Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
The Northerner
Number 77 March-June 2010
Newsletter of the Northern Canada Study Group
NWT Yukon Labrador Early Manitoba, Northern Ontario, & BC
A Study Group of the Postal History Society of Canada
Editor: Gray Scrimgeour, #570 - 188 Douglas Street, Victoria, B.C. V8V 2P1 Phone: 250-385-6326 E-Mail address: [email protected]
Treasurer and Mailing: Ian Mowat, 790 Cuaulta Crescent, Victoria, BC V9C 3H3 E-Mail address: c/o Robin E. Mowat: [email protected]
Covers for Sale. Jim Miller has written to say that he is selling the remainder of Bill Robinson’s
collections. Included are RPOs that operated in the prairie provinces, pre 1905, and Eastern Arctic
Patrol. While not Arctic Canada, there are covers from the Arctic Siberia and North Russia military
campaigns of 1918–1920. From World War II, there are Exercise Musk-Ox, Polar Bear FPO 1126,
and Eskimo Force FPO 1212. And there are some Yukon treasures.
Jim will have material at BNAPEX-2010 in Victoria (September 3–5), or can be reached at:
Skagway Reindeer Express Syndicate Labels.
Bruce Mosher ( bhpexp@digital,net ) is looking for illustrations of Skagway Reindeer Express
Syndicate labels such as that shown below. Woodall describes these labels on pages 82 and 86–89.
Bruce would appreciate colour scans of any labels you own.
Our group has lost two senior members. Dr. Ian McTaggart Cowan and Dr.
Frank Shively both passed away recently. Both owned gold-medal collections
of Yukon Law Stamps. Ian’s Yukon exhibit has been published by BNAPS in
their exhibit series of books. Ian also collected northern postal history. Frank
brought his mounted collection to show me at CAPEX ’96 in Toronto. It took
two briefcases; wonderful material. Some appeared in our group’s CAPEX
book. We extend our sympathy to both their families.
The Northerner 2418
Item 1777. Four Yukon Photoviews.
Here are four real photo picture post cards from the Yukon, supplied by Member 37. None of the
cards has full information on either the photographer or the publisher. The first two cards were taken
on August 17, 1939 (Discovery Day). The upper card has “G.B.” after the date. Anyone recognize
its location? The lower card shows a float in the Discovery Day parade in Dawson.
The Northerner 2419
The next card is an Azo type of print paper used from 1908-1911. It shows a panorama at
Bonanza Creek.
Finally, here is a 1930s view of Carcross, Y.T.
The Northerner 2420
Item 1778. Eureka NWT Straightline Marking.
Member 3 sent this scan of an April 27, 1964 double-rated cover from Eureka, NWT. It has an
interesting enclosure from a meteorologist who also served in the Antarctic. The enclosure mentions
some covers that he was sending and a fire at the New Zealand Scott station that destroyed a
building, and some short-lived cachets. On this cover, there is the only example Member 3 has seen
of a “EUREKA SOUND, NWT.” straightline cachet in purple. The post office at Eureka was known
as “Eureka Sound” from August 10, 1947 to October 1, 1948 and this cachet may date from that
period. Has anyone else seen one?
The Northerner 2421
Item 1779. Pan American Air Alaskan Air Mail Service, 1935.
This Gowen Sutton real photo card (from Member 27) shows the Pan American Airways “Electra”
at Whitehorse on the inauguration of its regular air mail service between Fairbanks and Juneau,
April 7, 1935.
Response to Item 1764. The Sarah.
Member 41 sent this quote taken from his aunt’s writing about travel from the Yukon: “In August,
1902, my Mother, Sisters and I left Dawson for San Francisco travelling on the “Sarah” down the
Yukon river to St. Michaels, Alaska. The riverboats were woodburners. The Sarah made stops to
take on wood at designated spots where wood had been stock piled the winter before. When
refueling, the bow of the boat was turned upstream and the engines left running because the current
was so swift. In St Michael’s we boarded the “Portland.” We touched at Nome, Ladysmith
(Vancouver Island) to coal, and Seattle en route. From San Francisco we took the train to Toronto.”
The question arises, Why not debark at Ladysmith and go to Vancouver and then east to
Toronto on the CPR? Some family members suggested that the US route was less expensive than the
Canadian route. It would have taken more time, though. Also, the trip from Ladysmith to Nanaimo
or Victoria would not have been trivial―a rough coach ride, or a wait for a steamer (not daily, as I
recall).
Response to Item 1771. CAPO 51 Covers.
Bill Robinson noted two errors in the writeup. The first cover was sent by C.Q.M.S. Brown (not
C.O.M.S.). C.Q.M.S. stands for Company Quartermaster Sgt. The second cover was sent by and
censored by Capt. G.W. Hoag (not Hong) of Kelowna. Gordon Hoag was a national-level RPSC
and APS judge, who was writing to his future wife.
The Northerner 2422
Item 1780. Railway Photo.
Member 2 sent this scan of a railway scene in the north. It is a photograph, not a post card. On the
back, it says in pencil, “WP&YR” but I believe this is on the Atlin Southern (Taku Central)
Railway, not the White Pass. Can anyone identify the locomotive and the location of this siding?
Item 1781. Rowley Island, NWT Distant Early Warning Line Radar Site QSL Card.
Member 3 sent this ham radio
contact (QSL) card from a civilian
stationed at the Rowley Island,
NWT DEW Line site. The card
was sent out via Montreal. The
radar site operated from 1957 until
1970. A North Warning System
site was established here in 1991
using some of the same
infrastructure. The DEW Line
facility was also known as Fox 1 as
it was the first auxiliary site east of
Hall Beach (known as Fox main).
Rowley Island is named after
Graham Westbrook Rowley
(1912–2003) who explored parts of
the central Arctic.
The Northerner 2423
Item 1782. 1932 Cartwright Dog Team Mail.
Here―from Member 3―is a cover from the Grenfell medical station at Cartwright, Labrador mailed
on January 20, 1932 to the United States. On the back there is an interesting late use of the first
Battle Harbor, Labrador box cancel dated February 5, 1932. A Lourdes Du Blanc Sablon, P.Q.
broken circle (February 13, 1932) and a Natashquan, P.Q. broken circle (March 5, 1932) show the
progress of the dog team mail service along the North Shore of the St. Lawrence River.
The Northerner 2424
Item 1783. Early Saskatoon View Card.
Member 81 owns this early Atkinson picture post card of The Washout at Saskatoon, N.W.T. It was
mailed to Stratford, Ontario at Nutana, Saskatchewan on November 27, 1905. Note the nice strike
of the NUTANA broken circle. The proof date is not known for this postmark. Nutana opened with
the name Saskatoon on October 1, 1884. The office name changed from Saskatoon to Nutana on
January 1, 1902. This card missed the territorial period by just a few months.
The Northerner 2425
Item 1784. 1984 Photo Letter from Alert, NWT.
Member 3 also sent this unusual photo letter from the Canadian Forces Station at Alert, NWT. It
was mailed through MPO (Military Post Office) 310 [which was located at Alert, with mail routed
through the Forces base at Belleville, Ontario] on October 31, 1984. There is a photo of the site on
the back, which is quite unusual considering that the station was a secret facility to intercept Soviet
and other communications.
Here are the back and the front (below) of the letter:
The Northerner 2426
Here are other photographs
from the photo letter.
The letter written on the inside of
this photo letter is shown at the
right. It is dated 28 October 1984.
The letter is very interesting, as it
describes the weather at the end of
October with -35 C with just a little
twilight, and how television tapes
are sent up every couple of weeks to
be shown on the cable system.
It starts with, “Our post card
selection is limited so I thought one
of these photos letters would give
you a better idea of what CFS Alert
looks like.”
The Northerner 2427
Item 1785. A Wandering Letter – 1905.
Member 40 sent these scans of this Dominion Lands envelope. It was mailed at Regina to Winkler,
Manitoba on March 7, 1905, where it arrived on March 9. It was forwarded to Rosthern,
Saskatchewan on March 15. It reached Rosthern on March 14, and was redirected to Muenster on
May 3 (note the Rosthern cds), and left Muenster on My 11. On May 13, the envelope is back in
Rosthern (where the broken circle was used again). The envelope arrived back in Regina on May 15.
There are five notes on the envelope, but it is difficult to tell in what order they were written:
(1) “Opened by S. Bergen (left side of envelope).”
(2) “Opened by mistake.” Also see the label on the back, used to reseal the envelope.
(3) “Not for here. Try Rosthern.” (left side of envelope). Presumably applied at Muenster.
(4) “Returned to (Dominion Lands Office). Impossible to deliver. Wm. Rempel P.M., Rosthern.”
There is also a township-range location at the lower left, written in fairly dark ink and underlined.
Checking my atlas, this is between Humboldt and Muenster. There’s a 1990 map of the prairies
showing townships at http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/ . Look for “Prairie Provinces (1990).”
The Northerner 2428
Item 1786. Another Cover to Rev. Baird.
Member 62 writes that he has been reading all the Northerners back to when he joined―May 1999.
He noticed an article about Rev. A.B. Baird in the December 1998 issue [Item 687, p. 855]. He has
an envelope and letter (5½ pages) from Baird’s girl friend Penelope. The letter is dated June 16, 1887
at Galt, Ontario and the postmark applied there is June 17. The envelope has a Calgary date JU 21 /
1887 (June). There is a poor Edmonton date of JU 27 / 1887, so it must have taken 6 or 7 days from
Calgary to Edmonton. That, of course, was prior to the C.P.R. being built from Calgary to
Strathcona.
Reverend Andrew Baird was the first resident Presbyterian minister in Edmonton. He was there
from 1881 to 1887. The letters sent between Baird and his fiancee (and later his wife) Penelope are
amongst the earliest collector mail available to and from Edmonton. The mourning envelope
(above) was used because Penelope’s mother had died.
The Northerner 2429
Item 1787. Card to the Yukon from Uruguay – 1904.
These scans came from Member 81. They show a post card mailed at Montevideo, Uruguay
(October 1, 1904) to White Horse (received November 15, 1904).
The card―a collotype―shows the waterfront at the port of Santos, Brazil, described in the
message as “the largest coffee port in the world”.
The Northerner 2430
Item 1788. Letter from John Bell, Norway House – 1854.
Here is another item from the Floyd Risvold auction. It is a stampless folded letter written July 1,
1854 by John Bell at Norway House, and sent by Hudson’s Bay courier to John Ballenden, Fort
Garry, Red River. At this time, the HBC carried mail for its employees and other residents postage-
free, using the canoes and other vessels employed for carrying either freight or express messages.
Therefore, there is no postage rating or other mail marking on the letter.
John Bell (1796–1868) was a fur-trader and explorer, working for the HBC. He discovered the
Yukon River. [See the biography of John Bell by Kenneth S. Coates online in Arctic Profiles
http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic39-1-102.pdf. See also his entry in the Dictionary of
Canadian Biography online.] He opened Fort McPherson (first called Peel’s River Post) in 1840, and
explored west of the Mackenzie River. In 1845, he succeeded in reaching the junction of the Youcon
and Porcupine Rivers. An HBC fort (Fort Youcon) was established there two years later by
Alexander Hunter Murray. Bell was the first non-native to use the Loucheux word “Yucon” (big
river) for the Yukon River. The Rat River was renamed the Bell River in his honour.
In 1847, Bell was assigned to help in the 1848–1849 search for the Franklin expedition. In 1848,
Bell built Fort Confidence on Great Bear Lake as a wintering station for the expedition. At the end
of the expedition, he returned to fur trading, assigned to Fort Liard.
Bell was not pleased with his assignments in the north. He did not like working at the isolated
locations. He remained in the north until 1851, then was assigned to the Cumberland District (he
was stationed first at Oxford House and then Cumberland House). From 1853 to 1857, he was in
charge of the Athabasca District from Fort Chipewyan.
Bell worked hard for the Company, but wanted to be posted to a less isolated station. As you’ll
see on the next page, he mildly complains about the isolation of Fort Chipewyan. Despite all that he
accomplished for Canada, he is not very well known.
The Northerner 2431
Here is the text of Bell’s letter to Ballenden, who was in charge of the HBC at Red River. At this
time, Ballenden’s health had deteriorated (he retired a year later). Bell and his daughter Jane appear
to have just arrived at Norway House from Fort Chipewyan. He comments on the “long and dreary
nights of the far north, to which quarter we have to retrace our steps in a week hence, to my great
disappointment.” He also says, “I bought out very handsome Returns from A. District.”
The Northerner 2432
Item 1789. Bankhead, Alberta – 1904.
New Member #99 sent these scans of a picture post card mailed at Bankhead, Alberta on December
09, 1904. The card is a Stephen J. Thompson card (No. 580; note the red anchor), printed by John
Walker. The card was addressed to India, and redirected to Liverpool and then to the US, a process
that took just over two months in total. The sender was the Inspector of Mines, Calgary (there were
coal mines near Bankhead).
Item 1790. Mount Stephen, Field, B.C.
This picture post card (also from Member 99) showing Mount Stephen, Field, B.C. misses Alberta
Territory by a few miles but is too nice not to include. It is W.G. Macfarlane Heraldic card 99 in
Series 6A – Royal Crest (see Michael Smith’s catalogue The W.G. MacFarlane Picture Postcard
Handbook. The earliest reported card in this series is dated August 1, 1904.
The Northerner 2433
Item 1791. Peace River Post Picture Cards.
Here are two photoviews from Member 99. Both were published by the Hanna Drug. Co. The upper
view shows the town of Peace River, Alberta. The lower photo shows the steamer D.A. Thomas at
Peace River.
The Northerner 2434
Item 1792. Card from Maple Creek, Assiniboia.
This picture post card was mailed at Maple Creek on October 16, 1904. The circle date stamp was
the second used at Maple Creek, and was proofed on February 5, 1903.
Item 1793. Early Letter from Fort Ellice. Probably a First-Day Cover.
New member #99 sent these scans of a cover and letter he is researching. The letter is datelined
August 31, 1879 at Fort Ellice. The only identifying postmark on the front of the cover is a
WINNIPEG MAN. / CANADA broken circle dated SP 18, 1879.
Fort Ellice opened on September 1, 1879. Archibald Macdonald was appointed the first postmaster
the same day. The FORT ELLICE, NWT hammer was not proofed until October 8, 1879. The
question arises: was the 3¢ stamp cancelled at Fort Ellice, or at Winnipeg? Often, when a new office
opened, the post office inspector supplied it with a three-ring target for cancelling stamps. I have not
yet found a Winnipeg cork matching this, so the question remains unanswered.
The Northerner 2435
Item 1794. Blairmore, Alberta – August 1905, to France.
Member 33 supplied this scan of a triple-weight cover from Blairmore, Alberta (August 24, 1905) to
Lille, France. Note the West Canadian Collieries corner card; this was a French-owned coal
company. Blairmore is in the Crowsnest Pass region, near the BC border.
Item 1795. A Modern Route Cover: Noralee to Takla Landing.
When I saw this northern BC cover, I couldn’t leave it with the dealer. It’s a simple Centennial 5¢
domestic cover, mailed at Noralee, BC on April 17, 1967. However, from the return address
(Noralee P.O. Via Burns Lake) and the address (Takla Landing Via Vanderhoof & Ft. St. James),
we see the entire route. Noralee is 35 miles southwest of Burns Lake, near the west end of Francois
Lake. The post office there was open from 1937 to 1967 (August 3, 1967 closing date). Mrs. Barbara
Tourond was the last postmistress, serving from July 18, 1962 to the closing. Note that Jim P.
Tourond sent the letter.
This cover made its way to Burns Lake, then east on the Yellowhead (Highway 16) to
Vanderhoof, and took Highway 27 to Fort St. James and went north through Manson Creek and on
west to Takla Landing. If you look at a BC map, you’ll find that the distance as the crow flies from
Noralee to Talka Landing is about one-third of the mail route.
The Northerner 2436
Item 1796. Registered Covers: 1952 Eastern Arctic Patrol—Craig Harbour and Pond Inlet.
These two covers owned by Member 3 were mailed from Eastern Arctic post offices during the stops
of the C.D. Howe on the Eastern Arctic Patrol. The top registered cover was mailed at Craig Harbour
and is the first recorded use of registration box R3. The cover was despatched by air at Resolute Bay,
the next stop of the C.D. Howe. The bottom cover was despatched at the end of the Eastern Arctic
Patrol at Montreal.
The reverse of these two covers is shown on the next page.
The Northerner 2437
The cover from Craig Harbour (August 29) reached its destination on September 12. The cover
from Pond Inlet reached there on September 24.
Item 1797. 1904 Closed Bag Winter Mail Through the Yukon.
From Member 3, here is an Alaskan cover mailed from Circle on the Yukon River on January 9,
1904. The next marking is a Skagway, Alaska transit dated January 29, 1904. The only way for the
cover to get from Circle to Skagway was through Canadian territory in the winter of 1904. There
was a closed bag service for American mail as shown by this cover. It was carried by dog team to
Dawson, horse and sleigh to Whitehorse and then by train to Skagway. The only backstamps are
Skagway (January 29) and Chicago (February 13). Do other members of the Study Group have
similar items from other years?
The Northerner 2438
Item 1798. Glacier Creek and Granville Registered Covers – 1963.
These two registered covers owned by Member 3 were sent from small post offices near Dawson in
the summer of 1963. The Glacier Creek cover was mailed on August 15, 1963; the post office closed
13 days later. This is the last recorded use of the registration box from Glacier Creek. The bottom
cover from Granville shows the first reported use of the registration box R2 proofed in April 1944.
Note the unusual Dawson oval on the back of these covers.
Item 1799. 1963 McCabe Creek, Yukon Registered Cover.
Next from Member 3 is the first report of a registration box from McCabe Creek, Yukon post office
(open from December 5, 1953 to August 30, 1969). No registration markings are recorded in the
proof books. McCabe Creek was located on the highway between Whitehorse and Dawson after
October 6, 1959. Before then, it was located on the Yukon River. A scan of the front of the
cover―mailed June 26, 1963―is shown on the next page. The cover reached Whitehorse on June 27
and Edmonton on June 28.
The Northerner 2439
McCabe Creek, Yukon registered cover
Item 1800. Upper Liard, Yukon Items – 1960.
Member 3 writes that Upper Liard, Yukon is located on the Alaska Highway about 8 miles
southeast of Watson Lake at Mile 642 of the Alaska Highway. It is on the west bank of the Yukon
River where the last bridge along the Alaska Highway crosses the Liard River. A hotel, cafe, garage
and gas station, and grocery store were built there as early as 1952 to serve the growing tourist flow
and local population. In early 1958, the local residents, including the owner of the cafe and gas
station―Louis Pospsill, petitioned the Post Office Department for a post office to serve the
businesses and residents. Approximately 35 non-Aboriginal and 175 First Nation residents would be
served by the new post office, which was already a scheduled stop on the Dawson Creek–
Whitehorse bus and mail service.
George Joseph Whimp, born in 1892 in London, England, applied for the position of postmaster
of Upper Liard on May 4, 1958. He had been in the Watson Lake area since 1945 and served as the
service station and garage operator at Upper Liard, but he had recently retired. He proposed to
operate the post office from a space in the cafe and store and to construct a new building if necessary
but this does not appear to have happened. As a note of interest, the cafe at Upper Liard is still in
operation.
After a local competition where no other applications were received, Whimp was appointed as
the postmaster and the office opened on September 2, 1959 as a non-accounting post office number
55228. The remuneration for the postmaster was set at $220.00 a year. A circle date stamp, Money
Order Office dater, and registration box were prepared. The only item appearing in the proof books
is the Upper Liard circle date stamp that was prepared on June 23, 1959. It is not clear why there
was such a delay in the opening of the office from May 1958 when Whimp first applied to
September 1959.
Mail service to the new Upper Liard post office was provided via the Dawson Creek–
Whitehorse bus service as follows:
The Northerner 2440
Dawson Creek to Watson Lake and Upper Liard (Tuesday and Friday)
Watson Lake to Upper Liard and onward to Whitehorse (Thursday and Sunday)
Whitehorse to Upper Liard, Watson Lake and onward to Dawson Creek (Tuesday and Saturday)
On March 1, 1960, Whimp―as postmaster―wrote to the Post Office Department stating that he
was giving up the restaurant at Upper Liard owing to sickness. The new owners expressed no
interest in continuing the post office because their command of the English language was limited.
The resignation was effective March 31, 1960. He was persuaded to stay on until a travelling
inspector visited the office, which was closed effective June 3, 1960, lasting a little more than nine
months. On January 13, 1961 the post office closure was considered permanent as no other person
stepped forward to take the position and local children were picking up mail at Watson Lake, where
they attended school. The total revenue for the Upper Liard post office was $85.00 from its opening
on September 2, 1959 until March 31, 1960. From April 1, 1960 to its closure on June 3, 1960, there
were no revenues.
Figure 1 below shows a cover from the Upper Liard Hotel in 1953 used through Watson Lake,
well before the post office operated. Figure 2 presents two items. The upper item is a philatelic post
card dated March 31, 1960 postmarked at Upper Liard, and the bottom cover is a registered cover
dated April 5, 1960. Note that the registered cover is numbered “83”, meaning very little mail must
have been handled at this office over its brief life. This cover was received at Watson Lake the same
day (Figure 3), a Tuesday, and then bagged for onward transmission to Vancouver and the US.
These Upper Liard items are the first reported from this short-lived post office. Figure 4 shows a
post-closure cover from the Upper Liard Cafe and Service Station sent through Watson Lake circa
1963 with a 5 cent Cameo definitive. Two covers from the Upper Liard Hotel in 1977 and 1987 are
shown in Figure 5. Finally, Figure 6 shows a cover with a return address of a George Whimp in
Watson Lake, who was likely the son of the former postmaster. The postmaster appears to have died
on a Canadian Pacific DC-6 flight from Vancouver bound for Whitehorse and on to Watson Lake
on July 8, 1965 while returning from a medical appointment. Some descendents still live in the
Watson Lake area.
Figure 1. A 1953 cover entering the mail stream at Watson Lake.
The Northerner 2441
Figure 2. Two 1960 items from Upper Liard.
Figure 3. Reverse of the registered cover in Figure 2.
The Northerner 2442
Figure 4. Upper Liard mail sent through Watson Lake in 1963.
Figure 5. Two covers from the Upper Liard Hotel, 1977 and 1987.
The Northerner 2443
Figure 6. Cover mailed by George Whimp.
References:
GenDisasters website accessed on May 18, 2010: http://www3.gendisasters.com/air-
disasters/12628/100-mile-house-bc-plane-explosion-july-1965
Library and Archives Canada. Record Group 3. Accession 89-90/282. Volume 467. Upper Liard
1958-61.
Item 1801. Grenfell Labrador Cover – 1901.
Here is Member 3’s cover sent by medical missionary Wilfred Grenfell in 1901 from Labrador. It is
in his distinctive handwriting. He sent it while on board his hospital ship the SS Strathcona. On
August 3, 1901, he was at Seal Islands, Labrador and was at Battle Harbour on July 31, where this
cover was likely left for pickup by the coastal mail steamer. Grenfell kept a small diary in which he
recorded his locations from 1880 to 1924. It is in the holdings at Yale University, has been
microfilmed, and is available for viewing at the Library and Archives of Canada in Ottawa. This
cover is addressed to Charles Carroll Carpenter, who was a Congregational missionary at Bonne
Esperance on the North Shore of the St. Lawrence in the 1850-1860s.
The Northerner 2444
Item 1802. Yukon Mail through Juneau, 1894.
Here is cover owned by Member 3, sent from St. John’s Mission, Buxton or Forty Mile, Yukon in
Bishop Bompas’s handwriting. Unfortunately the stamps were cut off, like many of the other
Bompas covers. The outgoing date stamp was applied at Juneau, Alaska on March 8, 1894 and the
next marking is also on the front―Clifton, Bristol in England, where the cover was readdressed to
Weston Supermare on April 5, 1894. This is the only outbound pre-gold rush item Member 3 has
seen routed through Juneau. [There is a May 1896 cover inbound to Fort Cudahy endorsed “Via
Juneau” but it has no Juneau postmark. See p. 7 of the CAPEX ’96 exhibit book. gs]
In S.A. Archer’s book on Charlotte Selina Bompas, A Heroine of the North, there are a couple of
relevant extracts from her journal as follows:
December, 1893.
A friendly miner is going off on business to Juneau and offers to take letters to post there for the
Mission, making an exception to the general charge of these men of one dollar a letter, and
conveying ours free. I have, therefore, the unexpected pleasure of sending you some tidings from
Upper Yukon in midwinter.
January 16, 1894.
The letters which were to have started ten days since are still delayed, our good miner having
been forced to postpone his start in consequence of a severe spell of cold. How severe you will
understand when I tell you that for some days our thermometer ranged between 60° and 70°
below zero, and for two days went down to 73° and 75°.
It appears that this cover was then carried out privately in the winter of 1894 by special overland
courier to Juneau. It is not clear what stamp or stamps the cover bore but the rate to England at that
time was 5¢ so perhaps it was a 2¢ and a 3¢ Columbian issue or a single 5¢ Columbian issue?
Once the cover was received in Juneau in March 1894, it was likely carried to Sitka and then on
the regular Alaska steamship route between Port Townsend and Sitka with the Pacific Coast
Steamship Company that had a contract for two trips per month.
The Northerner 2445
Item 1803. Log Cabin, BC via APO 702 Whitehorse – 1945.
Member 3 sent this item. During World War II, the US Army took over the operation of the White
Pass and Yukon Railway on October 19, 1942 to support the construction of the Alaska Highway
and later, the Canol Project. Much new equipment was added, and 20 of the 111 miles of railway
were reconstructed. The railway was returned to civilian operation and management on November
13, 1944. Apparently some US military personnel stayed on, as shown by the return address on this
cover from a US serviceman located at Log Cabin, British Columbia, a station along the White Pass
and Yukon Railway. The return address shows that his mail was carried by the railway out to
Whitehorse, where it was mailed on October 1, 1945 through the US Army Post Office 702. What
was the sender doing at Log Cabin in October 1945? A weather observer, or doing an inventory of
equipment as the US Army finally settled with White Pass and Yukon in May 1946, whereby the
company paid the US government almost $300,000 for the improvements to the operation?
Item 1804. Seattle to Lake Bennett and Return, 1898–1899.
Here is an 1898 gold rush cover, mailed in Seattle on September 24 to Lake Bennett, B.C. (Via
Victoria). Presumably it was received in Lake Bennett on October 23, 1898 (date of the backstamp).
It was marked “Return” in pencil, then postmarked RETURNED∙TO. It was received back at Seattle
on January 22, 1899.
The Northerner 2446
Item 1805. US War Department in Whitehorse, Yukon – July 1941.
Here (from Member 3) is an unusual double-rated airmail item from Whitehorse posted on July 4,
1941 in a US War Department penalty envelope, sent back to the US. What was the sender doing in
Whitehorse a year before the construction of the Alaska Highway would begin? Thanks to the
internet, it is possible to do key-word searches and find information on something as obscure as this
cover. By putting in the sender’s and recipient's names, up popped a number of references to the
Mountain Training Center at Camp Hale, Colorado. Americans watched with some interest as war
broke out in Europe in 1939, and specifically between Finland and the Soviet Union at the end of
November 1939. Finland had some success using specialized winter troops. The US War
Department became interested in cold weather and mountain training and set up several programs
and tests. In July 1941, the American Minister in Switzerland passed along intelligence that German
troops were planning and training for operations in Alaska and the Rocky Mountains.
Captain Albert H. Jackman (who sent this cover) was in the Army Reserve and assisted in
developing clothing and equipment for winter training. He sent this cover to Lt. Charles E. Hurdis,
who was given the task of exploring ski-troop training and development. It appears that Jackman
made a trip to the Yukon, and perhaps Alaska, in the summer of 1941 to test and/or develop winter
military training opportunities or equipment. This is an interesting precursor WWII item from the
Yukon.
Item 1805. Okkak, Labrador Post Card – 1913.
Member 3 has sent in this Dicks and Company glossy sepia post card (next page). It shows the
Moravian mission station at Hopedale, Labrador. It was actually sent by a nurse, Miss Florence
Walmsley (see photo next page), from the more northerly station at Okkak. She served in the
hospital there to help replace the retiring Dr. Hutton, who returned that same season due to his
health. The card was carried out on the third and final trip of the season by the Moravian mission
steamer Harmony that left St. John’s on October 14, arrived at Okkak on Ocotber 24, and returned
on November 14, 1914 (Saturday). This post card was placed in the mail at St. John’s three days
later and was postmarked with a machine cancel although a barred obliterator cover ties the stamp
to the card. A post office did not open at Okkak until about 1915 (no official postal records exist for
this period from Newfoundland)
The Northerner 2447
Nurse Walmsley, late of the
hospital, Okak, Labrador.
The Northerner 2448
Item 1806. Horse Harbour, Labrador – 1903.
Member #22 sent these scans of a post card depicting St. Ives, Portminster Bay (West Cornwall,
England) mailed from Horse Harbour, Labrador on Sept 3, 1903. The card is to be sent by the Schr.
Isallt, and it received a LABRADOR.T.P.O./SP 3/03/NEWF'D split ring cancel. (This is N40
Labrador TPO Hammer 1 State 2, which is an early date). The card, with the stamp missing, is
addressed to North Wales. There is a St. John’s cds dated Sp 9/ 03 transit mark on the front.
Horse Harbour opened as a way office in 1890 with Josiah Goose Sr. as waymaster. The office
continued open as a summer office until its closure on March 31, 1949. There are no postal markings
known.
The message has the words spelled backwards.
That completes this issue. Thanks for the support. Please keep the scans coming through summer.
