Interesting, Ed.

And I found a few references someone might enjoy.

"Perhaps the most unusual and unexpected gift of food came from the Atlantic provinces in the form of carloads of dried cod fish and salted herring, something with which many of our Western people were not at all familiar, and it took considerable experiment to prove to them that it was food for the body rather than fertilizer for the soil. When cartons were opened, many seeing the salted fish for the first time were tempted to suggest that they were intended for use of shingles for their leaky roofs, or perchance soles for their worn out boots. Such unworthy suggestions might be forgiven when one recalls that, so far as Saskatchewan was concerned, the primary cause for the existing poverty was drought and drifting sand. In many communities waster for human consumption was not available anywhere in sufficient quantity to enable house wives to treat salted fish in such a way as to make them palatable. Hundreds or perhaps thousands of farmers of that day will recall with rueful smile the gift of cod fish and kippers, though feeling eternally grateful for the generosity of their unknown benefactors."

http://cap.estevan.sk.ca/community/ATaleThatIsTold/chapt09/Depression.html

"Farmers from the east sent fruit and fish to help out. The fish was cod, dried to the point of petrification. However, they forgot to include instructions on how to prepare them. It was necessary to soak them in water for 24 hours before cooking them. Without these instructions housewives did not know what to do with this dried fish. One farmer nailed one to a telephone pole with a sign that said they were good only to use as shingles! Although the fish was not appreciated, the fruit was wonderful."

http://www.hillmanweb.com/elrose/1.html

"Some people used the cod to shingle their outhouses."

http://books.google.com/books?id=0bTIwIJmOiUC&pg=PA9&lpg=PA9&dq=dried+cod+to+the+Prairies+Depression&source=web&ots=n2SSfg9J1L&s