I have recently added a history section to the Lower North Shore web site, and also to the forums section, and I have uploaded lots of old photos which I obtained from Dwight Bilodeau, and Gros Mecatina, to get things started. There is not much detail to go along with the photos yet, but they are still very interesting to go through. An example of this, is the photo below which shows my great grand father (Samuel John Robertson) delivering mail via dog team in Mutton Bay. It also turns out that this was the last mail run on The Lower North Shore, using a dog team like this.
Unlike the Pony Express, which is very well know, most people aren’t aware that there was a similar system that was used in Northern Canada. Instead of horses, which would not be very practical in the North, the mail was relayed with dog teams, consisting mostly of Huskies. On the Lower North Shore, there were several different people, including Samuel John Robertson, and Joe Joncas, that would delivery the mail up and down the coast from Natashquan, to Blanc Sablon. Just looking at the photo above, and watching them pull their loaded komatic over rocks, you can imagine how much effort was required to deliver mail like this. The photo looks like it was taken in the spring time, which would also have been very dangerous, since the ice would have also been starting to break up.
Like the Pony Express, the Puppy Express was replaced by the telegraph, then telephone, and other modes of transportation such as trucks and planes. Of course people currently living on the Coast sometimes still wonder if the Puppy Express might be actually faster than the current system.
Another interesting photo is the one below of Miss Massey and Abe Poland. The description that went along with the photo was “He would walk from St. Pauls to date Miss Massey, dressed to kill”. I am not sure who either of these people are, but I bet that there is an interesting story behind the photo and that description.
There are also several old fishing photos from Old Fort Bay, and Blanc Sablon, such as the one below. It is just amazing to see the amount of fish they were catching back then. I am sure that these old timers could not have imagined the cod fishery would be closed like it was recently, due to the large drop in cod fish stocks in Eastern Canada.
