Yellowknife, N. W. T.
Sept. 6, 1939.
Dear Mother:
So the worst should have to happen. I wonder what parliament will decide for Canada tomorrow. General expectation here was that she should not declare war for awhile but when the news said last night that United States would not sell war materials through Canada this idea was changed, though this may have little to do with the matter. A number of men have already left the district to enlist and others of this company have applied for leave of absence. I suppose the same thing is happening all over Canada. How long will it last? Germany’s financial position would indicate a short was and yet this seems to matter so little in wartime.
The news said last night that the pound was down to 4.02. That is bad. Did it drop in the last war. The 17 dollar rise in CMS stock was surprising. I imagine it may rise close to 100 so Archie must be chuckling over his fortunate purchase. I was given my bonus share for two years service a few days ago so now have four but I am wishing I had bought several more now. I was so keen to get a thousand dollars in the bank at one time, which mark I have now passed, I haven’t been really considering any stocks.
A declaration of war will probably affect this district and mines not yet reached the production stage and marginal mine such as at Goldfields will be closed in all likelihood. The Con will keep going I think as it must be for its size the best producer in Canada and probably has the lowest cost per ton of ore extracted of any other Canadian mine.
Radio reception is rotten today and I haven’t heard any news all day. For the past few days we had been listening to news at every opportunity.
Last night we went over to town in the worst storm I have yet seen here. Luckily we were in a skiff and not the sailboat but everybody was soaked by both wind and rain when we reached town. Soon after we had started we had to turn back and drop two passengers to lighten the load one of whom was more than glad to get out. I don’t know when I have seen a man look more frightened than he did. We had gone to see the show Errol Flynn in the “Perfect Specimen” which was excellent and well worth the trip over which I enjoyed anyway. Afterwards we walked home in the dark which was not easy with bare wet rock underfoot and several times I missed the course and strayed into some soggy muskeg so we were wetter than ever when we finally reached home. Others who had gone over by boat did not return until this morning when the storm had diminished.
We had a dance in the recreation hall on Labour Day. It rained heavily until midnight and so the affair was very unsuccessful. There were never more than six ladies there at one time.
We went up to the falls in the doctors canoe not long ago but this time were not lucky enough to hit any duck. We had intended going to the second falls at the north end of Prosperous Lake but the day was so colded [sic] we decided against it. I think we would have had a difficult time getting the canoe over the portage anyway.
With love from
Tony.