Finding a piece of history
Courtesy Carla Skye
When Carla Skye was going through some of her late mother’s belongings one day, she found something peculiar: a coin of some sort, a little bigger than a toonie, with an engraving of the Mercier Bridge, the words “Ville Lasalle” and “Caughnawaga” and the year 1934 on one side, and a number – 1119 – and the words “Free Pass Indian Member of the Band” on the other.
Curious of what it was – she had not seen the coin before the moment she found it – she decided to ask the Old Kahnawake Photo Share Facebook group.
“I wondered if this is the coin that was used to let them pass over, that kind of thing. So that’s why I posted there, just to get more information,” said Skye.
Many comments hypothesized what it was, but the most common answer was that it would have been a toll token, either used as, or in place of, payment for the Mercier Bridge toll, which existed from its opening in 1934 to 1962.
According to the Kanien’kehá:ka Onkwawén:na Raotitióhkwa Language & Cultural Center (KOR), that hypothesis was correct.
But so far, that’s all that is really known.
Unfortunately, the KOR did not know more, and inquiring with the bridge corporation, online coin collectors, and the Historical Society of Montreal has not provided more information in terms of how long they were in use, how community members got them, and if they were single use payment or a form of identification.
