The Northern Horizons of Guy Blanchet by Gwyneth Hoyle

Author:Gwyneth Hoyle
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781459714526
Publisher: Natural Heritage Books

EIGHT — THE THIRTIES: 1930–1939

The news that Colonel MacAlpine and his party were missing in the Arctic made the headlines in late September 1929, and the newspapers reported that a rescue effort had been mounted. But by the time the group of survivors reached The Pas in the first week of December, their story had been replaced by events that affected the whole continent and would reverberate for the decade ahead. The heady optimism that had prompted Dominion Explorers to set up aerial prospecting camps in the North was reflected in the sharp rise in the stock market during the 1920s when stocks quadrupled in value, reaching a peak on September 3, 1929. Attracted by dreams of instant wealth, a flood of new investors borrowed to invest, or bought stocks on margin, with the intent of selling quickly to realize a profit. When the market began to drop, the rush to sell brought the first of the “black” days on October 24, followed by an even blacker day on October 28. By November the market had lost 62% of its value, and the downward trend continued over the next several years. There was a cumulative effect, as people were suddenly impoverished and stopped buying, causing manufacturers to reduce inventory. Financial institutions collapsed when depositors, hearing that the banks were saddled with uncollectible loans and worthless stocks, rushed to withdraw their savings. This gave rise to the Great Depression, the term that is synonymous with “The Thirties.”1

It was early December 1929 — The Thirties were just over the horizon — when Guy arrived back in Ottawa, glad to be home after nearly two years away. The past three months had been extremely stressful. In the limitless surrounding of the snow-covered Barrens, each person had seemed larger than life, living through a drama at times akin to a nightmare. This magnified the usual adjustment for Guy’s return to the city where he was suddenly just an unimportant individual lost in the crowd.

Back at the office in the Department of the Interior, Guy set to work writing a report of the time spent on his outside assignment in the North and adding what he had observed to existing maps. In addition to the departmental report, he also wrote a thirty-one page monograph, Aerial Mineral Exploration in Northern Canada, published by the government in 1930. This booklet outlined the scope of the exploration by the four mining companies and the methods used, as well as describing the topography, climate, vegetation and wildlife, and included an appreciative note on the Native Peoples of the area.

Of the four mining companies exploring the broad Hudson Bay area, the two using airplanes had found it an expensive experiment. With airplanes they had been able to cover a much larger range and could more easily see the structure and formation of the land than those using only canoes, but from the air they could spot only the most obvious mineral-bearing rock. As it turned out, the greatest use for the airplane was transporting men and equipment to a likely looking area.

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