Centennial is time to look back PIONEER COMMUNICATIONS In 1887, when Thessalon Township was incorporated. lumbering operations were in full swing along the North Shore, as well as on Manitoulin, Cockburn and St. Joseph islands. Many settlers were arriving to take up land and a thriving commercial fishing industry was being established. All of these developments were in need of servicing and communication with larger centers of population. To fill these needs, a growing fleet of sailboats and steamships made regular calls at all ports along the North Shore and adjacent islands. As a result, mail and supplies were being delivered on a more or less regular basis during the navigation season. The Dyment Lumber company schooner made frequent trips to Thessalon from Kincardine to transport lumber from the mill for processing at the latter port. No doubt, since many of the lumberjacks, mill workers and settlers came from Bruce and Huron counties in the early days, the Company would make an effort to provide communication between the two ports. In contrast, from the time navigation closed in the fall until the lakes were free of ice in the spring there was a long period of almost total isolation. During this period shipping came to a standstill and very irregular mail service was provided by dogteam, depending upon unpredictable ice and weather conditions. Under these conditions, it was necessary to stock supplies of food, clothing and other necessities for the long winter months before navigation closed in November or early December at the latest. Since weather conditions varied considerably from year to year, there were occasions when food supplies were gravely depleted. For example, one spring in the early eighties, the situation was so serious that J.B.Dobie, the principal retailer in Thessalon, felt obliged to make an arduous eight-day trip over the ice bY dogteam and horse and cutter to Owen Sound and thence to Toronto. By so doing, he hoped to order supplies and ensure that they were on the first boat to Thessalon when the ice cleared from the North Channel. His concern was justified. The necessities of life did run very low, and the people of Thessalon township were obliged to share their dwindling stock of food with their neighbors. The uncertainty of mail service during the winter months was probably the greatest inconvenience and cause for concern. And, even in the summer there were expressions of discontent about The postal service. For example, the Advocate reported on July 13th. 1888. "The post office at Ansonia has been closed. The withdrawal of the office at this point will be a source of much inconvenience to the settlers." A news item in November was even more critical. It read: "Inexcusable! The long delay in establishing a post office at Tally Ho (Iron Bridge) is something that cannot be understood. Owing to the increased number of settlers in that area, an office is badly needed." How history repeats itself! Mail service to the Thessalon area increased greatly in 1888. To quote again from the Advocate: "On her last trip up, the Atlantic carried mail. From the Collingwood papers we learn that two boats of the Collingwood line, the Atlantic and Baltic, will carry the mails for the remainder of the season, this will give us four mails a week." Relief during the winter months was also on hand, the newly-completed C.P.R. line began to provide mail service. Jim MacDonald