March 16, 2007 More Post Cards from the Past

My column two weeks ago talked about the importance of post cards to communication before phones and automobiles asked for feedback from readers. I received several and report on one here. 

Jack de la Vergne recently had a post card exhibition at the North Bay Museum (Discovery North Bay). Jack and I spoke and he has provided me with the postcards below on the North Bay Nugget. 

Coincidentally, 2007 is the 100^th anniversary of the Nugget and you will be hearing more about this in the Nugget later. The Nugget started in North Bay and soon moved to Cobalt during the silver rush and moved back to North Bay in 1922.

The photo shows Cobalt in 1909 with a delivery to the Nugget office – check the sign on the building on the left. The building in the centre has a dentist sign and the building on the right looks like the Imperial Bank of Commerce. 

Cobalt’s John R. Hunt wrote in an article on the Nugget’s history about ten years ago and I chatted with him recently. The building the Nugget was in in Cobalt is now the Cobalt Mining Museum and there are vestiges of the Nugget’s presence there still. John’s article is online on the Nugget website www.nugget.ca under Brief History. 

The second postcard is dated 1925 the year North Bay became a city. In August 1925 a week of celebrations was recorded in a publication designed and printed by the Nugget. I picked up a copy of it (North Bay Old Home Week) at a yard sale years ago and have referenced it many times over the years. Jack de la Vergne identifies the native float as part of that August event. Note the Nugget sign on the building (Oak & 9^th Street). 

The final postcard from 1946 shows the St. Regis Hotel with a Nugget sign on the right at street level. Over the years the Nugget went from a weekly, to a tri weekly, to a daily.   The original copies were 3 cents each. Jack de la Vergne’s collection is still on display at the Museum so drop in and see more of North Bay and Area in the past. 

There will be more post card follow ups in future columns.