Vice
Regal Tours
In 1925 the Service was called upon to provide communications
with the "outside" for the Governor General, Lord Byng,
during his 1925 summer tour of the mighty Mackenzie River. Equipment
which had just arrived for installation at Fort Smith was diverted
temporarily for installation on the Hudson Bay Company's "S S
Distributor". As a result the opening of the Fort Smith station
was delayed until after the completion of this river trip.
Incidentally,
the service provided for Lord Byng was the first of many occasions
when NWT&Y Radio System personnel accompanied distinguished visitors
throughout the North, ministering to their safety and comfort and
furnishing the outside world with information on their activities
enroute.
In
1956 two System stations, Aklavik and Norman Wells were favoured
with a visit from the Governor General of Canada, Rt. Hon Vincent
Massey, in the course of his tour of Northern Canada and the DEW Line
during the latter part of March and early April. All members of the
station staffs were presented to him. Special arrangements were made
for the expeditious clearance of traffic and press releases over the
System throughout the tour with Aklavik handling 20,000 words of press
and Norman Wells, 14,000 words, most of which was relayed from the
DEW Line sites through Cape Parry.
Royal Tour of 1959
Plans
for the Royal Tour of Her Majesty the Queen and HRH Prince Philip
in 1959 called for them to be in the Yukon and NWT from 18 to 21 July
with visits scheduled for Whitehorse, Dawson, Mayo, Yellowknife and
Uranium City. However after arrival at Whitehorse on the 18th, Her
Majesty was taken ill and was unable to honour Dawson and Mayo with
her presence the following day. Prince Phillip eased the disappointment
of the citizens a great deal by carrying out these aerial visits.
HRH spent 2 1/2 hours at Dawson inspecting the many interesting historic
relics of the Gold Rush Days of '98 and an hour at Mayo looking over
the rich mineral properties thence back to Whitehorse for the night
of July 19th. The next day Her Majesty's health was a little better
and she was flown direct to Edmonton to rest while Prince Philip completed
the visits to Yellowknife and Uranium City. HRH spent an hour at Yellowknife
and two hours at Uranium City Beaverlodge Lake inspecting gold and
uranium mines before rejoining Her Majesty in Edmonton the night of
the July 20th. The Queen had recovered sufficiently to attend the
official functions planned by the City of Edmonton, such as opening
of Coronation Park, on 21st July before boarding a special Royal Tour
train for Saskatoon in the late afternoon.
The
Northern phase of the Royal Tour did not affect System traffic to
any great extent as the press party filed their material covering
the Dawson and Mayo visits with the commercial telegraphs at Whitehorse
and held the Yellowknife Uranium City material until arrival at Edmonton.
Despite this, Dawson handled 122 Royal Tour messages, Mayo 25 and
Yellowknife 76 during the short time the party was in the north. In
addition, RC Signals at Dawson, Mayo and Fort Simpson rendered extensive
air ground coverage of the various aircraft involved in this phase
of the tour.
Shortly
after the Dawson visit, the CO NWT&Y Radio System was in receipt
of a letter from the Royal Tour Transport Officer asking that thanks
be forwarded to Sgt. Joe Murree and his staff at RC Signals Radio
Station, Dawson City for their kind assistance and cooperation which
contributed largely to the success of the visit at that point.
-
Excerpt from the Official History of the NWT&Y Radio System.
If
anyone can add details, or point us in the direction to find a more
complete accounts of these visits please send information to
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