"A Trip to Labrador & Northern Quebec" Wabush by Bwana_Brown

Wabush Travel Guide: 38 reviews and 81 photos

Douglas DC-3 in Northern Canada - Wabush

Courtesy of the Iron Ore Company of Canada

In September, 1971 I had returned to the University of New Brunswick, in Fredericton, NB, Canada to complete the final year of my 5-year Electrical Engineering degree. By chance, the Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC), with huge open pit mines in both the Labrador territory of the Province of Newfoundland and adjoining parts of northern Quebec, were on a recruiting drive. The deal was that each of the different Engineering classes would put their names into a hat and one name would be drawn for each class to see who would be heading north (not to Alaska!). Of the 50 of us in 5th year Electrical, I drew the lucky straw! It was not long before a bunch of us were on our way, flying from New Brunswick north across the St. Lawrence River to the Quebec port city of Sept-Isles. It was here that IOC had their bulk storage and shipping facilities, where the raw iron ore would head out for destinations all over the world. They put on a great show for us there, free drinks and snacks - man we had really arrived! The next day was spent touring their mining and shipping facilities there along the north shore of the St. Lawrence. The following day, we were taken out to the airport where we found this old company-owned Douglas DC-3 waiting for us! It had a top speed of 160 mph and had been built in 1939 (hey, in 1971 that did not seem that long ago!). Luckily, I knew that this was one of the most durable aircraft of all time, and in fact, it has been voted as one of the outstanding aircraft ever built! That was good, because we were headed 320 miles due north to the mining town of Scheffarville, Quebec, after flying over that part of Labrador that juts out into Quebec!

Pros and Cons

Pros:It's Different
Cons:It's Bleak
In a nutshell:The Money Had Better be Good!

Last visit to Wabush: Sep 1971
Intro Updated May 6, 2004
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Reviews (4)

We Are Out of Here Transportation (1)

At the end of our 4-day long-weekend excursion to the north, it was back to the airport at Wabush to catch a little more... more travel advice

Open-Pit Iron Ore Mine at Labrador City - Wabush

It's Winter - Get Used to It! Local Customs (1)

Here it was, only September 23 and already there was snow on the ground at this open-pit mine in Labrador City! Good... more travel advice

Driving One of These Monsters is Easy! Off The Beaten Path (1)

After we had flown south again, but only half-way, to the Wabush/Labrador City area, we toured another of the IOC... more travel advice

Huge Mining Trucks Things to Do (1)

When we finally reached Schafferville after our long flight over the sparsely populated terrain of Labrador, we were... more travel advice

Comments (8)

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matcrazy1 Mar 9, 2007 at 7:35 PM

Haha, it had to remind me Lavender Pit in Bisbee, Arizona. Only climate is quite different. These 120-tons trucks look really huge.
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Redlats Sep 15, 2005 at 5:19 PM

Fun reminiscing. I have been next to the earth movers used in building some of our generating stations in Manitoba. Your head reaches only up to the wheel axels. Nice page.
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JLBG Apr 1, 2005 at 9:30 PM

These Sicard 120 tons reminds me of the T100 that French truck company Berliet built in the sixties for the Sahara, total weight up to 150 tons. I saw one, it was impressive !
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jamiesno Dec 27, 2004 at 4:03 PM

Glenn I have to go here for a week the end of January so I'll take lots of new pictures for you to compare from back then. I am going on a tour of IOC too I think, probably some snowmobiling, but I am going to be working mostly!
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herzog63 Jun 3, 2004 at 2:20 AM

Do you still have that Lucky Straw? What a cool experience!! You sure have made the most of your degree!! It's brought you to many corners of the world and even a bit further than the corner!!
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RobDavis May 31, 2004 at 5:52 AM

Nice hair! ;-) I'll bet you're glad you took advantage of all the travel/work opportunities you had when you were just starting out!
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kenmerk May 29, 2004 at 4:38 AM

DC3's with Ham Std props, great vintage airplane pict, Glenn... How was your trip to the Iberian Peninsula ??
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Simonneeddy May 8, 2004 at 12:18 PM

Glad I saw your page. We seem to be the only ones who have visited here from VT. I often flew in the DC3 or as we called the Dakota.( flying boxcar) It was one great plane and the work horse of the airforce. Very safe. Thanks for sharing.