The Centre reporter. [volume] (Centre Hall, Pa.) 1871-1940, 1878-02-07
AN ARCTIC MAIL.
How tho Mail is Carried la Winter To One
sixth Of the Western Continent The Life
Of the -ledMr Drivers ndM ct
Miles on @naw-~hops.

. upP- -hltdgc journey hhlcA huppliti
mail matter 10 at least one-sixth Of ths
Western continent. There were nc
swinging coaches, neighing horses, ol
huge pile OF leAthern mail bags to bt
seen only the every day spectacle of d
few dogs, a few turned-up boards. and
half u dozen half breeds IN their pictur.
esque winter dress none of the usual
belongings Of the civilized mail service.
The boat brigades of the summer carry
a mail in addition 10 their freight but
in the long winters, when the waters are
locked up III ice and the plains covered
with snow. leaving scarcely landmark
discernible by which the days course
may be steered, other appliances take the
place Of plank bottoms and sturdy oars
men.
Every year about the 10th December,
when the landscape IN clothed in its
winter raiment Of white, and the rivers
and lakes are covered with thick ice.
there starts from Fort Garry, bound
north, tins accumulation Of mail matter,
known rs the Great Nothern Packet.
Through It's agency communication is
had with every post In the territory.
The appliances for the carriage OF this
important packet are snow-shoes and
sleiges. The latter, generally four in
number, are drawn 10y dogs, Of which
there are four 10 each sledge, and in
whose trappings considerable taste and
ornament are displayed. But though
gaudy III appearance aud decorated with
clinking and shining bits of metal, rib
bons. etc. =, they are, nevertheless, neatly
fitting, simple III design, and perfectly
adapted 10 the purpose for which
they are intended Little bells.
ringing clearly, attached % each harness
cheer the spirits Of men and animals
through the long runs Of the day. Their
drivers, one TO each sleige, lightly clad
for running alongside their trains, are
shod with snow-shoes. Each alternate
sleige is loaded with white fish as pro
visions for the dogs upon the journey
every animal receiving single fish mt
the termination Of the days trayel-and
pemmican and tea for the drivers.
There is bound upon each Of the re-
naming sledges a pair Of stoutly CON
stTucteG boxes, measuring about three
feet in length hy eighteen inches in
width and fourteen inches IN depth.
These wooden mail bags, when properly
packed, contain AN astonishing amount
Of printed and written matter These
receptacles being secured upon the
sledges, the party sets forth upon it's
long journey, the dogs running at a reg
ular trot from morning tll night, aud
the drivers accompanying them on foot,
At the rate Of about forty miles per day.
The route taken is generally that follow
ell 10y the boat brigades IN the summer,
shortened whenever practicable by cross
ing points Of land jutiing ont into the
lakes, and striking out overland from
bend 20 bend OF the rivers But the ice
forms the general roadway, and the
whole length Of Lake Winnipeg is ira
vcrsed % Norway House at It's northern
extremity. This post constitutes what
may be called n general distributing
ofiice-thc entire packet being over
hauled and repackcd. 80 as 10 separate
matter going north and west from that
going eastward toward HudSon's Bay
Before the institution 81 Inailsconhect-
ing points iuthe United States with Fort
Garry, all excess IN the amount Of mail
matter transmitted through the winter
packets WAS so jealously guanied against
the carriage OF newspapers, as creating
additional weight, and not Of vital i'm
portance 90 the service. was prohibited.
with the single exception II an annual
file of the Montreal Gd-cfts. forwarded
90 the headquarters Of each department
fur general perusal. The fifty-two
copies Of that periodical circulated over
the vast country from post to post until,
worn out 10y much service and obscured
hy much patching and pasting in order
10 hold them together until yet another
reader might obtain q perusal, they
finished their course in lonely station,
in latitude sixty-seven degrees thirty
minutes north, where. am credibly
Informed. certain ancient fragments cf
them are yet 10 be seen. At this date.
however. newspapers. once 80 rare and
highly priced, form the bulk OF the con-
tents Of the company's inward bound
packet. In fact, many OF the officers
are regular subscribers 20 daily journals
which reach them from six months 10 a
year after date Of publication; so that,
with the exception OF the events Of the
year just passed, the dwellers under the
shadow of the pole are as well informed
as we as - the doinPs Of the great world.
The contents of the outward and in.
ward bound mails OF this sparsely settled
territory present striking differences
in appearance. which add 10 the many
peculiArities Of peculiar service. The
difference lies in the presence in the in
ward mail of newspapers, periodicals
and other printed matter. bearing a gen.
erqlly soiled, posimarked and frayed as
pect, contrasting strongly with the pure
white envelopes which constitute the
sole contents OF the outward-bound mail.
Occasionally, too, there appears a
strangelygotten up parcel Of the inner
bark Of the birch tree doing duty as
writing paper. Again, particularly
white and thin parchment will bear news
from some isolated friend. who wishes
to make his letters memorable in more
ways than one. These latter styles Of
correspondence are. however, but some
of the many ways Of passing the time in
the interior country, wher' great part
of the year is passed in idleness.
The runners IN charge OF the mail
packets are generally half breeds, whose
capacity for rapid travelling has been
tested. They are not unimportnnt men
either in their own eyes or in the eyes
of other people. But, with the excep-
tion of physical endurance Of steady
trot for days at time, their necessary
qualifications are not many. In travel
ing they skirt the shores Of the water
courses. selecting camping places for the
night in some sheltered thicket, or I'M
der the lee of some projecting bank, to
escape the fierce winds which sweep
over the level prairies. The snow is
scraped away from n space sufficiently
large 10 admit Of huge fire and the
spreading down of blankets by means
of snow-shoe used as shovel. Dry
wood is collected in large quantities, the
pemmican and tea served, the siedges
turned up 20 ward off the blasts, and the
runners, wrapped in few blankets, re-
tire for the night. The warmth of fire
and blankets IL augmented by the vital
heat of the dogs, occupying the bed
with their masters. A regular episode
of the night, however, consists in the
oldest dog of the train bowling a dismal
soprano solo, in which tho remainder
Join in varying chorus, until stopped by
the whip-stocks Of the drivers. Before
daybreak they are awake, aud with a
further consumption of pemmican and
tea the days travel begins.
They pass through strange scenes
upon their iourneys-withered woods,
through which the winds howl and
shrek shrilly, and endless level ex-
panses Of snow, the glare of whose un-
sullie whiteness blinds the traveller.