Smyrna times., 1933-10-25
INDIANS FIND
IN LABRADOR
Gold Discovered Lends Posi-
bilities of Region That is
Little Known
RICH GOLD REPORTED

Washington.-Rich gold ore was
recently reported to have beer
brought out of Labrador by In,
dams.
1t is one Of many such reports
that have been made through the
centuries, but still the truth as to
Labrador's possibilities as a source
OF precious metal Is unknown, says
q bulletin from the National Geo
graphic society. It Is for other re
sources that the country is best
known. the bulletin points out.
Labrador spreads like a rough
triangle from Hudson strait to
Blanc Sablon, on the Strait of Belle
Isle, and from the Atlantic coast in
land to the Height of Land" con-
tinues the bulletin. with an area
of at least 10000 square miles, it
is almost three times the size of
New Foundland. Its boundaries en-
brace a fringe of coastal settle
ments. fur trading posts, and Gren-
fell and Moravian mission stations !;
romantic fjords and naked cliffs like
those of Norway; rocky islands and
narrow 'tickles' (channels); ancient
mountains, valleys and falls; 30
mile lakes and rushing rivers
swarming with trout and salmon;
forests and barrens where fur-bear-
ing animals roam. Eskimos and
whites live along the coast, Indians
in the interior.
PulpWood and Lumber.
Besides minerals, other wealth
turks in Newfoundland's mainland
domain. There are pulpwood and
lumber In the southern forests of
black spruce and white spruce,
birch, cedar, poplar, and balsam fir;
and white gold lies latent in cat
aracts like Muskrat falls. Grand
falls, twice as high as Niagara,
could be harnessed, it is estimated,
TO produce more than 100000
horse power for a part of each year.
But the sea, not the land, is
Labrador's chief source Of wealth
today. So it has been since Cabot.
letting down baskets into the sea,
scooped them up full Of Goldfish. Cod
is still king on this coast, to the
transient summer fisherman from
Newfoundland and the 'liveyere,'
who lives here in Labrador all year
round.
Neither 1iveyere' nor Newfound-
lander speaks Of cod by that name.
Salmon is salmon and trout is trout:
but cod is always fish
''The 1iveyere,' like many New
foundlanders, depends chiefly on the
cod fishery for money to buy tea,
-four. salt, pork and molasses for
the winter. When the cod sets in
shore he leaves his home and po-
tato patch at the head Of the in
let or ford, and moves down to a
shack on the outer coast for the
summer. When the cod Is running.
he works 20 hours at a stretch.
Back home after winter sets in,
he hunts and traps for fur. shoots
ducks, and goes on a cruise (visit)
TO neighbors, travelling from 40 to
400 miles over snow and ice in
komatik, or sled.
Furs Source of Wealth.
Sometimes a mission holds a fair,
and dog teams gallop in from miles
around with sledge-loads of families.
The men hold a shooting match.
with a barrel of flour as the prize
The girls fill supper baskets, and
the young men bid for them-and
the supper partner who goes with
them.
''Rich furs-fox and ermine, mink
and otter, beaver and bear and
muskrat-rank next in Importance
to cod. The part white, part Es-
kimo trappers do little cod fishing,
for the Turing grounds lie miles
away from the coast, and the win
ter hunt, when pelts are prime.
keeps the men away from home for
weeks at time.
RIFLES bang good-by as canoes
pull out into midstream to begin
the long trip up-river to the fur
paths, or hunting grounds. When a
trapper chooses a certain area, he
blazes trails, sets out perhaps 300 |
traps, and builds tits Cog huts) |
at intervals Of a days walk apart.
this land Is his alone
to hunt over, and no other trapper
thinks Of poaching on it.
4The trapper's day is long, work
at the traps hard. Storms may
oyertake him, and 2O-below-zero |
cold. Yet he stops only once or
twice to prepare a mug Of tea and |
TO take bite of bread. For sup |
per, cooked on the tits tin stove. he
stews partridge with rice and salt
pork; or perhaps some beaver or
whose meat is good eat |
Ing. II he has time, he bakes rose
bread (yeast-raised), or IL not. |
soggy hammock. Then he skins |
his pelts and stretches them to dry
on the fur boards. Frequently he
finds that mice have ruined the pelt /
l