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winter express
Fur Trade, Hist.
DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
Entry from the DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
This entry may contain outdated or offensive information, terms, and examples.
the winter trip of the express (def. 1).
Quotations
1799
About Christmas, Mr. MacKenzie paid us a visit which he extended to the departure of the winter Express in February.
1825
You will also receive ten horses and by the winter express we hope to be able to forward sixteen more to make up the number to one hundred for New Caledonia.
1858
. . . writing letter for England, which leave today by the winter express which the Company sends with their accounts at this season to Red River.
1918
There was a regular system of expresses to carry correspondence, reports, and news to and from the different posts in the Northwest. Masson states that there were two expresses annually. The winter express left the farthest posts in the north about the end of November, passed through the whole country on sledges and snow-shoes and reached Sault St. Marie in March. The summer express hurried down to the place of rendezvous with the results of the winter's trade, apparently in advance of the canoes with the furs.
1933
The Northwest traders organized their winter expresses or couriers with great care, and the resulting system of communication was one of the picturesque features of the life of the wilderness.