Buffalo DC-3 Crash YZF
Renfrew-
Yes, the DOC for the Daks, C-46, and DC-4 are high, but Buffalo's bread and butter is bringing food and other supplies to remote communities. This is essentially paid for by the Federal government, so Buffalo Joe can fairly well recover costs.
As HellWrench has said, availability of Avgas is becoming more and more of a problem - esp since it is drummed and has to be hand pumped. If the gas has overwintered, it will likely have a fair bit of water in it. Not a promising thought.
So I think sunset for these wonderful old aircraft is approaching. Joe is a pretty resourceful guy, and it wouldn't surprise me a bit if he was able to get an STC to convert a couple of Dash 8-100s into a sort of combi, with a reasonable freight door behind the wing. There are -100s to be had (Jazz is starting to retire them, for example). For lift in the C-46/DC-4 size, possible a couple of Electras -- they already have 2.