|
|
Ralph Parsons, The King of Baffin Land .
William Ralph Parsons was born at Bay Roberts, Newfoundland , on 1 December, 1881 . At first a teacher, he joined the Hudson 's Bay Company in 1900 and was promoted to Post Manager in 1905. He was successively made District Manager in 1909, Chief Factor in 1927 and the youngest Fur Trade Commissioner in Hudson 's Bay history in 1930. After distinguished service, he retired in 1941 and died in St. John's , Newfoundland , on 24 November 1956 .
During his career, Parsons established some 35 posts, 20 of them personally. It was the first, one that would become known as Wolstenholm Post, that nearly caused his death. In 1909, orders were received by Parsons at Cartwright, the head post of the Labrador District, directing him to establish a new post on Hudson Strait . This post was at Eric Cove, a site on the south-western end of the Strait, and practically at the very northern tip of Quebec ("Ungava"). For many years it was a watering place for Company ships sailing in and out of the Bay. With a crew hard at work laying foundations and erecting the buildings, Parsons determined to push further east, acquainting the Inuit with the new post and taking with him trading stores. Accompanying him were three men, two of whom were young and inexperienced, the crew rowing a Company whaleboat that had seen better days. Whaleboats are heavy affairs and cannot be dragged ashore at night camp. One night at 3 o'clock in the morning a sudden hard gale sprang up, driving the boat onto the rocks where it broke up and sank, taking with it all their supplies. With their only option to walk back to Eric Cove, the four set out - but not for long. The sharp rocks soon cut their sealskin boots to ribbons and speed was limited to that of the slowest. Accordingly, three stayed behind and Parsons struck out alone for help. Although Eric Cove was only 60 miles as the crow flies, it was more like 200 due to deep coves, river inlets and steep rocky hills. Parsons made it, but only at the extreme end of his endurance, and his crew was rescued. Eric Cove became known as Wolstenholm Post. Over the years, Parsons acquired the title of "King of Baffin Land" since so many of the new posts were on that island. A rather jovial character, he was a sort of perennial master of ceremonies at celebrations and festivities of the Inuit and quite willing to enter into their sports. For many years, collectors have been aware of the Parsons tokens although, unfortunately, no one ever thought to find out what they represented and when they were issued. In appearance, they are squares, rectangles or triangles of copper or lead sheet which have been stamped with PARSON (to my knowledge, the final S has never been visible). The stamp was always a single one, probably made up for Parsons to stamp his tools and the like.
1" square Rectangle: 1 ¼ " x ½ " Triangle: ½ " Tentatively, there are five different sizes and shapes of tokens: a rectangle about 1 ¼ " x ½ "; squares measuring 1" and ½ "; triangles with bases of 1" and ½ ". They are known in both lead and, less commonly, in copper. It is believed that the copper sheet was recycled from the banding of Company kegs and crates; the lead was probably from rolls of narrow lead sheet sold by the pound and favoured for a raw material in the casting of bullets. "Counterfeiting" was prevented by the application of Parsons one-of-a-kind stamp, some tokens so small as to show no more than half the letters. They probably were not "store of value" tokens so much as counters. Ordinarily, Company traders bought the furs for a determined number of "tokens" of various kinds (sometimes only sticks or kitchen matches) and as the customer bought goods, the appropriate number were swept off the counter. Although any excess could be saved for a later date, it was rarely done. Usually, the excess was redeemed for more powder, lead, fish hooks, small luxuries or the like. In 1948, the noted Canadian numismatist, J. Douglas Ferguson, wrote to Ralph Parsons and received the following reply: "Mr. J.D. Ferguson, St. John's , Nfld., Messrs Spencer ( Canada ) Ltd., Feb. 14, 1948 Rock Island , Quebec
Dear Mr. Ferguson,
Replying to yours of 4th inst., the little personal experience that I have had in the use of trade tokens is confined to a small section of the Eastern Arctic, viz., Hudson 's Strait.
When we established our first post at Wolstenholme in 1909 and at Lake Harbour, Baffin Land, in 1912 the natives at these places had very little idea of the relative value of their furs and country produce as compared with our trade goods, so we instituted a trade token that would give them visual knowledge of the comparative values of such country produce and types of furs that they traded with us. These tokens were also used in trading over the counter. We took a white fox as being the standard of value as represented in a piece of sheet pewter or copper about 2" x 1" x 1/16"; we then divided it up in sections representing Ermine, Jar Seal Skin, square flipper Seal skin, Walrus, etc. as per illustration below:-
Each section represented a skin so that the native could see for example the relative value of a Jar Seal Skin with a White Fox or how many White Fox equalled a Blue Fox or a Polar Bear.
Mr. Clifford Wilson has specimens of these tokens at Winnipeg . They are, of course, no longer in use. Yours Sincerely, Ralph Parsons". In subsequent correspondence, he furnished information to the effect that "in 1918, the tokens were replaced by the new issue of round aluminum ones"; more unusually, he also wrote that he had been unable to trace the use of any tokens by the Company in their posts in Labrador or Newfoundland . This is unusual in that the Company introduced a series of uniface tin (or zinc) tokens throughout its whole Eastern Arctic district in 1919 according to the research of later collectors. These tokens were denominated as 1-, 5-, 10- and 20-Made Beaver.
Hudson 's Bay Company Hudson 's Bay Company 10 (Made Beaver), tin 1 M(ade) B(eaver), aluminum Issue of 1919. Uniface Issue of 1923
These tokens of the "Labrador District" were in turn superceded by aluminum 1-, 5-, 10- and 20-Made Beaver tokens for the amalgamated "St. Lawrence - Labrador District" in about 1923 (again, according to later research). These latter were probably in use until the end of the Second World War. In both cases of the 1919 and 1923 tokens, size increased as did the denomination. A Company trader from this period has been quoted as saying that a "Made Beaver" was valued at 20-cents cash in Labrador/Ungava. (In the south and west, a "Made Beaver" was more commonly valued at 50-cents). But no matter: it was simply a "unit of account", the values of the fur balanced with the values of the goods.
|
MarchRalph Parsons, the King of Baffin Land The Emergency Currency of Cyprus , WWII
|
|---|
