The Thule Tree Saga.

There once was a tree at Thule . . .

This message I received from Dave Reilly tells how Thule got its tallest real tree.
Subject: The TREE!!

Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2001 22:25:32 -0600

From: "D. Reilly"

 

In July or August, 1967, our Flight Engineer was a guy named SSgt. Ralph Lint. I think that at this time he was the only Flight Engineer at Thule. As a result he was constantly going back and forth to "THE WORLD" on our C-54's.

On one trip back from THE WORLD, the plane stopped in Goose Bay for an overnight stay.The next morning, when Ralph went to Base Ops to preflight the plane, there were several trees sitting there on the ramp. When Ralph asked about the trees, he was told that they were going to Sondestrom. So, Ralph decided that Thule ought to have a tree and loaded one on the C-54.

On arrival at Thule, the tree was put in the bottom section of a cut off barrel filled with Thule dirt, such as it is. I had cut the barrel off for a barbecue on July 1, in a snowstorm on the ramp in front of Hanger #9.

We watered the tree and I think Ralph brought back some fertilizer and maybe some topsoil or potting soil on his next trip to THE WORLD. We brought the tree to the barracks and after attempts by neighbors to move the tree we chained it to the building.

One Saturday morning Ralph and I went out to go to the snack bar and found our tree missing but the barrel was still there. It was a simple matter to follow the dirt to a neighboring Army barracks where it was found in the Arctic well. We promptly retreived our tree and returned it to its rightful place in front of our barracks.

After the dark season started and the temperatures plummeted, we thought the tree might have a better chance of survival if it was kept in the Arctic well of our barracks. We had plans to decorate it for Christmas but unfortunately it died before that time and was unceremoniously disposed of in the proper receptical.

So, there is the "SAGA OF THE THULE TREE, 1967". In my memory, there was never a girl behind our tree.

Back to Thule base.

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Recommended Books. Search on Amazon.com for details and discount.


(Search a few words of title.)
-- Smilla's Sense of Snow
-- The Frozen Echo: Greenland and the Exploration of North America.
-- Greenland's Icy Fury.
-- Greenlanders, Whales, and Whaling:
-- Lonely Planet Iceland, Greenland & the Faroe Islands.
-- An African in Greenland.
-- Arctic Homeland: Kinship, Community and Development in Northwest Greenland.
-- Greenland (World Bibliographical Series)
-- Knud Rasmussen's Posthumous Notes on the Life and Doings of the East Greenlanders
-- North Pole Legacy: Black, White & Eskimo
-- Northwest Greenland: A History
-- The Arctic: Endangered People and Places.
-- Arctic Adventure: Inuit Life in the 1800s
-- Arctic Foxes
-- Ancient People of the Arctic.
-- Arctic Son.
-- Arctic Folktales.
-- Greenland & The Arctic.
-- Seven Seasons in Greenland.
-- Greenland Expedition:
-- Building the Greenland Kayak:
-- The First Crossing of Greenland.
-- Eskimo Poems from Canada and Greenland.
-- Greenland: Island at the Top of the World.
-- The battle for Greenland.
-- Arctic Clothing of North America - Alaska, Canada, Greenland.
-- Leaves from a Greenland diary.
-- Driving to Greenland.
-- The Greenland Seal Hunter.
-- The Greenland Ice Cap.
-- The Flora of Greenland.
-- The Arctic Promise:
-- Greenland and Iceland.
-- Greenland: Past and Present.
-- Greenland Ventures.
-- Arctic Homeland:
-- Greenland Saga:
-- New Greenland.
-- Greenland Lies North
-- The ice-capped island: Greenland
-- Coast Guard to Greenland.
-- Greenland's 25 years of indigenous self-rule.
-- FROM GREENLAND'S ICY MOUNTAINS
-- The Greenland Mummies
-- Danish Greenland
-- Northwest Greenland: A History
-- Living With the Eskimos In Greenland
-- Those Greenland days
-- THE PEREGRINE FALCON IN GREENLAND
-- Greenland: a dream at the top of the world.
-- This is Greenland.
-- David Goes to Greenland
-- The Art of Greenland:
-- Hunting the Greenland Narwhal
-- Doctors Wife in Greenland.
-- Greenland in Story and Pictures.
-- THE LAST KINGS OF THULE, A year among the polar Eskimos of Greenland.

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