Evening star., 1926-03-06
BY w. j. SCOTT.


Special Dispatch Ia The star.
SIOl'% LOOKOUT. Ontario. March
4 Dela yed).-Red Lake with it's prom
Using veins of gold, Is - days "mush"
from Hudson by dog team and to-
hoggan Today. by the first air
plane TO penetrate to the new
gold field, | made the dista ance there
and back in three hours and n half.
In between trips had time to
trudge about the mushroom mining
camp that by Spring is expected to he
the scene of the greatest gold STAN
pede in Canadian mining history; to
talk to the veteran and greenhorn
miners and prospectors already snug
~ established i'm the 30.below zero
temperature behind log and canvas
walls, and to obtain innumerable pic
lures Of the town. the diggings and
the gold hunters.
Thus. the Red Lake gold rush will go
down through mining histOrNWot only,
perhaps. on account Of the T quantity
OF precious metal uncovered in this
remote part Of northern Ontario, hut
because it marks the beginning of
the use of modern transportation
facilities in the Midwinter race for
gold.
Veterans Laud Feat.
While griZZled prospectors laughed
at the recently contrived snow mo-
tors and tractors failed miserrably
to reach their objection. they doffed
their parka hoods of coonskin as
the inv. Curtiss plane belonging
to the newly established Jack V.
Ellior aerial mail freight and passen-
ger service, pilOted by Harold Far
rington. did in 3L2 hours what would
have taken them II long. tedious
days to do. Men who had "mushed'
yer the gold trail to klOndile. Por-
upine. Gowga nda I.arder Lake and
every other worth h-while gold strike.
joined in "a shout Of welcome as the
big plane struck gently on the snow
covered surface Of Red Lake and
TAXED gracefully toward the wooded
shore on it's tough ski-runners of
ash. TO come 10 halt almost at the
door of the log hut with it's canvas
roof. which bore roughly lettered
sign. Red Lake Mining Recorders
Office"
The establishment of the aerial
service was officiany cemented when
Bob Hammell. vetera n Toronto mining
man. who owns large interests in
Red Lake. abandoned the 130-mile
hike back to civilization, on which
he was about to start, and instead
took his place in the passengers sec
ton of the inv and few back to the
railway station at Hudson in l hour
and 40 minutes.
Is Thorough Plane Test.
In this first flight to Red Lake the
reliability of Midwinter aerial trans
portation WAS given thorough test
and came through with d hundred per
take-offs, two beautiful landings.
purring engine that never missed q
stroke-that. in brief, is the story of
our flight today.
The only hint of trouble that we ex-
perienced was in getting the engines
going in the open air with the mer-
curry registering 90 below. 1t took us
from 6 in the morning until ] o'clock
to get the first cough out of the en-
gine. but eventually boiling water and
hot oil did the trick. and after that
we soon made up for lost time.
1t was not long before the rapidly
growing town Of Hudson. which is the
jumping off place into the gold coun-
try was left mere smudge on the
snow. The country fattened out
rapidly. with only a long, curving
groove to mark the course Of the
transcontinental line of the Canadian
National Railways Soon that disap-
peared. Tiny lakes, discernable by
their clear white surfaces. dotted the
landscape everywhere.
Presently Lac Seul was below us. Its
wide. frozen eXpanse broken by num-
berS Of tiny islands. , For 80 miles
we skirted Lac Seul while far below
us on the dog trail. which was barely
visible, every now and then we could
Of dogs
tramping bravely on toward the gold
country. For miles that dog trail
seemed hardly to- deviate a foot. The
man who first broke ii must have had
the eye NJ a ChIisty Mathewson.
Open water showed for first time at
the Narrows on Lac Seul. and then
we came 10 Pine Ridge. the most noted
~ the stopping places on the land and
ice trail. Here there was open water,