Photo courtesy of Tourisme Îles de la Madeleine. Photographer M. Bonato

This Quebec Maritime story follows our British Columbia (BC) post on the Dogsled Mail Run. Each describes an unusual way that mail was delivered in Canada. In 2010, Canada Post issued two stamps commemorating these unique mail deliveries. I stumbled on both while researching dogsledding in Canada. Even though I was raised in Quebec, I’ve never been to Quebec’s Magdalen Islands  (aka Îles de la Madeleine), the site of the second unusual mail story .

Reproduction « ponchon » barrel at Musée de la Mer, on the Magdalen Islands, in the Gulf of St-Lawrence between Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.

It was winter 1910 when a telegraph cable stretching across the Gulf of the St. Lawrence broke and left the residents of Quebec’s Magdalen Islands completely cut off from civilization. Magdalen Islanders knew they had to come up with a way to deliver the mail but island fishing boats were deemed too dangerous to sail because of moving ice. That’s when local, Alcide J. Gaudet, came up with the idea of using an empty molasses barrel. Letters were placed in the barrel, a sail and rudder were added and they signed the barrel “Winter Magdalen Mail”. It was launched on February 2, 1910 and just over a week later, it washed up near Port Hastings, Nova Scotia. Murdoch McIsaac found the barrel and when he opened it, he discovered a note from the islanders requesting their mail be delivered so that’s what McIsaac did.

Although the molasses barrel has long since disappeared, one of its letters survived and is on display at the Magdalen Islands’  Musée de la Mer (Museum of the Sea). According to a Magdalen Islands blog, in the 1990s, a second group of islanders tried to recreate the barrel launch. Despite launching in similar weather, tides and currents, their barrel was lost at sea.

Photo courtesy of Tourisme Îles de la Madeleine. Photographer G. Theriault

Photo courtesy of Tourisme Îles de la Madeleine. Photographer M. Bonato

One of our Montreal friends, Steve, is a huge windsurfer/kiteboarder and heads to the islands every year. Canadian travel journalists, Katherine and Eric Fletcher are also big fans and include the Magdalen Islands in their Quebec Off the Beaten Path guidebook. Katharine also gave me a good travel tip. She suggested we drive to Prince Edward Island, hop on the Souris ferry, tour the Magdalens and then catch the ferry and return to central Canada via the St. Lawrence River. The photos on this Mountain Equipment Coop blog  have also whet our appetite. Magdalen Islands and Quebec Maritime tourism sites are informative and the staff I spoke to at both were helpful too.

I think it’s time for a visit.

Photo courtesy of Tourisme Îles de la Madeleine. Photographer M. Bonato

The Cariboo region of British Columbia may be the only place in the world where you can have a letter stamped “carried by dog sled”.

The 20th anniversary Dog Sled Mail Run is January 20-22, 2012. Photo by Thomas Drasdauskis, courtesy of Barkerville Image Bank

The Dogsled Mail Run, an annual Cariboo event, will celebrate its 20th anniversary January 20-22, 2012. Sledders sworn in as Canada Post mail carriers will carry close to 3,000 Mail Run envelopes by dogsled over the Gold Rush Trail, a former sled dog mail route. The Mail Run envelopes, which include a picture of a musher and dog team by a local artist, will be stamped at points along the trail and then delivered to 20 countries worldwide. Many envelopes will also carry a new Canada Post dogsled stamp issued in May 2011 to commemorate the history of the delivery of mail by dog team throughout Canada.

We’ve all heard about the “Pony Express” in the United States, but how many Canadians know that the arrival of a sled dog “packet” or a “batard”, a narrow 22 foot-long canoe paddled by six skilled Voyageurs, signaled “news” in Canada.  For isolated, lonely people in those early days, the arrival of mail was a huge event despite the fact that the news received was often already 12 months old.

The Stage Race on the Gold Rush Trail is a new addition to the 2012 Dogsled Mail Run. Mushers from all over will challenge themselves and their dogs in this event. Winners will take home real Cariboo gold bullion. Warren Palfrey, a local sled dog outfitter, is the race marshall. His great grandfather, Sam Hourie, delivered mail by dogsled during the Klondike Gold Rush.

A corner block of stamps from Canada Post

Jeffery Dinsdale, a Dogsled Mail Run volunteer, sled dog owner and local historian told me he and other volunteers gather all the envelopes for each Dogsled Mail Run. Each is hand-cancelled with three different cancellation stamps, then packaged for the three-day trip over the Gold Rush Trail route and collected for entry into the regular mail system at Barkerville, a famous Gold Rush town. Five envelopes traveling by dogsled at the 2012 Dogsled Mail Run will be ours. One is addressed to us. Four other envelopes will be sent to family members. Each carries the new Canada Post dogsled stamp. If you want to send a letter by dogsled, log on to http://www.dogsledmailrun.ca/  to find out how. Dogsled stamps are available from Canada Post.

2012 Dog Sled Mail Run envelope with stamps from Canada Post

Next week, we head to Canada’s east coast for another great mail story. Stay tuned.

Drumheller, Alberta's T-Rex has a viewing platform between its teeth!

Chambers’ Dictionary of Etymology defines the term “mascot” as an animal, person or thing that is supposed to bring good luck. According to the dictionary, the word is borrowed from the french word, “mascotte” meaning sorcerer’s charm or good luck piece.

Canada is a land of mascots. I’m not sure why but they’re plentiful here. The largest is Drumheller, Alberta’s T-Rex. Four times the size of a real Tyrannosaurus Rex, it weighs 145,000 pounds, stands 86 feet tall and is 151 feet long. The cost to build T’Rex caused a bit of mascot controversy in Drumheller. But today most who live here would tell you their mascot has brought them good luck in the form of tourism dollars. This dinosaur-themed town is now the heartbeat of the Canadian Badlands, an Alberta region known for its dinosaur fossils, many of which are displayed in Drumheller’s famous Royal Tyrrell Museum.

The Big Apple, Colborne, Ontario

Drive enough of Alberta and you’ll find mascots for just about everything. The world’s largest lamp for a lamp museum. A giant cornstalk in Taber, Alberta famous for its corn. Coronation Alberta’s giant crown was chosen to honour the coronation of King George V. A model of the  Starship Enterprise stands in Vulcan, Alberta.  Manitoba’s mascots include the Melita banana, a giant mosquito, the world’s largest curling rock, and ‘Tommy the Turtle’.  A massive snowman, a giant set of hockey cards, several big buffalo and and a huge pitchfork are some of Saskatchewan’s mascots.

Shediac, New Brunswick, lobster capital of the world

Joe Muffraw, the lumberjack from Mattawa, Ontario

Sparwood, British Columbia has the world’s largest truck and Sudbury, Ontario has the largest nickel. A giant lumberjack is Mattawa, Ontario’s mascot. It was carved by a local artist using a chainsaw. In Canada’s Maritmes, you can’t miss the enormous red lobster as you drive into Shediac, New Brunswick, the lobster capital of the world. On a road trip through Quebec’s Saint-Joseph-du-Lac, we found Verger Lacroix’s basket of fruit and wine representing the apple orchards here. The Colborne area of Ontario is another apple region. The Big Apple at the side of a Highway 401 exit here has sold millions of apple pies to travelers.

Giant fruit basket in Saint-Joseph-du-Lac, Québec

In Pictou, Nova Scotia, the town mascot is Ship Hector, a reproduction of a sailing ship that brought the first Scottish settlers to the birthplace of “New Scotland” in 1773.

Hector Heritage Quay Interpretive Centre and the Ship Hector – photo: courtesy Town of Pictou, NS

Got a mascot in your neck of the woods? If so, we would love to hear from you.

On-board Ship Hector – photo: courtesy Town of Pictou, NS

The Richmond Olympic Oval will serve as the long track speed skating venue for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games

The sexiest Olympic venue at the 2010 Winter Games!

The Richmond Olympic Oval is a multi-purpose sports facility along the banks of the Fraser River in British Columbia. It is located a few kilometres south of Vancouver on Canada’s west coast, minutes from Vancouver International Airport (YVR) which is across the river on Sea Island.

Although built specifically for the Games, the facility is open to the public for sports activities and spectator events.

One of the most striking architectural aspects of the building is the arching, laminated wooden joists that hold up the roof. The roof itself contains salvaged wood that was damaged by a recent pine-beetle infestation in British Columbia forests. It’s one of the largest timber roofs in the world and covers an open interior space of about 100 by 200 metres (2 hectares, or about 5 acres). It took my breath away. Here are some technical descriptions of the building. Canadians familiar with drafty hockey arenas are going to say “Wow, looks expensive.”

The Oval is also a training and competition centre for many Paralympic sports, including wheelchair basketball. When I was there I got to play some “pickup” ball on one of the courts inside the actual skating oval. No wonder so many able-bodied people play this sport as well, it’s the most fun you are ever going to have sitting in a chair. Check out the Canadian Wheelchair Basketball Association website for information about joining a league.

Grand entrance way to the Richmond Olympic Oval

The Flying Beaver restaurant

If you’re in the area, drop in at The Flying Beaver for a burger. It’s a restaurant on stilts across the Fraser River from the Oval (map). It’s famous for good casual West Coast seafood, live music, great views and a place where floatplane pilots hang out between jobs.

Aberdeen Center drummer

If you like dim sum and want to experience authentic Asian culture, Fisherman’s Terrace restaurant in the brand new Aberdeen Center on Cambie Road in Richmond is a good bet. The shopping mall itself is a state-of-the-art multicultural experience where you can buy a Lamborghini along with your ginseng and cream puffs.

Commercial fishing and tourism exist side-by-side in Steveston Village.

In February, 2009, I visited Steveston, a historic fishing village in the southwest corner of Lulu Island, British Columbia. It’s not far from the Vancouver International Airport and the city of Vancouver. The village looks out on the south arm of the Fraser River delta. Steveston was founded in the 1880s and became a thriving centre for commercial fishing and canning. At its height there were 15 canneries along the shore packaging millions of pounds of salmon, herring and other species. Hard working fishermen were known to frequent the many hotels and saloons, as well as the occasional bawdy house. Apparently there was some gambling activity and opium consumption as well.

I stopped at Pajo’s Fish & Chips, a popular floating restaurant down among the wharves. It’s a casual place where great seafood comes in a paper cone and seating is on wooden picnic tables. Steveston is still a major fishing port and if your timing is right, fresh and frozen fish can be purchased off the boats. Much work has been done to promote tourism here. The Gulf of Georgia Cannery is a National Historic site right near Pajo’s. I took a bus tour from my hotel in Richmond and a local guide showed us the cannery and some sites along the coast.

Steveston marina in February – home to Canada's largest commercial fishing fleet, comprised of seiners, gillnetters, trawlers and other vessels.

The City of Richmond occupies the north part of Lulu Island closer to Vancouver. Here’s a map. Richmond is accessible from Vancouver on the new SkyTrain, so is the airport (YVR), and the Olympic Oval, but not Steveston.

North arm of the Fraser River from Lulu Island (Richmond) looking towards Vancouver

Check the Steveston Village Community website for more on local attractions and the latest news. Steveston is worth visiting if you are in this part of Canada. Here are some more directions on how to get here.