' cockle/ aboard "but:
Most x-rays are •.done ashore ;with
• portable equipment. Besides we
D.O.T. boys Our passenger list :in-
. eludes' an Eskimo boy l•afiout 12
who was • flown„ aboar4 • by ' our
helicopter,; an. Eskimo girl. of 10
who had been "outside" • for TB.
treatments, and a .little ,6 -year -
old Eskimo lad who has been in'
Brandon. Ike' can, speak only Eng:
:fish and his'parents nothing but
Eskimo, Others aboard include a.
R.0 .priest .who has:been, , coming
to the Arctic for 30 years, a rep-
resentati;ve Of the Canadian
l'Ianuicraft Guild• iaaid his wife,
w;bose :purpose it is', to encourage
`the • Eskimos to make .'saleable
• items of , ivory, stone and skins;
several Mounties;;' and of' course'
the two nurses already" mention-,
` ped:
Our first stop was at Coral Oar-
' Four, Southampton: Island.. "Ship-
time", is the ' big event . of . the.
/ear and .,the entire . population
• :.'Wa 19W -ii ' to Meetits .•. Anr.,d
Y.,.
.long the natives were treated and•
' x-rayed." In,./the evening about 40
Eskimos of all ages swanned
«board ' ship •. peering ,into, all the,
,
'Port holes, ete. They were treated
oto "thug up" .(tea. ,.and biscuits)
and a show below decks. In the
vicinity of ;Cape' ,Dorset. We saW
atr first iceberg, san& here some:
'More of our passengers went
cshore. Next stop was Frobisher,
. � P
Ti ;� !F
TgB, LUGKNOW. SENTINEL, LUc IQ OW, ONTARIO
On the 20th' day of August we
crossed. the. Arctic Circle and to
celebrate we had roast turkey for
dinner and a social •get-together
at night. Inspector Laisen of the
R.C.M,P., with reddish hair and
moustache (somewhat resembling
,walrus) was dresstid to repre-
sent King Neptune for the in-
itiation of those crossing' ,the
Circle for the first time, allowing
us into his realm., •
Our next, stop was, :Pond 'Inlet;
-a_beaut f ul fjord 'f nketrtiq`hrgl
snow. -capped peaks, Fiventhough
it's bleak and barren, ,with n4
vegetation, the scenery is .quite
beautiful. Here our little TB pat-
ient was reunited, with ,her. fam-
ily and how hay thy all are
rubbing noses and . chattering
breathlessly. One of the Mounties
went ashore `here for his` 3 -Year
term and he expects, tovisit our
host fat Aretie Bay- �arOU-i ' Feb-
ruary. We are really 'in the north
no* as the daylight 'lasts almost
24 hours at..this •time'of year. Be-
tween . midnight and. 2 a.m. there
is .a sort of twilight anad., then it,
begins to ' brighten again. Craig
Harbour .was:situated on•:a little.
bay .surrounded .by , 2,000. foot
mountains, with glaciers spilling
down thern,, Inspector Zaai'sen in-
formed us that there are now no.
Eskimos' living north of Baffin
Land. •
Our sta last
• p before Arctic Bay
was Resolute Bay, which is a
joint U.S. Canadian base with an
airfield and R C.A.F, squadron
stationed here. We went ashore
by barge to look ,around.. The
temperature was 22 degrees,, with
a brisk, cold wind `.andseveral
inches of drifting snow -- brrrl.
-In the eveningT there vas: a pro=
gram and• movies on board ship
'and to., conclude it all there were
Christinas carols. for. the. ,benefit
of those staying here,
Tomorrow I shall reach, my
new • home for the curring year.
Our only communication., from,
now on will be by radio except
for the Special Air Drop ':at.
Christmas There is no limit .to.
the nurriiber of letters or• .cards.
you can send• for this drop but
Of course any parcels should• not
be too large.
Whey, were.: discussing "a rising
young. starlet. "You can talk call
you . want about, Tier", .obsenved
one • Man, 'but,.. she'll probably
rcnaice .a good wife for five or six
guys"
FOURTH,' CONCESSION
Mr, an4 Mrs Angus Grahaxn
are moving to .their new home in.
Lucknow this' week.
Miss' Helen LlacIntyre of Flint,
Mich., spent the week -end with
Mr. and Mrs... Ted , Collyer, •
Three • birthday . cakes were
lighted for Ross Hamilton, Bruce
MacKenzie and Alan MacDoug
allat a; birthday , party at the..
honn1e of. Mx and. Mrs G. Hainil-
ton 'on Thursdayevening. Later
over 30 children were present for
the ,Junior. Young, People's
ing. s
Recent. visitors'.with Mrs. Geo.
•Gilchrist and Mr.` and: Mrs: ;Fred
Gilchrist and family'• were .MTs:
Neil .MacGillivray. of Port• Elgin.,
Mrs.. Bertha Constable of Win•�ii-^
peg end Mr. and Mrs. Geo. Gil-
christ .of _..ween-- Seun, , .
_.Mrs, P. Steer, Mrs.:• W: G. Mac-
Kenzie and Mrs....Herb Buckton
have 'all beensick with the cold..
ASHFIELD NOTES
-The "ladies. of the Presbyterian.
congregation are invited . to.'• a
meeting of the Ripley W.M.S. on
Wednesday of this.. week when
Mrs. Hugh' MacMillan `of Formosa
will be their guest speaker.
Shower For• Bride -Elect
' The ladies .of this community
spent a very pleasant evening .on,
Friday of last week at the home
of Mrs. Lorne MacDonald Nvhen
her sister=in-law, .. Miai Velma
MacI omald- • mralL_the—tue0Lot`
honor for a shower. 'Vias. David
MacKenzie was in charge • of a
Short ; .program •after which a
miniature . bride • and groom
brought :in a wagon filled with
gifts. Miss Marion . MacDonald
helped her sister open the 'gifts..
and •Velma: thanked the ' ladies' •.
for their thougiutfulness..Refresh-
ments were 'served and . a • social
hour 'was spent.
t
•
^s4
7
•
•
rSince_th.e._firs:t-CanadaSaVings, Bond -was sold-==
—interest payments totalling about ninety.
three and a half million dollars have been
paid out to about one million owners. .This
represents ' an average return ' of• approxi.
mately $100. Some • owners have ' earned
• more interest •than this --some less -but 'all.
would agree that hat they have had a •'landsorne
return ,for, an . investment that is cashable
at full ` face • value at . an Instant's' notice.'
-Yt=- js- the -easiest, -most ..carefree way. to
K.4
I •
earn ;money that one can irnagixie:• And now
the new Seventh Series of Canada Savings
Bonds offer a better return than ever!
They pay': an average of 3.44% per year
if held for their • fuel term of 10 ,:years and..
9 months: The Seventh Series 'bonds
like earlier issues -are cashable at full, face
• value plus interest .atany time at any bank.
in 'Canada.
SEE :ot iri VES TMEN.T
LER OR BANK
o buy t.hr.o,u'g.h.. the Payr, 01I `Savi"ngs `P an •
where • you•work
Plan to get your 'share-
place
�are
place
your
�ti s
..04: •;:N:•�r,«.,�:ry�s°�,rY`�`''sti yam+` ,o �..irrir,�.-,. a
���►Ali"
f
•
•