Description
By the time 1980 rolled around the late Ladd Heldenbrand had made about 45 fishing trips to Labrador – long story. Almost all of these were with a couple of friends that he made over the years who had their own float planes. I was lucky enough to get invited on one of the last trips of that type that he would make. After that George Watson and I went once or twice a year for about 25 years to various lodges including Minippi, Anne Marie, Crook’s Lake, Atikonak, Big River and Flowers River. They were all great. There is no place quite like The Labrador.
In order to capture every inch of Labrador this map also sneaks over the line and you go all the way west to Fort Chimo. This gives you The Whale and The George, famous salmon rivers of Ungava Bay.
In almost every lodge we went to this 48″x40″ poster commissioned in 1960 by the Labrador Department of Mining and Resources was hanging on the wall in the dining area. It was printed originally in 1960, and with its blue water and white for land is quite a striking thing. It also dates to before there was a Smallwood Reservoir, and the gigantic hydro dam at Churchill Falls was built.
I looked for a long time to find a copy but couldn’t. Finally, someone from one of the camps – I’ve forgotten who – told me about a source that had a limited number of them left. This was 20 years ago, and I imagine they are long gone.
George Waston and I each bought one and he brought his copy over the other day. He donated it to the MSA for this auction. I don’t remember what we paid at the time, but I consider it priceless unless someone proves me wrong. I know I’m going to die owning my copy even if I just unroll it to look at it a time or two every winter.
My phone camera did a great job on this poster, but I wasn’t able to handle the whole poster very well. I assure you that all the print everywhere on this poster is crystal clear. This is truly a wonderful document.