MAIL SERVICE 339 



many lives. Unless in very cold weather salt 

 water ice of less than three inches thick should not 

 be trusted, and if it be very mild even four inches 

 is not safe. Half that thickness of fresh water 

 ice will bear the weight of an ordinary man safely. 



To resume, a few years later we got a monthly 

 summer mail via Rimouski, but none in winter. 

 When the Moisie Iron Works were opened by 

 Mr. Markam Molson, the company had a private 

 mail service between Moisie and Bersimis. The 

 tariff for letters taken en route was the same as 

 that charged by the H. B. Co., twenty-five cents 

 each. Two men were employed and they made 

 four or five trips each winter, about fifteen to 

 twenty pounds of mail matter being carried on 

 the average each trip. After my first voyage 

 with the old Indian, Ploute, to Bersimis, I fre- 

 quently went as guide for these mail carriers 

 over the long portage to Manicouagan River. 

 Ten to twelve dollars was considered good pay for 

 such services in those days, and they were hard 

 earned dollars. 



On one of these trips, two of Molson's men, 

 Brochu and Levesque, for whom I was acting as 

 guide, nearly lost their lives. It was our first 

 day out from Godbout and we proposed to camp 

 that night near the Mistassini River. About four 

 miles before reaching the river the route passed 

 near the sea shore to avoid the spur of a high 

 mountain. Standing in the path one could see 



