The Coolidge examiner., 1931-09-11
One of canadas Far-FIuns Trading Posts.

blazing hot, but the nights freezing
cold. Two men, badly hurt in the
crash, reached the shore only with
the greatest difficulty.
Happily, however, in the party
was a land surveyor, who managed
to swim ashore with a hand AK and
water-tight box of matches. U.s.
ing his ak, he made a rude shelter.
by snaring rabbits in the woods
and killing frogs with sticks, the
party kept alive for seven days, till
rescued by another flying boat sent
to seek them.
The search for the lost French
flyers, Coli and Nungesser, in May,
1927, nearly cost the lives of Cap
tain Robinson and his crew. They
had flown along the north shere as
far as the Strait of Belle Isle, then
still full of ice, when a storm forced
them down. Anchoring late in the
evening, in the shelter of a rocky
ledge, they curled up in their cock
pit to await better weather. Sud
denly the wind veered, blowing a
gale from the open sea. Their
anchor dragged and their ship
smashed on the rocks. They saved
their emergency kits. made a fire
on shore from the wreckage of their
plane, and cooked breakfast They
walked 20 miles along the beach
to a lighthouse and signal station,
to report their whereabouts.
Returning from a flight up the
Ashuapmuchuan river, one pilot
brought with him an old Indian
When invited to ride the red man
seemed In no way perturbed at the
prospect. He calmly donned he'll
met and goggles and settled himself
in the front cockpit, as if flying
were an everyday act with him. In
a half hour he flew downstream q
distance which just previously II
had taken him six days to cover by
canoe.
Flying in Winter.
In north Quebec, flying goes on
summer and winter.
On January morning Capt. Ken
meth Saunders, chief pilot of the
Canadian Fairchild company, start
ed north with an engineer and
Hudson's Bay company official. on
a visit to some of the northern
trading posts. Unless one flies, II
usually takes six weeks of mushing
on snOwshoes, with a dog team to
haul baggage. to reach these wilder
ness outpOsts. Regions between
posts are wholly uninhabited. Snow
lies from four to six feet deep;
trails, sucG as they are, usually fol
low the lakes and rivers through
borken country of small timber.
When Saunders and party left
ROberval the day was bright and
fair. but the thermometer was %
below. An hour up the Ashuap-
muchuam they sighted the first trad
ing post and circled to land on
the frozen river. Either they struck
spot where warm spring had
thawed the ice or else an early fall
of snow on the ice had prevented
thicker formation; anyway, the
plane broke through. The men had
barely time to crawl from the cabin
before the whole fuselage was un-
der water
Luckily. they were near the post.
and Tom Moar, the Indian in charge,
volunteered to walk out the hun
dred miles to civilization with
message He started away within
half an hour. taking only an ak.
some matches and chunk of moose
meat He made the trip in the rec
ord time of five days, sleeping twice.
on the second and fourth nights, in
holes in the snow lined with bal
som boughs and travelling 'contin-
uously the rest of the time.
Meantimes the Canadians set
about salvaging their plane. They
made a platform of logs around the
machine op which to work. AS the
water was not deep, a tripod of
poles cut from the woods was built
over the aircraft and it's wings were
removed.
Salvage Their Plane.
Seven days later a rescue ma
chine reached the scene with hoist.
ing tackle and tools. The wrecked
plane was moved safely to shore. A
tent was erected around the front
Of the fuselage and the engine.