Canada's Pioneer Airlines

Photo by Alan L Brown - July 29, 2006

Plaque Location

The District of Kenora
The Municipality of Sioux Lookout
In Hudson on the north side of Main Street (Highway 664) just before its end

Plaque Text

In February, 1926, J.V. Elliot and Harold Farrington, each flying a Curtiss JN-4 'Jenny' made the first in a series of passenger flights from here to the isolated Red lake mining district. The following month, a Curtiss 'Lark' flown by H.A. ('Doc') Oaks inaugurated a regular service from Sioux Lookout to Red Lake. That December Oaks organized Western Canada Airways, whose aircraft were based at Hudson. One of the earliest airlines in Canada, it was the first to maintain year-round operations. With its predecessors and with Starratt Airways, organized here in 1932 by R.W. Starratt, it laid the groundwork for commercial aviation in Canada and greatly stimulated northern development.