NEW TRADING OUTPOST

Feilding Star, Volume 9, Issue 3848, 3 October 1932, Page 5

NEW TRADING OUTPOST

-MINERALS l\ CANADA

THE GREAT BEAR LAKE

In Canada, a new outpost of civilisation has now been (irmly estab-Ji-shed 750 milt.s lurther north with tho settlement ot 150 white men al Great Bear Lake, just a year after Gilbert La Bine, v€‘teran prospector ol the North, made the first .spectacular strike of radium there. The history ol Great- Bear groes back to the days when Franklin Deaso and Simpson made the lake their headquarters in exploring- the Arctic coast. For many years K.skimo.s aud 1 ndians have spoken of ‘‘mountains of copper.” Their enthusiasm is now shared be expert geologists and miners. Silver, with rich surface ore, has been discovered. There are largo deposits of copper in the Dismal Lakes sector, between. Great Boar and Coronation Gulf. Gold is reported to extend right along the line of lakes, from Great Bear to Great Slave Lake. Copper is being developed near Echo and Hunter Bays. There i s oil at Fort Norman, westward, on the Mackenzie. Only two white women have visited the settlement. Princess Gallitzin, a Russian who resides at- F.dson, Alberta, halted there for two hours during the present summer, while, louring the sub-Arctic by aii. The other, Mrs Gerhart, of Berwyn, Alberta, made thp journey with her husband.

Living is expensive. Utilising game and fifth, the average meal costs 7s 6d. All freight and provisions must go in by air. Air freightage costs nearly .£IOO a ton. There are two radio stations, one operated by the Government of Canada and the ether by a mining syndicate. Already about a thousand claims have been Q\it.