,cover ,illustration ,illustration3 ,mount ,sir ,donald and ,illecillewaet ,glacier ,lake ,louise ,moraine ,lake ,the ,bow ,river ,valley and ,banff ,springs ,hotel ,typical ,canadian ,pacific ,scenery ,the ,romance of the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway ,by ,r4 ,g4 ,mac,b,e,t,h ,author of 8,the ,making of the ,canadian ,west10 8,the ,romance of ,western ,canada10 ,etc4 ,,the ,,ryerson ,,press ,,toronto 99 99 99 99 99 ,copyright1 ,canada1 #aibd1 by ,,the ,,ryerson ,,press ,,contents ,chapter ,page ,i4 ,famous ,forerunners #a ,,ii4 ,the ,approach to a ,great ,task #aa ,,iii4 ,giants in ,action #ah ,,iv4 ,the ,chariot ,wheels ,drag #cc ,v4 ,getting ,up ,speed #dc ,,vi4 ,a ,great ,adventure #ec ,,vii4 ,the ,new ,company #fg ,,viii4 ,a ,constructive ,genius #gi ,,ix4 ,crossing the ,prairie #id ,x4 ,battling for ,life #aaj ,,xi4 ,ocean to ,ocean #abi ,,xii4 ,guardians of the ,road #aea ,,xiii4 ,intensive and ,extensive ,work #afd ,,xiv4 ,the ,guiding ,hands #aha ,,xv4 ,the ,wonders of the ,deep #bjg ,,xvi4 ,war ,service #bbj ,,xvii4 ,the ,floodtide of ,wheat #bce ,,xviii4 ,special ,features #bde ,,illustrations ,page ,typical ,canadian ,pacific ,scenery ,fron tispi ece ,the ,bow ,river ,valley and ,banff ,springs ,hotel2 ,lake ,louise2 ,mount ,sir ,donald and ,illecillewatt ,glacier2 ,moraine ,lake4 ,early ,builders #gf ,lord ,mount ,stephen1 ,first ,president2 ,sir ,william ,van ,horne1 ,first ,general ,manager and ,second ,president2 ,lord ,shaughnessy1 ,early ,financier and ,third ,president4 ,an ,interesting ,group #ic ,lord ,shaughnessy1 ,lord ,strathcona 7,donald ,a4 ,smith71 ,lady ,strathcona4 ,the ,present ,management #ahh ,e4 ,w4 ,beatty1 ,president2 ,grant ,hall1 ,vice-,president2 ,i4 ,g4 ,ogden1 ,vice-,president of ,finance2 ,w4 ,r4 ,mc,innes1 ,vice- ,president in ,charge of ,traffic2 ,a4 ,d4 ,mactier1 ,vice-,president1 ,eastern ,lines2 ,d4 ,c4 ,coleman1 ,vice-,president1 ,western ,lines2 ,sir ,george ,mc,laren ,brown1 ,european ,general ,manager4 ,former ,officers #bje ,the late ,david ,mc,nicoll1 ,vice-,president and ,general ,manager2 the late ,r4 ,b4 ,angus4 ,recent ,developments #beb ,the ,bassano ,dam2 the ,brooks ,aqueduct2 ,supply ,farm at ,strathmore1 ,alberta2 ,canadian ,pacific ,docks at ,quebec4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the ,romance of the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway 99 99 99 99 99 ,,the ,,romance ,,of ,,the ,,canadian ,,pacific ,,railway ,,chapter ,i ,famous ,forerunners ,the fascination for studying the genesis of things that exist seems to be universal4 ,men have an instinctive and urgent desire to find out how objects that are seen actually originated4 ,scientists and savages alike1 for instance1 are still hammering out theories as to the process by which the world was made1 though to most of us the most ancient account is adequate4 ,once ,i knew an ,indian boy on the prairie who was so curious to discover how the figure of a dog appeared at the centre of a large glass 8marble0 we were playing with1 that when ,i had turned away for a moment1 he broke it open with the back of a tomahawk4 ,similarly1 we have known exploring scientists who spent laborious lives in the endeavour to find the sources of a great river4 ,to be indifferent to the beginnings of things which have become part of our lives1 betokens either the calamitous absence of a thinking mind or that horrible satisfaction with present possession which ignores the toil and the tears and the sacrifices of past generations4 ,to persons of such vacant or selfish natures all the explorers and the pioneers--the men whose souls yearned beyond the sky-line of their immediate surroundings--are of no particular account4 ,the untrodden ways which daring pathfinders opened up with adventurous feet are of no consequence to the unthinking who settle comfortably on lands pre-empted by the blood-marked footsteps of the trailmakers4 ,it is because we are not of the number who are sodden with crass materialism and seared by the branding iron of greed1 that we desire to learn the history of the things which minister to our continued existence and comfort in this great new day1 the far-off vision of which made glad the brave seers and workers of earlier times4 ,these thoughts come to me now just as ,i am riding westward on the public observation car of a ,canadian ,pacific ,railway train1 through the great mountains that are piled up on the sunset verge of the ,dominion of ,canada4 ,the traditional weariness of travel is practically banished by these wheeled palaces1 which that living1 breathing1 throbbing locomotive1 under the skilful direction of her driver1 draws through passes and tunnels and glorious river canyons down to the ,western sea4 ,and ,i thought of how1 in times gone by1 that ,western ,sea had been in the dreams of gallant men who hoped to reach its shores some day4 ,i recalled how noble sea-rovers1 like ,henry ,hudson and ,sir ,john ,franklin1 had thrown away their lives in the attempt to find a ,north-west ,passage by water across the ,north ,american continent1 from the ,atlantic4 ,and ,i remembered1 too1 how ,alexander ,mac,kenzie1 the fur-trader1 starting by trail from near the old ,peace ,river ,crossing1 had gone over the mountains on foot1 and how he wrote on a rock by the ,pacific the amazing inscription1 8,alexander ,mac,kenzie1 from ,canada1 by land1 ,july #bbnd1 #agic40 ,we call that inscription amazing because behind it and flashing through it is the story of an invincible will in heroic action and the record of physical daring unsurpassed in the palmiest days of the athletes and gladiators in ,greece and ,rome4 ,thus did ,alexander ,mac,kenzie blaze the trail across the mountains4 ,if the ,north-west ,passage by water had proved a myth1 ,mac,kenzie demonstrated the reality of a passage by land which1 in the years afterwards1 others would follow4 ,strange1 too1 it was that in the same year1 #agic1 ,captain ,george ,vancouver1 an ,english sea-rover1 dropped the anchor of his wooden1 white-winged vessel in the great harbour where there is now a queenly city bearing his name1 on the ,west ,coast of ,canada4 ,little did these adventurous pathfinders who discovered mountain passes and ocean lanes think that1 before a century had passed1 a group of men with vision and courage would follow the inspiring example of the explorers by land and sea1 and achieve not only the crossing of a continent1 but the girdling of the earth in a magnificent transportation system4 ,yet despite the gloomy prophecies of failure uttered by sceptics who declared that the thing could not be done1 the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway has driven its iron horses through the mountains to stand by the ,western ,sea4 ,and from the land terminals1 ,east and ,west1 this unique organization has set its vessels on the tides of all the oceans of the world1 as well as upon the gentler waters of our inland seas4 ,there were many weighty reasons for the building of this railway and the launching of its great ships1 as well as highly important considerations which demand its continued efficiency in our times4 ,let us study them together in this book1 which1 as an eye witness of the genesis and development of the railway1 though never at any time connected with it1 ,i have written and published independently1 as a humble contribution to our history as a ,british ,dominion4 ,like my preceding books1 it is sent out because generations arise which ought to know with what hazard and struggle on the part of the pioneers the foundations of ,canada were laid4 ,the name of the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway ,company fixes in our minds the original objects of the road4 ,the ,railway was particularly the outcome of a new national consciousness in ,canada1 arising out of ,confederation1 and it was designed with the special idea of knitting the older parts of ,canada in the ,east with the newer provinces and territories which were growing up in the wide ,west1 and which would some day form an integral part of a ,dominion whose ,western border would rest on the ,pacific tide4 8,westward the star of empire takes its way0 is a saying which has found historical support in the descent of the centuries from the immemorial ,east1 which is now a graveyard of ancient kingdoms4 ,and once the prows of exploring vessels struck the ,eastern shores of this new continent of ,america1 there were unresting souls that pressed onward throughout the years till they reached the pillars of the sunset beside the alluring ,western sea4 ,in those earlier years ,spain was a great sea-going nation and the ,west ,coast map of the ,united ,states is dotted all over with ,spanish nomenclature4 ,this is found also to some degree on the long coastline of what is now ,british ,columbia1 though in this latter region the ,british element was always more pronounced owing to the ,british blood of the early explorers1 both by sea and land1 and to the passionate patriotism of ,british-born men who were in the employ of the great fur-trading organizations4 ,in this connection it is interesting to recall the origin of the name ,british ,columbia4 ,the territory now covered by the province consisted originally of ,vancouver ,island and other islands and the mountain mainland1 at one time known as ,new ,caledonia4 ,it was good ,queen ,victoria who gave the name of ,british ,columbia to the great mainland area1 and this name was later extended to include ,vancouver ,island when both were united in one colony in #ahff4 ,the ,queen wrote in #aheh to ,sir ,e4 ,bulwer ,lytton1 statesman and novelist too1 that the only name she found on the map of the mainland common to the whole area was ,columbia1 but as there was a ,columbia in ,south ,america and as the ,united ,states people called their country ,columbia1 at least in poetry1 the ,queen thought that ,british ,columbia would be the most suitable name4 ,and ,british ,columbia it remains to this day1 proud to have been named by our noble ,queen and to have sprung from so illustrious an ancestry4 ,later on1 ,british ,columbia1 as we shall see1 proved magnetic enough to draw the steel of the great railway across the continent to the ,western ,ocean4 ,on the general subject1 it may be well to remind our readers that a railway with its locomotive steam engine is a comparatively modern arrangement for travel1 although trucks of various kinds were wheeled on tracks in the coal mining regions of ,england two centuries ago4 ,but ,george ,stephenson1 rugged old ,scot1 with his primitive engine1 the 8,rocket10 began as late as #ahbi1 a revolution in modes of travel4 ,there lived in ,manitoba1 some years ago1 an old railroader1 ,charles ,whitehead1 ,senior1 who was said to have taken a hand in making the 8,rocket0 go4 ,stephenson's invention was not a flash in the pan1 or1 to change the figure1 it did not 8go up like a rocket and come down like a stick40 ,it stayed1 and not only won the prize of #ejj for a steam engine that would actually run and draw1 but it became the fruitful progenitor of the moguls and other colossal 8fire-wagons0 which rush to and fro on a gridironed earth in our time4 ,of course1 ,stephenson1 like all other originators of new means of transport since the days of ,noah1 had to bear the sneers and jocularities of the idle crowd4 ,some one asked him what would happen if a cow got on the track1 just as ,nehemiah's enemies suggested disaster to his wall if a fox ran upon it4 ,but the grim old ,scot only replied that it 8would be bad for the coo10 and went on to perfect his engine4 ,hence came the graceful iron horses which1 with steaming breath1 race along the steel trails in all countries in our time4 ,canada had not begun as a ,confederation when the first prophecy--an astonishing foretelling--of the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway was made by ,joseph ,howe1 in ,halifax1 in #ahea4 ,canada was then simply the old ,central ,provinces of ,ontario and ,quebec4 ,down by the ,atlantic1 ,prince ,edward ,island1 ,nova ,scotia and ,new ,brunswick were1 in a sense1 isolated ,british possessions1 which in many ways were in closer touch with the ,united ,states on the ,atlantic than with the ,canada of that day4 ,joseph ,howe had been to ,london and received assurances that the ,intercolonial ,railway would be built to link up the ,atlantic ,maritime areas with ,quebec and ,ontario4 ,but ,joseph ,howe1 orator1 poet and statesman1 saw beyond that limited plan1 and in his address in ,halifax in #ahea outlined in his own masterly way the future of ,british ,north ,america and its immensely important possibilities4 ,we quote a passage of this remarkable address as follows3 8,with such a territory as this to overrun1 organize and improve1 think you that we shall stop at the ,western bounds of ,canada8 ,or even at the shores of the ,pacific8 ,vancouver ,island1 with its vast coal measures1 lies beyond4 ,the beautiful islands of the ,pacific and the growing commerce of the ocean are beyond4 ,populous ,china and the rich ,east are beyond2 and the sails of our children's children will reflect as familiarly the sunbeams of the ,south as they now brave the angry tempests of the ,north4 ,the ,maritime ,provinces which ,i now address are but the ,atlantic frontage of this boundless and prolific region4 ,god has planted ,nova ,scotia in the front of this boundless region--see that you discharge1 with energy and elevation of soul1 the duties which devolve upon you in virtue of your position4 ,hitherto1 my countrymen1 you have dealt with this subject in a becoming spirit1 and1 whatever others may think or apprehend1 ,i know that you will persevere in that spirit until our objects are attained4 ,i am neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet1 but ,i believe that many in this room will live to hear the whistle of the steam engine in the passes of the ,rocky ,mountains and to make the journey from ,halifax to the ,pacific in five or six days40 ,to some who heard this remarkable appeal and forecast it may have sounded like the effort of a rhetorician4 ,in reality it was the deliberate and well-grounded hope of a man who was a life-long student of public affairs1 who had all the passion of a patriot and the fervor of a seer1 and who desired to see a great ,british ,north ,america in unified devotion to the ideals of the ,british people4 ,the fact that ,joseph ,howe1 in later years1 differed from others as to whether this ,federation should be brought about without a plebiscite of the people of ,nova ,scotia1 does not in any way detract from the extraordinary fact that in #ahea he prophesied a transcontinental railway1 which even in #ahga some prominent public men denounced as a mad and impossible undertaking4 ,one has to confess that1 even twenty years after ,howe's prophecy1 the thing did look impossible2 but not only has the apparently impossible project of a railroad from ocean to ocean been accomplished1 but that trans-continental has become part of a world-encircling transportation system which is a marvel of efficiency4 ,the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway not only welded together the scattered areas under the flag on the ,north ,american ,continent1 but it has taken its place as an organization of ,imperial significance and value in peace and war1 as many events have proven4 ,how and by whom this modern wonder-work has been done it is our hope and purpose to make known in some imperfect1 but earnest1 way in the chapters that follow4 ,though planned in the ,east1 where statesmen and financiers were facing the problems of the ,new ,dominion1 it was in the wide ,west-land that the need of this transcontinental railway was most manifest1 and it was in the ,west that the road first appeared4 ,hence we must study enough of the history of the ,west to see the stage set for the entry of the steel trail4 ,or1 to put this in another way1 we should find how the ,west had developed so as to successfully challenge the attention of ,eastern statesmen and effectively call for a large ,federal expenditure1 in order that it might become linked up with the already developed ,east for the welfare of the whole ,dominion4 ,with this in view we shall1 in the next chapter1 meet those who1 before the coming of the railway1 began to make for the ,west a place on the map of history4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,the ,approach to a ,big ,task ,salvaged from a 8,highland ,clearance0 in the ,north of ,scotland1 and brought out to the ,red ,river country in #ahab1 a colony of ,scottish crofters settling midway across ,british ,america became the corner-stone of the stately edifice now known as ,western ,canada4 ,these people were brought out after a harsh landlordism had displaced them from their tenant farms and replaced them by sheep1 as more remunerative occupants of the strath4 ,the plight of these evicted tenants1 whose humble homes were burned to bar their return1 excited the compassionate attention of that gentle1 but heroic1 nobleman1 the ,earl of ,selkirk1 and he1 obtaining a controlling interest in the ,hudson's ,bay ,company1 brought them to the ,red ,river and placed them on land there4 ,lord ,selkirk's name liveth for evermore1 not only because his friend1 ,sir ,walter ,scott1 wrote that he never knew a man more fitted for high-souled undertakings1 but because the colony he then planted was destined to prove to the world that the ,west was a land worth possessing as an illimitable area which would some day be the granary of the ,empire4 ,moreover1 those early settlers laid foundations for the future in religion and education4 ,they builded churches and they erected schools4 ,they were of that strong creed which believed that without moral sanctions and intelligence no country's business future could be secure4 ,with these elements in a community1 prosperity will be fostered and of such a country great hopes will be entertained4-- 8,it dreads no sceptic's puny hands ,while near the school the church-spire stands2 ,nor fears the blinded bigot's rule ,while near the church-spire stands the school40 ,the steady progress of that old colony on the ,red ,river and the somewhat hectic development of ,british ,columbia1 the latter not through colonization so much as by gold rushes and trade exploitations1 were the leading factors in drawing the attention of ,eastern statesmen to the enormous possibilities of the ,west4 ,in consequence the ,canada that was formed by the four old provinces in the ,east felt that the wide ,west-land must also be brought into the ,dominion that was to stretch from sea to sea4 ,as one born in that old ,selkirk ,colony1 where my father was one of the original settlers1 ,i confess to finding some amusement in the theories of later arrivals as to the opening up of the ,west4 ,some1 for instance1 allege that the ,hudson's ,bay ,company had kept the ,west closed against colonization and gave out the impression that the country was not fit for agriculture4 ,in refutation of that charge we have the fact that it was the ,hudson's ,bay ,company that founded the first colony and protected it through all the difficult years till it demonstrated that the country was worth while4 ,and it was the ,hudson's ,bay men at posts all over the vast ,north-west who cultivated plots around their posts and sent to scientific schools evidences of the country's fertility4 ,it matters not that ,sir ,george ,simpson1 or some other individual man of the old company1 said that the prairie country was exposed to dangers as to grain crops4 ,in our own day people in ,eastern ,canada said the same thing and commiserated their friends who left ,ontario to settle in what they called 8hyper-borean regions40 ,the real fact is that settlers would not come into the country until some railway communication was assured1 and no lesser force than that of ,confederation in ,canada could undertake to build a railway into the ,west4 ,until that was done the country was closed by an isolation which could not be remedied except as indicated above4 ,few people would care to face the hardships and sufferings of the ,selkirk colonists1 who were nearly ten years in the country before they got enough from the soil to furnish subsistence4 ,but they1 as stated already1 endured till they demonstrated the value of the country4 ,and when the statesmen who saw and understood1 conceived the plan of the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway to traverse and develop the ,west ,i feel that a new glory was shed on the work of the old pioneers4 ,i am glad to remember that my father1 one of the last survivors of that early colony1 lived long enough to see the iron horses pass the ,red ,river on the steel trail to the ,pacific across the plains where he had seen the buffalo roaming1 and on over the mountains where some of his intimate friends1 like ,robert ,campbell1 of the ,yukon1 had gone on their great explorations4 ,these early settlers had done their part1 and rejoiced to know that others were making real the things of which they1 in the pioneer days1 had so daringly dreamed4 ,a quite extraordinary linking up of events makes it possible for us to say that1 historically1 the old ,red ,river colony was not only by its demonstration of the value of the ,west a procuring cause of the building of the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway1 but that the old colony was the means of bringing into special prominence1 and enthusiasm for the ,west1 the famous engineer1 ,sandford ,fleming1 who directed all the preliminary surveys for this pioneer trans-continental road4 ,it happened on this wise4 ,fleming's interest in the problem of transportation was known to ,mr4 ,james ,ross and ,mr4 ,william ,coldwell1 both of whom ,i remember as publishers of the ,nor',wester1 the first paper in the ,red ,river colony4 ,these newspapermen had large influence locally1 and got the colonists interested in making an application to the ,imperial and ,colonial ,governments for a roadway from the ,eastern ,provinces to the ,red ,river and on to the ,rocky ,mountains4 ,the idea was to have a through route on ,british soil1 and the plan was to begin with a wagon-road as the forerunner of a transcontinental railway4 ,mr4 ,sandford ,fleming1 though at that time he had not visited the ,red ,river colony1 had advocated the undertaking as far back as #aheh1 in a lecture which he published4 ,so it came that when1 in #ahfc1 ,mr4 ,fleming severed his connection with railway building in ,ontario1 he was asked1 on behalf of the ,red ,river colonists1 to present and support a memorial to the ,canadian and ,imperial ,governments praying them for the establishment of communication between ,east and ,west4 ,the memorial was prepared by ,james ,ross and ,william ,coldwell1 and bears the mark of their literary skill as well as their strong devotion to ,british interests4 ,after outlining the plan which the memorial desired to see adopted1 it goes on to indicate that such a road with its commerce and traffic would fill 8,central ,british ,america with an industrious1 loyal people4 ,thus both politically and commercially the opening up of this country1 and the making of a national highway through it1 would immensely subserve ,imperial interests1 and contribute to the stability and the glorious prestige of the ,british ,empire40 ,this memorial was adopted by the ,red ,river colonists at a mass meeting--a fact which suggests that despite their isolation of half a century there were men amongst them who had the vision of 8a grand confederation of loyal and flourishing provinces skirting the ,united ,states' frontier and commanding at once the ,atlantic and the ,pacific40 ,verily1 the colonization plan of the high-souled ,lord ,selkirk1 which some men of his time called visionary and ,utopian1 was justifying itself in these ,red ,river settlers1 who not only laid a foundation of solid moral worth in a new land and demonstrated its great resources1 but were also doing their part in welding together the links of a far-flung ,empire under the ,british flag4 ,this gives the noble founder of the colony1 as well as the colony itself1 an assured niche in the temple of our country's fame4 ,mr4 ,fleming was very enthusiastic over this memorial1 and presented it to the ,hon4 ,john ,sandfield ,macdonald1 then ,premier of the ,canadian ,government4 ,he accompanied it by a strong appeal in writing to ,mr4 ,macdonald1 in which he visioned the great importance of the road across the continent4 ,immediately thereafter1 ,mr4 ,fleming1 at the request of the ,red ,river people1 proceeded to the ,old ,country1 where he presented the memorial to the ,duke of ,newcastle1 then ,colonial ,secretary4 ,from his visit to ,canada three years before1 with the ,prince of ,wales1 the ,duke was familiar with the situation and discussed it with ,mr4 ,fleming with great interest and freedom4 ,this visit to the ,duke of ,newcastle in #ahfc1 while not productive of immediate results1 was1 according to the opinion of ,mr4 ,lawrence ,j4 ,burpee1 who writes an excellent biography of ,mr4 ,fleming1 the turning-point in ,fleming's career4 ,it made him an ,empire figure and intensified his worthy ambition to aid in building and consolidating into one vast commonwealth the scattered colonies under the red cross flag4 ,mr4 ,fleming's later achievements in this regard are known to history4 ,they brought him the esteem of his generation1 the appreciation of his sovereign and the well-won and worthily-borne honour of knighthood4 ,mr4 ,fleming had barely returned to ,toronto from his visit to the ,colonial ,secretary in the interests of a transcontinental roadway1 when he was summoned by the ,premier1 ,john ,sandfield ,macdonald1 to come to ,quebec1 then the ,canadian capital4 ,the result of that visit was that ,mr4 ,fleming1 with the cordial support of all the governments concerned1 including the ,imperial ,government1 represented by the ,duke of ,newcastle1 was placed in charge of the surveys for the projected ,intercolonial ,railways in #ahfd4 ,with his work on that important undertaking1 till its completion1 we cannot deal in this story4 ,but we have traced the connection from the old ,red ,river colony in the ,west to ,mr4 ,fleming's visit abroad on its behalf--a visit that led in large measure to his work on the ,intercolonial1 which1 in turn1 led to his being appointed in #ahga to the gigantic position of engineer-in-chief of the proposed transcontinental1 the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway4 ,all this was preliminary and was part of ,canada's approach to a colossal task4 ,in the next chapter we shall look more closely into the inception of an enterprise which now belts the globe4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,giants in ,action ,in an early chapter of the most famous of all ,books1 reference is made to the inhabitants of the earth at a certain period1 in the descriptive statement1 8,there were giants in those days40 ,this is generally accepted as indicating the physical stature and strength of those ancient men4 ,but there have been periods since that time concerning which we could repeat the statement in the light of their distinctive achievements1 not necessarily because of the physical prowess1 but because of the mental and moral energy of the men who wrought great deeds4 ,such days1 it seems to me1 have been found in ,canadian history in the period of the heroic men and women who pioneered in all the provinces1 in the period when strong men grappled with the problems of confederating the scattered colonies of ,british ,north ,america into one ,dominion1 and in that period when the young ,dominion1 with only a few millions of people1 undertook and accomplished1 with incredible speed1 the gigantic task of binding the provinces together by a band of steel4 ,it is1 briefly1 with the confederation achievement1 but1 much more extendedly1 with the building of the first transcontinental that our present writing deals4 ,the battle of the pioneers was principally against poverty and climatic conditions4 ,the battle for ,confederation was intensified by political1 racial and even religious issues1 though ultimately none of these was much affected1 as provision was made for the autonomy of the ,provinces in their own affairs4 ,the battle for the building of the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway was first of all between political gladiators who differed as to the practicability and value of it4 ,but when construction actually began1 the struggle was against rival interests1 and difficult financial conditions1 as well as against such terrific natural obstacles that the undertaking was looked on by some as the very climax of engineering impossibility4 ,now that the smoke of battle has cleared away and that both ,confederation and the ,railway are running smoothly1 we can look back and see the giants who fought victoriously to create the conditions we now enjoy4 ,some of these great men did not live to see the realization of their dreams1 but they died in the faith that their dreams were so good that they would come true some time4 ,like the gallant soldiers of all time1 they fell1 still gripping the sword-hilt and cheering their comrades on to victory4 ,let us be grateful enough to halt for a moment with bowed heads and lay a wreath of memory on their honoured graves4 ,peace hath her victories no less renowned than war1 and ,canada must not forget her heroes in either4 ,there were several causes operating1 midway in the last century1 to lead the older ,canada of ,ontario and ,quebec1 and also the ,maritime areas of ,new ,brunswick1 ,nova ,scotia and ,prince ,edward ,island1 to consider the advisability of federating together for the good of the whole4 ,the commercial power of the ,united ,states had such a magnetic pull upon some of the provinces that the tie which held these ,provinces to ,britain was being subjected to some strain4 ,moreover1 the ,imperial ,government noticed with some anxiety that political prejudices and feeling between the various parts of the ,british possessions made any concerted plan for military action difficult to accomplish4 ,accordingly1 as it is now known and can now be told1 ,lord ,monck1 who was the ,governor-,general in the 8sixties10 quietly used some pressure to keep ,confederation before the minds of public men in the various parts of the country4 ,besides all that1 there was very considerable difficulty in carrying on government in the ,canada of ,ontario and ,quebec1 owing to racial differences and double leadership1 which meant an almost constant danger of legislative deadlock4 ,moreover1 the ,british possessions from the ,st4 ,lawrence to the ,pacific were like a dumbbell1 big at the ends and weak in the middle1 as a ,westerner once said4 ,there were the immense areas of older ,canada and the still more immense areas west of ,lake ,superior--but the ,north ,shore of that inland sea was a wilderness of unproductive rock where no link of settlement would seem possible4 ,hence1 as the aforesaid ,westerner expressed it1 8,canada would break off in the middle unless we linked it up with the steel trail40 ,there was much truth in that statement in those early days and highly important truth it was4 ,many1 in our day1 cannot realize how swiftly inter-travel and inter-trade over the pioneer railway across ,canada brought the ,east and the ,west together4 ,all these considerations1 realized out of actually existing or foreseen conditions1 impelled the statesman of ,canada in the #fj's to take definite steps towards confederating the old provinces and then annexing the vast territories all the way to the ,pacific ,coast4 ,and here entered the giants4 ,thus1 for instance1 in #ahfd that great tribune of the people1 ,mr4 ,george ,brown1 of the ,toronto ,globe1 reported in favour of ,confederation from a committee of the ,canadian ,legislature4 ,about the same time the ,legislatures in ,nova ,scotia1 mainly through the efforts of ,dr4 7later ,sir ,charles7 ,tupper2 in ,new ,brunswick1 through the influence of ,mr4 ,samuel ,l4 ,tilley2 in ,prince ,edward ,island1 by the exertions of the ,hon4 ,w4 ,h4 ,pope1 passed resolutions appointing delegates to a ,conference in ,charlottetown for the purpose of discussing a uniting of the ,maritime ,provinces4 ,when that ,conference met in ,charlottetown a deputation from ,ontario and ,quebec was received consisting of unusually strong men1 namely1 ,john ,a4 ,macdonald1 ,george ,brown1 ,george ,e4 ,cartier1 ,a4 ,t4 ,galt1 ,t4 ,d',arcy ,mc,gee1 ,alexander ,campbell and ,hector ,l4 ,langevin4 ,as a result of the ,charlottetown meeting larger horizons loomed upon the vision of that remarkable gathering4 ,the souls of the men who then assembled yearned beyond the sky-line of their own immediate surroundings and1 thinking of the extent of ,british ,possessions in ,north ,america1 they were inspired and attracted by the greater task of confederating them all into one great ,dominion from sea to sea4 ,it was a tremendous task for that early day1 but the men who faced it were giants who could not rest satisfied with being cabinned and cribbed in a narrow circumference1 but who said3 8,no pent-up ,utica confines our powers ,the vast1 boundless continent is ours40 ,after some discussion1 the ,charlottetown ,conference adjourned to meet as a larger gathering in ,quebec ,city on ,october #ajth1 #ahfd--;a red-letter day not only in the history of ,canada1 but of the ,british ,empire and the world4 ,the object of the ,quebec ,conference was as stated above2 and therefore there were men there from all the then organized ,british ,provinces4 ,these were men who could have filled places in the 8,mother of ,parliaments0 at the world's metropolis1 but who at the ,quebec meeting were engaged in the1 perhaps1 more difficult undertaking of bringing into being1 out of diverse elements1 a new nation within the ,empire4 ,these men were 8,the ,fathers of ,confederation10 and the famous picture of that conference should be in every ,canadian home4 ,etienne ,p4 ,tache1 who once said that the last gun fired in ,north ,america for ,british connection would be fired by a ,french-,canadian1 was chairman4 ,from ,ontario and ,quebec came ,john ,a4 ,macdonald1 ,george ,brown1 ,george ,e4 ,cartier1 ,a4 ,t4 ,galt1 ,william ,mc,dougall1 ,thomas ,d',arcy ,mc,gee1 ,oliver ,mowat1 ,alexander ,campbell1 ,james ,cockburn1 ,hector ,l4 ,langevin1 and ,jean ,c4 ,chapais4 ,from ,nova ,scotia there were ,charles ,tupper1 ,w4 ,a4 ,henry1 ,jonathan ,mc,cully and ,r4 ,b4 ,dickey4 ,from ,new ,brunswick came ,samuel ,l4 ,tilley1 ,john ,m4 ,johnston1 ,charles ,fisher1 ,peter ,mitchell1 ,e4 ,b4 ,chandler1 ,w4 ,h4 ,steeves and ,john ,h4 ,gray2 ,prince ,edward ,island was represented by ,colonel ,gray1 ,edward ,palmer1 ,w4 ,h4 ,pope1 ,george ,coles1 ,edward ,whalen1 ,t4 ,h4 ,haviland and ,a4 ,a4 ,macdonald4 ,newfoundland sent ,f4 ,b4 ,t4 ,carter and ,ambrose ,shea1 though it was not yet to come into ,confederation4 ,it is not our purpose1 in the present writing1 to dwell on this great meeting beyond saying that it led to the ,confederation of ,ontario1 ,quebec1 ,nova ,scotia and ,new ,brunswick in #ahfg4 ,prince ,edward ,island entered in #ahgc and the ,western prairie country and ,british ,columbia in #ahgj and #ahga4 ,the two latter entered with somewhat reluctant feet2 ,manitoba1 retarded by ,louis ,riel's stand against the incoming of ,canada lest the rights of the natives should be ignored2 and ,british ,columbia1 unready to come in unless the railway across the continent to the ,pacific ,coast was guaranteed within a given time4 ,these difficulties were finally overcome1 but the details do not belong to this story4 ,suffice it to say that ,confederation being accomplished1 the new sense of national unity led to combination in the immense undertaking of a railway from sea to sea4 ,the courageous facing of such an enormous task had no precedent in the business history of the modern world4 ,the big ,republic to the ,south of us has done some amazing things1 such as the ,panama ,canal in recent years1 but even that commercially daring country only attempted a transcontinental railway when it had nearly forty millions of people4 ,canada undertook the task when her population was less than four millions4 ,to the onlooking world the attempt must have appeared like 8a forlorn hope0--a sort of a 8,charge of the ,light ,brigade0 against batteries bristling with obstacles of a wholly unprecedented kind4 ,but there are always some men who are unafraid1 and the dream of seers was to be realized4 ,once ,confederation had been accomplished1 a transcontinental railway became a national necessity4 ,this was true not only from the standpoint of politics and trade1 but from the standpoint also of law and order in the far-flung country4 ,it will be remembered that ,louis ,riel started a revolt against the incoming of ,canadian authority in #ahfi1 and that he held high carnival in the ,west till ,colonel ,garnet ,wolseley and his soldiers reached ,fort ,garry from the ,east1 nearly a year after the ,riel outbreak started4 ,all this period was not consumed in travel2 but it had taken three months' steady travel overland1 after mobilization in the ,east1 before ,wolseley reached the scene of ,riel's revolt4 ,the whole ,western country might have been swept by the rebel chief's revolt in that time1 and the necessity of swifter communication between the different parts of ,canada became painfully apparent4 ,and so1 when ,british ,columbia came into ,confederation in #ahga1 there was an understanding that the railway from the ,east to the ,pacific should begin in two years and be finished in ten4 ,this daring pledge was given by ,sir ,john ,a4 ,macdonald and his ,government at ,ottawa1 despite the fact that a distinguished explorer and engineer1 ,capt4 ,palliser1 sent out by the ,imperial ,government1 had reported after four years on the ground1 that on account of the mountains being impassable1 a transcontinental railway could not be built from sea to sea on ,british territory4 ,but ,sir ,john ,macdonald went ahead and sought to interest some big business men who might form a company to build the ,canadian ,pacific to the ,western sea4 ,at that time ,sir ,hugh ,allan1 head of the ,allan line of steamships1 was probably the most able and prominent business man in ,canada4 ,he was not only interested in steamships on the ,atlantic1 but had acquired railway interests as well4 ,there is no doubt that ,sir ,hugh ,allan had been pressing upon men in public life the project of a transcontinental railway1 which he might lead in building1 with the further idea1 no doubt1 of having another line of steamers on the ,pacific4 ,this was a worthy enough ambition for a great ,canadian4 ,there is no reason to think that ,sir ,hugh ,allan was mercenary or avaricious1 for he had no need of more wealth than he possessed4 ,in any case he1 being of the same political party as ,sir ,john ,macdonald1 as well as a man of great ability and financial power1 was one of those in line as a possibility for such a big task4 ,accordingly ,allan formed a company to build the railway4 ,so also did ,mr4 ,d4 ,l4 ,macpherson and a group of ,toronto capitalists1 who alleged that ,allan was in league with ,american interests in a degree that would militate against the success of the ,canadian ,pacific as a ,canadian road4 ,sir ,john ,macdonald tried in vain to get these two projected companies to amalgamate4 ,finally it seemed to be settled that a new company should be formed of ,canadians and that ,allan would have control4 ,he was spending money with a lavish hand and when the ,dominion election was held in #ahgb he furnished the large sum of #afj1jjj for campaign funds to ,macdonald1 ,cartier and ,langevin4 ,it is known that ,allan had always contributed to the campaign funds of the party1 as others did1 but the fact that these campaign funds in #ahgb were contributed at a time when a huge contract was pending1 made the whole transaction look dangerous4 ,all campaign funds are legally and morally wrong1 and the fact that they were customary and that everybody knows they are customary1 does not make them right4 ,in this particular case1 ,cartier1 who was then mentally as well as physically broken down1 and who1 contrary to ,macdonald's advice1 ran for an impossible constituency1 where he was defeated1 seems to have made the largest demands on ,allan4 ,it seems clear also that ,cartier held out to ,allan1 hopes of the contract4 ,but it is also clear that the other leaders got certain sums which they used in the campaign4 ,the ,macdonald government was elected4 ,after the election a new company1 called the ,canadian ,pacific1 was formed1 with representative men from all the ,provinces as directors4 ,that new board chose ,allan as ,president1 it is said1 without any pressure from the ,government4 ,this is not unlikely1 as ,allan was1 as we have said1 the biggest business man in ,canada at the time4 ,to this company the ,government granted a charter to build the ,canadian ,pacific1 but ,american interests were to be excluded as the ,government insisted4 ,allan agreed to this and repaid the money the ,americans had advanced4 ,the ,new ,york men1 of course1 were annoyed at this and gave the opponents of the ,macdonald ,government some hints as to those campaign funds from ,allan4 ,then ,allan's personal correspondence with ,american interests during the election year was stolen by a clerk in the office of ,allan's solicitor1 ,mr4 ,j4 ,j4 ,c4 ,abbott1 and1 being made public1 raised a tremendous political storm4 ,when the ,house of ,commons met the atmosphere was tense and electric4 ,only a few days elapsed before ,mr4 ,l4 ,s4 ,huntingdon1 for the ,opposition1 moved for the investigation of the charges that were floating around in regard to these campaign funds1 the suggestion being that ,sir ,hugh ,allan got the railway contract in return for his monetary contributions4 ,on an immediate vote the ,government was sustained1 but there was an uneasy feeling abroad and men of independent mould were breaking away from party ties4 ,sir ,john ,macdonald1 who saw the situation with his usual political sagacity1 himself moved for the appointment of an investigating commission1 and the ,house adjourned till that commission would be ready to report4 ,when the ,house met in ,october1 #ahgc1 the ,hon4 ,alexander ,mackenzie1 leader of the ,opposition1 moved a vote of non-confidence and supported it by quoting from the report of the commission4 ,the debate in the ,house was hot4 ,charles ,tupper1 the 8war horse of ,cumberland0--a masterful debater1 who later was the tremendous drive wheel of the railway project--supported the ,government1 but ,huntingdon replied that the ,government had kept itself in power by the lavish use of money from men who were desiring contracts4 ,sir ,john ,a4 ,macdonald spoke for nearly five hours in defence of his action1 dealing with the whole history of the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway4 ,he made a special appeal for support in order that ,east and ,west might be connected by rail and the whole of ,canada developed4 ,sir ,john1 though at no stage of his career a great orator1 was possessed of a magnetic manner and could coin phrases that had indescribable force4 ,such1 for instance1 was the expression he used once at a great mass meeting in ,toronto1 when he said dramatically1 8,a ,british subject ,i was born--a ,british subject ,i will die40 ,on this occasion1 in #ahgc1 in the ,house1 when he made explanation of his policy in regard to the railway contract1 he closed his five hours' address in the words3 8,but1 ,sir1 ,i commit myself1 the ,government commits itself1 to the hands of this ,house2 and far beyond this ,house1 it commits itself to the country at large4 ,we have faithfully done our duty4 ,we have fought the battle of ,confederation4 ,we have fought the battle of unity4 ,we have had party strife1 setting ,province against ,province4 ,and more than all1 we have had1 in the greatest ,province1 every prejudice and sectional feeling that could be arrayed against us4 ,i throw myself on this ,house2 ,i throw myself on this country2 ,i throw myself on posterity1 and ,i believe that1 notwithstanding the many failings of my life1 ,i shall have the voice of this country rallying around me4 ,and1 ,sir1 if ,i am mistaken in that1 ,i can confidently appeal to a higher court--to the court of my own conscience1 and to the court of posterity4 ,i leave it to this ,house with the utmost confidence4 ,i am equal to either fortune4 ,i can see past the decision of this ,house1 either for or against me1 but1 whether it be for or against me1 ,i know1 and it is no vain boast of me to say so1 for even my enemies will admit that ,i am no boaster--that there does not exist in ,canada a man who has given more of his time1 more of his heart1 more of his wealth1 or more of his intellect and power1 such as they may be1 for the good of this ,dominion of ,canada40 ,this speech was listened to by a full house and crowded galleries1 amongst those present being ,lord ,roseberry1 then on a visit to ,canada4 ,sir ,john closed his speech about two o'clock in the morning1 and the ,hon4 ,edward ,blake rose to reply4 ,blake was probably the ablest and most massively intellectual man that ,canada has produced4 ,he lacked the magnetism of ,sir ,john1 but had the power1 almost to a fault1 of dealing with a subject in such detail that when he was through with it there was little left to be said4 ,mr4 ,blake was at that time quite sceptical as to the practicability of a transcontinental railway1 anyway2 but that night in the ,house of ,commons he concentrated his tremendous argumentative oratory against the ,government for having1 as he alleged1 won the election with campaign funds from interested parties4 ,there was doubt as to the result in the ,house till some of the independent members who might ordinarily have supported the ,government began to indicate otherwise4 ,curiously enough1 ,mr4 ,donald ,a4 ,smith 7afterwards ,lord ,strathcona71 the man who1 later on1 drove the last spike in the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway1 under the ,premiership of this same ,sir ,john ,macdonald1 in #ahhe1 was the member who really dealt the ,government its knockout blow in #ahgc in the ,house of ,commons4 ,no one knew what the course of ,mr4 ,smith1 who was never a party man1 would be1 and when he rose to speak every one listened with strained attention4 ,his opening words seemed to favour the ,government1 but he was simply absolving ,sir ,john ,macdonald from personal blame4 ,here is the report of what ,mr4 ,smith said3 8,with respect to the transaction between the ,government and ,sir ,hugh ,allan1 ,i do not consider that the ,first ,minister took the money with any corrupt motive4 ,i feel that the leader of the ,government is incapable of taking money from ,sir ,hugh ,allen for corrupt purposes4 ,i would be most willing to vote confidence in the ,government 7loud cheers from the ,government side71 if ,i could do so conscientiously 7loud cheers from the ,opposition74 ,it is with very great regret that ,i cannot do so4 ,for the honour of the country1 no ,government should exist that has a shadow of suspicion resting on them1 and for that reason ,i could not support them40 7,renewed ,opposition cheers47 ,in the afternoon of that day1 ,november #eth1 #ahgc1 ,sir ,john ,a4 ,macdonald informed the ,house that he had placed his resignation in the hands of the ,governor-,general and that the ,hon4 ,alexander ,mackenzie was called upon to form a new administration4 ,sir ,john ,macdonald had resigned without waiting for a vote of the ,house and no one to this day knows just how it would have divided4 ,but the feeling in the country was hot and1 like a wise man1 he bowed to the inevitable4 ,he said that someday the people would understand and call him back to power4 ,the fact that they did call him back five years later astounded his political foes1 one of whom had said in the ,house1 during the debate1 that ,sir ,john 8had fallen like ,lucifer1 never to rise again40 ,but he did rise1 to the surprise of many4 ,the fact that he came back later on was due1 in some degree1 to his personal magnetism4 ,but it was also due to the fact that people knew that ,sir ,john had not profited in any personal way and that he and ,sir ,hugh ,allan had become almost obsessed with the idea that the continuance of ,sir ,john in office at that time was absolutely necessary to the opening up and development of ,canada4 ,they acted accordingly1 as if the end they had in view justified the methods they adopted4 ,moreover1 it was shown that ,sir ,john had definitely told ,allan that he would not give the railway contract to him1 but to an amalgamation of the two companies4 ,allan said in connection with the whole matter3 8,the plans ,i propose are the best for the interests of the ,dominion and in urging them ,i am doing a patriotic action40 ,in the meantime1 when ,sir ,john resigned1 ,mackenzie took office and1 in a general election shortly afterwards1 swept the country4 ,sir ,hugh ,allan1 unable to raise capital in the presence of the political earthquake and the business depression1 threw up the charter for building the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway1 and a new programme had to be adopted4 ,for the time being the curtain had to be rung down on the gigantic project4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,the ,chariot ,wheels ,drag ,the name of ,alexander ,mackenzie1 the stonemason1 who succeeded ,sir ,john ,macdonald as ,premier of ,canada in #ahgc1 deserves to be uttered with profound respect4 ,by the most intense application to work and the most diligent use of his opportunities in the right way1 he rose steadily1 not only in circumstances1 but in the esteem of his fellow-countrymen1 till he attained the highest office in the gift of the ,canadian people4 ,born in the ,highlands of ,scotland1 he came out to ,canada as a young stonecutter4 ,he returned some thirty years later to the romantic scenes of his childhood as the ,premier of the ,dominion1 a credit alike to the land of his birth and the land of his adoption4 ,once1 in my student days1 ,i met him in ,winnipeg4 ,he had made the trip to the far ,west1 but was in poor health--a rather pathetic figure1 ,i thought1 whose unflinching resistance of down-grade influences had made his public life harder than stonecutting4 ,but while we thus pay him personal tribute1 we find that1 whether as a result of the dissolution of the ,allan ,company1 or pressure of lean years1 or the lack of enthusiasm amongst his following in the ,house1 ,mackenzie1 despite his good intentions1 made little progress with the building of the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway during his five years in office4 ,it was not easy for ,mackenzie and his supporters1 after attacking the general extravagance of ,sir ,john ,macdonald's plan for a transcontinental1 to accommodate themselves to carrying out the scheme of a railway from ocean to ocean4 ,edward ,blake1 ,mackenzie's great lieutenant1 had openly said more than once that the rounding out of ,confederation by pledging a railway to ,british ,columbia within a fixed term was too costly4 ,the population of the ,west ,coast ,province was only some ten thousand or so of white people1 he said1 and this country was 8a sea of mountains40 ,one of the chief newspapers of ,mr4 ,mackenzie's party said that the ,canadian ,pacific 8would not pay for axle grease0 over certain sections4 ,mr4 ,blake1 it is true1 in #ahia visited the ,west ,coast over the completed railway1 and made a brilliantly humorous and eloquent apology for his mistaken conception of the country4 ,but that was too late to help ,mackenzie with his problem1 and the fact that ,mr4 ,blake and some others of his party actually voted in the ,house against ,mackenzie's proposal regarding the ,esquimault railway on ,vancouver ,island did not help the heavily burdened ,premier4 ,but one must allow that it is much easier to be optimistic about ,british ,columbia now than it was at that time4 ,very few people then dreamed of the development that could and would take place in the ,province which ,mr4 ,blake1 speaking for thousands in the ,east1 called 8a sea of mountains40 ,it looked like that in those days before the world knew that ,british ,columbia had not only mines and forests and fish1 but that vast areas would be opened up along the rivers and in the mountain valleys which would prove immensely adapted to agriculture1 fruit-growing and dairying4 ,therefore let us be kind to the men who were sceptical about the whole railway undertaking4 ,we are quoting their scepticism here only to show the problem that ,premier ,mackenzie had to face when he came into power in #ahgc4 ,under all the circumstances he did the best he could at the time--that is1 the best that could be done by any man who lacked the full-hearted support of some of his own friends1 and who felt that to meet the demands of the naturally impatient and almost resentful ,british ,columbia1 was practically impossible in the lean years that seemed imminent and beyond his power to control4 ,but ,mackenzie began on the problem and we find him1 in #ahgd1 in an election address to his own constituents in ,lambton1 ,ontario1 unfolding his plan4 ,briefly1 the transportation system was to be a sort of amphibious animal4 ,mackenzie1 realizing that traffic by water is the cheapest type of transportation1 thought he saw a possibility of securing a transcontinental1 without undue cost1 by utilizing 8the magnificent water stretches0 across ,canada1 linking them together by rail as funds would be available4 ,in this way he claimed that railway construction would be gradual enough to avoid excessive financial expenditure1 and that the country would be gradually settled4 ,settlement would keep abreast with railway construction and thus the possibility of having the railway going ahead of the settlement across an uninhabited1 and therefore unproductive1 country would be eliminated4 ,mr4 ,mackenzie was perfectly sincere in this1 as he was in everything4 ,the plan was not without merit under the circumstances1 but it had defects which arose out of a lack of knowledge of the ,western country generally1 and particularly of the attitude of the people of ,british ,columbia4 ,it also ignored the strange1 but characteristic1 impulses of human nature in regard to migration4 ,every now and then in history some section of humanity strikes its tents and goes on the march1 railway or no railway4 ,especially does the ,star of the ,empire draw people westward4 ,before there was a railway in the ,west at all1 many of my own kith and kin loaded their few belongings on ox-carts and took their way five hundred miles north-westward to ,prince ,albert1 on the ,north ,saskatchewan4 ,and so also will some people go on in advance of the railway1 despite all advice to the contrary4 ,for years ,i heard it said by some that had the ,canadian ,pacific not been built so rapidly1 settlement would have been more compact along the line4 ,but this theory is contradicted by the actual fact1 as we saw it1 that when the trains were only running to ,brandon1 west of ,winnipeg1 settlers were leaving the train there and trekking on westward with prairie schooners4 ,great numbers may not thus go forward in any particular case1 but since a country grows by the enterprise of the adventurous1 it becomes the duty of such a country to follow with utilities1 the people who thus widen the horizon of the land4 ,moreover1 ,mackenzie's well-intentioned policy of using the water stretches would have made transportation too slow and too expensive for shippers1 owing to the constant need for transfers1 with necessary delays and damages4 ,and1 most important of all1 that policy indicated too tardy a construction of the transcontinental to satisfy ,british ,columbia1 which had entered confederation on the distinct understanding that a railway would be built to the ,pacific within reasonable time4 ,mackenzie made an effort1 by sending ,mr4 ,j4 ,d4 ,edgar to ,british ,columbia1 to secure a modification in the terms of ,confederation in regard to railway construction4 ,this mission was resented in ,british ,columbia1 and ,mr4 ,edgar was recalled4 ,the people of ,british ,columbia looked on the attempt to change the ,confederation terms as a breach of faith on the part of ,canada1 and said so in their usual straight-flung words4 ,both parties put the case before ,lord ,carnarvon1 who offered to arbitrate4 ,his award was on the whole rather favourable to ,mackenzie's effort for modification1 and was accepted in the meantime as the best obtainable4 ,british ,columbia1 feeling that even the modified terms would not be carried out1 began to discuss withdrawing from ,confederation1 and motions to that effect were actually submitted in the ,legislature4 ,things were not looking well1 and that master diplomat1 ,lord ,dufferin1 then ,governor-,general of ,canada1 resolved to visit the ,west ,coast1 accompanied by his gracious lady4 ,they crossed via ,chicago and ,san ,francisco by rail1 thence by ,h4,m4,s4 ,amethyst to ,vancouver ,island4 ,they were warmly welcomed to ,victoria1 but were given1 from the beginning1 to understand that ,british ,columbia wanted the railway and wanted it without delay4 ,at one point they saw a horse blanketed and upon the blanket were the words 8,good1 but not iron40 ,in ,victoria arches were numerous4 ,one arch had an inscription1 8,our railway iron rusts10 and another very conspicuous one had the menacing message 8,carnarvon terms or separation40 ,lord ,dufferin knew his relation to the ,crown and to the ,government of the day too well to allow his courtesy to run away with his conception of duty as ,governor-,general of ,canada1 and so he declined to drive under the arch which had upon it the threat of secession4 ,so he ordered the carriage to detour until that arch was passed4 ,afterwards ,lady ,dufferin said1 8,the ,governor-,general would have driven under the arch if one letter had been changed so as to have the inscription read #8,the ,carnarvon ,terms or ,reparation4'0 ,the incident caused some excitement1 but ,lord ,dufferin knew his constitutional law too well to be moved4 ,on the whole the visit of this brilliant diplomat and magnetic orator made a great impression for good4 ,his speech at the close of the tour of the ,coast was a noble eulogy of the wonderful beauty and potential wealth of ,british ,columbia4 ,while not becoming a partisan advocate for the ,dominion ,government1 ,lord ,dufferin expressed his view that ,mr4 ,mackenzie had done his best under all the circumstances1 and would continue so to do while he was in power4 ,the speech of the eloquent and tactful ,governor-,general had a pronounced effect in allaying the indignation of the people against the ,government of the day4 ,they settled down to wait development with as good grace as possible4 ,however1 after waiting two years more without seeing any railway construction begun on either the mainland of ,british ,columbia or ,vancouver ,island1 ,premier ,george ,a4 ,walkem1 in the ,legislature at ,victoria1 moved the famous resolution to the effect that unless the ,dominion started railway construction by ,may of #ahgi1 the ,province of ,british ,columbia should withdraw from the ,confederation and even ask damages from ,canada for delay in carrying out their railway promises to the ,province4 ,this extraordinary motion was carried by fourteen to nine1 with the probable intention of waking up both the ,imperial and ,canadian ,governments to the discontent on the ,western ,coast4 ,the resolution reached ,ottawa in ,october1 #ahgh1 just after the ,mackenzie ,government had been defeated1 and owing to the confusion caused by the change it was put into some pidgeonhole for a rest1 and did not reach ,london till ,march1 #ahgi4 ,by that time ,sir ,john ,a4 ,macdonald1 who had come back to power with his aggressive and indomitable ,railway ,minister1 ,sir ,charles ,tupper1 was getting down to a new programme of railway building1 and ,british ,columbia1 in consequence1 was becoming more contented and hopeful4 ,so no one asked any questions when the famous secession resolution of the ,british ,columbia legislature found oblivion in the files of ,downing ,street4 ,all this does not mean that ,mr4 ,mackenzie was inactive in the matter of the transcontinental railway4 ,considering the facts we have mentioned already1 namely1 that many of his chief supporters were lukewarm in regard to the whole project1 which they considered premature1 and the further fact that there was a cycle of lean years1 he strove to get things moving1 but the chariot wheels dragged4 ,there was no popular enthusiasm over the undertaking1 because the times were hard and there was general failure on the part of the people to get a vision of the illimitable possibilities that lay to westward4 ,but some progress was made4 ,extensive surveys were carried forward4 ,and several contracts were let for the easier portions of the route4 ,the hard places1 like the ,north ,shore of ,lake ,superior1 and the mountains in ,british ,columbia1 were not attempted4 ,lord and ,lady ,dufferin1 at ,emerson1 ,manitoba1 in #ahgg1 drove the first two spikes in the portion which started at the international boundary-line1 where the railways linked up with an ,american line4 ,this was later called the ,emerson ,branch1 and ran from the boundary east of the ,red ,river through ,st4 ,boniface1 across from ,winnipeg1 to ,east ,selkirk4 ,from ,selkirk a portion of the railway to ,thunder ,bay1 on ,lake ,superior1 was begun4 ,it was the plan of the ,mackenzie ,government to cross the ,red ,river at ,selkirk1 and strike westward over the prairies1 side-tracking ,winnipeg1 which was then becoming a considerable centre of population4 ,i recall a locomotive round-house at ,east ,selkirk built in ,mackenzie's time1 but later abandoned when the line was changed to run through ,winnipeg4 ,budding political orators made merry over this round-house1 as being the only assurance they had that a road which would require the stabling of iron horses at a divisional point would some day be constructed4 ,the slow progress of transcontinental railway building afforded ammunition to the opponents of the ,mackenzie ,government in the ,house of ,commons4 ,and there is no record of an ,opposition ever allowing an opportunity to oppose to go by unused4 ,in one year we find that redoubtable fighter1 ,dr4 7later ,sir7 ,charles ,tupper1 moving a long resolution urging the ,government 8to employ the available funds of the ,dominion to complete the road40 ,this was voted down4 ,next year that unique1 somewhat peculiar1 but quite brilliantly versatile publicist1 ,mr4 ,amor de ,cosmos1 of ,british ,columbia1 moved a vote of censure on the ,government for the slowness of their building of the road to the ,coast4 ,this resolution did not get far in the ,house4 ,the ,coast was so far away that the project of building all the way to the ,pacific gave even the ,opposition a chill when it came squarely before them4 ,hon4 ,george ,w4 ,ross1 a ,mackenzie supporter1 moved that only such progress should be attempted as would 8not increase the existing rates of taxation10 which manifestly would mean not much progress4 ,dr4 ,tupper came back to the attack in ,april1 #ahgg1 with a motion of censure1 but this was negatived also4 ,during all this time that astute statesman1 ,sir ,john ,a4 ,macdonald1 was studying the political horoscope1 and all of a sudden1 in #ahgh1 he propounded a policy of protection and railway construction which caught the popular imagination and he was swept into power again4 ,there was a swift revival of optimism1 because there was a revival of trade1 and the wave carried the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway enterprise on its crest to new heights of success4 ,,chapter ,v ,getting up ,speed ,whether a protective tariff brings real or fictitious prosperity1 and whether it enriches the few or the many1 are questions which are fortunately outside the scope of this book4 ,but1 anyway1 the fact1 historically1 is that with the advent of ,sir ,john ,macdonald and his ,national ,policy of protection in #ahgh1 there came quite a pronounced outburst of new faith in the future possibilities of ,canada4 ,there were1 no doubt1 other subsidiary causes1 and some even hold that lean and fat years come in cycles4 ,but1 in any case1 there was a decided restoration of public confidence in all legitimate business enterprises1 and1 what was still more important1 there came a distinctive national sentiment and pride which made the vast project of the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway from ocean to ocean a distinct possibility4 ,portions of the railway had already been under construction by the ,mackenzie ,government1 as we have seen4 ,these portions were mainly east of the ,red ,river1 but surveys had been carried on with far-reaching results in the mountain region of ,british ,columbia4 ,these surveys were under the general direction of ,mr4 ,marcus ,smith1 an engineer of remarkable experience and ability4 ,he had done work in the ,british ,isles and ,spain before coming to this side of the ocean1 where he was on service in ,south ,america1 as well as on the ,grand ,trunk and the ,intercolonial in the older parts of what is now ,eastern ,canada4 ,the other day here1 through the kindness of ,mr4 ,newton ,ker1 now head of the ,coast ,department of ,lands for the ,canadian ,pacific1 ,i had the privilege of reading a scrap book kept by ,mr4 ,marcus ,smith over many years1 and willed by him to ,mr4 ,ker4 ,this book indicates that ,mr4 ,smith had a very wide interest in social1 civil and political life1 as well as in his own special vocation of engineering4 ,the man who gathered that collection of articles together had a big outlook on things1 and would regard his work in the mountains as of national significance4 ,the remarkable explorations of ,mr4 ,walter ,moberly1 who later discovered the ,eagle's ,pass by watching the flight of eagles evidently following a fish-stream1 had produced good results and his experience in connection with the building of the famous ,yale-,cariboo wagon road made his later services specially valuable4 ,mr4 ,henry ,j4 ,cambie1 and ,mr4 ,thomas ,h4 ,white1 his personal assistant and associate in solving the engineering problems through the ,fraser ,river canyons1 are still1 happily1 living in ,vancouver1 highly regarded as citizens who did their share of nation building4 ,other noted engineers of that period in ,british ,columbia were ,h4 ,t4 ,jennings1 ,h4 ,p4 ,bell1 ,henry ,mac,leod1 ,c4 ,e4 ,perry1 ,g4 ,a4 ,keefer1 ,joseph ,hunter1 ,l4 ,b4 ,hamlin1 ,w4 ,f4 ,gouin1 ,c4 ,f4 ,harrington1 ,e4 ,w4 ,jarvis1 ,john ,trutch1 ,c4 ,horetzky1 ,c4 ,h4 ,gamsby and1 later on1 ,major ,rogers1 after whom ,rogers' ,pass was named1 although ,moberly always contended that the pass had been discovered by ,albert ,perry1 one of his assistants in a survey in #ahff4 ,of course there were many others1 but these are representative of the famous body of men who made their way along the dangerous rivers1 through the tangled forests1 by precipitous cliffs and across terrific canyons1 until they finally found safe location for the steel trail through a region that many had pronounced to be impenetrable--a sort of supernatural barrier interposed between the prairies and the ,western sea4 ,most of these men have1 as already intimated1 passed over the ,great ,divide into the ,unseen2 but1 at great cost to themselves in hardship and suffering and privation1 they made it possible for the people of to-day to travel in rolling palaces where once they themselves trod with aching and weary feet4 ,let us highly honour the memory of the engineers and surveyors and their men1 who were the forerunners of the mighty engines which now thunder through the echoing mountain passes1 along which these heroes of the transit and the chain1 long years ago1 pursued their painful and precarious way4 ,the ,macdonald ,government came back into power in #ahgh1 as we have seen1 on the wave of the ,national ,policy movement4 ,but1 for two years1 they worked on the lines of their predecessors and linked up some of the disconnected portions of the road which ,mr4 ,mackenzie had constructed in various localities1 mainly between the ,lakes and the ,red ,river4 ,then ,sir ,charles ,tupper1 that militant and aggressive ,minister of ,railways1 took the bold plunge and let to ,andrew ,onderdonk1 a young ,american railroader of ,san ,francisco1 contracts to build portions of the ,canadian ,pacific through 8the sea of mountains0 in ,british ,columbia4 ,canada was young at the railway business1 as indicated by the fact that it was an ,american who got the contract to build the first parts of the mountain road4 ,later on1 as the construction of the road from ocean to ocean began to get under way1 ,canadians developed by the score into great practical railway builders4 ,young men who had begun by chopping in the bush grew into contractors for getting out ties for the track-layers1 and finally themselves took contracts for actual building of the railway over rock and boulders1 through mountain vastnesses and quaking bogs until the steel reached tide water4 ,it was in itself an act of splendid audacity for a people of less than four millions in number to start on the task of throwing a railway across an immense and almost uninhabited continent to the shores of the ,western sea4 ,and this daring on the part of the young ,dominion was backed gallantly and effectively by scores of native-born ,canadians who1 with genuine ,canadian initiative1 learned a new trade and followed it with tremendous energy and skill4 ,it has been my good fortune and privilege to meet many of these men4 ,some of them made money and some of them did not4 ,the task of calculating the cost of a piece of work over a given stretch of country1 where unexpected obstacles emerged1 was not easy4 ,there were stretches on the ,north ,shore of ,lake ,superior where the old ,laurentian rocks had to be blasted to pieces at a cost of half-a-million a mile4 ,there is a well-known muskeg east of ,winnipeg where seven tracks went under1 till a solid foundation was secured in what looked for a while like a bottomless pit4 ,and there were tunnels and bridges and cuttings in the mountains which challenged the resources of a race of ,titans4 ,so1 we say1 these contractors did not1 by any means1 always make money4 ,but my knowledge of them leads me to say that very few of the contractors or engineers cared for the money end of it in any case4 ,they felt that they were engaged in a work of significance1 not only to ,canada and the ,empire1 but to the world1 and that was an inspiration worth while4 ,i recall being told by the secretary to one of the most famous of these railway builders that1 so intent was this railway man on his work1 that he very often forgot to have money enough in his pocket for personal necessities4 ,in one sense he handled millions2 but1 only for the precaution of his secretary who knew his ways1 this railway magnate would often have been personally stranded4 8,he thought so little of money10 said the secretary1 8that he hardly ever carried any with him4 ,but he was generous withal4 ,the real fact was he was so engrossed in the great enterprise of helping to build a road across ,canada that he forgot his own personal needs40 ,going back to ,mr4 ,andrew ,onderdonk1 it is interesting to recall his influence on the social life of ,british ,columbia by his importation of a few thousand ,chinese coolies to work on railway construction4 ,mr4 ,onderdonk claimed that he was unable to get enough white men who were willing to do that particular kind of work4 ,be that as it may1 the present fact is that we have a very large ,chinese population in this ,province which faces the ,orient4 ,it is equally sure that the presence of so many ,orientals causes many serious problems4 ,it is fashionable for some people who do not know the history1 to lay the responsibility for the presence of ,chinese here on the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway ,company4 ,but the fact is that it was ,mr4 ,onderdonk who imported these ,oriental coolies while the road was still under ,government supervision1 two or more years before the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway ,company was formed4 ,it is only fair always to apportion praise or blame justly1 so that every one shall bear his own burden of responsibility without having to carry more than his share4 ,hence1 the company1 be it known1 was not the originator of the importation of ,chinese coolies for the construction of the road4 ,on this subject we are not now moralizing either way1 but are simply making a statement of historical fact4 ,in any case1 ,mr4 ,onderdonk knew the business of railway construction and kept steadily on1 taking over some portions from other contractors1 till he had the steel laid from ,port ,moody to ,kamloops1 and made a creditable record for railway building across an exceedingly difficult section of ,canada4 ,in fact1 ,sir ,charles ,tupper1 the militant ,minister of ,railways1 said quite openly that1 though the construction of a piece of the road on the ,pacific ,coast would not mean much till it was linked up with the ,eastern part of ,canada1 he wanted to get the mountain section under construction without delay for certain reasons4 ,one was that the construction of that exceedingly difficult section1 if successfully accomplished1 would show the possibility of the whole task of the transcontinental being completed in due time4 ,the other1 of course1 was that the people of ,british ,columbia1 fortunately for them1 had several ably-insistent and politely-vociferous leaders who would give no rest to any ,government till the work of railway construction had actually begun on the ,coast4 ,there were some prominent men elsewhere who did not look at things in the same light4 ,an ,opposition in ,parliament opposes the party in power as a sort of a constitutional principle1 nominally at least1 for the safety of the country1 which otherwise might have unwise legislation imposed on it4 ,but even apart from that1 we need not now look with undue criticism on the record of men like the ,hon4 ,edward ,blake1 a statesman of great ability and integrity who1 when ,onderdonk was going ahead with his contracts in the mountains1 moved in the ,house of ,commons in #ahhj that 8the public interests require that the work of constructing the ,pacific ,railway in ,british ,columbia be postponed40 ,others of his party took the same stand1 and it must be admitted that1 apart from the prerogative of an ,opposition above indicated1 the whole project seemed vast enough to appal men who did not personally know the ,west well enough to visualize its illimitable future4 ,the gigantic undertaking1 as already mentioned1 looked well nigh quixotic for less than four millions of people1 and the fact that there were1 in the years following1 times when the whole effort seemed on the verge of disaster1 ought to restrain our wholesale condemnation of early sceptics4 ,incidentally1 it ought to bring us to the salute when we think of the railway builders who fought their amazing difficulties and1 by fighting1 gathered strength to win out in the end4 ,andrew ,onderdonk in the mountains and other contractors between ,lake ,superior and the ,red ,river1 were doing good work1 but their detached pieces of road ended in the air4 ,and ,sir ,john ,a4 ,macdonald was quick to see that something more had to be done4 ,accordingly1 at a ,cabinet meeting at the close of the first session after his return to power1 ,sir ,john brought up the question of building railways in the ,north-,west in order to attract immigrants4 ,sir ,charles ,tupper1 who1 being at the head of the ,department of ,railways1 had made special study of the situation1 agreed with ,sir ,john that something should be done at once and neither one of them was in love with the idea of ,government ownership and operation of railways4 ,sir ,charles thought the policy of a transcontinental should be again emphasized1 and that a responsible company should be secured to build it4 ,sir ,john said that was always his idea2 but it was a 8large order0 and they had better take a week to think it over4 ,on the appointed day ,sir ,charles submitted a carefully prepared report in favour of a through line1 built1 owned and operated by a chartered company4 ,putting it in brief form1 the suggestion was that the ,government should complete and hand over to such a company the parts of the railway then built or under construction1 estimated at about seven hundred miles1 which1 when finished1 would have cost about thirty-two millions of dollars4 ,the portions of the road then built1 or being built1 were the lines from ,port ,arthur to ,winnipeg1 from ,kamloops to ,port ,moody and the ,emerson ,branch on the east side of the ,red ,river1 from the boundary-line to ,st4 ,boniface and ,winnipeg4 ,in addition to getting possession of these portions1 the company would receive a cash grant of twenty-five millions of dollars1 and fifty 7later reduced to twenty-five7 million acres of land along the railway4 ,the suggestion was heartily agreed to by ,sir ,john1 and the ,cabinet was unanimously in favour of the plan proposed4 ,the ,cabinet adjourned immediately after the decision was made4 ,the members thereof had good reason to call it a day4 ,the ,rubicon had been crossed and the country was on the march to a new destiny4 ,there were to be many obstacles encountered before the objective would be reached4 ,it was a mighty venture of faith1 but men of thought and men of action would clear the way4 ,meanwhile the contractors on the portions under construction carried on1 but the ,government was looking eagerly to the financial magnates of the ,old ,land to form a company to carry out its policy4 ,yet1 despite a visit of ,sir ,john1 ,sir ,charles and the ,hon4 ,john ,henry ,pope to ,london1 there was no rush on the part of ,british financiers to build a railway across a vast1 thinly populated continent4 ,and when it looked as if there was going to be a disappointing set-back1 there arose a small group of men on our own continent who were destined to lead in making the projected transcontinental what ,lord ,shaughnessy1 a few hours before his death1 called so finely1 in a conversation with ,president ,beatty1 8a great ,canadian property and a great ,canadian enterprise40 ,we shall1 in the next chapter1 meet the men who came to the rescue4 ,,chapter ,,vi ,a ,great ,adventure 8,playing safe0 is a better programme than reckless foolhardiness1 but it is a poor programme as compared with the spirit of adventure4 ,without adventure1 based upon faith1 humanity's horizon would never have widened out and new continents and new avenues for the expenditure of human energy in great enterprises for the good of mankind would never have been discovered4 ,satisfaction with present attainment means stagnation1 and it is better to reach out after the apparently unattainable than to allow our ,god-given energies to suffer atrophy through disuse4 ,in our present study of the building of a great railway across ,canada1 traversing vast unpeopled plains1 and boring its way through what some had declared to be impassable mountain barriers1 it is a very interesting thing to find the enterprise somewhat closely linked up with a certain other organization that had been chartered in #afgj1 under the title of 8,the ,governor and ,company of ,adventurers of ,england trading into ,hudson ,bay40 ,the big word in that title is the word 8adventurers10 and it applies both to the men who hazarded their capital and to the men who fared forth from the ,old ,country into the unknown spaces of the new continent on this side of the sea4 ,this ,hudson's ,bay ,company not only attracted attention to the new world that had still to be conquered1 but its able and resourceful employees in the ,north-,west became distinct elements in the progress of the country4 ,in this particular connection one ,donald ,alexander ,smith 7later ,lord ,strathcona7 who had come out from ,scotland as a lad to ,labrador1 in the service of the ,company1 had risen to be head of that ,company in ,canada at the time of ,confederation1 and was a member of the ,house of ,commons for ,winnipeg when the project of a transcontinental railway loomed up as an actual possibility4 ,mr4 ,smith was a restlessly ambitious man1 or he would not have so risen1 and there is no doubt in my mind 7and ,i knew him in his later years7 that when the discussion arose he began to cherish the hope of being an instrument in linking up the ,east and ,west in some way by the much-discussed railway4 ,since writing this ,i came across a letter1 dated ,november1 #ahgb1 at ,stuart ,lake1 ,b4,c41 from the ,hudson's ,bay ,company factor then in charge there1 to the officer in charge at another post4 ,this letter not only shows that the ,hudson's ,bay ,company1 instead of retarding the opening up of the country by rail as some have affirmed1 was actively assisting and making possible the work of explorers and surveyors who were beginning to blaze the way for the road4 ,and it also shows that ,mr4 ,donald ,a4 ,smith was1 even that far back1 on his own behalf and on behalf of the ancient fur-trading organization1 contributing his quota in that direction4 ,here is an extract in the letter from one ,hudson's ,bay man to another3 8,the bearer is a botanist belonging to the railway survey who arrived here in company with an engineer1 and who is the bearer of a letter from ,mr4 ,donald ,a4 ,smith to us men in the service to assist the surveyors as far as possible4 ,he also showed me a letter from ,mr4 ,sandford ,fleming1 authorizing the engineer who goes down the ,skeena to sign any bill of expenses he may have with the ,hudson's ,bay ,company and it will be good4 ,i have told him that you would forward him to ,victoria and push him through as quickly as possible4 ,the engineer's name is something like ,horetzkie40 ,the writer of that letter had caught the name of the engineer all right4 ,and it shows not only how these ,hudson's ,bay posts made the work of these and other explorers possible1 but in this particular case it links the name of ,donald ,a4 ,smith with the new day that was dawning4 ,i do not think that ,mr4 ,smith was by any means the ablest of the men who later formed the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway ,company ,board4 ,but he was unquestionably the pivot on which the project turned1 from its doubtful success as a ,government undertaking1 to its becoming an accomplished fact as a privately owned and operated concern4 ,and it happened on this wise4 ,mr4 ,smith had to travel frequently between ,west and ,east1 through ,st4 ,paul1 ,minnesota1 on his way from ,fort ,garry to ,ottawa and ,montreal1 in connection with parliamentary and ,company business4 ,in ,st4 ,paul he usually called on ,mr4 ,norman ,w4 ,kitson1 a ,canadian1 formerly a ,hudson's ,bay factor1 and met along with him another ,canadian1 ,james ,j4 ,hill1 who was then in the coal business4 ,kitson and ,hill were both interested in transportation to the ,red ,river country1 and were anxious to get a hold of a three-hundred-mile railway called the ,st4 ,paul and ,pacific1 running from ,st4 ,paul to the ,red ,river1 and later to westward1 if it could be kept going4 ,this road had fallen into misfortune because grasshopper plagues and ,indian troubles and massacres had depopulated the territory through which it ran4 ,so the ,dutch bondholders had thrown it into the hands of the receiver1 and the bonds were not saleable in the ordinary way4 ,hill and ,kitson1 who knew more about the country than the ,dutch bondholders1 felt that the road could be built up into a really valuable concern1 and ,smith thought the same4 ,but they lacked the capital to acquire it4 ,mr4 ,smith1 on arrival in ,montreal1 told all this to his cousin1 ,mr4 ,george ,stephen1 another ,scot1 who had prospered well in business and was ,president of the ,bank of ,montreal4 ,stephen 7later ,lord ,mount ,stephen7 was a man of unusual strength and vision4 ,they talked it over with ,mr4 ,r4 ,b4 ,angus1 also a ,scot1 and a very able business man1 who was1 at that time1 general manager of the same bank4 ,stephen and ,angus agreed generally with ,smith1 but they had not then seen the country and were not of the kind to be rash4 ,however1 in #ahgg ,stephen and ,angus had to be in ,chicago on banking business and1 having a few days at their disposal1 decided to run up to ,st4 ,paul and see ,hill and his country4 ,they saw both1 as well as the railway1 and were satisfied it had a big future4 ,the grasshoppers were disappearing1 the ,indians were all peaceful or dead1 and settlers would rush in to the rich areas4 ,stephen was a man of swift action when he was satisfied1 and so he hied himself away to ,amsterdam1 got an option on the railway and came back with that option in his pocket4 ,the necessary money was raised1 bonds were later on floated1 and ,stephen1 ,hill1 ,angus1 ,smith 7all ,canadians71 with ,john ,s4 ,kennedy1 of ,new ,york1 took over the railway and the land-grant4 ,we need not follow the history of that ,st4 ,paul1 ,minneapolis and ,manitoba ,railway 7which later developed into 8,jim0 ,hill's ,great ,northern72 but everything seemed to come the way of the adventurous ,canadians who had risked much on it1 and they became multi-millionaires in a surprisingly short time4 ,it was to this group of men1 who were doubtless ready to be approached1 that ,sir ,john ,a4 ,macdonald1 after having tried in vain in ,europe1 turned1 when even ,sir ,charles ,tupper1 who was never disposed to be afraid of anybody or anything1 called the ,premier's attention to the prodigious task ahead if the ,government itself attempted to build and operate a railway across ,canada from sea to sea4 ,by these financial men and a few more1 as we shall see1 the project that had terrified ,governments of both political shades was undertaken1 and by them it was ultimately1 and after terrific struggle1 carried to completion4 ,even ,mr4 ,j4 ,j4 ,hill came in at the outset1 but1 differing from the rest on the policy of building over the ,north ,shore of ,lake ,superior and thus having an all-,canadian route1 and finding it impossible to serve two masters in two railways that would clash somewhat1 he retired soon after the ,canadian ,pacific ,board was organized4 ,but we are not to forget 8,jim0 ,hill1 a ,canadian abroad1 for it was through him that the great triumvirate1 ,stephen1 ,smith and ,angus1 got a taste for railroading and a certain training therein which stood them and ,canada in good stead in the stormy days that lay ahead4 ,it was1 in a sense1 natural that the men we have mentioned should take hold of the ,canadian ,pacific undertaking4 ,some of them1 at least1 knew the great ,west-land by actual observation4 ,the others would bank on the statements of those who knew the country4 ,stephen was the most cautious and so the least inclined to take risks in regard to such a colossal enterprise4 ,but once he entered upon it1 we are probably safe in saying that1 though he had his hours of depression1 he became the mainstay of the ,board in the dark storms of difficulty that were at times to settle down on the project during the desperate days that were ahead4 ,all three1 ,stephen1 ,smith and ,angus1 hailed from the land where there is a saying1 8,a stout heart to a stey br40 ,and these men and their associates were to face1 in every sense of the word1 8steep hills0 in the financial world as well as in actual rock-ribbed obstacles to railway building1 greater than any contemplated by the originator of the inspiring saying quoted above4 ,there was to be a time1 as we shall see later1 when ,stephen's famous cablegram to ,smith1 in the single ,glic word 8,craigellachie0 7stand fast71 would be needed as a ringing admonition to men in ,canada whose resources became so completely exhausted that failure seemed practically inevitable4 ,in the meantime we have only reached the stage in our story where these men1 ,stephen1 ,smith and ,angus1 reinforced by another highly capable1 careful and successful ,montreal man1 ,mr4 ,duncan ,mc,intyre1 at the threshold of the gigantic undertaking1 were in consultation with the ,macdonald-,tupper administration at ,ottawa on the subject4 ,they all sensed the almost overwhelming bigness of the task and1 although they were attracted by the challenge of its immensity1 and were prepared to accept that challenge1 they all realized that they should try to secure the co-operation of the world's financial centres before they could even hope for success4 ,hence we find1 in the summer of #ahhj1 ,sir ,john ,macdonald1 ,sir ,charles ,tupper and ,john ,henry ,pope sailing for ,london1 in company with ,stephen and ,mc,intyre1 to interest ,british capitalists4 ,englishmen are generally willing to take a 8sporting chance0 and plunge into an adventurous scheme4 ,but this project of building a railway across the continent through ,canada's far stretches of thinly populated country1 with the gigantic engineering problems of the rock region on the ,north ,shore of ,lake ,superior and the apparently impenetrable barrier of the mountains in ,british ,columbia1 was too large an order for the most courageous of ,london's money magnates4 ,it is doubtless a good thing for ,canada that the delegation had to return from ,london empty-handed4 ,projects and business concerns owned and operated by long-range directors and shareholders have never been a huge success in ,canada1 unless practically conducted by local advisory boards1 and railways are no exception to that rule4 ,more important still1 this fruitless search for financial assistance put ,canadians on their mettle by throwing them back on their own resources at the outset1 and thus developing the strength and the endeavour which a big undertaking always brings if bravely attempted4 ,it was a good training in national athleticism1 and the young ,dominion that had to wrestle with difficulties at the beginning developed astonishing strength and initiative power4 ,later on1 when1 within a few months of the last spike on the road1 the youthful giant had reached the limit of resource1 and was in danger of falling short1 ,british capital was to come in to help to a triumphant finish4 ,but the time was not yet4 ,the delegation to ,london returned to ,ottawa in #ahhj1 and the ,government signed a contract with ,george ,stephen1 ,duncan ,mc,intyre1 of ,montreal2 ,james ,j4 ,hill1 of ,st4 ,paul2 ,john ,s4 ,kennedy1 of ,new ,york1 and four outside this continent1 ,cohen1 ,renach ,company1 of ,paris1 and ,morton1 ,rose ,company1 of ,london1 though in the latter case it was really the ,new ,york firm of ,morton1 ,bliss ,company that went into the organization4 ,it is interesting from a psychological standpoint to find that the name of ,donald ,a4 ,smith1 one of the big three1 was not in this original contract4 ,ever since the day when ,mr4 ,smith had cast his vote in the ,house of ,commons1 in #ahgc1 against ,sir ,john ,macdonald in the matter of the 8,pacific ,scandal10 as ,macdonald's opponents called it1 or the 8,pacific ,slander10 as ,sir ,charles ,tupper designated the affair1 there was1 to put it mildly1 a coolness between ,smith and ,sir ,john4 ,for these two to be in the conferences that would often arise between the ,canadian ,pacific directors and the ,government1 would throw a wet blanket on the meetings4 ,later on these two became punctiliously friendly1 and even though ,mr4 ,smith's name was not visibly in this original ,canadian ,pacific ,railway ,company1 every one knew 7including the keen-minded ,sir ,john7 that he was actually in it for all he was worth4 ,the contract terms sound generous enough if we could only keep out of our minds the tremendous extent of the undertaking and the endless risks taken by the new company1 in view of the fact that the real cost of the railway from ocean to ocean was almost a haphazard conjecture4 ,up to the date of the signing of the contract the way through the mountains of ,british ,columbia was unsettled1 and the character of the work on the ,north ,shore of ,lake ,superior was practically unknown4 ,that ,north ,shore problem had frightened ,sir ,henry ,tyler1 ,president of the ,grand ,trunk1 in ,london1 from going into the ,canadian ,pacific scheme1 partly because that eternal wilderness had no prospect of local traffic compared with a line south of the ,boundary1 but partly also because the interminable miles of rock to be built through looked too formidable to be attacked4 ,take it all round1 the terms of the contract signed in ,ottawa may have looked too generous to the man on the street4 ,but only men of courage who visioned the far future would have set their names to a covenant to build thousands of miles of a railway which not only some public men1 but some experts also openly declared would 8never pay for the axle grease40 ,briefly stated1 the ,government agreed to give the new syndicate the seven hundred miles of railway already built or under contract to be built by the ,government1 together with twenty-five millions in money and twenty-five millions of acres of selected land in the ,west4 ,in addition1 the syndicate was promised exemption from import duties on all material brought in for construction1 from taxes on land for twenty years after ,crown patents were issued1 as well as freedom from taxes on stock and other property for all time1 together with exemption from regulation of rates till ten per cent4 had been earned on capital invested4 ,to guard against premature competition by roads connecting with the ,states1 the ,government agreed that for twenty years no charter would be granted to any railway south of the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway from any point at or near the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway except such as should run south-west or westward of south-west2 nor to within fifteen miles of the ,boundary-,line4 ,in ,winnipeg1 in my student days in the #hj's1 ,i recall hearing many rather stormy discussions over this contract at public meetings1 because the ,west was particularly affected4 ,the two things most strenuously opposed1 as being too generous to the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway ,company1 were the grant of land1 which was said to be too large1 and the section which prevented competing lines being built to the south4 ,neither of these objections ever seemed to me very reasonable4 ,the land grant looked large2 but land was worth very little before the railway came in to make it valuable4 ,in my boyhood ,i knew that some of the land along the ,red and ,assiniboine ,rivers 7and there is no better land anywhere7 was sold for fifty cents an acre4 ,if the twenty-five millions of acres given to the railway were valued at pre-railway prices the amount would not be great4 ,when the railway was built the price of land went up with a rush1 but it must be borne in mind that it cost the ,company millions to bring the railway in1 to make the land worth while4 ,and it should also be remembered that the railway made other people's land as valuable as its own1 although the increase to the other people did not cost them anything beyond their ordinary taxes4 ,in any case the land went up when the railway came in1 but the railway did not come in by magic4 ,it is interesting to recall in this connection that ,sumner1 a famous statesman in the ,american ,republic1 once advocated giving half of one of the great agricultural ,states in the ,west to any one who would build a railway through it1 as it was of little use till a railway would enter4 ,what some people in ,canada1 who denounced the ,government for giving twenty-five millions of acres1 might have said if the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway had been offered one-half of the ,middle ,west1 would probably be too incoherent to print4 ,we may read later something of the cyclonic protests made in my native ,province of ,manitoba against the section of the contract which denied to any others the right to build railways south of the ,canadian ,pacific into the ,states2 but1 like many other movements1 the one against this temporary monopolistic clause was1 to say the least1 lacking in proper perspective4 ,the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway ,company1 to enable ,canada to keep faith with ,british ,columbia and thus hold ,confederation together1 was struggling to build two thousand miles of road over a territory where there was little prospect for years of a paying traffic4 ,it is hard to see that it would have been just1 without adequate compensation to the ,canadian ,pacific1 to allow other railways to hamstring the transcontinental by building in the only region where there was population enough to give a railway some reasonably remunerative business4 ,a rather peculiar thing was that no one objected to the cash subsidy except those who attacked the whole business from end to end1 as ruinous to the young ,dominion4 ,reasonable onlookers1 however1 who knew something of the tremendous cost of construction over certain sections1 thought the syndicate was mad to tackle it at almost any price4 ,later on these reasonable people found justification for their view in the fact that construction was costing in some sections half-a-million a mile--though even they would have gasped if they knew that in after years a single tunnel in the mountains was to cost over eight millions to construct4 ,there were some who considered that the free gift to the company of several hundred miles of railway1 built by the ,government over a term of years1 was too generous4 ,but ,canadian ,pacific ,railway experts in #ahhi testified before an ,interstate ,commerce ,inquiry1 and said that parts of the ,government sections were unwisely located1 and the cost of joining up with these unwisely located sections was so great that the amount the sections were supposed to represent should be heavily discounted4 ,it is possible that experts will always differ over this big contract of #ahhj which1 for years1 furnished offensive and defensive political orators with abundant ammunition in party conflicts4 ,as ,i write these paragraphs regarding the famous contract between the ,canadian ,government and the pioneer railway across ,canada1 ,i have before me the ,dominion ,statute of #ahha in which the contract is incorporated4 ,it has some rather illuminating clauses1 of which ,i here quote a few4 ,in the section of the ,act in which the ,company is required to complete the work by the year #ahia1 and the section in which the ,government is required to complete and hand over certain portions of the railway then under contract1 both parties are safeguarded by the words 8unless prevented by the act of ,god1 the ,queen's enemies1 intestine disturbances1 epidemics1 floods or other causes beyond control40 ,that was sufficiently comprehensive to guard against any contingency4 ,there is a very interesting statement at the conclusion of section #g of the ,act1 where1 after saying that the road built by the company and the portions built by the ,government when completed1 shall become the absolute property of the ,company1 the ,act goes on to say3 ,and the ,company shall thereafter and for ever efficiently maintain1 work and run the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway4 ,i think the testimony of all is that the ,company is living up to that contract1 since its amazing efficiency is the admiration of the world4 ,but the words 8for ever0 indicate with unconscious frankness that the ,government had grown weary of ,government construction1 ownership and operation of such an immense project1 and was devoutly thankful to hand it over for all time to a responsible private organization4 ,the contract which we have been thus studying had to run the gauntlet through ,parliament1 and we shall follow its course there and the new programme of railway building by the new ,company in the ensuing chapter4 ,,chapter ,,vii ,the ,new ,company ,when the contract with the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway ,company was submitted to the ,canadian ,parliament1 ,mr4 ,edward ,blake1 then leader of the ,opposition1 and his party1 met it with a chorus of indignant and derisive protest4 ,they declared that the ,dominion would be ruined by such a contract and that they intended to fight the matter out before the ,house and the country4 ,there is no need now to cast any personal discredit on ,mr4 ,blake and his following for their action at that time4 ,he was a man of unblemished name and of intense conviction1 as evidenced by many facts in his distinguished career4 ,and1 besides1 he and the leading men in his following then in ,ottawa had already committed themselves at former sessions of ,parliament by taking the position that the ,canadian ,pacific would have to be built by slow stages if built at all4 ,mr4 ,blake had not then visited the ,west1 and seriously doubted its future4 ,he and ,sir ,charles ,tupper1 who introduced the bill1 were the combatant officers of their respective parties over this railway problem4 ,so when ,mr4 ,blake declared an itinerating attack on the ,canadian ,pacific amongst the people of ,ontario1 where the ,grand ,trunk1 the rival road1 had been long in undisputed possession1 ,sir ,charles wrote asking for an opportunity to reply on the same platform4 ,mr4 ,blake answered that he would require all the time each evening1 as the subject was a big one4 ,this was true1 and ,blake's exact legal mind led him generally into more exhaustive detail on any subject than an ordinary public audience could appreciate4 ,but ,sir ,charles had girded on his armour for the fray1 and found a plan of action by having his friends announce at each of ,blake's meetings that ,sir ,charles would appear in the same hall the following night to give reply to ,mr4 ,blake4 ,sir ,charles thus had the advantage of having ,mr4 ,blake's speech in hand a few hours after its delivery1 and next night was able to assault ,mr4 ,blake's position effectively by a characteristic fighting answer4 ,to complicate matters for the ,government1 a rival syndicate was suddenly formed of ,ontario capitalists1 headed by ,sir ,william ,howland1 who offered to build the railway for three millions less in money and three millions less in land acreage1 and at the same time give up practically all the privileges which the ,government had agreed to allow the ,stephen group4 ,the ,government denounced the ,howland syndicate as trying to draw a herring across the trail by making a transparently impossible offer in an effort to break the contract already signed with the other company4 ,there is no reason to think that the ,howland syndicate1 which was composed of well-known citizens of high standing1 would not have tackled the building of the railway if they had got the contract4 ,but the ,government had already signed with the other organization and1 denouncing the offer of the ,howland syndicate as utterly impracticable1 and intended only to hamper the construction of the road1 ,sir ,charles ,tupper rallied the ,government forces and put the original contract through ,parliament on a straight vote1 in ,february1 #ahha4 ,we do not dispute the good intentions of the ,howland syndicate2 but if the gentlemen of that syndicate really could have seen into the future they would have breathed a sigh of relief when their offer was rejected4 ,they had asked for the contract1 but it was a mercy for them that their request was declined without thanks4 ,for if the ,stephen men1 who knew the country better and had already some extraordinary allies1 came up later against so many unexpected obstacles that they were more than once within a hair-breadth of failure1 it is safe to say that the ,howland men1 with their hurried and unconsidered offer1 would have ridden for a fall1 disastrous alike to themselves and to ,canada4 ,by the action of the ,dominion ,parliament1 in adopting the contract and giving it the force of law1 in ,february1 #ahha1 the field was clear for ,mr4 ,george ,stephen 7who was elected ,president of the new ,company7 and his colleagues4 ,they lost no time in unlimbering their artillery and going into action with the bearing of men who knew they were going to have a hard battle1 but were moving steadily forward as gentlemen unafraid4 ,concerning ,mr4 ,george ,stephen 7who chose his peerage title from the mountain that was called after him in ,british ,columbia1 and so became ,lord ,mount ,stephen7 much might be written1 but he was so unobtrusive that1 as compared with others1 hardly anything has been put in print about the first ,president4 ,mr4 ,smith1 his cousin 7later ,lord ,strathcona71 was much better known and more in the public eye1 and no one would think of minimizing ,mr4 ,smith's great achievements and his services to ,canada and the ,empire4 ,but so far as the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway is concerned1 ,mr4 ,smith's greatest contribution was made when1 after getting in contact with ,hill1 he persuaded ,stephen to branch out from business in ,montreal and become a railroad builder4 ,once again in this connection let me emphasize1 though it anticipates the narrative somewhat1 the peculiar sequence in the chain of ,canadian ,pacific men and events in the following way3 ,smith secured ,stephen1 ,stephen secured ,van ,horne1 and ,van ,horne secured ,shaughnessy4 ,it was an extraordinary succession1 and every link in a chain that holds is worthy of equal honour4 ,these men were different in many ways1 but the truth is that1 historically considered1 no man ever really takes the place of another1 even though he succeeds him4 ,each man must do his own work in his own way and bear his own burden1 and in each man's assertion of his own individuality we find the true law of human progress4 ,we can standardize inanimate things such as motor cars1 but we are essaying interference with the ,divine order when we try to standardize men4 ,george ,stephen was the son of a carpenter and was born1 in #ahbi1 in ,dufftown1 ,banffshire1 ,scotland4 ,his youth was not rose-coloured4 ,he was educated in the parish school 7the world owes much to many an unknown school-teacher71 served for a season as herd-laddie on the glebe at ,mortlach1 and then was sent to ,aberdeen to learn the drapery business4 ,one day a customer from ,montreal noticed that the clerk signed his name 8,george ,stephen10 and it turned out that the customer and clerk were cousins4 ,as a result the young clerk was taken out to ,montreal and showed such devotion to business and such capacity1 that he became ,president of the great ,bank of ,montreal when he was a little over forty years of age4 ,he was a man of a high sense of honour and of intense powers of concentration4 ,he had public gifts and could speak well on political and other topics1 but all through life he applied himself principally to business and the development of the country4 ,years afterwards1 when the one-time 8herd laddie0 at ,mortlach and draper's apprentice had become a man of wealth and a peer of the realm1 recognized amongst the foremost as a builder of the ,empire1 he was presented with the freedom of the city of ,aberdeen4 ,in his reply to the address of presentation1 he shattered some modern theories as to the making of men by saying3 8,any success ,i may have had in life is due in a great measure to the somewhat ,spartan training ,i received during my ,aberdeen apprenticeship1 in which ,i entered as a boy of fifteen4 ,i had but few wants and no distractions to draw me away from the work ,i had in hand4 ,i soon discovered that if ,i ever accomplished anything in life it would be by pursuing my object with a persistent determination to attain it4 ,i had neither the training nor the talents to accomplish anything without hard work1 and1 fortunately1 ,i knew it40 ,all of which would be a good motto for every young lad to paste in his hat1 so that he would see it frequently4 ,it is well also to remember that ,sir ,george made good use of the wealth he gained in later years by laborious effort4 ,his benefactions were wide-spread1 amongst them being the contribution of half-a-million1 to go with a like amount from ,lord ,strathcona1 into the establishment of the ,royal ,victoria ,hospital in ,montreal4 ,and when ,dr4 ,barclay retired from ,st4 ,paul's ,church in the same city1 it was ,lord ,mount ,stephen who supplemented the donations of others by a princely gift in bonds to the minister of his ,montreal days4 ,it was this great man1 ,george ,stephen1 then1 who became ,president of the new ,canadian ,pacific ,railway ,company in #ahhj1 and continued in that responsible office for the eight most critical years of the company's struggle to live and conquer4 ,on him1 in the grim days ahead1 was to rest most heavily the burden of financing1 although his cousin1 ,mr4 ,d4 ,a4 ,smith1 was forward in securing the help of financial magnates at every opportunity4 ,the time was to come when these two were to pledge all their private possessions to keep the ,canadian ,pacific going on to completion4 ,i think it worth while to say here that none of these men seemed to care about money as an end1 although they appreciated its value as a means to achievement4 ,they had no reason to go into the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway undertaking to make money1 for when they began it they all had enough4 ,in fact it is well known that some of them demurred strongly at first for fear they would be left penniless in their old age4 ,but they were all amenable to the appeal for the building of ,canada1 and that was sufficient4 ,in this connection it is interesting to recall that on ,may #bfth1 #ahhg1 ,mr4 ,smith 7,strathcona7 said in the ,house of ,commons1 8,the ,first ,minister will bear me out when ,i say that ,sir ,george ,stephen and the other members of the syndicate did not approach the ,government with regard to the building of the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway until the ,government had tried in ,europe and elsewhere to get others to take it up1 capable of carrying it through1 but had not succeeded in this4 ,i say distinctly that the gentlemen who undertook the charter1 although at first unwilling to assume the responsibility1 ultimately consented1 more with a view of assisting to open up the country than from any expectation of gain to be derived from it40 ,it is equally interesting to note1 in this same connection1 the attitude of ,mr4 ,james ,j4 ,hill1 who once wrote to an old ,canadian friend saying1 8,i think you know that ,i am not anxious about the money part of it4 ,i am sure ,i have all and more than all ,i will ever want and all that will be good for those who come after me40 ,it was in this spirit1 then--that of ,empire-builders1 rather than money-makers--that ,president ,stephen and his associates took up1 in #ahha1 the tremendous task of building the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway across the ,dominion of ,canada4 ,it was the wide ,west-land that had called the transcontinental into the orbit of public vision1 and though1 when ,eastern connections would be made1 it was inevitable that the headquarters of the road would be in ,montreal1 where the leading directors lived1 offices were first of all opened in ,winnipeg4 ,canada1 as already noted1 was young in the railway business4 ,later on she would find her own men for leaders in every department1 as we know by this time she has done4 ,but in those days ,canada had to go to her big cousin1 the ,american ,republic1 for railway experts4 ,and so ,mr4 ,a4 ,b4 ,stickney1 who was later ,president of the ,chicago and ,great ,western1 was installed as ,general ,superintendent in ,winnipeg4 ,with him came1 as ,chief ,engineer1 ,general ,rosser1 who had been a dashing ,confederate cavalry officer in the ,civil ,war4 ,those were my school days in ,winnipeg1 and ,i recall seeing ,rosser once--a man of very distinguished bearing4 ,but1 for various reasons1 neither he nor ,stickney remained long1 though ,i confess ,i never pass the little station of ,rosser just west of ,winnipeg1 but ,i visualize again the tall1 handsome ,southerner after whom it was called in those early days4 ,when these men were going1 ,stephen turned again to his old friend ,hill1 who knew all about railroad men1 and ,hill recommended ,william ,cornelius ,van ,horne1 then ,general ,superintendent of the ,chicago1 ,milwaukee and ,st4 ,paul4 ,this was another of ,hill's great contributions to his native ,canada4 ,though these two strong men1 ,hill and ,van ,horne1 eventually became rivals and heads of practically opposing systems1 they doubtless1 to the end1 recognized the consummate ability of each other4 ,if they had to contend at times they could at least realize 8,that stern joy which warriors feel ,in foeman worthy of their steel40 ,in any case1 ,hill's commendation of ,van ,horne to ,stephen in #ahha was whole hearted and emphatic4 ,hill said that of all the men he knew ,mr4 ,van ,horne was altogether the best equipped1 both mentally and every other way4 ,a pioneer was needed1 and the more of a pioneer the better4 ,and to this ,mr4 ,hill added1 in his message to ,stephen1 8,you need a man of great physical and mental power to carry the line through4 ,van ,horne can do it4 ,but he will take all the authority he gets and more2 so define how much you want him to have40 ,this last was a well-meant--and somewhat necessary admonition4 ,mr4 ,stephen then offered ,van ,horne a bigger salary than any one in a similar position had ever received in this country4 ,i do not think that the salary was the main thing with ,van ,horne4 ,neither would ,i say that he did not take it into consideration4 ,he was such a many-sided man that he seemed like several men4 ,he could be lavish in entertaining or spending for things that he specially fancied4 ,but he could be close in other ways4 ,no doubt the unprecedented salary was1 in his mind1 worthy of thought4 ,and one cannot wonder at that1 because he was asked to give up a high position in the railway work of the ,states1 with a presidency certain there in a few years at most4 ,he was1 in fact1 staking the prospects of a career on his decision in favour of moving4 ,but he did not decide to move without some idea of the prospects of the country to which he was invited4 ,so he made a sort of incognito visit to ,winnipeg1 and took some survey of the vast plains4 ,he saw the possibilities of unlimited grain and root production1 and noted the practically inexhaustible soil along the ,red ,river1 where the ,selkirk settlers had been sowing and reaping for three-quarters of a century4 ,it is interesting to find here1 as noted by writers on ,van ,horne's life1 special allusion to the ,selkirk settlers4 ,these settlers were stated in an early chapter of the book to be a factor in leading to the inception of the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway undertaking1 as they had demonstrated the agricultural possibilities of the ,west4 ,and they are mentioned by ,van ,horne's biographer1 ,mr4 ,vaughan1 as one of the elements whose demonstration of the country's suitability for the world's foundation industry helped to draw to ,canada the extraordinary man who1 in the face of apparently insuperable obstacles1 threw a railway line across her wide-flung spaces4 ,illustration3 ,,lord ,,mount ,,stephen ,first ,president ,,lord ,,shaughnessy ,early ,financier and ,third ,president ,,sir ,,william ,,van ,,horne ,first ,general ,manager and ,second ,president ,early ,builders ,one wonders yet at the fact that ,van ,horne left an assured career in his own land1 the richest country in the world1 to come to the ,canadian ,west1 which was then1 and for some years afterwards1 as ,i recall it1 a sort of illimitable and sparsely inhabited wilderness4 ,he came to undertake a railway building project such as neither his own country or any other in the world had ever planned in similar circumstances4 ,no doubt he1 with the keen mentality which flashed out in many varied gifts1 foresaw the country's future4 ,but no doubt also1 as his biographer above-mentioned affirms1 and as men1 like ,sir ,george ,bury1 who were intimately yoked up with him in practical work on the road declare1 it was the difficulty of the work that successfully appealed to him4 ,the fighting spirit of his imperturbable and determined ,netherlands ancestors rose to the challenge of the opportunity1 to satisfy what ,mr4 ,vaughan calls his master passion 8to make things grow and put new places on the map40 ,so1 after visiting ,winnipeg and the plains1 ,van ,horne accepted ,stephen's offer and came from the ,states to become a great ,canadian who1 without forgetting his lineage1 grew into a deep devotion to his adopted country4 ,reference has been made already to the many-sidedness of this colossus amongst railway builders4 ,once1 many years after his coming1 ,i recall meeting ,mr4 ,van ,horne at a dinner in ,lord ,strathcona's house in ,montreal1 when nearly all the leading business men of their group were present4 ,i happened to be in the city at the time1 and as ,lord ,strathcona and my father had been close friends in the old ,fort ,garry days1 he asked me up to that dinner4 ,gentleman of the old school that he was1 with the courteous manner and considerateness of the perfect host1 he asked ,mr4 ,van ,horne to show me through the picture gallery4 ,i had known ,mr4 ,van ,horne in a general way as a forceful railroader who had begun in railway work at the age of fourteen1 and knew it from the ground upwards in practically all departments1 and ,i also knew something of his taste in art4 ,but ,i was hardly prepared for the wealth of the acquaintance with painting and literature which his conversation1 in easy1 flowing language1 revealed that evening4 ,and yet this was the same ,van ,horne who could make men quake with the strength of his invective against incompetency or carelessness in work1 and who was apparently at times a mere impersonal dynamo for the purpose of driving seemingly impossible enterprises to completion4 ,there was something more than ,napoleonic in the way in which he abolished the word 8fail0 from the dictionary as he drove his undertakings onward4 ,and yet again he was an inveterate player of practical jokes1 and was1 on occasion1 a sort of big boy with a sufficient spice of fun about him to keep things from becoming dull4 ,if he knew how to work he also knew how to relax1 and that is a great thing4 ,it was this composite man1 then1 who1 at ,president ,stephen's call1 threw up golden prospects in his own country and came up to ,winnipeg on ,new ,year's eve in #ahha1 to take practical command of a vast new problematical enterprise4 ,his powers may have been defined by ,stephen and his associates1 but the definition must have been very much tantamount to a free hand1 as the sequel will show4 ,,chapter ,,viii ,a ,constructive ,genius ,mr ,van ,horne1 who was a native son of ,joliet1 ,illinois1 struck ,winnipeg just as #ahhb was dawning1 and the thermometer was ranging around forty below zero4 ,those of us who were born in or near ,winnipeg can testify that in such an hour the ozone makes one tingle with energy1 and leads to an active life as a natural consequence4 ,van ,horne was an embodiment of driving power anyway1 and perhaps the stimulating atmosphere raised that power to a high algebraic degree4 ,certain it is that every one around ,winnipeg1 especially in the service of the new railway1 realized that a human projectile had been shot into the community and that things had to move on under its impulse or move out of the way4 ,so distinctly was this felt1 that not only was the climate rather frigid1 but the social atmosphere around offices and clubs took on a certain degree of coolness4 ,that any one should come in from the outside and1 after a brief survey1 should start in to make swift changes and equally swift appointments1 regardless of social or political influence1 was not likely to make the man who so acted a general favourite4 ,but in a short time the marvellous efficiency of the man commended him to everybody worth while4 ,his bigness in ignoring any prejudice against him1 his hearty1 magnetic and utterly unaffected personality1 soon won the respect of his men in all ranks and he in turn came swiftly to have a high respect for the courage1 ability and initiative of the ,canadian people4 ,for a while he had to have around him some experts from his own country1 like that ,master-,superintendent1 ,john ,m4 ,egan1 whose ability as a practical railroad builder was a great asset to the new enterprise4 ,but ,van ,horne soon had a small army of ,canadians in training under his own leadership1 and to them he became deeply attached4 ,it is now1 at least1 an open secret that when men back in the ,states heard that his reception in ,winnipeg was rather cool they sent him word 8to come back to your friends and let the ,canadians build their own road40 ,but ,van ,horne1 knowing that his own brusque entry and method laid him open to some blame for the situation1 and knowing also the solid worth of the people to whom he had come1 declined to return4 ,again1 a few years later1 when the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway project seemed on the point of failure for lack of funds1 even though the ,directors had put their all in the great venture1 some one said to ,van ,horne that he need not worry1 because there were positions waiting for him across the line any time he wished to go there4 ,but he stood by his guns and said that he was not going back to the ,states--8,i'm not going to leave the work ,i have begun4 ,i'm going to see it through1 no matter what position is open to me in the ,united ,states40 ,the time was to come1 however1 when even the iron nerves and the tremendous staying power of this apparently stolid and determined scion of the ,netherlands were to be tried to the limit1 and when ,van ,horne found in ,canadian men the invincible spirit which made their joint work a sort of miraculous success4 ,in the meantime1 when he had done some highly necessary things in ,winnipeg1 in that fateful year of #ahhb1 he went down to ,montreal to meet ,president ,stephen and the ,directors4 ,no doubt there was a mutual 8sizing up0 of each other1 but with satisfactory results4 ,the ,president and ,van ,horne took to each other at once1 and became thenceforward the two that did the most perfect team work4 ,but they could not have pulled the enterprise far without the steady1 persistent co-operation of the other ,directors4 ,they all got into the harness and they all fell in with the ,western teamster's homely prescription for success3 8,keep the tugs tight2 never mind the hold-backs40 ,thenceforth ,van ,horne became1 till the completion of the ,transcontinental1 the trusted railway expert and1 in this regard1 completely supplanted ,hill1 who had been the only man of the original ,canadian ,pacific ,syndicate who was a practical railroader4 ,under the leadership of ,van ,horne1 ,canada would now begin to grow her own railway men as a home product4 ,one of the items taken up on the occasion of ,mr4 ,van ,horne's first visit to ,montreal was the construction of the ,railway over the rock-wilderness on the ,north ,shore of ,lake ,superior4 ,the ,mackenzie ,government1 as we have seen1 thought that section could wait for a somewhat indefinite period1 and in the meantime ,mackenzie said that the great fresh-water sea could be used as a link in transportation4 ,then1 when the ,stephen-,hill ,syndicate was formed1 both of these gentlemen agreed with the policy of not constructing that section until there was more settlement in the ,west4 ,but ,stephen and ,hill1 not believing in the tardy water-stretches as links in railway construction1 proposed to build from the ,east to ,sault ,ste4 ,marie1 and there join up with a branch of ,hill's road1 the ,st4 ,paul1 ,minneapolis and ,manitoba1 to which1 as the architect of their fortunes1 they were financially and otherwise attached4 ,this of course would have given ,hill1 in large measure1 the control of ,canadian traffic from ,east to ,west4 ,it will be recalled that neither ,sir ,john ,macdonald nor ,sir ,charles ,tupper1 his fighting ,railway ,minister1 approved of this ,american link in the road1 and that in ,england they had broken with ,sir ,henry ,tyler1 of the ,grand ,trunk1 on that particular point4 ,and when ,van ,horne went east to meet the ,directors in #ahhb1 he made short work of the plan which both ,stephen and ,hill had cherished4 ,he felt that to give ,hill's road the haulage of through ,canadian traffic over a section of his track would make the ,canadian ,pacific a sort of subsidiary of his line1 and such a situation was abhorrent both to ,van ,horne's railroad instincts and to his estimate of his ability to run his own road4 ,in a proper sense of the word ,van ,horne was always egoist enough to assert his own dignity when occasion required4 ,in fact he would let no man rob him of the opportunity of boasting on any occasion when it seemed legitimate and necessary4 ,hence1 when he met the ,canadian ,pacific ,directors1 at that first meeting1 he drew for them a verbal picture of what the traffic on an all-,canadian route from ocean to ocean was to be in the future1 and by the time he was through his visualizing1 the ,president and the other ,directors let this new ,general ,manager have his will4 ,van ,horne was no half-way man1 and when he started out to build the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway he was going to put emphasis on the word and idea of ,canadian4 ,the day was to come when1 despite some partisan and political mud-throwing1 all true ,canadians would acknowledge that the big railroader was right4 ,of course1 this action of ,van ,horne and the ,directors was1 as already intimated1 the last straw for ,hill4 ,he was too keen and clear-headed a man not to understand that he and ,van ,horne1 with their big projects more or less competitive1 could not work together to advantage4 ,so he withdrew with some emphasis1 but we are not to forget that he made railroaders of ,stephen1 ,smith and ,angus1 and that through his recommendation1 ,van ,horne came to ,canada4 ,the ,canadian boy1 ,james ,j4 ,hill1 who had left his home in ,rockwood1 ,ontario1 to seek his fortune in the ,states1 and become a maker of its ,north-,west1 also did1 for various reasons and motives1 a good day's work for his native land4 ,when ,van ,horne met the ,directors in ,montreal they discussed also the momentous question of the route to be followed4 ,when ,sandford ,fleming was ,chief ,engineer during the regime of the ,hon4 ,alexander ,mackenzie1 the line was mapped out to cross the ,red ,river at ,selkirk1 thence westward through the ,north ,saskatchewan country1 crossing the ,rockies by the ,yellowhead ,pass1 and so on to the ,pacific4 ,but the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway ,company1 in #ahha1 decided for a southerly route through ,winnipeg1 and across the plains and then through the mountains by the ,kicking ,horse ,pass4 ,for the most part the engineers preferred the ,yellowhead ,pass1 on account of the comparatively easy grades and fewer obstacles in the way4 ,van ,horne favoured the ,kicking ,horse ,pass and the ,directors agreed to that also1 although up to that time there had been no pass discovered through the ,selkirk range that lay right beyond the ,rockies like an impregnable rampart4 ,but if no pass was found through the ,selkirks1 the track might be laid in a more roundabout way along the ,columbia4 ,once again these men were making a big venture under the leadership of ,van ,horne1 who seemed to be having pretty much his own way at the ,board meeting4 ,the ,directors had secured him at a large salary because he was a practical railroader1 and they were evidently going to give him opportunity to earn it by letting him assume heavy responsibility4 ,the change of route from the ,yellowhead to the more difficult ,kicking ,horse ,pass has been much discussed and1 in some considerable degree1 criticized4 ,but there were weighty reasons for the change as ,van ,horne saw them4 ,the transcontinental route from the ,east through the ,kicking ,horse ,pass was one hundred and twenty-five miles shorter that the other1 and that is an item1 when the costs of construction were considered1 as well as time in the trip across the continent4 ,besides that1 the ,kicking ,horse route1 if adopted1 would preclude the possibility of any railway building between the ,canadian ,pacific and the boundary-line and thus draining traffic towards the ,states4 ,the great valleys of the ,kootenay1 the ,columbia and the ,okanagan were more accessible by the ,kicking ,horse route1 and such valleys are supreme in productiveness in ,british ,columbia4 ,and ,i am not sure but ,mr4 ,van ,horne1 with his strong sense of the artistic and the scenic splendour of the southern route1 felt that in the future it would1 as a tourist route of unequalled attractiveness1 become one of the greatest and most remunerative assets of the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway4 ,the supremacy of the ,kicking ,horse route in that regard has been fully recognized by world-travellers4 ,the famous ,sir ,edwin ,arnold1 author of 8,the ,light of ,asia10 who had been in practically all countries1 one day said to ,mr4 ,castell ,hopkins1 of ,toronto1 as they met on a ,canadian ,pacific ,railway train in the ,rockies1 8,these vast ranges exceed in grandeur the ,himalayas1 the ,alps and the ,andes1 all of which ,i have seen40 ,the matchlessly inspiring scenery of this route will always remain to make it an irresistible magnet to tourists and travellers generally4 ,for the rest of it1 any problem in gradients will vanish at any time desired1 by the lowering of grades and electrification1 if ever the situation demands such action4 ,before leaving the ,kicking ,horse ,pass discussion1 it may be interesting to some of our readers to relate the origin of this striking name4 ,when ,i first went down along the river ,i recall some one on the train who told his version by saying that the name was given to the river because as it rushed down the grade it was constantly thrown back in splashing spray by the rocks1 as if by the kicking of a horse4 ,this is a poetic description of a very turbulent stream where the rocks look vicious enough to kick anything to pieces that might be hurled against them1 but it is not the real origin of the name4 ,the prosaic fact is that when1 in #aheh1 ,capt4 ,palliser and ,dr4 7later ,sir ,james7 ,hector were exploring the region they were leaving the camp by this river one morning and ,hector1 while trying to round up a straying packhorse1 was kicked in the chest by his own riding horse as he was passing him4 ,hector was laid up in the camp for several days1 and the incident was so impressed on the explorers that they anathematized and immortalized this lively animal by calling the river and pass after him4 ,when ,mr4 ,van ,horne went back to ,winnipeg from the meeting of ,directors in #ahhb1 things looked well around that ,western gateway city because the advent of the ,canadian ,pacific had given rise to a real-estate boom whose intoxicating influence had gone to people's heads so that they were all hilariously rich1 at least in imagination1 and1 therefore1 indomitably optimistic4 ,this phase of undue excitement passed1 but ,winnipeg is my old home city1 and hence ,i am able to testify that in no city with which ,i am acquainted was it so true1 as it used to be said of the people of ,winnipeg1 that 8they lived on hope40 ,however1 it remains true also that the collapse of that famous ,western real-estate boom1 the crash of which affected every place from the ,great ,lakes to the mountains1 made the task of the ,canadian ,pacific ,board and ,mr4 ,van ,horne an exceedingly difficult one right at the outset4 ,the sudden deflation in ,western land values and the large number of business failures through the recession of the boom wave shook the faith of outsiders in the country's future and depressed the people within the country at the same time4 ,i have known the ,west all my life1 but ,i do not recall any period more generally discouraging than that after-the-boom period in the #hj's1 during which the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway was begun and carried to an amazingly successful completion4 ,the sudden drop in everything1 as well as the rumblings and then the outbreak of the ,riel ,rebellion on the plains1 put1 in large measure1 a damper on immigration2 and railway building through an uninhabited land is not exhilarating work4 ,these were local conditions1 but there were other things which sprang up at the very beginning to make the way of the new railway company hard4 ,a few of these things may be indicated for the benefit of the superficial people who think the ,canadian ,pacific got an easy start4 ,in reality it had from the first to fight every foot of the way against adverse influences4 ,when the ,company had to do its financing it found influential forces barring the doors4 ,the ,grand ,trunk1 with its host of big ,directors and shareholders in the ,old ,country1 attacked the new transcontinental which would be sure to invade its rich reserves in ,eastern ,canada2 and so the ,london market was1 in large measure1 cold to any efforts made by the new ,canadian ,pacific ,board to raise money in the world's financial centre4 ,similarly the ,united ,states railways which were headed for the ,pacific saw the danger of a successful ,canadian rival1 and did all they could to prevent the ,canadian ,pacific from securing any money in ,new ,york4 ,with hostile forces thus operating in these two famous money centres1 any one can understand that the new ,canadian venture was in for a bad time4 ,and we have to add to all these barbed-wire fences around the money markets abroad1 the regrettable fact of almost constant nagging and criticism in ,canada from sources of such wide range as the 8will-never-pay-for-axle-grease0 politicians1 and the men who wished to cut in with the railway lines in productive territory while the ,canadian ,pacific was struggling to cross leagues of unpeopled rocks and plains1 not to mention the people who thought the new road should benevolently carry everything for them at bare cost4 ,keen-minded men like ,mr4 ,van ,horne and the ,directors of the ,canadian ,pacific1 saw that the way ahead bristled with difficulties4 ,but they declined to quail4 ,they had started on a great adventure and they were looking far ahead so steadily that they were saved from morbid contemplation of what lay between them and the final triumph4 ,their attitude toward the unproductive ,lake ,superior ,north ,shore rock-wastes was typically prophetic4 ,despite the derisive critics who always have ridiculed the inception of big undertakings1 the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway men looked beyond the ,north ,shore to the ,west-land that would someday become the granary of the ,empire4 ,thus did they keep their courage alive4 ,like a famous warrior of old1 they refused to see the intervening difficulties while they knew that across somewhere was the land of promise and the triumph that was worth a great struggle to attain4 ,when ,van ,horne left that meeting of ,directors in ,montreal he hurried back to ,winnipeg with the fire of a great railway-building battle in his eye4 ,he felt he had the support of a strong and determined body of men1 and they were fully satisfied that they had in ,van ,horne a man worth backing4 ,they all began to realize very vividly1 from the attitude of the financial world as above outlined1 that the fabled achievements of ,hercules would have to be made real in the building of the road4 ,van ,horne1 as the practical builder1 set his mind on his own side of the work4 ,his energy had been pretty well tested out in the ,states1 but he knew perfectly well that anything he had done hitherto was child's play compared to what he was now going to attempt4 ,i was much interested the other day in coming across an item somewhere which suggested that1 some years before1 ,van ,horne had been contemplating building a railway in the ,western ,states to tap the ,canadian ,north-,west4 ,the vast unpeopled territory1 labelled on his map1 8,british possessions10 appealed to his pioneering and adventurous spirit4 ,it was the land of romance and mystery and of illimitable possibilities1 where he could blaze new trails and build steel highways over a territory bigger than half-a-dozen ,european kingdoms4 ,and now his opportunity had come in an unexpected1 but better1 fashion1 and1 as stated1 he set his mind upon it with a sort of terrifying concentration4 ,he found that ,government contractors in #ahha had built some #afj miles of railway on the plains4 ,he told the ,directors in ,montreal that he would build #ejj miles on the prairie in #ahhb4 ,he started in to do it and looked to the ,directors to pay the bills4 ,some years after it was all over ,van ,horne said one day1 as a tribute to the ,president1 8,stephen did more work and harder work than ,i did4 ,i had only to build the road1 but ,stephen had to find the money40 ,those who remember them both are ready to say that the honours were even4 ,each did his part well and each had many helpers4 ,in view of the fact already stated1 that ,canada was new to the railway-building business1 it is surprising to find that ,mr4 ,van ,horne brought very few assistants from the ,states4 ,besides ,egan1 who did most excellent work in construction days out of ,winnipeg1 ,kelson of the ,milwaukee road was brought to be general storekeeper at ,winnipeg4 ,there was urgent need of a key man in ,montreal to be the general purchasing agent for the whole road4 ,and as everything had to be purchased for a new undertaking an altogether unusual man was required4 ,besides other supplies1 the man who came as purchasing agent would have to be a sort of quarter-master-general to feed an industrial army spread out in a long line from ,east to ,west and with practically no line of communication along which to transport the necessaries of life4 ,for that position ,mr4 ,van ,horne had his eye on a young man named ,thomas ,g4 ,shaughnessy1 who had been on his staff in ,milwaukee4 ,mr4 ,van ,horne had opened up offices over the ,bank of ,montreal on ,main ,street in ,winnipeg4 8,one day10 says ,mr4 ,e4 ,a4 ,james1 who was then ,mr4 ,van ,horne's private telegraph operator1 8there came into the outer office a fashionably-dressed1 alert young man1 sporting a cane and giving general evidence of being what we call a live wire4 ,he asked for ,mr4 ,van ,horne and gave his name as ,shaughnessy4 ,i looked up ,mr4 ,van ,horne in another office and gave him the message4 ,he said to the gentleman to whom he was speaking1 #8,i am glad ,tom has come2 he is the man ,i want for general purchasing agent4'0 ,and thus another notable star swung into the orbit of the new company4 ,but beyond these just mentioned to take hold at the beginning1 ,mr4 ,van ,horne said no one else was needed from outside1 as the new ,general ,manager found ,canadians so full of initiative and energy that he had no difficulty in getting men of calibre and zeal without going beyond the ,dominion4 ,incidentally it may be mentioned that a fire took place in the building during that winter of #ahhb1 and the offices of the railway and the ,bank had to be moved to temporary quarters in the old ,knox ,church building4 ,there ,mr4 ,van ,horne occupied the vestry and ,mr4 ,i4 ,g4 ,ogden1 who became famous as auditor and finance minister for the road1 held office space in the library of the ,sunday school1 while the bank itself did business in what had been the main auditorium of the church4 ,the quarters were unusual and not very convenient1 but the atmosphere would be good4 ,it was still winter of the year in which ,van ,horne had said he would build #ejj miles of the road on the prairie4 ,he had to wait for the spring's approach2 but meanwhile he was stacking up supplies at ,winnipeg1 8from the ends of the earth10 as people there said1 and in enormous quantities--rails from ,britain and the ,continent1 ties from the woods east of ,winnipeg1 stone from every available quarry within reach1 lumber from the ,minnesota country and from the ,lake of the ,woods4 ,much of this came in during the frozen months by rail from the south1 and the yardmen in the ,states were delighted to send along whole trains of material for 8,van ,horne's road0 as they called it4 ,the main thing was to get the stuff forward4 ,and ,van ,horne kept the wires hot in seeing that there would be no delay4 ,illustration3 ,,lord ,,shaughnessy ,,lord ,,strathcona 7,donald ,a4 ,smith7 ,,lady ,,strathcona ,an ,interesting ,group ,he became suddenly the organizer of an army--not for destruction1 but for construction--a great mobile force which was to move steadily forward under the direction of his genius and daring4 ,that army was to use high explosives and unbounded physical energy1 but it was with a purpose to enrich and not to devastate the country4 ,it was to use ploughshares instead of swords1 but its victories were to be certain and enduring4 ,the fight was to be hot and at times the line would waver1 but there would be no retreat4 ,it will be interesting to follow that army with two such leaders as ,van ,horne as the master builder and ,shaughnessy as the matchless provider of supplies4 ,,chapter ,,ix ,crossing the ,prairie ,in #ahhb1 when ,van ,horne began to swing his cohorts of contractors and their men into the struggle to build a half-thousand miles of railway westward beyond ,winnipeg1 the ,red ,river went on an angry rampage and flooded out the city and the surrounding country4 ,this was somewhat of a damper at the beginning and1 as the sequel proved1 it clipped a few miles off the anticipated record4 ,but a record was made notwithstanding4 ,experienced railway contractors were required1 and ,van ,horne brought ,langdon ,sheppard from ,st4 ,paul and gave them the work of building from ,oak ,lake in ,manitoba straight across the plains to ,calgary4 ,this was a large order1 and the contractors evidently knew it1 for they startled the community by advertising for an army of three thousand men and four thousand horses4 ,those who recall conditions at that time will readily concede that there was no unemployment problem abroad in those busy days4 ,no one worth while needed to be unemployed when ,van ,horne was forcing an undertaking to completion4 ,and to make quite sure that things would be properly completed1 this railway building enthusiast organized a large gang of men under his own orders who would follow up the contractors and give the finishing touches after the aforesaid contractors had complied with the literal requirements of their agreement to lay the steel4 ,one can readily see that this flying column of ,van ,horne's would keep the contractors moving ahead rapidly1 lest the flying column should be treading on their heels and remarking on their tardiness4 ,and one can see also that this follow-up work would lead to the soundness of the road-bed for which this pioneer railway was noted from the beginning4 ,construction was amazingly rapid1 but there were no chances taken in regard to the safety of the road4 ,and so these thousands of men and horses were feverishly1 but systematically1 at work on the plains1 where not many years before the buffalo had roamed with earth-shaking tread4 ,the ploughs and scrapers of this great constructive army were making their way through the buffalo wallows and casting up a high grade where once the ,red ,river cart had worn deep ruts in the rich black mould4 ,some of us recall busy days on the farms or the hayfield1 riding and working on the plains1 and1 as boys1 we had sometimes a feeling that the time of labour was unduly prolonged4 ,hours of work were not limited in those days1 except by darkness and dew at either end of the day4 ,but ,mr4 ,van ,horne's army became unlimited as to time1 because there were relays working in the night1 building bridges and culverts and laying track when conditions allowed--a sort of sleepless army that moved on without cessation4 ,in this way some three miles a day were finished enough to allow the construction trains to follow up with their gigantic loads of material and food for men and horses4 ,in the spring-time there was not much grass for the horses1 and all grain had then to be imported to a country which is now the greatest grain-exporting region in the world4 ,trainloads of stuff were constantly passing over ,united ,states roads all the way from the ,new ,york seaport1 and hundreds of checkers reported on their whereabouts every day1 so that they could be counted on by a certain time4 ,all this matter of material was in the wonderfully capable hands of ,mr4 ,shaughnessy1 whose brain worked with such unerring activity and precision that supplies were kept up to the minute4 ,shaughnessy's office in ,montreal was as great a hive of industry as was ,van ,horne's moving army on the plains4 ,and men learned1 as they had never learned before1 that brain and brawn were both necessary to the carrying on of the world's business and that these are mutually dependent on each other4 ,capital1 labour and management are the inseparable three in the material success of great undertakings1 and when the world discovers how these can co-operate and share the results in proper proportion1 we will have industrial peace and progress on the earth4 ,that vast army of road-makers on the plains would have been helpless without the directing minds of the men who were the brain centres that kept all in active movement1 and the converse is equally the case4 ,and a certain nation that has recently experimented in a new social order by destroying or exiling its men of brain is the outstanding warning of our time against such suicidal folly4 ,during this period of prairie construction there was something almost uncanny in the way in which ,mr4 ,van ,horne seemed to be everywhere4 ,now in his office in ,winnipeg and now on the plains1 riding on flat cars or hand cars or in cabooses or1 where the rails were not laid1 in wagons and buckboards over the prairie4 ,he knew railroading from the ground up and did not hesitate to ventilate his views forcibly if necessary4 ,he would discharge1 off-hand1 men who were indifferent to their work or who were disposed to shirk carrying out his orders4 ,he sometimes ordered the impossible2 but he expected men to try the impossible without question4 ,and yet there was1 withal1 a heartiness1 enthusiasm1 magnetism and energetic competency about the big chief that commanded the admiration of the men4 ,they admired his courage and nerve in going on inspection trips1 where1 despite his weight1 he walked ties and trestles at dizzy heights and did other daring things4 ,his practiced eye could calculate what was dangerous or otherwise4 ,one day he asked an engine-driver to go across a ticklish-looking place and the driver demurred4 ,van ,horne1 who could drive an engine as well as anyone1 said1 8,get down and ,i will take her over myself10 and the engineer had such faith in ,van ,horne's judgment that he said1 8,if you're not scared ,i guess ,i aint10 and over he went to the other side4 ,under this energetic and unquestioned leadership of ,van ,horne who1 at the same time1 saw that the men had abundant food of the best quality obtainable1 there was record railway building accomplished on the plain in #ahhb1 there being in one place a phenomenal register of twenty miles in three days4 ,but the handicap of the ,red ,river flood in the spring had delayed operations1 and it began to look as if the promised #ejj miles of road in #ahhb would not materialize4 ,van ,horne called the engineers and contractors together and1 metaphorically speaking1 read them the ,riot ,act and demanded that they get on with the work at a faster pace4 ,they declared they were driving to the limit1 but that the estimate could not be reached4 ,van ,horne threatened to cancel their contracts unless they would bring in more men and horses and get ahead4 ,this the contractors did and with the added equipment they worked till stopped by the winter cold4 ,even then ,van ,horne brought up his flying column and continued until nothing more could be done on the frozen prairie4 ,then on taking stock it was found that1 counting sidings and a section on the ,south-western ,branch in ,manitoba1 the estimate had been passed1 although the actual work on the main line showed about #dde miles1 with some more graded ready for the spring4 ,the whole thing was looked on as phenomenal and all the railway world wondered4 ,the ,company ,directors in ,montreal were delighted1 and they1 in turn1 delighted the ,dominion ,government by declaring that1 instead of taking ten years as allowed by the contract1 to complete the road from ocean to ocean1 the ,canadian ,pacific would be in operation across the continent in little more than half that time4 ,when one considers that the part of the road built up to the end of #ahhb1 being across the plains1 was the easiest section1 and that the ,laurentian rock wilderness around ,lake ,superior1 as well as the ramparts of the vast mountains1 had still to be attacked1 the fearless optimism of the ,directors and their whirlwind railway builder was amazing4 ,but the work that had been accomplished showed the ,government and the people of ,canada that things of an unprecedented kind in railway annals were being done in their new country4 ,and it also created in the hearts of people from sea to sea such a feeling of nationhood that they began to realize the illimitable possibilities of ,canada4 ,to such an extent was this true that when1 later1 a day came in which the ,company needed the reinforcement of ,government backing to carry through the project in the face of unexpected and gigantic obstacles1 that temporary backing was finally given with the general approval of all but a few chronic opponents of the road4 ,no thinking person now ever affirms that the ,government was wrong in the emergent action taken at a crisis time in the history of ,canada4 ,when the spring of #ahhc opened ,van ,horne was facing the problem of building on the rocky ,north ,shore1 finishing the prairie section and then storming the bastions of the mountains which seemed to frown defiance against the invader of their sublime precincts4 ,the ,north ,shore came first of the new sections1 as the prairie region could be left to the ordinary routine now that it had gone so far towards the foothills1 and would proceed as a matter of course on into the mountains4 ,it was not comforting in that anxious hour to the ,directors of the ,canadian ,pacific and to ,van ,horne1 who had declined to accept any alternative to the ,north ,shore line1 to find that1 to head off help from financial men1 both they and the people who would back them in their big undertaking were held up to ridicule by a ,grand ,trunk pamphlet issued in ,london1 the money centre of the world4 ,the famous pamphlet practically stated that to build1 under the contract1 a railway across the ,north ,shore of ,lake ,superior1 was a piece of madness1 and hence that men of finance who backed it should be looked after by their friends4 ,it was not comforting reading for the ,canadian ,pacific men at that particular juncture1 but it was a good answer later on to those politicians and agitators who talked as if the ,canadian ,pacific had despoiled the ,dominion in order to build their transcontinental road4 ,the ,grand ,trunk pamphlet said that the country north of the ,lake was a perfect blank even on the maps of ,canada4 ,all that is known of the region1 it said1 is that1 8,it would be impossible to construct this one section for the whole cash subsidy provided by the ,canadian ,government for the entire scheme40 ,thus out of the mouth of a hostile witness there is evidence that the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway subsidy1 as outlined in the contract1 was considered utterly inadequate1 even by men who were making special study of railway undertakings4 ,in reality the ,grand ,trunk pamphlet was1 in so far as the cost of construction was concerned1 based upon a pretty sound conjecture4 ,the cost of the ,north ,shore was terrific and1 doubtless1 there and at other places1 many a contractor discovered that unexpected difficulties had upset his calculations4 ,it is worth while to say here1 as applicable to the whole undertaking1 that1 though the contractors did not know it during the period of their work1 the ,canadian ,pacific1 on discovering that a contractor had lost seriously1 began investigation with the desire to give a square deal4 ,if they found that the contractor had taken reasonable precautions with his estimates and calculations1 but had met with conditions and obstacles beyond his power to have foreseen1 or to control when they arose1 the ,company1 without any ostentation1 took steps to save deserving men from loss as far as possible4 ,no company in commercial life can be a benevolent association in the ordinary sense1 nor can it be reckless with the funds of shareholders who have invested their money in its undertakings4 ,but from the beginning1 the ,canadian ,pacific1 while bearing all that in mind1 made a reputation for dealing with men1 in all matters1 in a big way1 till1 with the passing of the years1 there was built up a tradition which made mean and small things a positive contradiction of the ,company's policy4 ,mr4 ,van ,horne did not require to read the above-mentioned ,grand ,trunk pamphlet to learn about the difficulty of building on the ,north ,shore of ,lake ,superior4 ,he knew all that a great deal better than the pamphleteer4 ,the ,north ,shore was a big problem4 ,but as ,sir ,charles ,tupper1 the war-like minister of ,railways1 once said of this railroader3 8,no problem that ever arose had any terrors for him40 ,van ,horne1 therefore1 went ahead4 ,he attacked the problem from the great lake whose north shore he was going to iron down or fill up to a level roadway for the steel track4 ,he decided1 therefore1 that for the most part he would not build far back from the shore even though tracklaying might be easier there1 for he wanted to land supplies for the work by water transportation4 ,this would be cheaper and would facilitate distribution4 ,in order to carry out this plan he acquired the ,toronto1 ,grey and ,bruce ,railway1 and thus made connection between the ,east and the ,lake at ,owen ,sound4 ,from that point he had steamers to carry the supplies and land them at certain distances along the ,north ,shore4 ,when the winter set in1 these supplies were distributed by horse and mule teams and even by dog-trains1 where the snow and the ice on the little lakes off the main shore permitted4 ,with the advent of the summer1 small boats on these little lakes1 and wagons elsewhere1 were used to distribute endless loads of material along the right of way4 ,though supplies were thus on hand1 it was #ahhd before tracklaying on the ,north ,shore was regularly in operation4 ,we get some idea of the immensity of the work and the tremendous energy that had to be put forth to complete it when we find a great host of #ab1jjj men and #e1jjj horses at work on this section as well as a tracklaying machine to relieve the gangs1 who found it almost impossible to do track labour in the ordinary fashion1 on account of mosquito-infested swamps encountered here and there4 ,van ,horne imported this machine from ,chicago4 ,it was new to the ,french-,canadian track-layers1 and its almost human action seemed to them rather uncanny2 but they soon adapted themselves to its operation and found it a valued ally4 ,there was an enormous amount of blasting to be done1 and to lessen the cost and the danger of importing the high explosives necessary1 three dynamite factories were erected to produce the supply for distribution to near-by points4 ,despite every possible care exercised in this regard1 it was inevitable that in such an army of men there would be a good deal of danger in the handling of explosives in the ordinary course of their duty4 ,they knew the danger1 but they went on steadily with their work4 ,in consequence there was such considerable loss of human life along that wild section of the railway that those who now enjoy the pleasure and the profit of travel and traffic by the picturesque inland fresh-water sea of ,superior1 ought to recall that the splendid road-bed was laid1 not only at vast cost in substance1 but with much sacrifice of that infinitely greater thing1 human life4 ,and 8if peace hath her victories no less renowned that war10 there is no real reason why we should unfairly discriminate between men who have1 in the course of duty1 given their lives in the one or the other sphere4 ,and there is no reason why we should not value equally the possessions that have come to us by the sacrifice of men in the ways of necessary industry or in the struggles of unavoidable war4 ,as the work proceeded on the ,north ,shore1 some new methods were introduced rather unexpectedly4 ,we say unexpectedly1 because there had been very little work done before that time in ,canada over similar territory4 ,the process of levelling rocks down was found to be practically impossible1 on account of the great expense and time involved in the effort4 ,so the plan of levelling up was tried with excellent results4 ,wooden trestles were built in a great many places between the rocks4 ,then the construction trains came over and dumped broken stone until the space below was filled up with the best possible material out of which to make a safe and durable road-bed4 ,in order to get the material for this process1 great quarries were opened up all along the line1 whence crushed rock was taken to find the new and excellent use just mentioned4 ,of course all this tremendous expenditure of labour and capital on the ,north ,shore gave the critics of the whole ,canadian transcontinental railway idea a new opportunity4 ,capt4 ,palliser's report as to the impracticability of a railway across the continent on ,british soil1 ,mackenzie's idea in regard to using the water stretches for transportation as links in a trans-continental system1 as well as the early ,stephen-,hill plan of linking up with ,hill's line at ,sault ,ste4 ,marie1 and thus having traffic between ,east and ,west in ,canada go for some few hundred miles through the ,states--all these arguments were brought out to support the statement that ,canada would be ruined by such wild schemes as building a railway section across the barren waste of rock on the ,north ,shore4 ,these persistent endeavours to block the work of construction were having their pernicious effect in sowing the seeds of discontent throughout the ,dominion4 ,and1 what was much more serious1 these statements1 sown broadcast in the ,old ,country1 made ,london centres of finance dubious in regard to the judgment of the railway directors who would undertake such an exceedingly difficult piece of work4 ,this means that the raising of money in ,london was practically impossible4 ,british investors have always been venturous enough and will1 when ,empire interests are in the balance1 be ready1 for patriotic motives1 to take some special hazards4 ,but in this case they were being told by mischief-makers1 not only that the ,north ,shore section was outrageously expensive1 but that1 according to the honest opinion of as great an authority as ,sandford ,fleming1 it should not be constructed with the hope of making running expenses until the ,west had a population of three millions4 ,it had then not many thousands4 ,and the ,british investors were being also informed by opponents and rivals of the ,canadian ,pacific that no ,imperial interests would suffer if the ,north ,shore construction was postponed indefinitely and traffic allowed to go through the ,states according to ,hill's suggestion4 ,even the contractors and the men on the ,north ,shore began to lose heart1 as men will who are being made to feel that they are engaged in a work that is not only dangerous and unnecessary1 but likely to prove unprofitable should the ,company become insolvent through the terrific expenditure4 ,and these men began to lose even the incentive to endeavour when they were also told that they were engaged in a task which resembled the mythological case of ,sisyphus1 who was condemned to roll a great stone up a hill only to have it always slip at the top and roll down again4 ,no man likes that endless and fruitless prospect in his work4 ,nor does he like working on a tower which will have to be left uncompleted for lack of means4 ,but amid all this discouragement ,van ,horne remained doggedly determined to make an all-,canadian line and to build the railway on the ,north ,shore4 ,he doubtless used some strong language in regard to the hostile and the faint-hearted1 but he pushed ahead with the stolidly unemotional will-power of his ,dutch ancestry4 ,as his ancestors in ,holland had successfully dyked against the inroads of the ocean1 ,van ,horne defied the seas of pessimistic and hostile criticism to inundate his life and put out the fire of his purpose4 ,then in the midst of this struggle an opportunity came his way4 ,and his keen brain seized upon it with the swift precision of a steel-trap in action4 ,one ,louis ,riel1 who had stirred up a rebellion against ,canadian authority in #ahfi1 and had been hybernating in ,montana for the intermediate years1 began stirring up another revolt in the ,saskatchewan country in #ahhd4 ,those guardians of the ,north-,west1 the ,mounted ,police1 scattered over the vast area in small detachments1 had notified the ,canadian authorities ten months or so before the actual outbreak came in ,march1 #ahhe4 ,it seems now as if much of the information they gave was tied up in a bundle with red tape and pigeonholed by civil service officialdom in ,regina4 ,however1 that is not part of our present story1 beyond our saying that it looked at one time1 to those of us who were on the ground1 as if the whole ,middle ,west1 with its thousands of war-like ,indians1 would in a short time be swept by a prairie fire of rebellion which would leave ruin and desolation in its wake4 ,it was vitally necessary that in such an event there should be1 without delay1 an overwhelming demonstration of force made by the ,canadian authorities4 ,riel was sending his runners through the half-breed settlements and ,indian camps1 telling these primitive and uninformed people that if they all rose they could drive the ,canadians off the plains and have these vast spaces for themselves and the wild game again4 ,mr4 ,van ,horne1 who had been up and down the prairie part of his line frequently1 had been watching the rising cloud of discontent amongst the half-breeds there4 ,he did not worry over the political aspects of the situation1 but he saw that if the ,indians were to be drawn into revolt there would be a general devastation over the whole country4 ,he at once saw the possibility of demonstrating to the country the value of the railway as a carrier of troops to the ,west1 if necessity arose4 ,he pointed out to members of the ,dominion ,government that the ,company would in such a contingency have a strong claim on the ,government for help in the financial crisis to which1 by reason of the tremendous expenditure in construction1 he saw the road to be swiftly and inevitably heading4 ,a member of the ,government told ,van ,horne that the possibility of having to send troops to the ,west would undoubtedly put a new face on any application by the ,railway to the ,dominion for a loan to tide them over their difficulties4 ,it was only the brilliant and marvellously resourceful work of ,shaughnessy1 in ,montreal1 in this period that was making the continuance of the work possible1 and that was preventing impatient creditors from launching proceedings against the ,company4 ,thinking 8as if his brain were packed in ice10 this consummately cool and alert purchasing agent seemed to make a thousand dollars grow where there was only one before4 ,the thousand dollar amount was not actually there1 but he handled the situation as if it was visibly in existence4 ,he promised and threatened alternately4 ,he made partial payments and told creditors that if they pressed unduly the ,company would do no more business with them4 ,he gave notes and arranged collateral with such extraordinary skill that1 so far as ,i can find1 no claim for money due in the ordinary way was ever brought into court1 and no note ever signed by the ,company ever went to protest4 ,but despite ,shaughnessy's masterly handling of the situation1 things were desperate enough1 although ,stephen1 ,smith and ,angus were pledging their private property and turning over their private investments to keep things in operation4 ,and now the mountain section had to be completed4 ,more millions would have to be found somewhere4 ,no one seemed to know where to replenish the empty treasury1 and the mental strain on the members of the ,board was terrible4 ,the fight against rocks and swamps and mountains waged by the ,company and contractors and men was fierce enough1 but it was not to be compared with the constant battle that had to be waged by the ,directors against heart-breaking and nerve-shattering financial conditions1 for years after the signing of the original agreement with the ,government of ,canada for the building of the road4 ,in the next chapter we shall study this particular phase of the subject for a space4 ,,chapter ,x ,battling for ,life ,we can say at once1 in explanation of the financial struggles before mentioned1 that the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway was constructed to a finish across ,canada in a period of monetary storm and stress4 ,leaving out of count the early years when the successive ,governments were building short stretches here and there1 in a way so leisurely that no financial difficulties occurred1 beyond the ordinary impecuniosity which haunts all ,governments1 the period from #ahha to #ahhe was pre-eminently a difficult time4 ,during those years everybody was having what men on the prairies call 8hard sledding0--an expression taken from the experience of travel with sleighs when the thaw has left bare patches on the plains4 ,on those patches the sleigh runners catch with a disheartening tenacity and impede progress4 ,at such junctures it is fortunate if there are several men travelling together1 because by 8doubling up0 their teams1 they can get over the otherwise impossible gap4 ,life is full of opportunities for mutual helpfulness1 and the great railway which now spans the continent and bridges the oceans found itself more than once1 in the construction period above mentioned1 at the end of its resources and had to call on the ,dominion ,government for temporary assistance4 ,it was a case where 8doubling up0 became necessary if the hard places were to be traversed4 ,we are not sure that the ,government was as willing and ready to assist as the ordinary good-natured and open-hearted teamster used to be on the prairie4 ,but even a ,government1 which should be cautious because it handles trust funds for the people1 may be brought to see when an unforeseen expenditure can be and must be made1 in the interests of the people themselves4 ,in this particular case of the ,dominion ,government and the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway the ,government would not and did not at any time give even a temporary loan till it had made the most exhaustive investigation into the whole problem4 ,there are some facts so outstanding that even a superficial investigation could find1 without much delay1 why the ,company required and deserved temporary assistance by way of loan during the construction period in a trying era4 ,it should be remembered1 to begin with1 that the principal men in the ,company1 ,stephen1 ,smith and ,angus1 were men of practically independent means before they entered on railroading with ,hill in ,st4 ,paul4 ,in their association with ,hill1 owing to causes set forth in a preceding chapter1 they had become very wealthy in a short time and hence did not have to take up any further work of the kind4 ,of worldly goods they had enough and to spare and might have reasonably1 from their own standpoint1 have continued the even tenor of their ways in their ordinary and familiar occupations in ,canada4 ,but ,sir ,john ,macdonald1 as soon as he knew that their wealth had become great1 and that they would be looking for new avenues for investment1 approached them with an appeal to undertake the completion of the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway4 ,it was the biggest railway construction project in the world1 and the proposal to build the road1 except by slow stages1 was characterized1 not only by prominent public men1 but by some well-known experts1 as sheer madness4 ,stephen1 as we have seen1 was not disposed to go into such a huge undertaking at all4 ,there was no mercenary reason why this already successful trio should make this hazardous attempt4 ,however1 the appeal of patriotic duty to their country1 as well as the fascination of immensity in task1 finally drew these ,canadian men into the enterprise4 ,and once they took up the matter it is well-known and can now be told that they put not only themselves1 but all they had1 into the determination to carry it through to a successful issue4 ,hence they deserved the commendation of the country and not the condemnation1 for their gallantry4 ,twice the ,company had to apply to the ,government for either loan or guarantee of bonds and during the months when these matters were hanging in the balance1 the founders of the ,company and the ,general ,manager and ,purchasing ,agent1 as well as other responsible officials1 passed through what can be truly called1 agonizing experiences4 ,to these experiences they gave utterance at times4 ,it is anticipating somewhat and disregarding sequence for the moment1 but during those years we have it on the word of friends that ,stephen returned one evening to the ,russel ,house after a vain effort to get ,sir ,john ,a4 ,macdonald to say that he would recommend that a loan should be made4 ,stephen1 upon whom1 as ,president1 there was unusual strain1 threw himself into a chair in the rotunda and when an acquaintance passing the time of day said1 8,how are you80 ,stephen1 without looking up1 replied 8,i feel like a ruined man40 ,one day he shed tears in the office of ,mr4 ,collingwood ,schreiber1 not because he cared for himself1 but because it looked as if the whole great project of the ,canadian ,pacific was going to a crash that would block the future of ,canada for a time at least4 ,on another night ,mr4 ,stephen1 after a hopeless sort of interview with the ,government1 came down the ,russel ,house stair grip in hand and told ,senator ,frank ,smith1 a gallant friend of the railway1 that he was going to ,montreal to make a personal assignment of all he possessed4 ,even the redoubtable ,van ,horne wired frantically one day that the pay car could not go out because there was nothing in it6 ,on another day he said to ,mr4 ,schreiber at ,ottawa1 8,if the ,government does not help us we are finished40 ,and shortly afterwards1 meeting ,sir ,john ,macdonald in the corridor1 he said1 8,sir ,john1 we are dangling over the pit of hell and ruin40 ,on another occasion1 when the ,directors were in session1 the ,chairman said1 8,gentlemen1 it looks as if we had to burst----0 ,but ,donald ,a4 ,smith looked hard at him and said1 8,it may be that we must succumb1 but that must not be as long as we individually have a dollar40 ,and it is related that he went out and raised on his personal security enough to meet pressing accounts which ,shaughnessy said had to be paid at once4 ,my impression is that ,donald ,a4 ,smith1 with that craggy head and beetling brow of his1 was the most doggedly determined ,director of them all1 though less able as a financier and diplomatist than ,stephen1 to whom1 generally speaking1 those who know the history of the road quite properly give endless credit for his masterly work as ,president of the ,company4 ,after writing the preceding sentence1 ,i came across the following statement by ,sir ,charles ,tupper1 who himself did so much to carry the great project through4 ,he said in #ahig3 8,the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway would have no existence to-day1 notwithstanding all the ,government did to support the undertaking1 had it not been for the indomitable pluck and energy and determination1 both financially and in every other respect1 of ,sir ,donald ,smith40 ,i can quite understand some reader putting in a question here1 as to how it was that men of such ability1 after having estimated the cost of constructing the ,canadian ,pacific1 found themselves at the end of their resources within two years of their taking the contract4 ,it is not enough to say1 although it was true1 that there was an immense amount of unexpected expenditure in battering the way through the ,laurentian rocks on the ,north ,shore of ,lake ,superior1 and in boring a road through the mountains of ,british ,columbia4 ,there were other causes for the hard circumstances that came upon the railway4 ,the chief reasons for the financial difficulties of the ,railway ,company1 beyond what has been already indicated1 lay in the facts that1 succeeding the boom inflation in the ,west in #ahha1 there came a very serious depression all over the country4 ,on account of this1 immigration fell far short of what was expected4 ,in consequence1 both freight and passenger traffic was very scanty4 ,the ,railway ,company1 for the same reasons1 could not realize anything worth while on its land1 which was for the first ten years a drag on the ,company rather than an asset1 as can be readily ascertained by a study of the question4 ,thus the two main sources of expected revenue failed to materialize4 ,in addition1 the threatening discontent of the half-breed population which culminated in the ,riel outbreak1 further discouraged the incoming of settlers4 ,resolutions1 passed unwisely at conventions in ,manitoba1 warning immigrants not to come until there were other railways linking up with the ,states1 being used by immigration agents for other countries1 created a bad impression as to the ,canadian ,west4 ,and because investors abroad were also influenced against the ,canadian ,pacific at the financial centres of ,london and ,new ,york1 by certain rival railway interests1 the assets of the ,canadian road could not be turned into money4 ,in this connection it is well to recall again the bitter 8,disallowance0 agitation carried on against the ,canadian ,pacific1 chiefly in ,manitoba1 all through the construction period4 ,there was persistent effort made by that ,province to charter local railways1 mainly linking up with the ,united ,states systems1 despite the clause in the ,canadian ,pacific contract with the ,government to the contrary4 ,the charters granted by ,manitoba were promptly disallowed by the ,dominion ,government1 mainly1 first1 because of the contract with the ,canadian ,pacific1 second1 because money could not be raised to build the main line of the ,canadian ,pacific if the productive areas along that road should be tapped by rival roads1 and1 third1 because it was contended that the ,east had made tremendous sacrifices to build the road and that on that account ,western traffic ought to go over the ,north ,shore to build up the ,eastern part of ,canada1 rather than go southward to build up a foreign country4 ,the ,canadian ,pacific1 in self defence1 would not yield to the granting of rival charters1 and the ,dominion ,government said they would keep faith according to the terms of the contract4 ,but ,manitoba would not be appeased and made many attempts1 even to violence1 to break the 8monopoly0 clause4 ,i recall passing on a ,canadian ,pacific train to ,southern ,manitoba1 and seeing large forces of men at a point where a road from the south was striving to cross the ,canadian railway4 ,a ,canadian ,pacific locomotive on a switch hastily constructed1 barred the way and some #bjj men stood beside it to prevent the crossing4 ,the agitation checked immigration1 and produced altogether a condition exceedingly harmful to the ,west for a time4 ,but the ,canadian ,pacific was clearly within its rights and this was part of its battle for life during that period4 ,one cannot remember that fiery era without recalling how fortunate it was for the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway that its ,western representative was ,william ,whyte1 a princely type of man1 whose courage1 imperturbable coolness and inflexible determination made him a tower of strength4 ,people might fight the railway1 but no one of right mind could dislike ,william ,whyte1 whose high character and immense personal popularity with all classes1 including especially all employees of the road1 made him unassailable4 ,leaving much of the administration of his office to men like the genuine1 and diplomatic1 8,jim0 ,manson1 ,whyte 7who was knighted later for his services to the ,empire7 gave much time to the 8disallowance0 problem1 and to preventing open trouble as far as possible4 ,but there was general satisfaction when ,manitoba1 under the continued work of men like ,john ,norquay1 ,thomas ,greenway and ,joseph ,martin1 in the local ,government of ,manitoba1 persuaded the ,dominion authorities to cancel the 8,monopoly0 clause by giving the ,canadian ,pacific compensation4 ,the whole agitation1 however sincere1 had greatly hampered the development of the country1 and crippled very considerably the efforts of the ,canadian ,pacific in a confessedly difficult period of wide-spread depression4 ,some railways in the wealthy country to the south were1 for various reasons1 going into the hands of the receivers during the construction period of the ,canadian ,pacific4 ,so that1 despite the consummate ability of the ,canadian ,pacific financiers1 it is small wonder that the ,company saw bankruptcy looming up ahead4 ,even ,stephen and ,shaughnessy could not make bricks without straw4 ,and all the time ,van ,horne was driving ahead with construction at top speed4 ,he knew the situation1 but declared that any stoppage or even slackening up would lead to the ,company being pounced on by creditors1 who would wind it up4 ,his view was that the whole undertaking must be kept alive as a hopeful1 going enterprise1 and that its position would improve immensely when it1 refusing to acknowledge defeat1 spanned the continent to the ,western seas4 ,even then1 ,van ,horne1 as after events proved1 had his eye on trade with the ,orient as a great feeder to the road4 ,so he went ahead1 and let the others find the money1 though at times he took a hand1 in his trenchant way1 in letting the ,government know what he thought of the whole situation4 ,it was late in #ahhc when the ,canadian ,pacific1 which had been keeping the facts before the ,government at ,ottawa1 made formal application for a loan of twenty-two and a-half millions to ward off failure4 ,the situation was desperate1 but the ,government1 which had a lively recollection of the fight put up against the original contract1 was afraid to risk defeat by granting the request4 ,the security offered for the loan was to all appearance ample1 as it included a lien on the ,company's main line1 the branch lines in ,manitoba1 and the unpledged land grant4 ,in addition they gave the astonishing pledge that they would clip five years off the contract term and finish the road in #ahhf4 ,sir ,john ,macdonald1 who always kept his hand on the public pulse1 knew that people in the ,east were being persuaded by the ,parliamentary ,opposition that the ,west was being developed at the expense of the ,east4 ,men in his own cabinet and many of his supporters in the ,house1 were being infected with that idea1 despite all efforts to make them see that1 in the long run1 the development of the ,west would be an immense gain to the ,east4 ,sir ,john1 with the prospect of a divided cabinet1 possible defection amongst his own followers in the ,house1 as well as the bitter attitude of the ,opposition and the likelihood of a revolt in the country against the granting of the loan1 was indisposed to yield4 ,things looked black for the ,canadian ,pacific4 ,stephen was utterly discouraged after interviews with ,sir ,john1 and it was on one of those occasions that he was giving up and leaving ,ottawa for ,montreal when ,senator ,frank ,smith prevailed on him to wait over till they would have a midnight interview with ,sir ,john4 ,even that interview seemed fruitless till ,mr4 ,john ,henry ,pope went to ,sir ,john and told him that if the loan was not granted1 the ,canadian ,pacific would go to the wall1 the ,conservative party would go with it1 and all ,canada would be in a panic4 ,sir ,john did not want to smash ,canada nor the ,conservative party1 and he explained that he was personally in favour of the loan and would try to get his ,cabinet and party united in an effort to put it through the ,house4 ,this was enough for ,mr4 ,pope1 who knew ,sir ,john's powers1 and at two o'clock in the morning ,pope returned to the well-nigh despairing ,stephen and the rest1 and uttered simply the tonic words1 8,well1 he will do it40 ,in the meantime ,sir ,charles ,tupper1 who1 while still holding the portfolio of ,minister of ,railways1 was in ,london as ,high ,commissioner for ,canada1 had been cabled for to come to the rescue4 ,he left for ,ottawa at once and1 on arrival in ,canada1 found everybody at their wits' end4 ,he got ,mr4 ,miall1 the expert ,government accountant1 and ,mr4 ,collingwood ,schreiber1 the highly respected and able ,government engineer1 to work on the ,railway ,company's books in ,montreal4 ,they reported everything satisfactory1 and ,mr4 ,schreiber1 whose word went a long way1 recommended the granting of the loan4 ,but there was still the task of getting the ,cabinet united on the subject1 and the caucus of the ,government members in the ,house into a favourable and unanimous attitude4 ,fortunately for the ,government and the ,canadian ,pacific and the country at large1 the ,cabinet had in its number the rare personalities of the magnetic and diplomatic ,sir ,john ,macdonald and the formidable1 fearless ,sir ,charles ,tupper1 who made a sort of irresistible combination4 ,sir ,john could sway by the conciliatory eloquence and the appealing personal touches which held the devoted allegiance of his party to the 8old ,chieftain0 through many extraordinary vicissitudes in his long career4 ,sir ,charles could marshal arguments with the consummate forensic power of which he was a master1 and thus became a veritable regiment of storm troops to carry his points and reach his objective4 ,these two men solidified their own party and1 despite a fierce resistance from their opponents in the ,house1 the ,bill authorizing the loan was carried1 as ,sir ,charles said1 8at the point of the bayonet40 ,this relief gave the ,company a new lease of life and the work1 which had never slackened1 even though men had to wait for their pay1 was forced ahead by the aggressive ,van ,horne1 while ,shaughnessy handled every dollar with such consummate skill that it seemed to do the work of two4 ,but the terrific expenditure in construction on the ,north ,shore and through the mountains1 caused the twenty odd millions to melt like snow before the sun4 ,smashing the rocks and levelling up the chasms on the ,north ,shore and finding a sure foundation in shaking and almost bottomless morasses which sucked down material like an insatiable undertow1 all meant enormous unforeseen expenditure4 ,the ,company would not allow any careless work and1 if necessary1 the contractors would stay at one spot for months till the road-bed was absolutely secure4 ,van ,horne was rushing to complete the railway1 but he was too thorough a railroader to sacrifice security to speed in construction4 ,expense was of no consequence4 ,he was going to 8get the work done right and send in the bills to ,stephen and ,shaughnessy40 ,just at the juncture when the railway seemed in imminent danger of coming to a sudden halt because its coffers were again bare1 and the ,government was afraid that the country would not stand for any more assistance to be given to what some thought was a wild commercial venture1 an event occurred which threw the ,canadian ,pacific into the limelight as an undertaking of immense ,imperial value4 ,that event was the ,riel ,rebellion1 which ,van ,horne had foreseen as a possibility and concerning which he had warned the powers at ,ottawa when he told them that if it did occur1 he would carry troops from the ,east to the prairies in the space of a few days4 ,sir ,john ,macdonald and the ,government1 with a strange pertinacity1 born of the mysterious red tapeism of ,regina officialdom1 refused to think such an event possible4 ,however1 it came with sudden and deadly emphasis when at ,duck ,lake1 in ,march1 #ahhe1 on the ,north ,saskatchewan1 a small force of civilians and police suffered heavily in a sort of rebel ambuscade4 ,fifteen years before1 this same ,riel had1 at ,fort ,garry1 run amuck1 and then it had taken six months for the soldiers under ,col4 ,wolseley1 coming by land and water1 to reach the scene4 ,now1 in #ahhe1 with the ,lakes frozen and no chance of going through the ,united ,states with armed men1 the whole middle ,west might be swept by the carnage of semi-savage rebels on the war path4 ,the time had come for ,van ,horne to play a winning card1 and he played it4 ,the ,government made frantic appeal to him because months before he had intimated his willingness to help in such an event4 ,but before their appeal was actually known to the general public1 ,van ,horne had trains ready with steam up at the centres in the ,east where troops would make their points of departure4 ,he knew that there were gaps on the ,north ,shore and that there would be hardships1 but to reduce these to a minimum he stipulated that he and ,shaughnessy and the ,railway ,company officials should have complete control of both transportation and commissariat4 ,he always believed1 for he had proven it by many a test1 that when men were well fed with nourishing food and stimulated for special effort with strong black coffee1 they could do and endure greatly4 ,and so he would not leave the soldiers to the tender mercies of inexperienced quarter masters with meagre supplies on the bleak ,north ,shore of ,lake ,superior4 ,in one or two places the soldiers had to march along the shore-ice on the lake4 ,in other places they were taken by teams and sleighs1 or else on flat cars over some hastily laid track4 ,they had what might well be called a hard time over part of the way1 but soldiers do not expect luxury on active service1 and they got through in fewer days to ,winnipeg than it had taken of months to accomplish in ,wolseley's expedition1 years before4 ,from ,winnipeg the troops1 with their ,western comrades1 were distributed by rail and trail over the plains as far as the mountains1 and the rebellion was soon quelled4 ,from that day the most fiery opponents of the ,north ,shore section of the ,railway1 the chief point of critical attack1 found their calling gone and had to subside4 ,some of them would still oppose the whole system through force of habit1 but the extraordinary and unexpected service rendered by the ,railway in a crisis time would make it comparatively easy for even a cautious ,government to give temporary help to the ,company1 with the consent and approval of the grateful ,canadian people4 ,not only so1 but the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway had thus suddenly become of such significance and value as an all-,british route across the ,north ,american continent1 that men in the ,old ,land who believed in the continuance of the ,empire1 realized as never before that a new factor in ,imperialism had come into history4 ,this railway was seen to be1 not only a commercial transportation company which traversed a portion of an overseas ,dominion1 but a great link in the chain of an ,empire that girdled the earth4 ,it would no longer be ignored in the financial circles of ,london1 where the centre of ,empire stood4 ,meanwhile1 right on through the rebellion1 the work was being pushed ahead in the mountains1 although it was not generally known then that the ,company at first had boldly thrust its spear-head against the embattled hills without very definite knowledge of how it was to get through beyond the ,rockies4 ,the ,kicking-,horse ,pass showed the way1 along its flashing1 frothing river1 through the ,rockies1 but for some time there was doubt about how the ,selkirk ,range was to be pierced4 ,so anxious was the ,company about this problem that ,mr4 ,sandford ,fleming1 the famous engineer1 was summoned by cable from the ,old ,country to look into the situation4 ,he journeyed by train to ,calgary and went by trail through the ,kicking ,horse1 but just then ,major ,rogers1 a hard-bitten1 adventurous man1 acting on some information given by ,walter ,moberly years before1 discovered the famous pass called ,rogers' ,pass to this day4 ,rogers was an ,american engineer who1 with his son ,albert 7after whom ,albert ,canyon was called by ,principal ,grant of ,queen's ,university1 ,secretary to ,sandford ,fleming on his journeys71 had explored amid much hardships to find a pass through the ,selkirks4 ,when he did find it1 the ,company was so pleased that a bonus cheque for #e1jjj was sent to ,rogers4 ,a few months afterwards ,van ,horne met ,rogers and reminded him that he had never cashed the cheque4 ,rogers1 who was well educated1 but rough at times in temper and language1 evidently had abundant sentiment withal4 ,for he replied1 8,do you think ,i would cash that cheque8 ,i was not out there for money1 but to have a hand in a big project4 ,no1 sir1 ,i have that cheque framed in my brother's house in ,waterville1 ,minnesota1 where my nephews and nieces can see it as a token of some work their old uncle did in his time40 ,contractors who became famous later on in various ways were at work on the mountain section4 ,the work on the prairies had been child's play compared to it4 ,a good old ,scotch elder who came in to see me at the ,coast twenty years ago was amazed at the enormous task that had been accomplished4 ,in political life in ,manitoba he had attacked what people called 8the ruinous expenditure0 on the road4 ,but he said to me then1 in #aijc1 in ,vancouver3 8,now that ,i have seen it ,i wonder that men ever undertook the work at any price1 and so far as ,i am concerned ,i am through with criticism of the expenditure on construction40 ,and then the good man added1 8,the fact is that if the good ,lord had not bored through the mountains with rivers1 there is not enough money in the ,empire to build to the ,coast40 ,there was much in what this honest man said that day4 ,the expenditure was almost incredible4 ,where the rivers ran1 there was1 for miles on end1 the necessity for cutting into the solid rock to get room for the road-bed and trains4 ,there were miles of snowsheds to be built1 and tunnels through solid rock almost without number4 ,up the mountain sides there were built various devices to protect the road and make it safe from slides and avalanches4 ,rivers were deflected from their channels and retaining walls were built4 ,when ,i first passed over the road1 not many years after it was opened1 there seemed to be leagues of trestles1 now filled in or replaced by steel or tunnels4 ,everywhere there was need for the ceaseless flow of millions of money4 ,but ,van ,horne1 who knew all about the business1 saw that nothing was left undone to make the road beyond criticism4 ,and so well was the work done that once1 shortly after the road was completed1 ,van ,horne1 who was taking some arbitrators over the mountains to value the government construction section1 had the engineer run over fifty miles an hour to show these gentlemen 8that the ,company section was a real railroad even if the government sections were not40 ,it was no wonder that with the vast expenditure indicated by the above paragraphs the ,directors saw that they must raise some more millions or perish4 ,accordingly1 in #ahhe1 when the ,riel ,rebellion1 by reason of the service rendered by the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway in transportation of troops1 had been quelled1 ,stephen approached the ,dominion ,government again for assistance4 ,the rebellion services of the railway had solidified the ,government support in the ,house1 which was then in session1 and had pretty well silenced the ,opposition4 ,the assets of the ,railway were already subject to a lien for the former loan1 but the ,government1 besides a few minor concessions1 finally allowed the ,directors to issue #ce1jjj1jjj stock1 of which it was to guarantee #bj1jjj1jjj1 the rest to be issued by the ,railway ,directors4 ,stephen went to ,london1 not very hopefully1 to sell this bond issue4 ,the ,directors in ,canada waited anxiously to hear the result1 for the bankruptcy of the road and of the ,directors 7though they cared less for that7 was only hours away if ,stephen's mission failed4 ,sir ,charles ,tupper1 then ,high ,commissioner for ,canada in ,london1 that steadfast friend of the road1 had done some most effective preparatory work with the famous banking house of the ,barings1 of which ,lord ,revelstoke was the head4 ,stephen had scarcely begun his explanation of the situation when ,lord ,revelstoke broke in and said1 8,we have been looking into the whole matter already4 ,we are satisfied with the outlook in ,canada and the future of the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway1 and will take over the whole issue of your stock at ninety-one40 ,stephen was overjoyed1 because the question of the solvency of the great railway was settled for all time4 ,he sent an exultant cable at once to ,canada4 ,mr4 ,angus and ,mr4 ,van ,horne were in the ,board ,room in ,montreal when it was delivered4 ,they read it with a sort of glad surprise too deep for words4 ,they were matter-of-fact men1 but they shook hands with some emotion4 ,then they threw some of the chairs about and danced around the room4 ,the relief to the tension had come and they had to relax somehow4 ,they were human4 ,they knew in that hour that the road would be completed4 ,and out along the line in the great mountains there would be a station called ,revelstoke4 ,and where the steel met from the ,east and the ,west1 there would be another station named 8,craigellachie10 after the ,glic cablegram meaning 8stand fast10 which ,stephen1 as we have already recorded1 had sent to his cousin1 ,donald ,a4 ,smith 7,strathcona71 in the dark days some years before4 ,the name would remind succeeding generations of the men whose steadfastness was like unto that of ,craigellachie1 the unshaken rock in the old glen of ,strathspey4 ,,chapter ,,xi ,ocean to ,ocean ,as we have followed the story of railway construction across the continent1 over the ,north ,shore1 athwart the vast plains and on into the mountains1 our eyes have been on the ,western sea4 ,it was to win and hold the illimitable spaces of the ,north-,west that the ,canadian ,pacific was first conceived1 and it was specially to link up ,british ,columbia with her sister ,provinces to the east that the iron horses were being driven on steel trails to drink on the sunset shore of ,canada4 ,but we must always keep in mind the fact that this railway was to be transcontinental in its extent1 and that it was down by the ,atlantic1 first of all1 that men who saw visions and dreamed dreams forecasted its great destiny by land and sea4 ,they saw it spanning the continent1 continuing across the ,pacific1 and finally1 under one system1 girdling the globe4 ,others1 earlier1 made conjectures and expressed vague hopes1 but the most clear and confident note of prophecy was sounded by ,joseph ,howe at ,halifax1 in #ahea1 in the famous speech quoted in our first chapter4 ,later1 in the old ,province of ,quebec1 where in a sense ,confederation was first definitely outlined at the ,conference of the ,fathers of ,confederation in #ahfd1 this prophetic note was taken up and rendered more emphatic4 ,thus were the ,atlantic statesmen planning ahead4 ,moreover1 it is interesting to recall that it was ,mr4 ,sanford ,fleming1 the engineer of the ,intercolonial1 peculiarly an ,atlantic ,railway1 who was called on to explore a railroad way to the ,pacific4 ,it was his secretary on that expedition1 the brilliant and versatile ,rev4 7later ,principal7 ,george ,munro ,grant1 then of ,halifax1 who made the expression 8,ocean to ,ocean0 current coin in ,canada1 by publishing a book under that title4 ,and still another ,halifax writer1 ,robert ,murray1 immortalized the expression1 by composing a remarkable hymn with the same designation4 ,thus were the oceans early linked prophetically by patriotic seers and mystics4 ,just now ,i am looking at the realization of these dreams as portrayed in a unique picture which ought to be found on the wall of every school in ,canada4 ,this picture is commonly called 8,driving the last spike10 and to the superficial observer1 unacquainted with the history of the ,canadian ,pacific1 it means simply the act of joining together the steel rails which met at a given point in the mountains1 as the track-layers1 working from ,east and ,west1 finished their protracted task4 ,but1 in reality1 it means much more than a single isolated act along the progress of the years4 ,it is a composite deed into which is merged and concentrated a long series of astonishing achievements wrought by men of brain and brawn4 ,it represents many mental1 moral and physical forces converging into a climax which could only have been attained by the persistent1 determined efforts of those who believed that obstacles are thrown in life's pathway in order that men may wax strong through the overcoming of them4 ,in this picture1 8,driving the ,last ,spike10 there is nothing to suggest 8the shouting of captains and garments rolled in blood40 ,but for those who will study and enquire1 it holds the story of victory snatched from the jaws of defeat1 by a gallant constructive army whose mission was not to destroy but to build1 for the welfare of a nation and lands beyond its borders4 ,that is why ,i say it should be on the walls of our schoolrooms1 in order that teachers might relate to young ,canadians the story of an amazing accomplishment on the fields of peace4 ,just how amazing and how dangerous was the task of building through certain parts of the mountains1 not far from the scene portrayed in the picture1 may be gathered from the experiences of the engineering staff4 ,as ,i am writing ,i recall that ,mr4 ,noel ,robinson1 a ,vancouver newspaper man who deserves much credit for his work in connection with the work of old-timers1 elicited once from ,mr4 ,henry ,j4 ,cambie1 who put the road through the ,fraser ,river canyons1 a few words on the subject4 ,mr4 ,robinson says3 8,in response to some pressure as to the difficulty of laying out the work--apart altogether from the difficulties of construction--,mr4 ,cambie admitted that these were great4 ,mr4 ,cambie spoke particularly of the ,cherry ,bluffs section1 and said that quite a stretch of it was laid out by a few men1 as there was only room for a few to work4 ,two agile men1 with experience on sailing vessels1 sprung ropes from rock to rock or from tree to tree4 ,then a few engineers1 steadying themselves with these ropes1 went along in their bare feet to lay out the work1 with a precipice and then ,kamloops ,lake1 of unknown depth1 down below them4 ,mr4 ,cambie admitted that he was one of these engineers4 ,one of the engineers1 ,mr4 ,melchior ,eberts1 in #ahha1 while climbing over a bluff covered with snow and ice1 slipped and fell head first down a steep slope1 to his death40 ,speaking of the difficulties1 ,mr4 ,cambie went on to say3 8,we had to increase the curvature beyond anything we had ever seen up to that time on a main line of railway1 and in order to get round the face of some of the bluffs we had to construct what we called grasshopper trestles1 that is1 trestles with long posts on the outside1 standing on steps cut in the rock1 and on the other side a very short post1 if any1 because very often we had half a road-bed4 ,these things have since been done away with and their places taken by retaining walls40 ,in my own conversation with ,mr4 ,cambie he has spoken to me feelingly about the loss of life through the canyons of the ,fraser during construction days4 ,practically all the work was through rock which had to be dynamited in places where it was very difficult to get shelter when shots were fired4 ,men were drowned also here and there along the river4 ,thus again we are reminded that this battle in time of peace was only won1 like other battles1 by great sacrifice4 ,these are things we must never forget when we enjoy the results of the struggles of others in our own or earlier days4 ,the spot at which the last spike was driven was named ,craigellachie1 as already intimated4 ,the story of the name has not always been correctly told in this connection1 beyond saying that the word was sent as a cablegram from ,stephen to his fellow-directors in a crisis hour to encourage them not to give way1 though the position seemed hopeless at the time4 ,the expression is in reality not one word1 but two1 ,craig ,ellachie4 ,this was the name of a grey rock in a ,scottish glen1 the home of a famous clan4 ,and the legend is that when the clansmen went forth to war1 the windswept pines and heather on the lonely hilltop whispered to the forth-going men the war-cry 8,stand ,fast1 ,craig ,ellachie40 ,and now1 in a new land1 at a place where rails met through the steadfast persistence of these ,scottish men and others1 the mountains heard the echoing blow of the hammer which is in the forefront of the picture1 8,driving the ,last ,spike40 ,contrary to a general impression1 created by the importance of the occasion and by some writers1 the last spike was not of gold1 but iron1 like the other millions of them that had been driven all along the line4 ,the event itself was so intensely dramatic that it needed not any conventional setting to give it clat4 ,mr4 ,van ,horne1 who was not disposed to waste in any case1 perhaps felt that iron was more significant of the spirit in which determined men had accomplished the apparently impossible4 ,and so he had said in a matter of fact way1 which was in itself abundantly thrilling3 8,the last spike will be as good an iron spike as there is between the two oceans1 and any one who wants to see it driven will have to pay full fare40 ,the ,directors who had passed through the fierce fire of the economic struggle to build the road could not afford1 without a sort of sacrilege1 to have anything conventional to bring people from the ends of the earth for the occasion4 ,there was grim1 but splendid1 simplicity about the ceremony that was profoundly appropriate under all the circumstances4 ,it was on ,november #gth1 #ahhe1 that the rails met in the ,eagle ,pass section of the road1 and a group of men alighted from the train to be present when the last spike would be driven4 ,by general concensus of opinion1 the hammer to drive it was placed in the hands of ,donald ,a4 ,smith4 ,it was a great honour1 but worthily bestowed on the white-haired veteran and victor in a hundred fights against obstacles4 ,it was a far cry from the little village of ,forres1 in ,morayshire1 to the way station of ,craigellachie in the mountains of ,canada4 ,but ,donald ,a4 ,smith1 the lad who had left ,forres with all his worldly possessions in a carpet bag1 and endured cold and snow-blindness in the ,labrador till he rose to the higher places in the ,hudson's ,bay ,company1 had now come to stand on ,canada's pioneer transcontinental steel trail and drive the spike that would link up1 into a true ,confederation1 the scattered ,provinces of the ,dominion4 ,mr4 ,smith had not done much manual labour in recent years4 ,but he was no stranger to physical toil4 ,while in ,labrador he had run with his dog trains in winter1 and in summer cultivated an astonishing garden and farm1 which was a surprise to all who visited the bleak locality4 ,so1 despite the years that had elapsed since that time1 ,smith swung the sledge hammer with a will that day1 and the iron spike was driven home to forge a new link of ,empire4 ,i have been listening in imagination to the echoes of the hammer-blow through the passes and along the mountain sides1 and thence around the seven seas of the ,empire4 ,for this was a right royal event1 which evoked swift messages from good ,queen ,victoria1 the ,marquis of ,lorne1 and many others who recognized the enormous ,imperial significance of what had taken place in the heart of the great mountains under the ,red ,cross flag4 ,and the day would come when a great war was to break suddenly over the face of the world4 ,in that day of the ,empire's danger she would realize1 even more vividly1 the value of this ,canadian transcontinental road which1 by the time of that war1 had transformed the ,middle ,west of ,canada from a wilderness into a vast storehouse of food supplies4 ,in that day of war the ,canadian ,pacific would transport by land and sea hundreds of thousands of soldiers and labourers to the sphere of conflict1 and1 from its own employees1 would furnish for the safety of the ,empire not only a large quota of fighting men1 but some of the most expert railway builders and transportation officers in the world4 ,all this was wrapped up potentially in the thrilling incident of driving the last spike at ,craigellachie4 ,so once more ,i look at the picture4 ,the camera could not take in a large group1 but it is representative in some fair degree of the men who made the event of that day possible4 ,tracklayers and sectionmen1 engineers and contractors1 superintendents and ,directors1 and others1 were present1 for they all had a share in the victory4 ,some of them ,i can pick out in the crowd2 others are to me unknown4 ,some one1 whose face is hidden by a bystander1 is holding ,donald ,a4 ,smith's overcoat1 for the veteran had taken it off in order to swing the hammer in workmanlike fashion4 ,the tall figure of ,mr4 ,sandford ,fleming1 his beard and hair white with the snows that never melt1 is conspicuous near the foreground4 ,he will be remembered as the engineer-in-chief who blazed the way through the mountains in the early days1 and who1 though not then on the staff as engineer1 was called from the ,old ,country in #ahhc to help in finding a way through the ,selkirks4 ,after retiring from the engineering staff he became a ,director of the ,company and so remained to the end of a distinguished and highly useful life4 ,other engineers whom ,i see in the group are ,marcus ,smith1 a quite remarkable man who had general charge of the ,coast section2 ,major ,rogers1 the famed finder of ,roger's ,pass through the ,selkirks2 and ,henry ,j4 ,cambie1 who put the railway through the ,fraser ,river canyons1 one of the most picturesque1 but one of the most difficult1 portions along the line4 ,van ,horne did not always love the engineers1 whose care in location did not entirely chime in with his ideas of speed in building4 ,but after letting them know his mind in emphatic language1 he recognized the sphere of their responsibility1 and1 after discussing other possible ways1 let them have their way if they made out a case4 ,the three above named were near enough to be present at ,craigellachie on that eventful day1 but they represented a band of very gallant men in the same vocation--men who often ventured their lives in the dangerous places they were investigating4 ,representing the contractors1 who were a legion1 we find in the group ,james ,ross1 who had much building to do in the mountain section1 and who had witnessed many difficulties in dealing with a large army of men of many nationalities4 ,generally speaking it can be said that the contractors gave themselves with enthusiasm to their work1 and the ,canadian ,pacific was the training school for a host of young ,canadians in the business of railway building4 ,in after years many of these men became famous in railway work4 ,their ambitions1 begotten and intensified by their experience on the pioneer transcontinental road1 led them into very large enterprises of their own in the same line4 ,some of their undertakings were premature1 in view of ,canada's population1 but some day they will enure to the benefit of the country4 ,while speaking of the contractors1 one would like again to say something of the thousands of track and tunnel men1 represented at ,craigellachie that day by the hundred or two on that section at the time4 ,their lot had not been easy as they toiled on through summer's heat and winter's cold4 ,every effort was made to the end that they should be well fed and sheltered1 where possible1 but certain hardships which were inevitable were for the most part cheerfully borne4 ,in the dark days they had to wait for their pay1 that being true of all the employees at times4 ,but these men had faith in the big enterprise and took their share of the hard times1 saying1 as did one business man on the ,north ,shore1 who had several thousands coming to him for supplies1 8,van ,horne will put this thing through and ,i will wait40 ,this was showing a good spirit2 albeit we ought to remember that the men who were undergoing the most terrific strain were the ,directors1 who had not only pledged all their private means1 but were facing at times the peculiarly unbearable possibility of the whole vast undertaking crumbling into failure before their eyes4 ,two of the ,directors1 ,mr4 ,sandford ,fleming and ,mr4 ,harris1 appear in the group when the last spike was driven1 and behind them stands ,mr4 ,john ,h4 ,mc,tavish1 one of the famous family connected with the ,hudson's ,bay ,company through many years4 ,just within that circle in the picture stands a little boy with his neck craned to see the veteran nailing the steel to a tie4 ,he was the water boy who carried drink for the men as they toiled on the road4 ,i sometimes wonder what became of that boy who had the rare privilege of looking on when this extraordinary event in ,canadian history took place4 ,he was witnessing what might be called the birth of a nation4 ,with hands in the pockets of his overcoat1 in a characteristic attitude1 and apparently gazing intently at the hammer and spike1 stands the strong1 powerful figure of ,mr4 ,van ,horne1 the general who had reached his objective after a desperate battle4 ,his favourite type of square-crowned hat is pulled well down1 and his whole posture suggests determined strength4 ,his face1 withal1 has a dreamy cast1 and one would give more than the proverbial penny for his thoughts4 ,his mind1 no doubt1 was dwelling on the struggle through which he had fought for four tremendous years4 ,but he was doubtless also looking into the future4 ,no one knew so well as he did1 that though1 in one sense1 the road was completed1 there was another sense in which it had only begun4 ,many improvements and extensions were still to be made1 branch lines and double tracks were to be laid1 traffic had to be developed1 the land had to be peopled and the obligations of the road1 incurred for bringing it to the last spike1 had to be met4 ,but it is a striking thing to recall that the total indebtedness of the ,company to the ,government was met within a year of the opening of the road1 and that the ,company has never had to ask the ,government for a dollar since that time4 ,the road was to prosper immensely1 and the man who1 in some trepidation1 had written this same ,van ,horne in the darkest days1 as to the ,company's securities1 and got the laconic telegram1 8,sell your boots and buy ,c4 ,p4 ,r4 stock10 did well if he accepted the advice4 ,men who were present at ,craigellachie when that last spike was hammered home1 tell us that for a while after the sound of the blows ceased there was absolute silence4 ,the few hundreds who had the privilege of being there seemed1 in a sense1 stunned by the enormous significance of the event4 ,then some one gave a shout--perhaps it was that little 8water boy10 because it is like what a boy would do--and then the mountains echoed with a perfect frenzy of cheering1 that continued for minutes1 breaking out again and again4 ,mr4 ,van ,horne was called on by the crowd for a speech4 ,without changing his attitude and with his eyes still upon the junction of the rails1 the great railroader said simply and quietly1 8,all ,i can say is that the work has been well done in every way40 ,it was a short speech1 but it was a profound tribute to everybody who had taken part in this colossal enterprise4 ,directors1 officials1 contractors1 navvies1 teamsters1 stonecutters1 bridge builders1 train men1 telegraph operators and all the rest were embraced in this terse1 but heartfelt1 and richly-deserved eulogium4 ,and the conductor had a splendid conception of a climacteric moment when he shouted 8,all aboard for the ,pacific10 and the train took its swift way down to the ,western sea4 ,two centuries had gone by since daring ,british explorers had essayed in vain to go across the ,north ,american continent by some hitherto undiscovered waterway to the ,pacific4 ,they were amongst the famous forerunners of the gallant and able men who had now1 after amazing endeavour1 laid the steel across prairie and mountain where not many years before hunters and trappers1 by packhorse1 snowshoe1 travois or wooden cart1 had broken adventurous trails4 ,thus there had now been opened up a new ,empire1 whose enormous extent and productive capacity would make it one of the wonders of the world and the ,mecca for millions of the human race4 ,regular passenger service was not inaugurated till the following spring1 the first through train reaching ,port ,moody in ,june1 #ahhf1 and ,vancouver in ,may1 #ahhg4 ,port ,moody was the statutory terminus1 but the extension to ,vancouver was inevitable1 although ,port ,moody real estate owners naturally threw every obstacle in the way of the railway going farther4 ,vancouver had been swept by the great fire in #ahhf1 but the courageous inhabitants started to rebuild and there were probably two or three thousand people1 under the leadership of the first mayor1 ,mr4 ,malcolm ,a4 ,mac,lean1 to greet the first train with rousing cheers and an address4 ,it was a great day for ,vancouver4 ,a generation has since grown up which does not fully understand1 because it does not know4 ,but the people who know the story of the fire-swept area of rocks and blackened stumps into which the first ,canadian ,pacific train rolled that day1 thirty-seven years ago1 bringing in with it the dawn of a new day1 do not forget4 ,it linked the cold ashes of the new townsite to the throbbing power of ,eastern ,canada1 and put a new name on the map where ,orient and ,occident looked each other in the face across the ,pacific4 ,it is rather a striking coincidence that ,i am writing these words on the #bcrd of ,may1 the anniversary of the arrival of the first ,canadian ,pacific ,railway train in ,vancouver in #ahhg4 ,and on this day1 in this ,year of ,grace #aibd1 the ,empress of ,canada1 one of the ,company's great steamships1 has just come back to this ,west ,coast after a five months' voyage around the globe4 ,the space of time between is brief1 considered as a span in history1 but in that time the ,canadian ,pacific has not only covered the ,dominion in all directions with its steel trails1 but has compassed all the oceans with her floating palaces4 ,that day in ,may1 #ahhg1 the prominent officials of the road on the ,pacific ,division were the heroes of the hour--a group of able and reliable men--,messrs4 ,harry ,abbott1 ,richard ,marpole1 ,w4 ,f4 ,salisbury1 ,henry ,j4 ,cambie1 ,d4 ,e4 ,brown1 ,george ,mc,l4 ,brown1 ,h4 ,connon1 ,lacy ,r4 ,johnson1 ,a4 ,j4 ,dana1 with a faithful band1 the forerunners of the present host1 in their employ4 ,as ,i am writing this paragraph on the eve of ,may #bdth1 the anniversary of the birth of good ,queen ,victoria1 of immortal memory1 it is fitting to note the following fine letter from the ,marquis of ,lorne to the ,canadian ,pacific authorities3 8,the ,queen has been most deeply interested in the account which ,i have given her of the building of your great railway1 the difficulties which it involved and which have been so wonderfully surmounted4 ,not one ,englishman in a thousand realizes what those difficulties were2 but now that the great ,dominion has been penetrated by this indestructible artery of steel1 the thoughts and purposes of her people1 as well as her commerce1 will flow in an increasing current to and fro1 sending a healthful glow to all the members4 ,the ,princess and ,i are looking forward to a journey one day to the far and fair ,pacific40 ,it was in keeping with the idea running through this letter that the ,queen conferred a baronetcy on ,president ,george ,stephen and a knighthood on ,mr4 ,donald ,a4 ,smith4 ,and out in the great mountains which these two ,scottish men so wonderfully helped to pierce with the steel trail1 there are monuments to them in the cathedral peaks1 ,mount ,stephen and ,mount ,sir ,donald1 8,more enduring than brass40 ,since that day in #ahhg there have been1 as the ,marquis of ,lorne's letter prophesies1 a constant succession of most distinguished travellers4 ,the princes of our own ,royal line1 including our present gracious ,king and the present ,prince of ,wales2 noblemen1 statesmen1 scientists1 novelists1 poets1 soldiers1 sailors1 missionaries and others of world-wide fame1 have passed and repassed over this iron highway1 entranced and amazed at the richness1 the fertility1 the resources and the incomparable scenery of the country4 ,volumes could not record their praise for the country1 for the travelling accommodation and for that courtesy and considerateness by employees for which the ,canadian ,pacific is known the world over4 ,it has always been the aim of the road to see that children1 ladies1 old and feeble people1 can travel alone with the utmost safety and comfort1 and the testimony of travellers is that this tradition is steadily maintained under all circumstances4 ,there are doubtless many travelling people who are selfish1 unreasonable and hard to please1 but generally speaking 7and ,i have seen this exemplified scores of times7 the official or employee of the ,company proceeds on the assumption that 8the passenger is always right10 and in the end everybody is satisfied4 ,in this connection ,lady ,macdonald1 who went with her distinguished husband1 ,sir ,john1 on the second regular train to the ,coast1 wrote in her account of it3 8,it was quite touching and something new in railway life to find the brakeman grieving over the smoke and apologizing for it40 ,if there was a forest or prairie fire abroad the train-hands were not to blame4 ,if the reference was to the old coal-burners in the mountains1 the ,company now uses fuel oil4 ,to give another example3 ,one day ,mr4 ,van ,horne overheard a trainman in rather sharp altercation with an irritable and unreasonable passenger1 and speaking to this trainman afterwards1 ,van ,horne said3 8,you are not to consider your own personal feelings when you are dealing with these people4 ,you should not have any4 ,you are the road's while you are on duty2 your reply is the road's2 and the road's first law is courtesy40 ,the reader will see that while1 in one sense1 this seems to suppress the individuality of the employee1 there is another sense in which it honours his position by making him1 in that connection1 the accredited representative of the ,company4 ,mr4 ,van ,horne inculcated this in many different ways1 till employees took a pride in the road4 ,they felt they were part of it4 ,even ,van ,horne's faithful coloured car-porter1 the well-known ,jimmie ,french1 used to tell passengers 8how we built the ,c4 ,p4 ,r40 ,it will be recalled that when that porter died1 ,mr4 ,van ,horne1 who grieved greatly over the passing of a friend1 walked in the funeral procession as chief mourner4 ,that is the spirit of the road4 ,it would be impossible to mention a fraction of the famous travellers who have made the ,canadian ,pacific their way of travel1 but there are two of the public men of that period who had been protagonist and antagonist on the subject for years1 whose journey to the ,coast had more than usual interest on that account4 ,the one was ,sir ,john ,a4 ,macdonald2 the other was the ,hon4 ,edward ,blake4 ,sir ,john and ,lady ,macdonald crossed to the ,pacific on the second train that made the through trip4 ,sir ,john1 being the head of the ,government1 was nominally at least the sponsor for the ,canadian ,pacific1 although we must not forget that his ,minister of ,railways1 ,sir ,charles ,tupper1 did the larger part of the fighting to get it through4 ,sir ,john1 however1 was always the man who had the last word as to assisting the road1 and though he tried the patience of ,stephen and ,van ,horne at times1 he was the real originator of the plan and in the end gave it his powerful assistance in the days of stress4 ,sir ,john1 during that trip over the road in #ahhf1 made one of his characteristically witty and magnetic speeches at a great mass meeting in the ,mc,intyre ,rink in ,winnipeg4 ,those were my student days1 and the chance to hear the popular ,premier1 who was on a sort of triumphal trip over the completed road1 was not to be missed4 ,my recollection is that the speech was non-partisan1 except for a few humorous references1 and not very heavy4 ,sir ,john was alert and bright even to jauntiness1 but he spoke as a man who was through with a puzzling problem and was lightheartedly taking a care-free holiday4 ,his allusion to the ,canadian ,pacific1 a strange blending of pathos and humour1 swept the house into a hurricane of cheers4 ,he said 8,there was a time when ,i never expected to live to see the completion of this great railway4 ,but ,i knew it would be completed some day1 and in that day ,i said ,i would see my friends crossing the continent upon it as ,i looked down upon them from another and better sphere4 ,my friends on the ,opposition side of the ,house kindly suggested that ,i would more likely be looking up from below4 ,but ,i have disappointed all conjecturers1 and ,i am doing this trip on the horizontal40 ,it was during that pioneer railway trip that ,lady ,macdonald loyally rode for part of one day in the mountains on the cow-catcher of the engine1 as a way of advertising to the world the safety of the new road4 ,mentioning ,lady ,macdonald recalls the story told by that big-hearted humorist1 ,col4 ,george ,ham1 whom everybody knows and likes4 ,it appears that ,superintendent ,niblock1 of the ,medicine ,hat division of the road1 had to be away from home when ,sir ,john's train was due to pass4 ,but desiring to show some courtesy he wired some one at the ,hat to send ,lady ,macdonald a bouquet of flowers4 ,the message appears to have become mangled and when delivered had 8flowers0 spelled 8flour0 and 8bouquet0 contracted to 8boq40 ,this looked unusual1 and 8boq4 of flour0 was interpreted to mean 8a bag of flour40 ,this was accordingly despatched to ,sir ,john's private car1 where the porter had no room to spare1 and refused to accept it4 ,and so both the courtesy and the gift fell by the wayside1 although the intention was good4 ,the other distinguished public man1 as above noted1 who travelled to ,vancouver over the ,canadian ,pacific a few years later1 was the ,hon4 ,edward ,blake4 ,he had steadfastly1 consistently and1 no doubt1 conscientiously1 opposed the construction of the road as involving what he called 8ruinous expenditure0 for a young and sparsely settled country4 ,mr4 ,blake's memory remains as that of one of the ablest and most high-minded statesman in the public life of ,canada and1 by general consent1 the most outstanding intellectual force this country has produced4 ,but1 as observed in a preceding chapter1 he had never been ,west before the famous railway debates took place1 and therefore underestimated the country and its possibilities4 ,when he did come1 in #ahia1 he made a notable speech in ,vancouver4 ,in that speech he not only accepted the situation in a frank and manly way1 but1 calling on his large vocabulary and his somewhat unsuspected sense of humour1 he gave a remarkable description of the country by putting everything in words opposite to the reality4 ,mr4 ,blake said3 8,as ,i approached this country ,i was struck by the remarkable change from the rugged and upheaved territory of the plains of the ,north-,west to the smooth and level slope of the ,rockies2 as ,i ascended the slope and came upon the somewhat level and monotonous flats of ,british ,columbia2 as ,i travelled by the languid ,bow and descended again through the valley of the tranquil ,kicking ,horse2 as ,i crossed the calm ,columbia and travelled down the dead waters of the ,beaver and along the placid ,illecillewaet and by the drowsy ,skuzzy2 as ,i passed by the slow ,thompson and last of all by the banks between which the ,fraser meanders its sluggish way1 ,i turned to the fertile resources of your shores and viewed the horizon where it spanned the meadows of the ,selkirks1 the fertile level plains of the ,gold ,range and the broad plains of the ,coast ,range1 and ,i reached here converted40 ,for a while the audience1 thinking that ,mr4 ,blake was getting things mixed because this first swift trip was confusing him as to locality1 preserved a well-bred1 silent attitude1 as if much puzzled4 ,in a little while1 as he proceeded1 they saw that he was purposely and skilfully putting everything in the converse way1 and the house simply rocked with delighted laughter in peal after peal4 ,when people are enjoying an uproarious laugh1 they cannot cherish resentment4 ,and so when ,mr4 ,blake1 dropping the jocular vein1 went on to say1 8,when the railroad was built and finished ,i felt myself that it was useless to continue the controversy longer1 in deference to this whole country which ,canada has risked so much to retain10 the people in ,british ,columbia forgave him for calling their ,province 8a sea of mountains10 and1 like true ,westerners1 declared that he was playing the game in a sportsmanlike way and they would call off their feud4 ,and thus was the great railway opened from ocean to ocean4 ,much remained yet to be done in the way of constant improvement of the road and increase of the rolling stock4 ,but the system was in operation1 and the trains passed ,east and ,west over the once 8,great ,lone ,land0 and through the mountain passes4 ,circumstances have changed somewhat since the following fine verses were written some years ago by the late ,pauline ,johnson1 but in general they still represent the situation4 ,born in ,ontario in the region made famous by her great ancestor1 ,joseph ,brant1 ally of the ,british people1 this gifted poetess1 with the ,indian blood of which she was so proud1 saw in the ,canadian ,pacific trains not just so many cars and engines1 but new and living factors in the expanding life of her beloved ,dominion4 ,and so she makes 8,the ,c4 ,p4 ,r4 ,no4 #a1 ,westbound10 say3 8,i swing to the sunset land-- ,the world of prairie1 the world of plain1 ,the world of promise and hope and pain ,the world of gold and the world of gain1 ,and the world of the willing hand4 8,i carry the brave and bold-- ,the one who works for the nation's bread1 ,the one whose past is a thing that's dead1 ,the one who battles and beats ahead ,and the one who goes for gold4 8,i swing to the #8,land to ,be4' ,i am the power that laid its floors2 ,i am the guide to its ,western ,shores ,i am the key to its golden doors ,that open alone to me40 ,and she calls on 8,the ,c4 ,p4 ,r4 ,no4 #b1 ,eastbound10 to say3 8,i swing to the land of morn-- ,the grey old ,east with its grey old seas2 ,the land of leisure1 the land of ease1 ,the land of flowers and fruit and trees ,and the place where we were born4 8,freighted with wealth ,i come3 ,for he who many a moon has spent ,far out ,west on adventure bent1 ,with well-worn pick and folded tent ,is bringing his bullion home 8,i never will be renowned1 ,as my twin that swings to the ,western marts1 ,for ,i am she of the humbler parts-- ,but ,i am the joy of waiting hearts2 ,for ,i am the ,homeward bound40 ,from 8,flint and ,feather10 by ,e4 ,pauline ,johnson4 ,published by arrangement with the ,musson ,book ,company1 ,limited4 ,,chapter ,,xii ,guardians of the ,road ,now that we have followed the main line of the ,canadian ,pacific to the coast and have paid tribute to the actual builders it is fitting to devote a brief chapter to a body of men who1 while not taking part directly in the work1 did so much to make that work possible that they were often officially thanked by the railway heads for their extraordinary assistance4 ,i refer now particularly to the part played on the stage of ,western development by that famous corps1 the ,north-,west ,mounted ,police4 ,i am giving here the original title4 ,since the time when they were so designated1 the prefix 8,royal0 was given by ,king ,edward1 as a recognition of the great services of these knights of the saddle4 ,still later1 when1 shortly after the outbreak of the ,great ,war1 they were for obvious important reasons distributed all over the ,dominion1 they were given the present name of the ,royal ,canadian ,mounted ,police4 ,names have changed1 but throughout the fifty years from their organization these riders in the scarlet and gold uniform have done their duty as law-and-order men1 inflexible1 untiring and incorruptible1 in their guardianship of life and property on the widest frontier in the world4 ,the fact that they became an important factor in the conception and building of the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway was foreshadowed in the famous report made by ,capt4 ,w4 ,f4 ,butler 7afterwards ,sir ,william ,butler1 of ,south ,africa17 in the year #ahga1 when he travelled over the 8great lone land0 and made recommendation how to preserve law and order in that vast prairie country4 ,the railway would not have come into a country that would not some day be populated1 and no country would be populated unless immigrants and homesteaders were given assurance that their lives and property would be protected in the new country4 ,so it was that ,butler recommended the formation of a 8mobile force10 because a force located at fixed points or forts 8would afford no adequate protection outside the immediate circle of these points and would hold out no inducements to the establishment of new settlements40 ,and ,butler says he made his recommendation because he saw 8a vast country lying1 as it were1 silently awaiting the approach of the immense wave of human life which rolls unceasingly from ,europe to the ,american continent40 ,butler added that1 though the ,western plains were far from the ,atlantic seaboard1 8still that wave of human life is destined to reach those beautiful solitudes and to convert their now useless vegetation into all the requirements of civilized existence40 ,and it is historically true to say that homesteaders began to come to the great lone land with more confidence once the ,mounted ,police had taken control of the country in the early #gj's4 ,the notable painting1 8,any ,complaints80 by ,paul ,wickson1 is based on this idea4 ,it represents the police patrol riding up to the homesteader at his plough and asking if he has been troubled by horse thieves1 or cattle stealers or lawless ,indians4 ,it was because the homesteader could pursue his way in peace that a railway to carry what he imported and exported1 had a future4 ,and not only from possible human enemies1 but from the terrific danger of prairie fires and such like1 did the rider of the plains stand on guard4 ,when one1 for instance1 sees ,constable ,conradi1 despite warnings that he was attempting the impossible1 spurring his horse through rolling clouds of smoke and saving a family from death at the risk of his own life1 one realizes how these knights of the saddle gave people a sense of security4 ,or when one sees thirty of these gallant riders sweeping the plain till they found a lost child and restored her to her mother's arms1 he understands how the presence of these men robbed the life on the prairies of the sense of insecurity4 ,the element of security drew settlers to the plains and thus encouraged railway building4 ,coming to railway construction time we have the cases in which the contractors and engineers were terrorized by the ,indians in the early stages of their work4 ,one chief1 ,pie-a-,pot1 who had always been a source of trouble on account of his ugly disposition and his evident determination not to acquiesce in the incoming of civilized life1 took it into his head one day to camp on the railroad right-of-way on the prairie4 ,the surveyors and engineers worked up to that point and found ,pie-a-,pot's tent squarely in the way4 ,around him were many other tents and all supported by a big band of braves who1 mounted on their ponies1 circled around1 discharging fire-arms into the air and indulging in war-whoops and other hostile demonstrations4 ,the surveyors and engineers asked the hostile chief to move1 but he only laughed at them and urged his braves to more violent exhibitions of their prowess4 ,the men of peaceful occupations discreetly withdrew to a safe distance and halted their work1 but at the same time managed to send back word to the ,mounted ,police headquarters as to the situation4 ,headquarters sent a message to the detachment of police nearest the scene of disturbance1 though it was many miles away4 ,that detachment of police consisted of only two men1 a sergeant and a constable4 ,numbers have never counted either way with the ,mounted ,police1 and so these two in the scarlet and gold uniform rode miles to ,pie-a-pot's camp on the railroad right-of-way4 ,they told ,pie-a-,pot that they were instructed to ask him to move out of the way1 but the defiant chief sat in front of his tent and encouraged his braves to rush the two police horses with their ponies4 ,the sergeant and constable1 however1 sat their horses unmoved and again warned the chief1 who laughed in their faces4 ,then the sergeant1 pulling out his watch1 indicated the minute hand and gave the chief ten minutes to move4 ,the ,indians became more violent1 but the police sat tight and at the end of the ten minutes the sergeant1 throwing his reins to the constable so that the horses would not be stampeded1 leaped over ,pie-a-,pot's head and1 entering the chief's tent1 kicked out the centre pole and brought it down in a hurry4 ,he did the same with the four tents of the chief's head-men and then told them to get out at once4 ,the ,indians saw the kind of men they had to deal with and so they moved swiftly1 and the ,canadian ,pacific surveyors and engineers went on with their work4 ,not long afterwards there was a similar case1 though it did not go so far4 ,eastern contractors and workmen1 who had not been used to seeing war-paint1 were naturally somewhat alarmed one day when a band of ,indians rushed at them with the air of people who owned the earth and wished to hold it for themselves4 ,superintendent ,shurtcliffe of the ,mounted ,police received an ,s4 ,o4 ,s4 call on that particular occasion from a contractor who was getting out ties from a bush1 and had been forced to leave 8on the double quick0 when a chief with the portentous name of 8,front ,man0 swooped down on his tie gang with a band of yelling ,indians4 ,shurtcliffe summoned 8,front ,man0 and told him how dangerous a thing it was to interfere with the progress of work authorized by the ,canadian ,government4 ,when ,mr4 8,front ,man0 heard that it was practically the ,government he had been chasing1 he was very penitent and promised the ,mounted ,police officer that he would behave himself in the future4 ,whereupon the contractor and his men1 with a new appreciation of the men in scarlet and gold1 went back to prosecute1 unmolested1 their peaceful and highly necessary tie business4 ,there was a famous riot case at the ,beaver ,river in the mountains1 early in #ahhe1 where several hundreds of rough men1 many of them reckless aliens1 went on strike during construction1 and were backed by lawless camp-followers at that temporary terminus4 ,there were only some eight ,mounted ,police to keep order1 although many of the navvies and the disorderly characters in the place were heavily armed4 ,the police detachment1 however1 was commanded by that redoubtable officer1 ,superintendent ,samuel ,b4 ,steele 7later ,major-,general ,sir ,s4 ,b4 ,steele71 with his second in command1 ,sergeant ,fury1 a short1 heavy-set1 quiet man who could be all that his name suggested if occasion required4 ,when the strike was pending ,steele told the strikers that he would not interfere in the question itself as the police never took sides1 but he warned them that they must keep the peace and not commit any acts of violence or he would punish them to the full extent of the law4 ,a few days later ,steele was down in bed with mountain fever1 and one of his men1 ,constable ,kerr1 had gone to the town to get him some medicine4 ,when ,kerr was coming back he saw a mob being incited by a well-known desperate character to make an attack on the barracks and to destroy the railway property4 ,kerr1 though alone1 promptly arrested the man1 but he was overpowered by the mob and the prisoner rescued4 ,kerr reported to ,fury1 who in turn reported to ,steele1 who was in bed1 as the strikers knew4 ,steele said1 8,it will never do to let the gang think they can play with us10 and sent ,fury with one of the constables with orders to arrest the man4 ,the arrest was made1 but the two policemen were again overpowered and came back to report with their uniforms torn by the mob4 ,the police were not 8gunmen0 and never used weapons unless as a last resort4 ,the limit had been reached in this case1 and ,steele said to ,fury1 8,take three men and go back and shoot any one who interferes to prevent you making the arrest40 ,fury went back with ,constables ,fane1 ,craig and ,walters1 while the other four constables guarded the barracks which were slated for attack4 ,johnston1 a magistrate1 was there to read the ,riot ,act1 if necessary4 ,in a few minutes there was a shot1 and ,johnston said 8,some one in that gang has gone to kingdom come40 ,steele leaped out of bed and went to the window4 ,craig and ,walters were dragging the prisoner across the bridge over the ,beaver1 the desperado fighting like a demon and a scarlet woman following them with oaths and curses4 ,fury and ,fane were in the rear1 trying to hold back a mob of some three hundred men4 ,steele called on ,johnston to come and read the ,riot ,act1 and ignoring his own fevered condition1 he grabbed a rifle and started running across the bridge calling the other men to follow4 ,the mob could hardly believe their eyes when they saw ,steele and shouted with oaths1 8,even his deathbed does not scare him40 ,in the meantime the desperate prisoner was struggling fiercely with his captors1 biting1 kicking and shouting till they were on the bridge1 when ,walters lifted his powerful fist and struck him on the head1 and1 with ,craig1 dragged him like a rag into the barracks1 where they left him and rushed back to help their comrades4 ,johnston read the ,riot ,act and ,steele1 rifle in hand1 told the rioters that if he saw any man of them trying to reach for his gun he would shoot him4 ,he told them to disperse and that if he saw more than ten of them together he would order his men to mow them down4 ,and the little detachment of eight policemen stood there with magazines charged ready to carry out orders4 ,the riot collapsed in five minutes1 and the leaders of it were sentenced next day4 ,the trouble never cropped up again4 ,the roughs at the ,beaver had tried the game of rioting with the wrong men4 ,and cool1 daring men like these were all along the line to keep the lawless in mind of the fact that lawlessness would not be tolerated for a moment in the ,mounted ,police country4 ,it is not unexpectedly1 then1 that we come across two special letters from builders of the great railway1 expressing their thanks to the ,mounted ,police4 ,the first is from ,mr4 7later ,sir7 ,william ,c4 ,van ,horne1 who was not given to saying gushing things4 ,here it is1 8,january #a1 #ahhc4 8,dear ,sir3 8,our work of construction for the year #ahhb has just closed1 and ,i cannot permit the occasion to pass without acknowledging the obligations of the ,company to the ,north-,west ,mounted ,police1 whose zeal and industry in preventing traffic in liquor and preserving order along the line of construction have contributed so much to the successful prosecution of the work4 ,indeed1 without the assistance of the officers and men of the splendid force under your command it would have been impossible to have accomplished as much as we did4 ,on no great work within my knowledge1 where so many men have been employed1 has such perfect order prevailed4 ,on behalf of the ,company and all their officers1 ,i wish to return thanks and to acknowledge particularly our obligations to yourself and ,major ,walsh4 8,i am1 sir1 8,yours very truly1 8,w4 ,c4 ,van ,horne1 8,general ,manager4 8,to ,lieutenant-,colonel ,a4 ,g4 ,irvine 8,commissioner1 8,north-,west ,mounted ,police1 8,regina40 ,and at the close of the next year we find the following from another very practical man1 ,john ,m4 ,egan1 ,general ,superintendent of the ,western ,line1 who did not make incursions into the realm of the sentimental4 ,the letter runs as follows3 8,my dear ,colonel3 8,gratitude would be wanting did the present year close without my conveying1 on behalf of the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway1 to you and those under your charge most sincere thanks for the manner in which their several duties in connection with the railway have been attended to during the past season4 8,prompt obedience to your orders1 faithful carrying out of your instructions1 contribute in no small degree to the rapid construction of the line4 ,the services of your men during recent troubles among a certain class of our employees prevented destruction to property and preserved obedience to law and order in a manner highly commendable4 ,justice has been meted out to them without fear or favour1 and ,i have yet to hear any person1 who respects same1 say aught against your command4 8,wishing you the season's compliments1 8,i remain1 8,yours very truly1 8,jno4 ,m4 ,egan40 ,taken together these letters1 written by matter-of-fact men1 are great tributes paid to the men of the ,mounted ,police for the part they played in those critical periods of the history of the pioneer railway4 ,in such masses of railway men of all kinds and nationalities thrown together in construction times1 there was constant danger of disorder under certain conditions4 ,there were amongst these men1 many adventurous agitators who cared nothing for the ultimate success of the railway4 ,had the whiskey-peddlers who always hover around such camps been allowed to ply their nefarious trade1 there would have been constant danger to the men themselves from high explosives carelessly handled4 ,and there would have been the ever-present menace of unreasonable outbreaks causing delay and damage to a great and necessary undertaking4 ,no wonder that such highly practical and observant men as ,van ,horne and ,egan understood and gladly acknowledged the co-operation of the ,mounted ,police in a vast national enterprise4 ,people have often wondered how this road1 traversing some three thousand miles across lonely prairie and lonelier mountains1 escaped having its trains held up by robbers1 as was common in some other similarly situated countries4 ,in an official report some years after the road opened ,superintendent ,deane of the ,mounted ,police at ,calgary refers to an effort at train-robbing that year and starts out with the following revealing statement3 8,it has for years been an open secret that the train-robbing fraternity in the ,united ,states had seriously considered the propriety of trying conclusions with the ,mounted ,police1 but had decided that the risks were too great and the game not worth the candle4 ,after the object lesson they received last ,may1 it may be reasonably supposed that railway passengers will be spared further anxiety during the life of the present generation at least40 ,the special event to which ,deane refers was a train hold-up at ,kamloops in ,british ,columbia by a notorious train-robbing expert1 ,bill ,miner1 alias ,edwards1 etc41 assisted by two other gunmen1 ,william ,dunn and 8,shorty0 ,colquhoun4 ,a train robbery had been committed by the same gang some months before1 but local authorities could not trace the robbers4 ,when the second robbery took place at ,kamloops1 the railway heads thought they could not afford to take more chances1 although ,provincial ,police1 especially ,fernie1 of ,kamloops1 were doing good trailing work4 ,mr4 ,richard ,marpole1 then ,superintendent of the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway at the ,coast1 who was always devoted to the interests of the road1 wired to ,general ,manager 7later ,sir7 ,william ,whyte to secure the help of the ,mounted ,police1 who were not then on duty in ,british ,columbia4 ,mr4 ,whyte telegraphed to ,regina to ,commissioner ,a4 ,b4 ,perry1 head of the ,mounted ,police1 who1 wiring ,calgary to have two detachments ready1 left for that point to take charge of the case4 ,from ,calgary1 ,perry 7now ,major-,general and ,c4,m4,g41 retired after years of distinguished service7 sent ,inspector ,church1 an excellent officer1 with a detachment1 to ,penticton to cut off the escape of the robbers over the boundary-line4 ,perry left for ,kamloops with a detachment under charge of ,staff-,sergeant ,j4 ,j4 ,wilson1 with ,thomas1 ,shoebotham1 ,peters1 ,stewart1 ,browning and ,tabateau4 ,the weather was bad and the horses secured at ,kamloops were poor1 but1 despite these handicaps1 this posse trailed and captured the robbers1 after a sharp fight1 within forty-eight hours4 ,the effect of that lesson is still apparent1 as ,deane prophesied4 ,when the last spike had been driven on the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway at ,craigellachie1 and there was a through train to the ,coast1 ,steele1 above-mentioned1 who was back again on ,mounted ,police work in the mountains1 was given a trip to the ,pacific out of compliment to himself and the force generally4 ,it was a time when the railway men were trying out the road which they knew had been well constructed4 ,steele describes his trip in a semi-humorous way1 and speaks of the train going at fifty-seven miles an hour1 roaring in and out of the tunnels and whirling around the curves4 ,he says it was a wild ride1 but adds these fine words1 8,many years have passed since that memorable ride1 and to-day one goes through the mountains in the most modern and palatial observation cars1 but the recollection of that journey to the ,coast on the first train through1 is far sweeter to me than any trips taken since4 ,it was the exultant moment of pioneer work and we were all pioneers on that excursion40 ,and we add again1 all due honour to the law-and-order men in scarlet and gold who had watched over the construction of the long steel trail4 ,,chapter ,,xiii ,intensive and ,extensive ,work ,the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway1 after terrific fighting against heavy odds1 had reached its objective in the completion of the main line from sea to sea4 ,it was a thin steel line reaching across the continent4 ,but the driving of the last spike at ,craigellachie simply gave the ,company a base of operation from which to reach out for other conquests1 in order that the work already done might prove productive of the best results4 ,mr4 ,van ,horne1 who had a perfect passion for doing new things and for bringing unknown places into the limelight1 saw tremendous opportunities looming up for the full play of his abilities in that regard4 ,it was well for the road and for ,canada that he saw the vista thus opening up ahead with the lure of great prospects for the exercise of his powers4 ,because otherwise he might have taken up work elsewhere4 ,it is well known that more than one board in the ,states was ready to throw its presidency at the head and the feet of the man whose astonishing record on the ,canadian ,pacific had attracted the attention of the railway world4 ,in fact ,van ,horne1 on reaching ,montreal after returning from ,craigellachie1 found a letter 7and others followed from several directions7 from ,mr4 ,jason ,c4 ,easton1 a great banker and railway man in ,wisconsin4 ,the letter expressed the hope that as ,van ,horne had only agreed to stay with the ,canadian ,pacific for five years1 he would soon go back to the ,states and take a railway presidency there4 ,but besides the fact that the bigness of the task still to be undertaken in ,canada held him to this country1 the truth is that he had become personally attached to ,president ,george ,stephen and his ,scottish-,canadian associates4 ,a little sidelight is thrown upon this phase of the matter by the incident connected with the driving of the last spike by ,mr4 ,donald ,a4 ,smith 7,strathcona74 ,mr4 ,smith owned a country home near ,winnipeg1 called ,silver ,heights1 once the property of the ,hon4 ,james ,mc,kay1 the handsome and famous frontiersman and interpreter who had such a large share in the making of the successful ,indian treaties on the plains4 ,after his removal to ,montreal ,mr4 ,smith allowed the house to remain closed except for the caretaker and those who looked after the farm stock and such like4 ,on the way west by special train to ,craigellachie1 ,mr4 ,van ,horne thought it would be a good idea to have the house at ,silver ,heights opened up and have a spur-track laid to it from ,winnipeg1 as a surprise to the veteran who was to drive the last spike4 ,when the train returned to ,winnipeg the engine was reversed and the special began backing out of the station4 ,mr4 ,smith after a while noticed it1 and then began to look out of the window4 ,in a little while he said3 8,why1 gentlemen1 if ,i can believe my eyes this ground looks familiar and there are ,aberdeen cattle just like mine and that place looks like my house40 ,the train stopped and the conductor shouted 8,silver ,heights40 ,mr4 ,smith was delighted beyond measure and again and again expressed his appreciation of the courtesy and thoughtfulness that had planned the surprise4 ,it was just one of the ways by which the apparently unemotional ,van ,horne paid chivalrous personal compliment to the men whose character and courage he had learned to respect as they stood by him to their last dollar in the great task to which he had given himself so determinedly for four laborious years4 ,when ,mr4 ,van ,horne reached ,montreal1 after the opening of the main line1 he began to speed up the plans he had been putting already in operation for the perfecting of the road and the increase of traffic in all directions4 ,the quality of the road-bed was of even higher standard than the ,government contract required4 ,it will be remembered that once1 when the road-bed was still new1 ,van ,horne had aboard his train a number of ,eastern men who were going out ,west in regard to the valuation of the ,government section of the road constructed by ,onderdonk4 ,while still on the ,canadian ,pacific section in the mountains1 ,van ,horne walked up the platform at ,field and said to the engineer1 ,charley ,carey1 a fearless1 skilful driver1 8,let her out a bit1 ,charlie1 we will show these fellows that they are on a railroad fit to run on1 though the ,government section is not40 ,charlie 8let her out0 and made a fifty-one-mile run in an hour and wound up by doing the seventeen miles from ,golden to ,donald in fifteen minutes1 and all safe4 ,when they pulled up there1 with a flourish and flashing fire on the rails as the brakes were put down hard to prevent running by the platform1 the gentlemen from the ,east needed no further demonstration4 ,the ,canadian ,pacific road-bed was all right even in those early days4 ,but ,van ,horne knew that much had still to be done4 ,construction had been careful1 but rapid1 and steel and stone and cement would have to replace many wooden culverts and bridges4 ,trestles had to be filled in or replaced by stone or steel4 ,rolling stock1 shops1 roundhouses1 yards1 stations1 wharves and all manner of similar things had to be provided4 ,branch lines to feed the main line would have to gridiron the country1 and connections would have to be made with the big systems south of the line4 ,incidentally1 it was as a result of his observation before he came to ,canada at all1 that he insisted on the ,canadian ,pacific keeping such auxiliary utilities as the telegraph1 express and sleeping car departments4 ,these also in their several ways would be feeders to the main treasury account4 ,they were not the big tent1 as ,van ,horne said1 using a circus illustration2 but the side-shows1 as he called them1 went a long way to increase the receipts4 ,it had been the custom in other places to let other organizations have these franchises1 but ,van ,horne said they took the cream of several kinds of business and 8left the skim milk to the railway40 ,van ,horne wanted the cream1 as the road would need the money2 and so the ,dominion ,express and the ,canadian ,pacific ,telegraphs and the ,railway's own sleeping cars1 got into business for the big ,company from the start4 ,and these1 like the dining car department and others of the same type1 are marvels of service and efficiency1 as every one now knows4 ,to speak about the creation of traffic is to use a somewhat peculiar1 but well-founded1 expression1 because1 in this case1 it applies to traffic which had practically no existence before4 ,nothing escaped ,van ,horne's notice4 ,in the evening hours when he would be in camp on the prairie during construction time1 he took delight in planning sports of various kinds for the men4 8,a change is as good as a rest10 is an old saying with a lot of truth in it4 ,i have seen men apparently fagged out with a day's march become lithesome as kittens over a game of baseball in the evening on the plain4 ,mr4 ,van ,horne1 who was a true artist1 became interested in the bleached bones of buffaloes amongst the construction tents4 ,and many a great buffalo head with its wide white frontal bone did the big railroader adorn with sketches made in coal or pencil1 to the delight of the onlookers4 ,and at the same time he was thinking of traffic in these buffalo bones4 ,in my boyhood ,i have ridden through acres and miles of prairie where the white bones of the buffalo 8lay thick as the autumnal leaves in ,vallambrosa40 ,these acres of skeletons were an indictment against the selfish and greedy buffalo-hunting sporting men who had rounded up the herds1 killed them by thousands1 and took nothing but the tongue and the hide4 ,van ,horne saw in these vast surface cemeteries how the slaughtered buffalo could still be of value4 ,and so he had men gather up the bones and pile them in great heaps along stations and sidings1 to be shipped by trainloads to ,eastern factories that were glad to get them4 ,thus the railroader1 who got the material for the cost of gathering1 made good profits for the ,railway1 and at the same time cleared the land of an encumbrance4 ,the man who could think of such things was not likely to fail in creating traffic4 ,van ,horne was anxious to get the country settled up along the great spaces in the ,middle ,west4 ,so he lured many cattle-men across the line by the advertising he did for the rich grazing lands in the southern portion of the ,north-,west ,territories1 as the prairie country was then described4 ,he drafted some striking and rather freakish advertisements for billboards in ,eastern ,canada1 thus 8capitalizing the scenery0 of the ,great ,lakes and the mountains and making a special bid for tourist traffic4 ,some of these posters1 such as 8,parisian ,politeness on the ,c4 ,p4 ,r40 and 8#8,how ,high ,we ,live1' said the ,duke to the ,prince10 are somewhat belittled by smart modern advertisers2 but somehow they stuck in the memory of those who saw them1 and that is the acid test of all advertising4 ,the stream of tourists or other travellers on the main line was a very small rivulet in those early days1 and there are records of cars with one or two passengers4 ,but all passengers became enthusiasts over the comfort and courtesy of the road1 so that the movement of travellers is now a steady-flowing river of humanity which1 in certain seasons1 almost overflows in a great tide of sightseers and business people4 ,it is interesting to recall in connection with ,mr4 ,van ,horne's endeavours to secure settlers by various immigration plans1 that he studied social conditions amongst the incoming settlers4 ,that was before the day of rural telephones and motor cars1 and he discovered without much difficulty that one of the obstacles to settlement of the prairies at that period was the dread of loneliness and isolation4 ,and the keen-minded railroader formulated a plan to offset that dread in the minds of possible newcomers4 ,he thought that tracts of land should be surveyed so as to permit settlers to live in communities at the apex of a triangle4 ,in order that they might enjoy the social amenities and advantages of community life while their farms spread out from that place of common residence to the farther extremity of the land they held4 ,it is of additional interest to recall that the introduction of the rectangular system of land survey from the ,united ,states led to considerable unrest in the ,canadian ,west4 ,it gave ,louis ,riel a chance to play on the emotions of the half-breed settlers on the ,south ,saskatchewan ,river1 where these settlers desired to hold their land as the early settlers did on the ,red and ,assiniboine ,rivers1 their homes near together on the river bank and the farms running back some distance on the plain4 ,and ,riel told the half-breeds that the ,government wanted to break up their social life and make it difficult for them to have schools and churches and business places near at hand4 ,in fact1 the introduction of the rectangular survey1 with its comparative isolation1 was one of the prime reasons at the base of the ,riel ,rebellion4 ,so that ,mr4 ,van ,horne had a good idea in operation when he advocated the settlement of newcomers close together4 ,the ,government1 however1 did not adopt the scheme4 ,some settlers1 like the ,mennonites1 followed the plan of community settlement1 even though the square farms made them lose time in going backwards and forwards to their work4 ,mr4 ,van ,horne's efforts for the settlement of the country led also to his company building immense elevator accommodation at the ,great ,lakes and providing facilities for transport thereto4 ,there were flashes of humour in this grim fight for the settler4 ,mr4 ,van ,horne was restively asserting one hard year that the grain-buyers who were paying only thirty-five cents a bushel for wheat were practising highway robbery on the farmer4 ,mr4 ,l4 ,a4 ,hamilton1 the ,company's land commissioner1 said to him1 8,why not go in and outbid the grain-buyers40 ,the idea appealed mightily to ,van ,horne and he sent ,alex ,mitchell1 a grain man from ,montreal1 to the ,west to organize some agency and offer fifty cents a bushel4 ,no one knew that ,mitchell was acting for the ,canadian ,pacific1 but when he offered fifty cents a bushel1 grain poured in on him till all the cars were full and bags of wheat were piled up along station platforms on account of the car shortage4 ,then the enemies of the ,railway who were on the lookout for chances to find fault with the ,railway and who1 of course1 had no idea that the ,railway owned the wheat1 attacked the ,company because it could not take care of the crop and ship it out of the country4 ,these active enemies got photographs taken to show the congestion of the grain at stations and on platforms along the line4 ,van ,horne said nothing1 but had these photographs bought up by scores and sent abroad to show that the prairies were so productive that the railway was caught unprepared to handle the enormous crops4 ,all this was great immigration material1 and a boomerang for the men who had gone to the expense of getting the photographs4 ,these things indicate how eagerly ,mr4 ,van ,horne was trying to get the country settled1 and generally to build up within its borders1 prosperous and successful communities4 ,there is a theory in the minds of some kinds of people that a railway like this has been always bleeding the country to death4 ,hardly any theory could be more assinine and ridiculous4 ,it could only spring from the alleged brains of the unthinking1 even though it passes muster as a piece of stump or soap-box oratory4 ,it may sound well as a vote-catcher1 but thinking people will not be deceived by such a manifest contradiction in terms4 ,the country and the railway1 in such a case as this1 must stand or fall together4 ,each is necessary to the prosperity of the other4 ,hence for one to attempt the destruction of the other is practically a round-about1 but effective1 way for that one to commit suicide4 ,and a business concern has sense enough not to commit suicide4 ,in this connection there is a fine paragraph in a sort of valedictory review of the history of the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway1 given in #aiah by ,lord ,shaughnessy1 then ,president of the ,company and ,chairman of the ,board4 ,it is quoted here in advance of the chronological order of our story1 because it is specially applicable to the point we are discussing1 namely1 the interdependence of the country1 and the road4 ,the paragraph is as follows3 8,the shareholders and ,directors of the ,company have always been impressed with the idea that the interests of the ,company are intimately connected with those of the ,dominion1 and no effort or expense has been spared to help in promoting the development of the whole country40 ,this statement was intended to cover the whole record of the railway1 and ,lord ,shaughnessy had such an outstanding reputation for stern rectitude and straight-flung veracity that we are fully warranted in taking it at its face value4 ,hence when we recorded above the efforts of ,mr4 ,van ,horne to extend and create the business of the road in the years immediately succeeding the completion of the main line1 we were justified in saying that ,mr4 ,van ,horne's endeavours in that regard were in the interests of both the railway and the country4 ,the ,canadian ,pacific was from its inception an integral factor in creating and extending the social and productive activities of ,western civilization4 ,mr4 ,george ,stephen 7first knighted and then raised to the peerage as ,lord ,mount ,stephen1 in recognition of his great services to the empire as a railway builder7 held the ,presidency of the ,canadian ,pacific from the beginning in #ahhj till #ahhh1 when ,mr4 ,van ,horne succeeded him4 ,there was something very fine in the deep personal friendship that existed between these two men4 ,and there is something almost pathetic in the correspondence carried on between them over ,mr4 ,stephen's desire to retire from the ,presidency1 and later on1 when his health and age demanded rest1 from the directorate of the road4 ,the ,president and ,mr4 ,van ,horne had been specially close personal friends from the beginning1 and their intense struggle to build the railway had cemented their friendship into a type of affection that was unmistakable1 even though these two strong men were not of the kind to be demonstrative before the curious onlookers by the wayside of life4 ,stephen1 on undertaking the ,presidency in #ahha1 had indicated even then his purpose to retire when the task of building the road across the continent was completed4 ,the greatness of this task was even then foreseen1 although the enormous difficulties that developed1 as we have noted in previous chapters1 could not have been anticipated by finite vision4 ,the burden of responsibility carried by the ,president was well-nigh crushing4 ,and there is no doubt that ,stephen1 at times1 felt keenly the fact that not only did some public men in ,canada actually oppose what he was trying to do for the country1 but that even some of those who had stood as sponsors for the railway undertaking were so slow to appreciate the terrific strain upon ,stephen and his colleagues that they only came to their assistance after they were humbly besought for aid4 ,stephen's nature was sensitive under these discouragements1 but he kept his word and stayed till the main line was built4 ,it was largely at ,van ,horne's request that ,stephen kept on for two years more and thus gave the ,general ,manager a chance to consolidate and conserve what had been accomplished as well as proceed with extensions and branches4 ,but in #ahhh ,stephen retired from the ,presidency1 and ,mr4 ,van ,horne was the logical choice to be his successor4 ,in a fine letter which has vivid historical interest to all who know something of the stress and strain of his term of office1 ,sir ,george ,stephen1 under date of ,august #gth1 #ahhh1 wrote to the shareholders of the ,company1 his resignation4 ,after referring to his determination1 at the outset1 to remain in office till the completion of the main line1 ,sir ,george relates how he remained two years more at the request of his colleagues4 ,then he goes on to say1 8warned now by the state of my health1 finding that the severe and constant strain which ,i have had to bear for the last eight years has unfitted me for the continuous and arduous work of an office in which vigour and activity are essential2 feeling the increasing necessity for practical railway experience2 and believing that the present satisfactory and assured position of the ,company offers a favourable opportunity for taking the step ,i have so long had in contemplation1 ,i have this day resigned the ,presidency of the ,company which ,i have had the honour to hold since its organization40 ,after referring to the fact that he would continue to have an abiding interest in the ,company and remain meanwhile on the ,board of ,directors1 ,sir ,george1 reticent and undemonstrative ,scot though he was1 goes on to say an evidently heartfelt word for the incoming ,president1 as follows3 8,it is to me a matter of the greatest possible satisfaction to be able to say that in my successor1 ,mr4 ,van ,horne1 the ,company has a man of proved fitness for the office2 in the prime of life1 possessed with great energy and rare ability1 having a long and thoroughly practical railway experience and above all an entire devotion to the interest of the ,company40 ,and so ,mr4 ,van ,horne succeeded in the ,canadian ,pacific ,presidency1 his friend1 who was raised to the peerage1 choosing the title from one of the lofty peaks in the ,rockies4 ,thus did ,george ,stephen1 erstwhile 8herd laddie0 from the ,north of ,scotland and draper's apprentice from ,aberdeen1 become ,lord ,mount ,stephen1 and retire to spend his closing years at a beautiful country seat in the ,old ,country1 where he had some rest from the heavy burden of responsibility4 ,but ,mount ,stephen still remained on the ,directorate of the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway1 and many questions were still referred to him and many communications by letter and cable passed between him and ,mr4 ,van ,horne4 ,there was some serious effort on the part of ,grand ,trunk men in ,london to bring about a unification of the two railways to be operated under the capable direction of ,mr4 ,van ,horne and his colleagues4 ,but some indiscreet action on the part of ,grand ,trunk ,directors in regard to advancing rates in order 8to get all they could out of the people of ,canada10 caused ,van ,horne to call negotiations off and say he would have no more discussions with men at long range4 ,he had no great love for men who had tried to block the ,canadian ,pacific in the money markets of ,london1 and he had no faith in the idea that a railway in ,canada could be run satisfactorily if men in ,london were interfering4 ,so the negotiations were ended and the ,grand ,trunk went on its extraordinary way4 ,but that way is not part of our story4 ,as we have been discussing the intimate relationship between ,mount ,stephen and ,van ,horne1 it is interesting to note that1 much to the latter's regret1 the former ,president of the road1 on account of his health condition demanding release from business1 began to express again his desire to resign from the ,board of ,directors4 ,he had remained on the ,directorate and had been actively interested1 as we have seen4 ,but now he must have complete rest from responsibility4 ,he was pressed to stay on the ,board with less active participation1 but he declared that 8he could not be a figurehead and give himself no concern10 a statement which all directors of all companies should take to heart these days4 ,and there is something touching in the fact that ,mount ,stephen1 himself feeling the results of the heavy strain1 began to warn ,van ,horne to be careful of his health and to throw more responsibility on others4 ,as a matter of fact ,van ,horne was doing this within a short time after he became ,president4 ,for ,shaughnessy was moved up to be a ,director and ,vice-,president and was making his brilliant business qualities felt in the management of the great enterprise he had seen grow from a small beginning4 ,but ,van ,horne consented with great reluctance to ,mount ,stephen's retirement4 ,the caution of the quiet ,scot had been a fine counterpart to the intense and almost headlong impetuosity of the practical railway builder1 and a great friendship had grown through the years4 ,so that we are not surprised when we find that ,van ,horne had written ,mount ,stephen saying1 8,your withdrawal would not be the withdrawal of a ,director1 but of the soul of the enterprise40 ,the business world is sometimes as drab and dead and unemotional as a sand waste1 but it has its oasis spots1 and words like those just quoted mark one of them4 ,during those years1 however1 it is a notable thing1 that whenever a proposal was made even by ,mount ,stephen to ,van ,horne1 that the business administration of the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway should be conformed to ,english methods1 the bluff railroader refused point-blank4 ,he said that 8the ,english methods work in ,england1 but they will not do here40 ,he allowed that the ,english system of stabilizing the financial conditions of a railway was the best1 but when it came to operating the road the extent and character of ,canada made ,english methods wholly inapplicable4 ,mount ,stephen knew that ,van ,horne was a past master at administrative operation1 and wisely counselled ,english capitalists to trust in ,van ,horne and his ,canadian associates to run the road4 ,when ,i say 8,canadian associates0 the expression must be understood as meaning that men resident in ,canada were to administer and operate the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway4 ,many of these men were ,canadian born2 others in the early days were from outside2 but throughout the years they have constituted a wonderfully able and efficient and splendidly loyal staff4 ,we have gone forward of events somewhat1 owing to our discussing ,lord ,mount ,stephen's retirement and the relationship subsisting between him and the new ,president4 ,we may go back a little and see the work of the railway under ,mr4 ,van ,horne in that high office4 ,no other name could have been suggested to succeed ,mount ,stephen1 but there is something exhilarating and encouraging to all young men on this continent in contemplating the career of ,mr4 ,van ,horne1 who though born in another country and of alien parentage1 came into the ,british ,dominion of ,canada and not only overcame any resentment against his intrusion1 but who 8made by force his merits known10 till he came to be acknowledged as one of the foremost citizens of ,canada4 ,mr4 ,van ,horne1 both before and after he became ,president of the ,canadian ,pacific1 set himself not only to create local traffic1 travel and immigration as already recorded1 but he also very particularly began to secure branch lines and connections as feeders to the long main line from ocean to ocean4 ,in this sort of work he was in his element1 planning new lines and building them1 buying out old roads and putting new life into them1 getting access to the big centres of the ,east and linking up with the railway systems south of the line4 ,this immense task of opening new lines and establishing new industries has been continued by all ,van ,horne's successors till the ,dominion and a good deal of the ,states knows the ,canadian ,pacific as it knows its city streets and country roads4 ,in fact the ,canadian ,pacific is so ubiquitous that men take with the utmost gravity the old joke that the clocks of the country are set to the railway time as if the road was in control of the calendar4 ,all these sayings1 grave and gay1 indicate such a widening of the sphere of this road since the last spike was driven that the mystic monogram 8,c4 ,p4 ,r40 is understood by every passer-by and the house-flag of the ,company's fleet is known upon the seven seas of the world4 ,about this tremendous expansion and a few of the men back of it we may study more in the next chapter4 ,,chapter ,,xiv ,the ,guiding ,hands ,nothing runs itself unless it is running down hill4 ,this saying may be contradicted by advocates of 8blind chance0 theories1 but1 generally speaking1 it will be accepted as a practically accurate statement of all movements4 ,the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway ,company has never allowed things to run themselves4 ,strong minds and resolute hands were always at work1 and nothing was permitted to run unguided and uncontrolled4 ,if this vast transportation system has become one of the wonders of the modern world1 it has not just happened1 but it is the result of a deliberate and a well-ordered plan in which an intelligent sense of personal responsibility for one's own share of work is recognized as imperative in order that the whole system may be a success4 ,a human being is not1 as is sometimes said1 a cog in the wheel1 but a living link in the chain of business causation4 ,every one's work in every occupation is monotonous in one sense1 and in many cases it seems to the worker that his or her task is of very little importance4 ,but one can never estimate the value of work by superficial standards1 for the man or woman who gives a telephone number or raps out a message on the key may be the means of transmitting messages that will change the face of the world4 ,the ,canadian ,pacific has endeavoured1 with a large measure of success1 to magnify the significance of every worker's task and create a feeling of esprit de corps in its great army of over one hundred thousand workers4 ,hence1 for instance1 ,i was not surprised to hear that in a certain city when a merchant had made a foul public attack on the ,company1 a host of the ,company's employees stayed away from that merchant's store4 ,they were of the company that had been unfairly attacked1 and they were not going to stand for it4 ,it was in that spirit1 ,i suppose1 that ,mr4 ,van ,horne's faithful porter1 already mentioned1 used to put himself along with his 8boss10 and speak of both in the expression 8we railway men40 ,all this means that1 from the beginning1 the ,company knew that it would owe its success not to any one man1 however great1 but to the many who1 though guided generally by one dominating force1 would be in particular directed by the heads of the various departments4 ,in the world's oldest ,book1 advice of a sage character was given to ,moses1 the greatest human leader our world has known1 by ,jethro1 his father-in-law4 ,the wise old chief saw that ,moses was going to break down because he was trying to do everything himself4 ,and he told ,moses that1 in order that he might have time and strength for the heavy task of leadership1 he 7,moses7 should share the responsibility with others by 8choosing out of all the people able men1 and by making them captains over hundreds and fifties and tens40 ,the ,book which contained that wise advice was a text-book in the schools of ,scotland when ,george ,stephen1 the first ,president of the ,canadian ,pacific1 was brought up1 and one does not need much imagination to see that such a maxim of wisdom became almost unconsciously part of his being4 ,in any case1 when he came to be burdened with the ,presidency of the great railway1 he practised the advice and passed it on also to others4 ,hence it was that he brought ,mr4 ,van ,horne to take over part of the burden4 ,stephen knew his own limitations4 ,he could raise money1 but he could not build railways4 ,hence also we find this same ,stephen1 as we have seen1 advising ,van ,horne to put some of his load on others2 and so ,shaughnessy1 the ,general ,purchasing ,agent1 moved up to be ,mr4 ,van ,horne's first great assistant and understudy1 in line to be 8the ,king of ,railway ,presidents0 in his time4 ,the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway system has now over one hundred thousand people on its payroll1 and their remuneration means a monthly expenditure by the ,company of nearly eight millions of dollars--an almost incredible sum--for salaries and wages of employees every thirty days4 ,it would be manifestly impossible to give any more than a few outstanding names from this formidable host1 and even they would be given with the feeling that they were only representatives of the host of men and women who in all departments have been1 for these four decades1 carrying on their work in a splendid way4 ,titles are now under the ban in ,canada1 but before that era of extreme democracy arrived1 the ,crown had recognized the ,imperial services of the following men associated with the ,company3 ,lords ,mount ,stephen1 ,strathcona and ,shaughnessy1 ,sir ,william ,van ,horne1 ,sir ,thomas ,tait1 ,sir ,george ,bury1 ,sir ,george ,mc,laren ,brown1 ,sir ,arthur ,harris1 ,sir ,william ,whyte1 ,sir ,augustus ,nanton1 ,sir ,james ,aitkens1 ,sir ,e4 ,b4 ,osler1 ,sir ,john ,eaton1 ,sir ,vincent ,meredith and ,sir ,herbert ,holt4 ,mr4 ,w4 ,r4 ,baker1 who excelled in social qualities during royal visits1 was given a decoration by our present ,king4 ,but following out our theory as to the importance of every place in service1 my recollections swing from the contemplation of the work done by men of such remarkable ability and initiative as those above named1 without whom the road could not have succeeded1 and ,i recall more men than ,i could possibly mention in many volumes who out in the humbler places did their enormously important work4 ,many an hour1 for instance1 did ,i spend on the back platforms of the last coach on the old ,southern ,manitoba trains with ,charlie ,panser1 than whom no better or more reliable roadmaster ever watched the ties and spikes and fish plates and switches anywhere4 ,nothing escaped his attention1 and his little notebook recorded his observations in his own way4 ,and ,i think in that connection of all the maintenance-of-way or section men1 whose faithful labours through summer heat and winter cold keep the road-bed in amazingly perfect order4 ,i have seen them fighting blizzards on the prairie and watching washouts or slides in the mountains1 and all with such astonishing success that there is no more safe roadway in the world than the ,canadian ,pacific4 ,i look back in another direction and see old ,gideon ,swain1 a big1 powerful man1 who1 despite his 8rheumatics10 was general custodian and guard at the old ,winnipeg station4 ,he looked after everybody4 ,he was as gentle as a woman in looking after children and their travel-weary parents1 but woe betide the tough or loafer who tried to impose on the kindly old gentleman in whose big-hearted organism there slumbered a volcanic energy against wrong4 ,once ,i was there when the old board platform was cracking in a forty-below-zero morning4 ,swain was assisting some ladies and children on a train when two 8smart0 men came into the circle and began to swear about something4 ,turning round the old station-guard1 who looked like a mountain in his coonskin coat1 raised the big stick he always carried and told them in a thunderous voice to 8shut up with talk like that before children40 ,the men tried to explain1 but ,swain would have none of it1 and they simply had to subside and move away with the best grace possible1 to escape the wrath of the guardian of the children4 ,possibly1 like old ,constable ,richards of the ,windsor ,street ,station in ,montreal1 of whom ,george ,ham writes so fondly1 he too has found congenial work beyond the ,great ,divide where they have both gone4 ,incidentally1 that is a fine human story of old ,constable ,richards telling ,lord ,shaughnessy at the station gate in ,montreal1 when the ,president was returning from a trip1 that he1 the old keeper1 had been overlooked when others had got an increase of pay1 which apparently under regulations could not go to ,richards1 who was being kept on over the age-limit4 ,the ,president1 keeping some big people waiting1 listened to the old gate-keeper's story attentively4 ,the next day ,richards was delighted to get an envelope with notice of increase1 and the back pay1 but he never knew that ,lord ,shaughnessy was paying it out of his own pocket4 ,i have singled out these few men from the rank and file1 but they are representative of the loyalty and devotion of thousands in the various departments4 ,like them also in this do we find the locomotive engineers and trainmen--steady1 careful1 cool-nerved men1 who know their duty and do it4 ,gentlemanly conductors are there1 also porters1 waiters and the rest1 who all take pride in the road over which they have their runs4 ,and back of it all are the men in the great workshops1 like the 8,angus10 in ,montreal1 and 8,ogden10 in ,calgary1 and others all across the continent1 the roundhouses1 divisional quarters and similar establishments1 where engines and cars are builded and repairs of all kinds made4 ,then we have the 8live-wire0 people in the telegraph department1 and so on through all the ramifications of a vast organization2 but all enter into the life of the system and make it a marvel of co-operative efficiency4 ,doubtless there are many here and there amongst these employees who growl in regard to some of the conditions of their employment4 ,so have we found men in a military regiment here and there who exercised their privilege of complaining against the conditions of their service4 ,but in both cases let an outsider attack their organization and the esprit de corps and regimental pride will assert itself so that the man who ventures on criticism does well if he escapes without some injury4 ,we have thus taken a hurried survey of this great host of people in the employ of the ,canadian ,pacific4 ,but we must not forget that they have been1 through these years1 marshalled and led by remarkable men all over the system4 ,it is a well-organized army with its parts all closely linked up and related1 so that there is a place for every one and every one has to fill that place according to the measure of his ability4 ,we have written in some fullness already about ,sir ,william ,van ,horne1 because as ,general ,manager he was the guiding hand in the great days when the construction of the main line was carried to completion1 and because1 both as ,manager and ,president1 he began the big task of creating conditions for the support and extension of the road4 ,branch line feeders in the ,west1 and ,eastern ,canadian1 as well as ,american1 connections1 were established and the ,pacific shipping service well inaugurated in his day4 ,notable lines1 such as the ,crow's ,nest through the ,kootenay ,valley1 and the 8,soo0 ,line1 from near ,moose ,jaw on the prairies to the ,united ,states1 had been established4 ,van ,horne had said that he would never leave the ,canadian ,pacific until 8it was out of the woods40 ,by #ahig or so things were looking well for the ,road4 ,stock had run up to par and the land sales for the first time had begun to be worth while as a source of revenue for the ,company4 ,it was evident that ,van ,horne was beginning about that time to consider modifying his relation to the ,railway1 and that was so for two or three apparent reasons4 ,the first was that the ,company was never the same to him after ,mount ,stephen had withdrawn from the ,directorate4 ,van ,horne missed him terribly on personal grounds4 ,the second was that ,van ,horne's powers were more creative than administrative and he knew it4 ,he delighted in making a new thing go1 but once it was going well he had a sort of distaste for the detail of keeping it going4 ,he was more interested in putting a road across the country than in running it4 ,he loved the ,canadian ,pacific and knew quite well that his lieutenant1 ,shaughnessy1 could do the intensive development work and the detailed administration work better than he himself could4 ,shaughnessy was ten years younger and much more active4 ,in fact ,van ,horne wished1 for the good of the ,company1 to hand the leadership of it to ,mr4 ,shaughnessy as early as #ahie1 but ,shaughnessy persuaded him to stay on till the ,company was more firmly established4 ,and besides1 ,mr4 ,van ,horne1 who said he had wealth enough1 wished not only to devote more time to the fine art of painting and other artistic tastes1 but to follow up his farm and similar hobbies4 ,moreover1 he saw in such places as the island of ,cuba and in other industries than railroading in ,canada1 opportunities for exercising his restless creative habit of mind4 ,illustration3 ,i4 ,g4 ,,ogden ,vice ,pres4 of ,finance ,,grant ,,hall ,vice ,president ,w4 ,r4 ,,macinnes ,vice ,pres4 in ,charge of ,traffic ,e4 ,w4 ,,beatty ,president ,a4 ,d4 ,,mactier ,vice ,president ,eastern ,lines ,d4 ,c4 ,,coleman ,vice ,president ,western ,lines ,,sir ,,george ,mc,l,a,r,e,n ,,brown ,european ,gen'l ,m'g'r ,the ,present ,management ,accordingly we find this ,sir ,william ,cornelius ,van ,horne1 who had started in railroad work at the age of fourteen in another country1 and had made such a world-record in constructive enterprises that he received the special recognition of knighthood from the ,british ,crown1 voluntarily resigning in ,june1 #ahii1 from the ,presidency of the vast transportation system he had done so much to create and develop4 ,he remained as chairman of the ,board and a member of the ,executive1 retaining his office in the ,company headquarters at ,montreal and saying to his friends1 8,i shall still hang around the old stand40 ,i recall reading a statement made by ,edward ,gibbon when1 after years of work1 he finished his world-famous book on the ,roman ,empire4 ,he said that when he had written the last page he took a turn in his garden4 ,his first sensation was a feeling of relief over the completion of the great task1 and then a feeling of something like exultation over what he knew to be an important contribution to the historical literature of the world4 ,and then1 he says1 he realized a sense of loneliness because he would no longer have his wonderfully congenial daily work1 and a sense of loss because something had gone out of his life as a finished chapter in his career4 ,i think that ,van ,horne felt all that1 when he gave up the ,presidency of the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway1 and to say so is much to his credit4 ,he missed something out of his life4 ,he began to plan trips to fill up the blank1 but not very successfully1 as we judge from the following account of a visit he paid to ,monterey in his private car after having seen ,california4 ,he says1 8,i went out on the verandah of the hotel and smoked a big cigar4 ,then ,i got up1 walked about the verandah and looked at the scenery4 ,it was very fine4 ,then ,i sat down and smoked another cigar4 ,then up again2 another walk about the verandah1 and more scenery4 ,it was still very fine4 ,i sat down again and smoked another cigar4 ,then ,i jumped up and telephoned for my car to be coupled to the next train2 and1 by ,george1 ,i was never so happy in my life as when ,i struck the ,c4 ,p4 ,r4 again40 ,there is humour in this1 but there is pathos also4 ,van ,horne was too keen-minded a man not to have foreseen this situation4 ,and we repeat1 as a lasting proof of his devotion to the ,canadian ,pacific1 that when there came the hour when he felt it was in the interests of the ,railway to transfer the growingly intensive and complex detail of its administration to the sinewy business hands of ,shaughnessy1 whose amazing powers as a financial administrator and master of detail had been amply tested through seventeen eventful years of the railway's history1 ,van ,horne resigned from the ,presidency4 ,and thus it was that ,shaughnessy became ,president in ,june1 #ahii4 ,from this date1 although ,van ,horne remained on the ,executive1 he in large measure passed out of the story of the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway4 ,he retained all his financial interests in the ,road1 and was always ready to assist as ,chairman at ,board meetings by counsel2 but to all intents and purposes he felt he had done his share and was now1 by his own choice1 handing the work over to his successor4 ,but to a man of ,van ,horne's initiative and creative talent1 idleness was unthinkable1 and so1 when he had unloaded the heavier burden1 he took up some others less weighty1 for exercise to keep himself fit4 ,accordingly we find him going into such concerns as the ,laurentide ,pulp ,company and the ,windsor ,salt ,company1 and with his usual energy he made them successful4 ,then he went to ,cuba as a free lance1 and by building railways and other industries he did more for ,cuba1 as has been said1 than ,spain had done in centuries4 ,he continued to reside in ,montreal1 busy with many projects1 and when the end of life was at hand he said in effect what ,cecil ,rhodes1 whom he somewhat resembled in driving power1 had said3 8,so little done2 so much to do40 ,what ,van ,horne actually did say was1 8,i see so much to do that ,i wish ,i could keep active for five hundred years40 ,but this strong scion of ,netherland stock had done a great day's work1 and his high place in the temple of railway fame is secure for all time4 ,though of ,dutch descent and ,american birth1 he had become a ,british ,empire builder under the ,red ,cross flag2 but his dust reposes in the old graveyard of his people in ,joliet4 ,on the day of his funeral every wheel on the vast ,canadian ,pacific system came to a stop in silent tribute to the memory of a ,napoleonic fighter in the fields of peaceful industry4 ,his legal advisor and friend through many years1 ,george ,tate ,blackstock1 of ,toronto1 himself a man of most unusual ability1 bore testimony to 8the stupendous virility of his conceptions and exertions40 8,he had his faults10 said ,blackstock1 and he indicates an approach to egotism in many of ,van ,horne's sweeping statements1 but it was not the 8egotism of impotence1 but of power40 ,and there is a place in the battle of life for self-assertion of the right kind4 ,we have already met in these pages his successor1 ,mr4 ,thomas ,g4 ,shaughnessy4 ,in most ways he was unlike ,van ,horne4 ,born in ,milwaukee1 of ,irish descent1 he was tall and athletic in appearance1 and altogether different in that respect from the stocky and heavily-built descendant of ,holland4 ,a newspaper friend of mine1 ,mr4 ,hope ,ross1 of ,winnipeg1 in a reminiscent article on ,lord ,shaughnessy1 has the following interesting note on his appearance and manner1 which carries out the impression made by the same ,shaughnessy as a young man on ,mr4 ,e4 ,a4 ,james and noted in an earlier chapter4 ,mr4 ,ross says3 8,many years ago ,sir ,thomas1 as he was then1 arrived in ,winnipeg depot with a party1 and an inexperienced reporter at once picked him out as the leader4 ,his dress1 his quick manner1 his general appearance1 his commanding demeanour1 his attitude1 all indicated and revealed his position4 ,as to his dress1 ,president ,shaughnessy seemed on every occasion that ,i ever saw him as though he had just stepped from the band box4 ,everything he wore looked as though put on that moment for the first time4 ,no one would1 however1 suggest that he was overdressed1 but just perfectly1 as the successful head of a great corporation should be4 8,in his general appearance ,sir ,thomas was the incarnation of prosperous big business4 ,in nearly twenty years' reporting around the ,canadian ,pacific depot1 and later about the ,royal ,alexandra ,hotel1 ,i met no ,eastern banker1 railway executive1 manufacturer1 statesman1 or other who seemed to personify and embody what is known as the business power of the ,east as he did40 ,it was this appearance and type of the ,president that gave ,punch the opportunity to make the famous cartoon1 8,the ,canadian ,pacific40 ,the cartoon was just a fine upstanding photograph of ,lord ,shaughnessy4 ,he was an embodiment of the vast system of transportation1 and ,punch had caught the right idea1 as usual4 ,generally speaking1 the opinion of many--perhaps of most people1 about ,lord ,shaughnessy--was that he was a keen1 swift and rather hard man4 ,he could be all that on occasion1 and he was usually dignified in his manner1 as became the head of a great enterprise4 ,but those who knew him well say he was one of the kindest of men4 ,temperamentally he was generous1 and was always ready to give assistance to those in need1 or1 as ,george ,ham put it1 ,shaughnessy helped many 8a lame dog over the stile10 and said nothing about it4 ,but the fact remains that the popular impression1 as we have indicated1 was that he was keen and rather hard and that impression was a quite wrong deduction1 due to his distinguished manner and detached attitude4 ,it is well to remember that he was head of an immense army1 and that discipline requires a certain amount of dignity in the officer commanding4 ,to have that and also to possess the warm human heart is to have an ideal officer1 like 8,the ,beloved ,captain10 as painted for us in ,donald ,hankey's famous book of war experiences4 ,here again ,i quote from the article written by ,mr4 ,ross as it illustrates well the many-sidedness of the dignified railway ,president4 ,mr4 ,ross says3 8,a little incident of which ,i was apparently the sole ,winnipeg witness1 in connection with ,sir ,thomas1 occurred on a perfect ,may morning4 ,the ,president was to arrive and did arrive on a special train from ,montreal1 shortly before eight o'clock1 and ,i caught him just as he stepped from his car4 ,as usual he was courteous and ready to talk to the press and said that if ,i would wait until after breakfast he would answer any questions ,i could ask4 ,his car1 the ,killarney1 was left standing on the track closest to the depot4 ,the rear was all glass1 and all the members of his party1 seated at the breakfast table--there were not more than four or five--were in full view4 ,taking no chances ,i remained in close proximity1 waiting for the end of the meal when the interview would be obtainable4 ,there was at that time no train shed at the ,canadian ,pacific depot and there was a wide expanse of board walk4 ,at the moment of the little incident to which ,i refer this sidewalk was absolutely clear4 ,strange to say1 there was not a red cap nor a ,canadian ,pacific police or official of any kind in sight4 ,a local train was standing on one track1 well loaded1 and ready to pull out in a few moments4 8,suddenly ,i saw ,sir ,thomas arise and come quickly out of the car4 ,believing that he was coming to meet his appointment with me1 ,i went forward4 ,he passed me by saying #8,not yet4' ,i then noticed that a slight1 small1 foreign woman1 in a worn1 discoloured cotton dress1 carrying her possessions in a white sheet1 a big package about three feet high and three feet wide at the widest1 and with four small children1 was making her way across the expanse of sidewalk4 ,the conductor had just given the signal for departure4 ,sir ,thomas hurried to the side of the woman1 gave a signal to the trainmen1 took the huge bundle in the white sheet in one hand and one of the children by the other1 helped the woman to the train1 handed the white bundle to the brakeman1 lifted the four children up the steps1 aided the foreign woman up1 and returned to his breakfast4 ,a little later he was telling me in his private car of the plans of the ,company for immigration work that year1 about the new lines that were to be built1 betterments which were to be made1 and the prospects for the future in the prairie country1 then humming with prosperity and brimming over with optimism40 ,i can quite imagine this scene at the old station ,i knew well in the early days4 ,it was not then so ornate or so much protected by fences and gates1 but it afforded opportunities for deeds of the kind recorded above4 ,it was a fine1 but perfectly spontaneous act1 on the part of the famous ,president1 who saw from his private car the plight of the immigrant mother4 ,mr4 ,ross adds another story which reveals a depth of feeling in this great ,president1 which even the reporter who had been in touch with him for years had not discovered4 ,sir ,william ,whyte1 that princely man who had been such a tower of strength to the ,canadian ,pacific in its most difficult days1 and who had not long before retired when two years over the age limit1 had passed away somewhat suddenly during a visit to ,california4 ,the funeral was1 of course1 in ,winnipeg1 where he had been the foremost citizen4 ,incidentally those of us who knew ,sir ,william ,whyte say a hearty amen to the allusion made to him by ,mr4 ,ross in the following paragraph3 8,sir ,thomas ,shaughnessy had none of the official manner when ,i met him in his private office here on the day of the funeral of ,sir ,william ,whyte4 ,sir ,william had been a father to me1 as he was to a good many younger men1 and his death and burial concerned me much more than as a matter of news4 ,sir ,thomas was obviously profoundly moved and ,i had a different feeling with reference to him always afterwards4 ,he was never again the military dictatorial head and ,president of the corporation in my feeling with reference to him40 ,this mention of ,lord ,shaughnessy and ,sir ,william ,whyte leads me to recall an incident of which both these railway men were part4 ,both held very strongly that the use of intoxicating drink should be pared down to the minimum if it was used at all4 ,once ,i recall that certain saloons in the ,north ,end of ,winnipeg were enticing the employees of the railway to their premises by putting out notices that pay cheques would be cashed after bank hours4 ,and one bitter winter night a railway employee who had used the proceeds of his cheque too freely for liquor was found frozen to death in the back-yard of the saloon4 ,i saw ,mr4 ,whyte about it the next day and he was furious over the action of the saloon keepers4 ,he said1 8,we will change our method of payment1 if necessary1 for the welfare of the men and their families1 and perhaps make drinking a dismissable offence whether on or off duty4 ,trainmen and others off duty may be called up for duty any time and they ought to be fit in order to avoid danger to themselves and others40 ,one day when both ,shaughnessy and ,whyte were on a train which stopped at ,moose ,jaw1 where the ,company had a hotel at the station1 ,shaughnessy saw some trainmen entering the bar-room4 ,he called to the ,general ,manager of ,western ,lines 7that was part of ,mr4 ,whyte's title7 and said1 8,whyte1 close up that bar40 ,whyte asked1 8,now or at the closing hour of the day80 ,and ,shaughnessy said1 8,close it now1 and do not allow it ever to open again40 ,it is quite well known that ,lord ,shaughnessy would not tolerate the practice of drink or any habits usually associated with it4 ,lord ,shaughnessy's power as an executive officer lay partly in the characteristics indicated already1 but mainly in his tremendous prestige as a man of business whose ability as such was acknowledged the world over4 ,when he was ,general ,purchasing ,agent for the ,company he introduced a system of accounting which is said to have been adopted by the ,corporation of the ,city of ,new ,york4 ,there was no movement in the world of finance that he did not know about1 and his mastery of the complex problem of international credits1 led to his being called into the councils of the ,empire both in peace and war4 ,during the nineteen years of his ,presidency1 the ,canadian ,pacific was brought into a system of operation which was the last word in efficiency1 so that1 as already mentioned1 he was called 8,king of ,railway ,presidents0 on this continent1 where the biggest railway interests of the world are in operation4 ,his services in the years of the ,great ,war are spoken of more fully in a chapter on that special subject4 ,little wonder then1 that this famous chief executive officer of the ,canadian ,pacific was honoured by the ,king1 first by knighthood and later by a peerage under the title ,baron ,shaughnessy1 ,k4,c4,v4,o41 of ,montreal1 ,canada1 and of ,ashford1 ,county ,limerick1 ,ireland4 ,when the ,great ,war1 which left him with a proud1 but wounded1 heart because of the death of his gallant son1 ,fred1 at the ,front was well over and things became more normal1 ,lord ,shaughnessy felt that he should relinquish the ,presidency4 ,his age and strength admonished him that he should take things easier and call a younger man to the office to deal with the tremendous problems of the reconstruction period4 ,so1 after forty-one years of service with the road1 he retired in #aiah from the ,presidency1 which he had occupied since #ahii1 but he retained to the end the office of ,chairman of the ,executive ,board4 ,mr4 ,e4 ,w4 ,beatty was called to the place in succession to the 8,king of ,presidents0 and is proving that the choice was a wise one4 ,later on we shall write more particularly of ,mr4 ,beatty1 this youngest ,president of such an immense organization4 ,it was characteristic of ,lord ,shaughnessy to insist1 despite ,mr4 ,beatty's protest1 on the young ,president taking the large and ornate office room which ,presidents had always occupied4 ,lord ,shaughnessy kept busy at his office in the ,board room every day in ,montreal1 till a sudden weakness of the heart carried him away after a few hours illness1 on ,december #ajth1 #aibc4 ,few incidents in the thrilling history of this pioneer transcontinental ,canadian railway are so wonderfully touching and1 in a true sense1 dramatic1 as the incident connected with ,lord ,shaughnessy's death4 ,mr4 ,beatty was in to see him shortly before the end came1 and to ,mr4 ,beatty ,lord ,shaughnessy said3 8,take good care of the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway4 ,it is a great ,canadian property and a great ,canadian enterprise40 ,there is nobility and solemnity in the incident4 ,it was a long way from the entrance of young ,shaughnessy to the ,milwaukee ,railway1 at the age of fifteen1 to that scene in the sick-room in his ,montreal mansion4 ,but he had been put in charge of a great trust in the ,canadian ,pacific1 and to that trust he was 8true till death40 ,the passing of ,lord ,shaughnessy was deeply mourned by the employees of the road1 who were proud of their great 8,chief40 ,and that mourning was practically world-wide4 ,perhaps no better summing up of his career was written than in the ,london ,times editorial1 where1 after speaking of his coming from abroad1 the writer goes on to say3 8,here lies half the romance of ,lord ,shaughnessy's career4 ,born in ,milwaukee1 a citizen of the ,united ,states1 he lived to become not only a citizen of the ,dominion of ,canada across the border1 but most essentially1 a citizen of the ,british ,empire4 ,under his administration the double track branched and extended so as to carry new settlers every year into the farm-lands of ,ontario1 through the gateways of the ,west1 into the wheatfields of the prairies and beyond the ,rockies into the valleys of ,british ,columbia4 ,in building the greatness of the country he served1 he helped to build the greatness of his adopted country and of the ,empire as well4 ,himself an immigrant1 he realized to the full the vital importance to ,canada of a vigorous system of immigration1 and his characteristically outspoken comment on the possibilities that might be achieved under the ,empire ,settlement ,act were in marked distinction to the hesitation of some of the political leaders of the ,dominion4 8,of ,lord ,shaughnessy it may be said that he was a living instance of the manner in which the ,britons overseas assimilate the many elements of which they are composed4 ,he came to ,canada from a foreign country as a servant2 he remained to be honoured by the king to whom he gave such loyal allegiance1 and to be recognized universally among his fellow-countryman as the first citizen of the ,dominion40 ,the mantle of ,lord ,shaughnessy fell upon ,edward ,wentworth ,beatty who1 on ,lord ,shaughnessy's passing1 became ,president and also ,chairman of the ,board4 ,a young man not far over the forties in years was ,mr4 ,beatty when he took up the mantle and assumed the high office of the ,canadian ,pacific ,presidency4 ,first of the ,canadian-born to occupy this responsible position1 he bids fair to measure up fully to all its imperious demands4 ,there are unthinking people in the world who have a sort of compassionate way of wondering whether a man can fill the place of a great predecessor4 ,but in reality each man fills his own place1 and by the full play of his own individuality makes his own contribution to history4 ,each may do work his predecessor could not have done1 and1 while keeping up a continuity1 each brings a new force into the march of human progress4 ,it may be interesting in this connection to recall and summarize the work of these men who1 up to this date1 have headed the ,canadian ,pacific4 ,hence an extract from an article by the present writer on the subject1 in the press recently1 may be introduced in line with the statement just made3 8,these four presidents were of different types in many ways1 and of quite distinctive talents1 but they seemed to be specially suited for the work which each was called upon to do in the given period in which he exercised the duties of his high office4 8,stephen was a master of finance1 whose authority in that realm was recognized by every one1 and whose integrity was beyond question4 ,in executive boldness he was not the equal of some others on the road1 but the questions he had to face were largely financial4 8,it was the period when the great railway1 owing to the terrific cost of construction and practical impossibility of selling land was1 financially speaking1 gasping for breath4 ,stephen's mastery of financial problems and his high repute in the world of business made him the man for the hour4 8,so consummate a master of finance was he that before he relinquished the office of ,president1 every dollar loaned by the ,dominion ,government to tide the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway over the sandbars of construction time was repaid4 8,mr4 ,van ,horne1 who succeeded ,stephen in the ,presidency1 was particularly gifted in the powers required for the period when1 although the main line was completed from coast to coast1 an enormous amount of work was required in creating traffic1 constructing branch-line feeders1 as well as a large amount of inspection of all lines1 the replacement of temporary by more permanent track and bridge equipment and such like4 ,in such work ,mr4 ,van ,horne had no equal4 8,mr4 ,shaughnessy1 who came next1 brought to the ,presidency his brilliant business gifts1 the experience through which he had passed as ,purchasing ,agent in the critical days1 as well as extraordinary foresight and withal a determination to maintain the financial stability of the road4 8,once1 when a ,winnipeg newspaper man asked him why the ,canadian ,pacific had not launched out into certain projects of railway building in a new direction1 he said3 #8,the future is always uncertain1 and an executive must always be prepared to meet contingencies that may arise and circumstances that may emerge4 ,the ,canadian ,pacific is a very large enterprise1 and its success is so vital to ,canada that we must exercise due caution4 ,the surplus assets and the liquid assets must be kept in a condition to meet all emergencies4' 8,mr4 ,beatty had come to the ,presidency in a new day1 when legal as well as financial problems are numerous4 ,mr4 ,beatty is an experienced railway lawyer1 as well as a keen man of business4 ,he is cool rather than impetuous4 ,he has a personality as suggestive of reserve power as an engine with steam up ready to go when the time comes4 ,but he will make no hasty and premature rushes at anything4 ,he speaks well in private and in public and he is thinking all the time4 ,he has become a leading figure1 but he will never become diffuse or aimless in his thinking or speaking4 ,he has his powers harnessed and so under his control that he will not be thrown off the track by outside forces4 ,he will go far in the railway world40 ,new occasions teach new duties1 and the present railway situation in ,canada is unprecedented4 ,president ,beatty is evidently treading firmly1 but cautiously1 along a new trail and his self-control and keen study of the situation indicate a remarkable insight and foresight which will make for a great tenure of a tremendously potent position4 ,biographically it may be noted that ,mr4 ,beatty is the son of a noted steamship operator on the inland seas of ,ontario4 ,the future ,president had good opportunity for education in ,thorold and ,toronto ,university1 before he entered on the study of law in the office of ,adam ,creelman1 who was counsel in ,toronto for the ,canadian ,pacific4 ,when ,mr4 ,creelman moved to headquarters at ,montreal1 he took ,mr4 ,beatty with him4 ,mr4 ,beatty's ability and devotion to work made his promotion to the position of ,chief ,counsel and a ,vice-,presidency rapid4 ,he so studied every phase of the ,company's great system that his succession to the ,presidency came in natural sequence4 ,it goes without saying that all the ,presidents were aided and advised by an exceedingly able staff of wise and experienced men4 ,where there is such a host1 it is manifestly impossible to even mention many without seeming 8to make invidious distinctions10 as a student once answered when he declined to name the major and the minor prophets on an examination paper4 ,but1 in addition to those whose names appear elsewhere in these chapters1 a high place amongst the early men who helped to really build up the ,canadian ,pacific is given by general consent to ,david ,mc,nicoll4 ,once when a friend in ,ontario referred to him as 8,dave0 he followed it up by saying that they went to school together in ,arbroath1 ,scotland1 and that 8,dave0 always had great ability4 ,after some experience on a railway in the ,old ,land1 ,mc,nicoll joined the ,canadian ,pacific in #ahhc1 when times were hard4 ,he rose steadily to be a ,vice-,president and ,general ,manager4 ,he was an encyclopedia on all matters pertaining to the road1 studied maps till the whole country was an open book to him1 and he became known as an incessant worker with all the grim determination and reliance of his race4 ,he met difficult situations without flinching1 and was a tower of strength to the road till he practically broke his health through excessive toil4 ,his work is commemorated by ,port ,mc,nicoll1 as ,mr4 ,r4 ,b4 ,angus and ,mr4 ,i4 ,g4 ,ogden are commemorated in the great shops bearing their names4 ,illustration3 ,the late ,,david ,mc,n,i,c,o,l,l ,vice ,president and ,general ,manager ,the late ,r4 ,b4 ,angus ,former ,officers ,then we have such men as ,vice-,presidents ,w4 ,r4 ,mc,innes1 with the ,company since #ahhe2 ,george ,m4 ,bosworth1 head of the ,pacific ,ocean services2 ,grant ,hall1 with the railway since #ahhf1 a mechanical genius2 ,a4 ,d4 ,mc,tier1 who began clerking in the baggage department in #ahhg1 and is now ,vice-,president1 a man of vision2 ,mr4 ,d4 ,c4 ,coleman1 who started as clerk in the engineering department at ,fort ,william and who is now ,vice-,president at ,winnipeg1 a man with much literary taste and a hobby for collecting books2 ,charles ,r4 ,hosmer1 who organized the telegraph service at the beginning2 and others whose names will emerge in the closing chapter1 with some account of a few special features in the life of the road4 ,one does not forget the press service embodied in ,col4 ,george ,h4 ,ham1 who has popularized the ,railway in many lands1 nor ,george ,murray ,gibbon1 a writer of ability1 who now presides over the publicity department at ,montreal4 ,all over the immense system ,i can see the faces of men in all departments who were and are contributing to the success and boundless efficiency of this world-wide organization4 ,they do not tolerate carelessness1 in themselves or others1 and1 to an extraordinary degree1 they are imbued with the spirit of the great leaders of the ,company who sought to make the whole system a builder of ,empire and a contributing factor to the well-being of the world4 ,,chapter ,,xv ,the ,wonders of the ,deep ,the world's literature in all the ages has much to say about the mystery and the wonder and the power of the sea4 ,in ancient days ,homer made frequent use of the expression1 8the loud resounding sea10 and1 in modern times1 ,byron apostrophizes the unconquerable ocean and seems glad to think that while 8,man marks the earth with ruin2 ,his control stops with the shore40 ,but here1 as elsewhere1 the language of writers who have the ,theistic view of things strongly developed is supreme for its vividness and power4 ,thus we find the ,psalmist saying1 8,they that go down to the sea in ships and do business in great waters1 these behold the works of the ,lord and his wonders in the deep40 ,no finer reflection of that saying has been seen in our day than the verses1 8,there's a schooner in the offing ,and her topsail's shot with fire ,and my soul has gone aboard her ,for the ,isle of my desire4 8,i must forth again at midnight1 ,and to-morrow ,i shall be ,hull down on the trail of rapture ,mid the wonders of the sea40 8,the ,western ,sea0 beyond the sunset shore of ,british ,north ,america always had a romantic and fascinating attraction for explorers and navigators4 ,as indicated in a previous chapter1 the hope of discovering a north-west passage by a sea channel from the ,atlantic to the ,pacific had lured some of the most dauntless navigators to hardship and death a few centuries ago4 ,there is a picture somewhere of an old sea-rover in uniform and decorations1 studying a map of ,british ,north ,america on which his clenched1 determined hand rests1 and underneath he is represented as saying1 in this regard1 to his eager little grandson1 8,this must be done1 and ,britain must do it40 ,well1 ,britain's seamen discovered1 after endless persistence1 that there was no north-west passage by sea4 ,but gallant ,british explorers who remembered the motto on a famous battle-axe1 8,i either find a way or make one10 rested not till they forced a pathway by land to the ocean of their dreams4 ,for nearly a century after ,alexander ,mackenzie1 the indomitable ,stornaway ,scot1 made the pioneer trail to the ,west ,coast1 8from ,canada by land in #agic10 a limited trade was carried on laboriously1 by trail and canoe and packhorse1 in the mountain region4 ,but when ,canada was brought into a ,confederation by linking together the old ,provinces in the ,east1 men of vision saw the vast possibilities of the ,western seaboard4 ,in #ahea1 as already noted1 ,joseph ,howe1 in ,nova ,scotia1 had outlined the future in a vivid word-painting and caused others to see the ever expanding destiny of ,british ,america4 ,he pictured the day when not only would 8the whistle of the locomotive be heard in the heart of the ,rocky ,mountains10 but when ,canadian enterprise would reach out to trade with the teeming millions of the ,orient that lay facing the ,pacific shore4 ,nor should we forget that ,sir ,hugh ,allan1 the master-trader on the ,atlantic out of ,montreal1 long ago coveted for ,canada a business not only trans-,atlantic and trans-continental1 but trans-,pacific as well4 ,these visions of trans-,pacific trade and passenger traffic came to swift realization soon after the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway reached tide-water at ,port ,moody1 on the ,west ,coast1 on ,july #dth1 #ahhf4 ,port ,moody1 as we have seen1 was the legal terminus of the steel trail across ,canada4 ,the ,company sent a live-wire agent to ,port ,moody to look after the freight and passenger traffic4 ,this agent was a young man named ,david ,e4 ,brown1 who now lives retired in a beautiful home in ,vancouver1 appropriately named 8,the ,bunkers10 and appropriately situated in the locality called ,shaughnessy ,heights4 ,brown was born of ,scottish parents in the ,county of ,grey1 in ,ontario1 and still retains1 on occasion1 the distinctive accent of his people4 ,he learned the way of ,western railroading under that soldierly man1 ,mr4 ,robert ,kerr1 a great handler of freight traffic at ,winnipeg1 and ,brown made such a place for himself in the esteem of his chief that he was assigned to the farthest strategic point where the rails struck tide-water at ,port ,moody4 ,it was a great chance for a young man1 and ,brown had the will and the ability to make the most of it4 ,accustomed to handling freight inland1 he was now to tackle coast traffic all along ,british ,columbia and up to ,alaska1 for his line4 ,and1 to add to his responsibilities1 he was only three weeks at ,port ,moody when a sailing brig1 the ,w4 ,b4 ,flint1 an #hjj-ton clipper with a 8,blue-nose skipper10 tied up at the wharf with a cargo of tea from ,yokohama1 to be shipped over the new ,canadian ,pacific ,railway to the ,east4 ,in some places and at some periods in our day the arrival of a brig with #hjj tons of cargo would seem a quite insignificant event1 but the prow of that particular brig clove open a new doorway to world commerce4 ,she did not belong to the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway1 but led the way from the ,orient for the ,company's steel-clad coursers which now bridge the oceans and link four continents under the ensign of the greatest transportation system in the world4 ,but all that was not done in one day4 ,following the pathfinding ,w4 ,b4 ,flint to ,port ,moody in that ,july of #ahhf1 came two other sailing vessels with similar cargo1 only that the ,oroyo1 the last of the three1 had its cargo so badly damaged by water1 through imperfect hatches1 that it was not worth much4 ,brown1 the young agent1 had some things to learn as to what constituted delivery and acceptance of cargo in such a case1 but he met the situation so well that the ,railway came out safely in the end4 ,it was perhaps this resourceful handling of a new kind of business that so attracted the attention of headquarters at ,montreal to the young agent at ,port ,moody that they sent ,brown to the ,antipodes and the ,orient to work up business for the ,railway from those regions4 ,this was an eventful commission1 but before we follow ,mr4 ,brown on the trip let us go back and see how the traffic from the ,orient began with the three sailing vessels that came to ,port ,moody in #ahhf4 ,it was through the ,new ,york firm of ,everett1 ,frazar ,co41 who had some connection in ,yokohama1 that ,montreal headquarters of the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway brought this about4 ,it looks like the work of the persistent1 courageous and far-seeing ,van ,horne4 ,he used to say that he was 8going to make it possible to send a traveller around the world on one ticket over one system40 ,and1 no doubt1 he also determined that as much as they could secure of the world's freight traffic would be routed over the same far-flung lines of travel4 ,he must have planned with his usual daring1 because the tea clipper reached ,port ,moody on ,july #bjth1 #ahhf1 and the first through train from ,montreal had only arrived there on ,july #dth4 ,it would have been awkward if the cargo of tea from ,japan had to be dumped on the primitive wharf with no train in sight to carry that cargo to its destination in ,eastern ,canada4 ,perhaps1 too1 it was ,mr4 ,van ,horne who1 through ,mr4 ,george ,olds1 of the traffic department1 sent ,brown to the ,orient4 ,anyway1 ,i have had the privilege of seeing a sheaf of personal1 intimate autograph letters from ,van ,horne to ,brown1 extending over many years and discussing in the most delightful and self-revealing way1 such artistic subjects as ,chinese vases1 pottery1 antiques and curios1 in which both were interested4 ,mr4 ,van ,horne did not throw money away by any means1 but here and there in the letters he asks ,brown to purchase some special rarity at what looks to most of us very generous figures4 ,mr4 ,brown established connection for the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway with ,new ,zealand and ,australia also4 ,australia was rather hesitant1 though interested1 but ,brown appealed to them on grounds of ,empire loyalty--8hands across the sea and let the kangaroo shake hands with the beaver40 ,brown waited in ,australia and took part in a celebration that gave a hearty send-off to the first steamer on the way to ,vancouver4 ,mr4 ,brown made his headquarters at ,hong-,kong for fourteen years1 and in that time combed the ,orient for traffic for his line4 ,he made successful visits as far as ,bombay and ,calcutta1 to establish connections1 and called at the ,island of ,ceylon in the same connection4 ,a typical case was that of his call at ,ceylon4 ,he ascertained that the authorities were contemplating sending a large exhibit to the ,world's ,fair in ,chicago in #ahid4 ,they did not know just how best to ship to points beyond ,new ,york4 ,but ,mr4 ,brown went to the ,commissioner in charge and said 8,i represent the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway1 and ,i can give you transportation right into the exhibition grounds at ,chicago40 ,they thought this was daring for so young a man1 but they talked it over and finally ,brown got the business1 shipping over a ,p4 ,o4 steamer to ,hong-,kong1 thence on his own line to ,vancouver and on to ,chicago by rail4 ,it looks simple now1 but it was a bold venture at the time4 ,it was beginning to fulfil ,mr4 ,van ,horne's expectations of sending people around the world on one ticket4 ,one great thing which makes travel desirable is the opportunity of meeting with interesting and famous people4 ,during one of his trips in the ,south ,seas ,mr4 ,brown met and travelled with ,robert ,louis ,stevenson1 his wife and daughter4 ,and what could be more interesting than to meet and talk with 8,r4 ,l4 ,s41 of ,scotland and ,samoa10 and visit him in his own island home under the hill1 where the dust of the great writer now reposes on the summit8 ,incidentally1 ,i might add1 8,r4 ,l4 ,s40 made special reference to ,mr4 ,brown1 as appears in one of his books1 saying characteristically1 8,i am the general provider for my household 7wife and daughter74 ,i have just supplied them on deck with the company of the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway agent1 and so left them in good hands40 ,mr4 ,brown1 as mentioned above1 remained fourteen years in the ,orient with headquarters in ,hong-,kong1 but after having had three serious illnesses there he was ordered by doctors to leave that climate4 ,so he returned to ,vancouver1 where the ,company gave him the position of ,general ,superintendent of ,trans-,pacific ,steamships1 a position he retained till his retirement on pension in #aijf4 ,mr4 ,allan ,cameron1 who has had very wide experience in several departments of railway service in different parts of the world1 is now in charge of the ,oriental end of the ,canadian ,pacific ,steamship ,service1 with headquarters at ,hong-,kong1 and is making special study of inter-trade relations between ,canada and the ,far ,east4 ,at the ,vancouver end of the business no one of the old-timers is better known and better liked than the highly competent ships-husband1 ,mr4 ,james ,a4 ,fullerton4 ,he is now retired1 but still haunts the waterfront and takes great interest in the fleet that he has seen grow from very small beginnings4 ,captain ,beetham1 a practical sea-faring man himself1 is in control of the ,pacific shipping1 with headquarters at ,vancouver1 while ,captain ,troup1 who knows the coast-wise and inland lake and river business like a book1 is in general charge of that important department4 ,with efficient help in the offices and special agents at home and abroad1 the business in a generation has kept constantly expanding1 as the next paragraph specially notes4 ,in the meanwhile1 as the years passed from the arrival at ,port ,moody of the first 8tea clipper0 from ,japan1 the ,company's trans-,pacific business had grown by leaps and bounds4 ,following the 8tea clippers0 from the ,orient to ,port ,moody1 the ,company in #ahhg chartered three steamships1 the ,batavia1 ,parthia and ,abyssinia1 from ,glasgow ship-builders1 to go on a regular trans-,pacific run from ,vancouver2 and the latter's first outbound cargo was only forty tons of freight4 ,in #ahij the ,british ,government contracted to give the ,company a subsidy annually1 on condition that three twin-screw steamers were put on the route between ,vancouver1 ,japan and ,china4 ,it was to fulfil this contract that the famous ,empresses first made their appearance from the ,glasgow shipyards1 specially built for the ,canadian ,pacific1 namely the ,empress of ,india1 the ,empress of ,china1 the ,empress of ,japan1 and they began their work in #ahia4 ,it was not until #aijc1 under direction of ,lord ,shaughnessy1 that the ,canadian ,pacific went into the shipping business on the ,atlantic4 ,the business on the ,atlantic did not have to be created by the ,c4 ,p4 ,r4 in the same sense as the ,pacific trade1 and ,i dwell less upon it for that reason4 ,the ,company purchased fifteen ships from a going concern1 the ,elder ,dempster ,line4 ,this was a good beginning1 but more ships soon became necessary1 and the ,empress of ,britain and the ,empress of ,ireland were added in #aijf1 when the ,monteagle joined the ,pacific fleet4 ,then1 in #aiad1 the ,metagama and ,missanabie were added on the ,atlantic1 the latter being later torpedoed in war time4 ,the ,melita and ,minnedosa came on in #aiag and #aiah4 ,more recently the largest ship of all in the ,canadian ,pacific service1 the ,empress of ,scotland1 has been added on the ,atlantic1 and the ,empress of ,canada and the ,empress of ,australia began the run on the ,pacific4 ,these last-named three are1 literally and without exaggeration1 floating palaces4 ,there are single1 double and family rooms1 suites and special rooms with every possible convenience1 reception rooms1 gymnasium1 nursery1 swimming pool1 concert and motion picture halls1 and practically everything necessary to the comfort of travel4 ,at the date of this writing the ,empress of ,canada1 the ,empress of ,scotland and the ,empress of ,britain are just returning from trips around the world with special parties who have been six months visiting the chief places of interest under special guidance4 ,the ,empress of ,australia1 built in ,germany and coming to the ,canadian ,pacific as a result of the ,war1 is most ornately and beautifully finished and furnished throughout4 ,the directions on the taps and such like appear in ,german and ,english1 representing the before and the after period of the ,war4 ,this superb vessel1 under command of ,captain ,s4 ,robinson and a gallant crew1 in #aibc was just casting off from the wharf at ,yokohama when the terrific earthquake upheaved that city and overwhelmed it with tidal waves and fire4 ,the ,australia became voluntarily a refugee vessel1 saved many hundreds of lives and1 cancelling her trip to ,vancouver1 took the refugees to ,kobe1 besides giving practically all her stores of food and clothing to the destitute4 ,for this gallant act1 which involved the ,company in very heavy financial loss1 ,i heard the ,captain and crew specially thanked by ,president ,beatty and other officials of the organization4 ,in so doing these officials showed not only their pride in their men1 but their desire to magnify the human side of business4 ,more recently ,captain ,robinson has been decorated by ,his ,majesty ,king ,george ,v with the ,order of the ,commandership of the ,british ,empire1 and has been lionized and decorated at many points on the world tour of the ,empress of ,canada1 to which he was transferred4 ,the ,captain has said little to the public about the fearful incident of the earthquake and the sea blazing with burning oil around his vessel4 ,but he had to make his official report to the ,department of the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway1 and despite his efforts to minimize the greatness of the exploit of himself and his gallant crew1 the incident is fully abreast of the noblest traditions of ,british seamanship4 ,in order to indicate in a brief way the wide ramifications of the ,canadian ,pacific ,steamship service1 we add that a few years ago this ,company took over the old-established ,allan ,line1 out of ,montreal1 and thus added eighteen more ships to her fleet4 ,there is a score of vessels exclusively for freight on the high seas in all parts of the world1 and there are many vessels1 some of them palatial1 doing business on the coasts and inland lakes of ,canada1 in some cases as links to the rail services1 in others as extensions or feeders of the same4 ,on the ,great ,lakes of ,canada are five splendid steamships2 on the coasts of ,british ,columbia1 and from ,seattle to ,alaska1 there are twenty-five more staunch vessels1 while on the lakes and rivers of ,british ,columbia there is nearly another score4 ,there is steamship service also between ,st4 ,john1 ,new ,brunswick1 and ,digby1 ,nova ,scotia1 while the ,canadian-,australasian ,line1 one result of ,mr4 ,brown's pioneer efforts1 operates between ,vancouver1 ,victoria and the ,antipodes4 ,all this sounds like a formal list of facts1 but it is an amazing record of achievement in the course of less than two score years4 ,from the tea-laden clipper of eight hundred tons that tied up to the wharf at ,port ,moody in #ahhf1 the tonnage has rolled up to the vast total of considerably over half-a-million4 ,the ,railway ,company which in #ahhf chartered three tramp steamers for the ,pacific ,ocean trade1 now has an immense fleet of its own on the great oceans1 on the ,mediterranean1 ,carribbean1 ,adriatic and ,south ,china ,seas1 as well as upon the wide coasts and inland waters of this broad ,dominion of ,canada4 ,from the small beginning the ,canadian ,pacific has become the world's greatest transportation system under one management by sea as well as by land4 ,back of all that material and visible result is the astonishing story of the thought and action of strong men which is difficult to put down on paper4 ,there have been master minds as well as courageous hearts and willing hands at work during all these years1 thinking1 planning and executing daring things for the expansion and extension of this vast enterprise4 ,it has been my privilege to know many of these men in almost all branches of the service4 ,my judgment is that1 on the whole1 these men were singularly free from any desire for personal gain4 ,they had the far mightier stimulus of being engaged in a world business for the development of hitherto unrealized natural resources in many lands1 and1 subconsciously perhaps1 they felt that the main object of their endeavours was the ultimate advantage of all mankind4 ,in that frame of mind giants toiled in the early days1 and there is no reason to think that their type is not reproduced in the men of to-day4 ,,chapter ,,xvi ,war ,service ,the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway was and is a triumph of constructive endeavour in the days of peace4 ,we have spoken of the army of men at work1 from the turning of the first sod1 all through the grading1 the tracklaying and the operation of the road1 as a peaceful mobile army which moved with tireless tread in the march of civilization4 ,it was the business of these men to build and not to destroy1 to gather together and not to scatter abroad1 to conserve and not to dissipate the natural assets of ,canada4 ,in doing this work the ,railway would be performing a great task in relation to the stability of human society and would send coursing through the arteries of commerce that national and international trade which has so much to do with the calm health of the world4 ,but1 alas6 there are times when the peace of the earth is rudely interrupted by some megalomaniac who kicks the anthill of the world's population and sends the inhabitants into wild confusion4 ,in such times it becomes necessary to resist and subdue the disturber1 if need be1 by force4 ,pacifism is a high ideal if all would seek to work it out together2 but1 changing to another figure of speech1 we all know that it is useless to reason with a mad dog running amuck on the world's thoroughfare4 ,hence there are occasions1 unhappily1 when the peaceful have not only to stand on the defensive but to carry war into the enemy's country1 so as to compel the inciter to war to remember that other people have a right to life and liberty and happiness on this round globe4 ,on such occasions the machinery of traffic has to be temporarily diverted1 in some degree1 from its accustomed employment and swung into the conflict for ultimate peace4 ,in this regard the great railway of which we are writing has done its startlingly large share at home and abroad4 ,it will be remembered that the road was not finished over the ,north ,shore of ,lake ,superior when ,mr4 ,van ,horne1 who had1 months before1 offered help in such a possible emergency case1 transported troops to the scene of the ,riel outbreak on the ,north and ,south ,saskatchewan4 ,we spoke specially of the ,north ,shore in relation to bringing troops from the ,eastern ,provinces1 but we must also bear in mind that troops were rushed from ,winnipeg westward with pronounced effect4 ,those were my student days in ,winnipeg1 but it was my privilege to be one of the ,winnipeg ,light ,infantry which was specially raised and rushed on the new road by troop train to ,calgary4 ,this was an exceedingly important movement1 because the massacre at ,frog ,lake1 down the ,north ,saskatchewan from ,edmonton1 had taken place and the ,indian tribes were very restless all over the vast area from the boundary line away to the north4 ,we left some companies at points in what is now ,southern ,alberta where the war-like tribes of the ,blackfeet1 ,piegans1 ,bloods and others had their habitat4 ,their great chief1 ,crowfoot1 befriended in the early days by the ,mounted ,police1 was loyal1 but young braves under the prevailing excitement might break away and were none the worse of seeing a few red-coats in the locality4 ,from ,calgary the rest of our regiment1 along with the #feth of ,montreal1 and a few splendid ,mounted ,police and ,scouts1 marched north to ,edmonton4 ,we passed through some tribes that were very much agitated by ,riel's runners1 and on to ,edmonton1 which1 but for the timely arrival of our column1 would have shared the fate of ,forts ,pitt and ,victoria1 not far away1 which had already been looted and burned by the ,frog ,lake and other ,indians under ,big ,bear and ,wandering ,spirit4 ,similarly1 were troops rushed westward from ,winnipeg to ,swift ,current1 whence they marched for the relief of ,battleford1 which was beleaguered by ,indians1 and farther east others went on the railway till they came to the point nearest ,batoche1 where ,riel and ,gabriel ,dumont were at the centre of revolt4 ,riel had sent his runners out in all directions1 saying to the ,indians that there were only a few ,mounted ,police in the country and that the ,queen's soldiers could not reach the ,far ,west4 ,my own recollection is that the ,indians amongst whom we came were positively amazed at the suddenness of our appearance in their remote districts4 ,prevention is better than cure1 and there is no doubt at all but that the effect of the inflammatory appeal of ,riel was headed off by the swift arrival of soldiers4 ,but for this the whole prairie might have been overrun by maddened ,indians1 who would have made many massacres like that of the nine unfortunate white men whose mangled bodies we buried on the ,frog ,lake ,indian ,reserve4 ,after the rebellion was crushed1 the ,government at ,ottawa took many ,indian ,chiefs to the ,eastern ,provinces in order that these ,indians might see the strength of 8the ,queen's people40 ,this trip was an effective deterrent on any more uprisings and not the least of the influences for peace were the 8fire wagons0 that drew trains along steel trails with such swiftness that the ,indian ponies were left hopelessly behind4 ,the ,riel outbreak was not a great war1 but it might have led to massacre1 pillage and ruin only for the demonstration of power made possible by the railway transport before the flame of revolt got fairly started4 ,for that service1 of enormous value to ,canada and the ,empire1 we who knew the situation will always be grateful for the work of the ,canadian ,pacific in a critical hour4 ,the swift suppression of the ,riel revolt put the all-,canadian railway conspicuously on the map of the ,empire as a new element of power in her far-flung battle-line4 ,when the ,great ,war broke over the world so suddenly in #aiad1 the ,canadian ,pacific had1 in the interval since ,riel's outbreak and the primitive line of that day1 grown into the world's greatest transportation system by land and sea4 ,it is remembered now of course that the ,war took most people unawares1 so that they acted in the emergency according to the attitude their manner of thinking had developed4 ,it is a striking comment on the thinking of ,president ,shaughnessy1 of the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway1 that while others in various places hesitated he at once put the resources of the ,company1 with its world-wide system on land and sea1 at the disposal of the ,empire4 ,this was all the more remarkable when we recall that he was foreign born and had only come to ,canada when he had grown to man's estate4 ,the fact was that he had become intensely ,canadian4 ,it seems a law of human life that people come to love the cause for which they make sacrifices4 ,shaughnessy had sacrificed much for ,canada and its progress4 ,he had left his own country and his home at an age when these mean much and when for him certain promotion on well-established roads was within reach4 ,he had come to a new enterprise in a comparatively new country with an uncertain future and he had passed through circumstances that imposed upon him1 for some years1 a mental strain which amounted to positive suffering4 ,i do not suppose that either he or ,van ,horne ever became less attached to their native land to the south of the line1 but the stupendous undertaking of ,canada's pioneer transcontinental railway so absorbed the intense devotion of all their energies that they became profoundly ,canadian4 ,they did not love the ,united ,states less1 but the immense enterprise to which they gave the best years of their lives in ,canada bound them with unmistakable loyalty to their adopted country4 ,when the ,war broke out1 ,mr4 ,van ,horne had retired from active service in the ,canadian ,pacific and was in poor health1 but his heart was in sympathy with ,canada and he exerted himself to do what he could4 ,shaughnessy1 as we have said1 wheeled the whole system into line to help win the ,war4 ,the transcontinental trains had to be kept moving with precision1 to transport troops and to rush to the front stores of food from the granary of the ,empire on the ,western plains4 ,but the huge workshops were turned into shell factories and became hives of industry for the manufacture of the destructive enginery of war4 ,shaughnessy1 at the request of the ,home ,government1 loaned to the work of war transportation some of the ablest officials of the ,company in that department4 ,in an effort to reorganize the broken-down transportation of ,russia1 ,shaughnessy sent to that strange land one of the keenest minded officials of the ,canadian ,pacific in the person of ,george ,bury1 who was knighted for the efforts he made there in a period seething with discontent and revolution4 ,although it would not do to cripple the system at the home base1 every facility was given to employees to enlist for military service abroad4 ,i have seen with ,mr4 ,f4 ,w4 ,peters1 the popular and efficient ,general ,superintendent of the ,railway in ,british ,columbia1 a copy of the instructions issued by ,shaughnessy and sent out to leading officials all over the system4 ,it was intimated therein that to all employees who enlisted1 their full pay would be continued for six months 7many thought the war would be brief7 and that places equivalent to those they had occupied when they enlisted would be given to those who returned4 ,there were over eleven thousand enlistments and of these about eleven hundred were killed in action4 ,so well was the promise as to re-employment kept that former employees to the number of nearly eight thousand were taken on again1 and in addition some fourteen thousand other returned soldiers were given situations--a most remarkable showing4 ,it is quite well known that the ,company also did all it could for the dependants of those who did not return4 ,in tribute to the unreturning brave the ,canadian ,pacific erected permanent memorials in bronze and tablets all over the system in order that succeeding generations might not forget4 ,upon each bronze monument and each tablet are these fine words3 8,to commemorate those in the service of the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway ,company1 who1 at the call of king and country1 left all that was dear to them1 endured hardship1 faced danger and finally passed out of sight of men by the path of duty and self-sacrifice1 giving up their own lives that others might live in freedom4 ,let those who come after see to it that their names be not forgotten4 #aiad-aiah40 ,we have been thus far studying the war service of the ,canadian ,pacific with our minds principally upon the forces drawn from the land portion of the system4 ,but there is in some respects a more wonderful record on the sea4 ,not that the men on the sea were more valorous than those on the land2 but the men on the sea1 being located in ships1 were more easily followed than the men who in the land or the air forces were scattered in various localities on many battle fronts4 ,almost every ship of the ,canadian ,pacific fleet went on war duty1 and fifteen of these were lost by torpedoes or mines or other similar causes on the high seas4 ,these lost vessels represented over a third of the tonnage engaged4 ,behind this simple statement are many tales of heroism of which there is no permanent record1 and there are achievements of thrilling importance done in practically all parts of the world4 ,it is possible for us to give only an outline which can be filled in with deeds of gallantry and valour by the imagination of any reader who knows the traditions of our ,british men on the high seas of the world4 8,if blood be the price of ,admiralty1 ,lord ,god1 we have paid it full3 ,we have strawed our best to the world's unrest1 ,to the shark and the sheering gull40 ,by following the log of some of the ,canadian ,pacific vessels we get at least some of the bare facts4 ,the ,empress of ,france had barely reached the dock at ,liverpool1 two days after war was declared1 when she was requisitioned for special service by royal proclamation4 ,within a few days after her cargo was unloaded1 all passenger accommodation and other wood work was removed4 ,armed with eight six-inch guns1 she was sent out1 manned by a naval crew1 to patrol in the ,north ,sea between ,shetland and ,iceland1 and became1 a few months later1 the flagship of the patrol squadron1 in which service she intercepted #ae1jjj ships4 ,later1 she was transferred to convoy service in the ,north ,atlantic route4 ,in that service she escorted nine convoys of twenty vessels each1 carrying per convoy about #cj1jjj troops1 mostly ,americans on their way to the front4 ,some indication of the extent of the war service of the ,empress of ,france may be gathered from the fact that while in commission she steamed #bfg1jjj knots and consumed #agj1jjj tons of coal4 ,these figures as to only one vessel out of many1 tell little of the services and the hardships of a gallant crew1 but they shed some light on the frightful monetary cost of war4 ,the ,empress of ,britain1 one of the new and large vessels1 was fitted out as a transport1 carrying troops to the ,dardanelles1 ,egypt and ,india2 also from ,canada to the ,western ,front4 ,besides her own crew she accommodated #e1jjj officers and men4 ,during one of her trips across the ,atlantic with a full complement of crew and soldiers1 a ,german submarine launched two torpedoes1 one of which missed the bow by three feet and the other passed some ten feet astern4 ,it was all in the day's work2 but that was a close shave 8between the devil and the deep sea60 ,the splendid new steamer1 the ,calgarian1 of the ,atlantic service1 was one of the many ,canadian ships sunk by the enemy during the ,war1 but not before doing some notable work4 ,along with the famous ,vindictive1 the ,calgarian blocked ,lisbon to prevent ,german ships sheltering there from coming out on raids into the ,atlantic2 and later1 for nearly a year of continuous service1 was stationed outside ,new ,york to prevent the escape of ,german ships interned there4 ,then1 when she was convoying thirty vessels across the ,atlantic1 she was torpedoed and sunk with the loss of forty-nine men4 ,our old ,pacific ,coast friend1 the ,empress of ,russia1 had a thrilling experience as an ,admiralty cruiser4 ,she left ,vancouver for ,hong-,kong on her usual run in ,august1 #aiad1 but she was already designated for war service4 ,at ,hong-,kong her interior fittings were taken out and replaced by coal bunkers1 and eight guns were mounted fore and aft4 ,british ,naval ,reservists and ,french gun crews were put aboard in place of the ,chinese hands1 and the ,empress started out to work4 ,shortly afterwards she met the pride of ,australia1 the cruiser ,sydney1 after that gallant ship had smashed the wicked ,german rover1 the ,emden4 ,the ,russia took off the prisoner members of the ,emden crew1 including the ,captain1 ,von ,muller1 and put them out of commission by landing them at ,ceylon4 ,with the help of some ,indian troops1 she captured the ,turkish fort of ,kamaran on the ,red ,sea4 ,then1 for twenty-three days1 she and her sister ,canadian ,pacific vessel1 the ,empress of ,asia1 guarded the ,british port of ,aden until the arrival of ,british warships4 ,after some more dangerous experiences1 the ,empress of ,russia1 the ,empress of ,asia1 the ,empress of ,japan1 the cruiser ,himalaya1 and the destroyer ,ribble1 kept in blockade the ,port of ,manilla1 where fifteen ,german ships were hiding in the hope of getting out with supplies to their war vessels4 ,finally the ,russia spent a year cruising in the ,east1 and then1 when the ,war was over1 slipped back quietly on to her old peaceful run out of ,vancouver to the ,orient4 ,one can only sum up in a wondering way the enormous service done for the ,empire by this great railway company1 by saying that during the ,war1 ,canadian ,pacific ships carried over a million troops and passengers on war business4 ,they carried over four millions of tons of cargo and munitions of war1 and many thousands of horses and mules for transport service on the field4 ,and perhaps one of the most amazing and least-known feats of the ,canadian ,pacific was the carrying to and from ,flanders and ,france1 through ,vancouver1 of what seemed a numberless army of ,chinese from the ,north of ,china1 who went out to do the unskilled labour on the field and thus released thousands of the allied soldiers for the fighting line1 who otherwise would have had to do this highly necessary non-combatant work4 ,letters from ,mr4 ,david ,lloyd ,george1 the dynamic war-time ,premier of ,britain1 and others1 to the ,company and to officials1 conveyed the appreciation of the ,old ,land to the ,canadian ,pacific for its unique assistance in a crisis hour4 ,many decorations worn by ,canadian ,pacific men who served on land and sea1 and the scars of battle on many of her ships1 attest the unique way in which ,president ,shaughnessy 7one of whose sons fell in action7 and his wide-reaching organization came to the assistance of the ,motherland when vital things were in danger4 ,let this great service not be lost sight of when petty matters and little controversies in commercial life have their innings4 ,a peculiarly striking sidelight is thrown on the general subject of war by the changing attitude to the subject of ,sir ,william ,van ,horne1 who lived only a year into the war period1 but who studied it all with the thoroughness so characteristic of the man4 ,some years before the ,great ,war he had written to ,mr4 ,s4 ,s4 ,mc,clure1 in ,new ,york1 almost in praise of war as a creator of heroisms and an inspiration to valiant endeavour4 ,but as he studied the ,great ,war1 with its horrible engines of destruction1 high explosives and silent1 stealthy weapons of death on land and sea and in the air1 he began to see the monstrous side of such a method for settling international differences4 ,he saw the frightful annihilation of some of the brightest young men whose record he knew in his own organization1 and whose services to the country1 had they been spared1 would have been beyond price4 ,one would like to have had his changed attitude put into words by himself in his own vivid and vigorous way4 ,perhaps he would have left us an expression of assured hope that the day would come 8,when the war-drums throb no longer ,and the battle-flags are furled ,in the ,parliament of man1 ,the ,federation of the world40 ,but1 despite all its horrors1 war has1 for human society1 some compensation in the fact that it reveals suddenly certain elements of good in the world whose existence we had only dimly realized before4 ,i remember how1 as a boy1 riding on horseback over the prairie in dark nights1 ,i used to conjecture in a vague way as to the character of the trail ahead and as to what life of man or animal might be shrouded in the blackness4 ,and ,i recall how fascinating it was to have flashes of lightning break recurrently now and then from the clouds1 each flash burning its way into the darkness1 revealing the trail1 showing cattle and horses and the humble homesteads of pioneers who were beginning to settle on the plain4 ,it has sometimes seemed to me that war is a flash of lightning which reveals much hitherto only dimly imagined as existing in society4 ,that it reveals many mean and disquieting features and qualities in human life goes without saying4 ,but that it also reveals many noble characteristics1 is amply demonstrated4 ,the recent ,great ,war1 for instance1 revealed the greatness of the common man who1 from some unspectacular occupation1 where these qualities were present but unnoticed by the community1 went out where the lightning flash of war disclosed to the world marvels of heroism and self-sacrifice4 ,similarly1 we often discovered in the common business world and amidst business organizations at home1 a readiness to serve and sacrifice which before had only been dimly understood as existing at all4 ,the ,war revealed it4 ,the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway1 which had overcome early difficulties on the road to success1 was probably regarded by the average ,canadian with some patriotic pride as a prosperous organization1 but possibly he thought it was not much concerned about things beyond its own welfare4 ,yet it is not too much to say that the ,war suddenly revealed in it vital qualities of loyalty to the ,empire and showed the ,company personified as a good citizen of ,canada4 ,as a citizen it threw itself into the business of helping to defend the country and to assist in making conditions as good as possible in war times4 ,the recent incident in the earthquake in ,japan will illustrate my point as being in keeping with the traditions of the ,company4 ,there at ,yokohama the ,canadian ,pacific steamship1 the ,empress of ,australia1 as related elsewhere1 was just casting off1 when the earthquake took place4 ,taking interest in the safety of themselves and their ship mainly as a means of helping others1 ,captain ,robinson and his gallant crew became a band devoted to heroic rescue4 ,we need not detail the story here1 but1 the captain and men1 knowing the traditions of the ,company1 did not consider for a moment the immense expense and loss they were incurring in cancelling a voyage and placing the ship and all their stores at the disposal of the suffering and destitute4 ,the ,war gave the ,canadian ,pacific many opportunities of living up to these traditions1 and the ,company did not fail4 ,while its ships were being sunk in service on the high seas and its general business on land was being dislocated1 the ,company did its part as a citizen in the enlistments1 as already recorded4 ,but1 in addition1 every good cause which aimed at alleviating human suffering and administering to human comfort found what to some must have seemed a surprisingly large support from the ,company4 ,hospitals at home and field hospitals abroad1 ,red ,cross movements1 nurses' homes1 returned soldiers1 disabled men and their dependants1 ,y4 ,m4 ,c4 ,a's1 ,salvation ,army efforts1 and all such persons or organizations were on the list for assistance in a big way4 ,the ,war brought this out more distinctly1 but it was part of the ,company's tradition4 ,it is trustee for the funds of its shareholders1 and cannot throw these funds away to improvident people or undeserving causes2 but it uniformly seeks to help the community in the interests of the general weal4 ,the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway1 owning and maintaining in ,canada an enormous amount of property and employing over one hundred thousand people1 who receive eight millions monthly in salaries and wages1 is manifestly an extraordinary contributor to the upkeep of the ,dominion in the ordinary business way4 ,when we add to this the fact of the ,railway's support of all worthy causes1 we are able to estimate in some degree the value to ,canada of its citizenship4 ,,chapter ,,xvii ,the ,floodtide of ,wheat ,but for the fact that it is verified by actual tabulation1 the statement that the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway during the autumn of the year of grace #aibc carried two hundred and fifteen million bushels of grain over the steel trail1 en route to feed the hungry in all parts of the world1 would seem1 to some of us1 incredible4 ,this huge scale of grain transportation means that about one hundred and thirty thousand cars were charged with the duty of taking to the world's markets the magnificent product and offering of the vast prairie country of ,canada4 ,in the above sentences we personify both the cars and the prairies1 because it does not require much imagination to speak of such prolific soil and such burden-bearing rolling stock as if they were instinct with life4 ,the fact that behind them both is the splendidly strong endeavour and the passionately devoted skill of faithful men and women1 seems only to add force to the personification of the elements of production and distribution1 which1 under ,providence1 they use for the good of the world4 ,to some of us who look back to earlier days in the ,west1 there is vivid romance in this development1 and there is a sort of ,alladin-lamp wonder in the transformation which the above statements indicate4 ,agriculture is the oldest and the most distinctively fundamental industry in human society4 ,it is by no means the easiest4 ,it knows scarcely any limitation in the hours of toil1 and its most strenuous and imperative duties come at a time of the year when city dwellers seek the cool shades of the holiday season4 ,but it has some strong compensations4 ,there is the consciousness of being in an occupation absolutely essential to the existence of humanity1 and one that involves dwelling near to ,nature's heart1 unafraid of privation and want4 ,rural life has opportunities and spaces for meditation1 which is in danger of becoming a lost art in some other spheres4 ,farms are feeders of cities in more ways than one4 ,they give leaders to the public life and learned professions of the nation1 and but for the fresh blood that farms pour into cities every year1 these centres would die of pernicious anemia4 ,those of us who were born on farms and recall our boyhood days can understand how1 in the nerve-wracking anxieties elsewhere1 men can enter into ,whittier's fine picture of the country lad who knows nothing about insomnia and indigestion3 8,blessings on thee1 little man1 ,barefoot boy with cheek of tan1 ,with thy turned up pantaloons ,and thy merry whistled tunes2 ,with thy red lips1 redder still1 ,kissed by strawberries on the hill2 ,with the sunshine on thy face ,through thy torn brim's jaunty grace2 ,from my heart ,i give thee joy-- ,i was once a barefoot boy40 ,as suggested above1 some of us have seen much development since the railway came4 ,i recall the small fields of grain in the original colony along the ,red ,river and the somewhat larger ones that began to open out on the prairie4 ,when reaping was done with the sickle and cradle1 and threshing with the flail and the two horse treadmill1 the acreage under cultivation could not be large4 ,and though1 in my time1 our people began to bring in reapers from ,st4 ,paul by cart-train1 even to that wonder which we called the 8self-raker10 there was little inducement to grow much1 because there was only a small local market and no way of exporting4 ,things were in that condition when the ,governor-,general1 ,lord ,dufferin1 and ,lady ,dufferin1 visited ,manitoba and drove the first spikes in the ,pembina ,branch of the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway on ,september #bith1 #ahgg4 ,that branch was on the east of the ,red ,river and some years went by before the steel crossed at ,winnipeg and reached the prairies4 ,but even in #ahgg there was more grain being grown than could be marketed at home4 ,and the eloquent ,dufferin referred to the situation in his own sympathetic way when he said1 near the conclusion of his famous address in ,winnipeg1 8,you have been blessed with an abundant harvest1 and soon1 ,i trust1 will a railway come to carry to those who need it1 the surplus of your produce1 now1 as my own eyes have witnessed1 imprisoned in your storehouses for want of the means of transport4 ,may the expanding finances of the country soon place the ,government in a position to gratify your just and natural expectations40 ,meanwhile1 as they waited for the longed-for and greatly needed railway to come1 some of the early settlers were experimenting in growing grain that would be adapted to the soil and the climate4 ,there were some who thought that wheat could not be grown to perfection very far west and north of the ,red ,river4 ,but there were others who felt differently4 ,i recall that excellent man1 eloquent of speech and graceful in manner1 ,j4 ,w4 ,taylor1 the ,united ,states ,consul at ,winnipeg1 often called 8,saskatchewan0 ,taylor1 by reason of his personal knowledge of our ,north-,west country4 ,despite the fact that some of his countrymen to the south might not like it1 ,consul ,taylor persisted in saying that north of the international boundary was 8the very home of the wheat plant40 ,and had he lived to see it1 his kindly heart would have rejoiced when wheat grown at ,fort ,vermillion on the ,peace ,river1 a thousand miles north-west of ,winnipeg1 took the first prize at a ,world's ,fair in his own country4 ,in any case the good consul did much to bring about this present day by helping the settlers to select suitable grain4 ,many a time1 for instance1 did he bring1 in envelopes1 to my father on the old ,red ,river homestead1 samples of wheat he had received from different parts of the ,states4 ,and he and my father1 who were great friends1 would plant these in garden plots and wait through the summer to see which would come to perfection during the season before the frost arrived4 ,some of this same wheat was given to others till the original contents of the selected envelope produced a harvest in many fields4 ,later on came benefactors like the painstaking ,professor ,saunders and ,seager ,whealler1 and others who1 through careful seed selection1 transformed the face of the country by making it possible for harvests to ripen where nothing of that type ripened before4 ,thus it became possible in the year #aiae1 when our ,empire was at war1 for the great prairies to pour out their millions in wheat and flour to help in the battle for freedom4 ,the soldiers in uniform at the front were supported by the soldiers in overalls at home1 or the ,war could not have been won4 ,and of these at home the soldiers of the soil deserve to be mentioned in despatches for their strenuous work in the greatest feeding industry of the world4 ,and now1 beside the stations along the pioneer ,canadian ,pacific and its endless gridiron of branch lines on the prairie1 we have been seeing in these recent autumn months of #aibc the teams with the drivers1 waiting their turn at a thousand elevators4 ,the river of wheat on the main line is being swollen into floodtide from the tributary branches4 ,back of the railway and headed towards it1 we have seen apparently interminable lines of wagons laden with grain4 ,like a long procession of industrious ants we have seen these wagons coming along the level plain1 then up and down the ridges1 to empty their loads at the capacious elevators4 ,thence the grain is poured into the cars which stand by on the steel trails behind panting locomotives--iron horses that chafe and tug with impatience to get way4 ,and they must get away as quickly as possible1 for other trains are ready to use the sidings to relieve the pressure caused by the wagons pouring their load into the elevators4 ,a great army of men are at work and thousands of horses4 ,but it is a beneficent1 constructive army of men1 with their lumbering artillery of horses and wagons engaged in the gigantic task of sending food supplies to the great centres of population all over the world4 ,the elevators are the peaceful headquarters of a great staff employed to transfer foodstuffs from these prairie commissary stores to the railway trains which carry them in rushing torrents of speed to the great lakes1 the canals and the open sea4 ,it is in great and wonderfully significant contrast to the scenes from which we take this illustration1 when militarism made its way unchecked1 and1 on a hundred battle-fields1 we saw wounded men and tortured horses and derailed trains in the havoc of war--8rider and horse1 friend1 foe1 in one red burial blent40 ,canadians have proven their mettle1 as a peace-loving people will always do when aroused to resist wrong1 but ours is not a militaristic nation4 ,and we should take a noble pride in seeing in these peaceful1 industrious hosts on ,canadian plains some fulfilment of the promised time1 when 8men shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks and study war no more40 ,the scenes in the time of the grain marketing movement to the railway and the elevators suggest massed formation for peaceful ends4 ,but back of this massed formation is the individual home on whose character and success the future of the country depends4 ,tales1 more or less mythical1 perhaps1 but with some foundation1 are told of city-dwelling lads who thought of milk and bread as the product of the milk-wagon and the baker's cart4 ,but it is probably quite true that there is not enough thought given to the household on the plain where the origin of food products is better understood through the toil of the day4 ,the homesteader on these great wheat areas had no easy task4 ,the breaking of the land1 the struggle to make ends meet till the farm became productive1 the endurance of summer heat and winter cold1 were all part of the daily round and the common task1 and no human pen will ever fully portray the heroism of the pioneer women who bore their share of every burden and kept their homes in order without many of the comforts and facilities that are available to city dwellers4 ,then there came later on the care of stock1 the sowing1 reaping1 threshing and marketing--in all of which there is need for tremendous persistence--these are elements in the industry of the farm2 and one is sometimes appalled to think of what would happen if those employed in that industry should go on strike6 ,a recent and interesting development has taken place in the flowing of the river of wheat for export4 ,it is a far cry from the days when special seed was brought by ,consul ,taylor in envelopes and sown in garden plots on the ,red ,river to these days when the plains are dotted with vast farms all the way from the scene of those garden plots to the ,rocky ,mountains and from the international boundary-line to the ,sub-,arctic4 ,now it is becoming evident that other outlets must be found for the floodtide of wheat in addition to the old course eastward to ,fort ,william and beyond4 ,it looks as if there will be somewhere on the prairies1 ere long1 a new watershed1 a sort of 8,great-,divide0 such as we see in nature along the ,canadian ,pacific in the ,mountains1 where the rivers begin to flow both east and west to different outlets on the way to the lakes and the sea4 ,after this manner also the rivers of wheat will run to either ocean4 ,a few days ago ,i was talking with that genial and experienced railway man 7now retired7 ,mr4 ,e4 ,a4 ,james1 in ,vancouver4 ,mr4 ,james when a lad was the private telegraph operator for that master railroad builder1 ,van ,horne1 and went with him on a trip to the ,west ,coast when the end of steel was not to its present terminus4 ,mr4 ,james relates that one day ,mr4 ,van ,horne1 ,mr4 ,l4 ,a4 ,hamilton1 and himself1 were standing on rocks and stumps where ,hastings and ,granville ,streets now intersect at the ,post ,office1 in the business heart of ,vancouver4 ,mr4 ,van ,horne took out a piece of paper and sketched the location4 ,mr4 ,james1 a mere boy1 had nothing wherewith to purchase any rocks and stumps and ventured a rather sceptical opinion as to the future of a city in such a locality4 ,mr4 ,van ,horne said1 8,my boy1 there will be a very great city here4 ,to this place will come steel tracks carrying endless trains of passengers and freight4 ,and from this place1 an all-the-year-round port1 will sail fleets of vessels engaged in trade all over the world40 ,now1 since the ,panama ,canal has been opened1 it is evident that trains of wheat will come to the ,pacific in ever-growing number from some economic watershed on the plains4 ,outlets1 both ,east and ,west1 will be increasingly necessary to carry the produce of the vast prairie section to the food markets of the world4 ,for many years ,fort ,william and ,montreal have struggled to handle the immense burden of this growing wheat traffic4 ,now the ,pacific route has come to relieve the abnormal pressure on ,eastern ports and lead to further developments in agriculture on the prairies4 ,and from ,vancouver and other points on the ,west ,coast this wheat will go by vessels of all kinds to the ends of the earth--to the over-crowded centres of ,europe and ,asia and ,africa1 as well as to the islands of the sea4 ,thus shall the forecast made that day on the site of ,vancouver ,city by ,mr4 ,van ,horne1 the builder of the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway1 be justified1 even though that forecast was made at the rough-looking outpost of 8,a great new land1 ,half-wakened by the wonder ,and the prophetic thunder ,of triumphs yet untold40 ,,chapter ,,xviii ,special ,features ,an alien traveller in this country1 looking for an expression in which to indicate the extent and character of the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway1 finally settled on 8,the ,dominion of ,canada on wheels0 as sufficiently descriptive4 ,this1 of course1 is overdoing it very considerably1 but one who passes through the length and breadth of the country and finds this great organization ministering to his comfort and convenience at all points on land and water1 can be excused for his exaggeration4 ,so popular and universally known are the letters 8,c4 ,p4 ,r40 that there has been a general popular tendency to use them without authority for commercial advantage4 ,behind the letters there has come to be a guarantee of value and efficiency which trades of various kinds have been quick to see4 ,the ,company had to put a stop to this monographic proclivity on the part of the public1 lest the practice of some should lower their reputation for efficiency4 ,but ,colonel ,george ,ham tells us of an attempt to stop the unauthorized use of the letters on a barber-shop on the prairie1 which ended in a truce4 ,an ,irishman who ran what he called 8,the ,c4 ,p4 ,r4 ,barber ,shop0 received a note to desist from the use of the famous letters4 ,he replied1 8,i don't want no lawsoot with your big company4 ,the letters on my shop don't stand for your ralerode1 but for something better4 ,i left a mother in ,ireland4 ,she is dead and gawn1 but her memories are dear to me4 ,her name was ,christena ,pearson ,riordon1 and what ,i want to no is what you are going to do about it40 ,to prosecute that man under the circumstances would be a sort of sacrilege1 and so the ,company let it go1 secretly doubting the witty story1 but rather pleased that the repute of the ,company made it worth while to use the letters and write the legend about their origin4 ,of course so far-flung a system as the ,canadian ,pacific must have many places where the traveller shall find rest and refreshment with a stop-over on the way4 ,and so1 amongst a few special features to be noted in this closing chapter1 are the palatial hotels in the big centres of population1 the chalets and bungalow camps in the mountains and by the streams and lakes all across ,canada4 ,the names of some of these big hotels1 which are not only stopping places for the traveller1 but social centres and community service club meeting places in most localities1 have an element of romance about them4 ,several indicate the devoted loyalty of the ,company to the sovereigns of ,britain1 such as the ,hotel ,empress1 of ,victoria1 the ,royal ,alexandra of ,winnipeg1 in honour of the ,queen1 and the ,queen-,mother1 two of the greatly beloved women of the ,empire4 ,the ,hotel ,vancouver1 in the city of that name1 commemorates ,captain ,george ,vancouver1 the illustrious ,british sea-rover who sailed his wooden vessel into the harbour one hundred and thirty-two years ago4 ,in ,calgary the ,hotel ,palliser recalls the famous explorer of that name1 who was sent years ago to explore the mountains and report on the possibilities of a railroad being built through to the ,coast4 ,he reported that a railway could not be built across the continent on ,british soil4 ,years afterward the ,canadian ,pacific proved that ,palliser's conclusion was incorrect4 ,nevertheless the big ,company recognized the greatness of the man1 and named the hotel under the shadow of the mountains after him4 ,in those mountains a chain of hotels and chalets and camps1 at ,banff1 ,lake ,louise1 ,emerald ,lake1 ,glacier and ,sicamous1 supply accommodation amid the cathedral mountain peaks where the scenery is conceded to surpass anything of that type in the world4 ,at the ,atlantic gateway1 in the ancient fortress city of ,quebec1 stands the ,chateau ,frontenac1 on the site of the chateau of a ,governor or ,intendant in the old ,french regime4 ,the architecture of this hotel is of the seventeenth century1 and so magnificent are its proportions that as high as fourteen hundred guests have sheltered under its roof at one time during the tourist season4 ,up in ,montreal the ,place ,viger ,hotel stands at the heart of the historic site of the ancient ,montreal1 a city that was old when our ,western cities had not been born4 ,the ,hotel ,algonquin1 down at ,st4 ,andrews-by-the-sea1 in ,new ,brunswick1 swings an ,indian name into the orbit of the fashionable tourist traffic of ,canada and the ,united ,states4 ,bungalow camps all through the mountains furnish for the tourist1 resting places at points so amazingly splendid from a scenic standpoint that they summon annually hosts of tourists who wish to get 8near to nature's heart10 and 8far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife40 ,thus has the pioneer ,canadian transcontinental1 built by toilers who slept under the open sky or in the tent by the right of way1 erected palatial and romantic resting-places for travellers who desire relief from the rush of modern business1 or recreation1 in the true sense1 after social dissipation of energy in the crowded haunts of fashion4 ,there was a time long ago when only the wealthy and the 8leisured0 classes could travel and enjoy the quiet by the sea or the majestic scenery of the mountains4 ,but now1 by availing themselves of special rates in excursions1 touring parties and such like1 great crowds of those who best appreciate the opportunity are found on trains making their way to these tonic resorts4 ,in this chapter on some special features on the ,canadian ,pacific1 we are claiming the liberty of swinging from one subject to another as they come our way4 ,and so we get back to the land and the foundational occupation of tilling the soil4 ,it has always been the policy of the ,company to encourage this fundamental industry and to help build up the agricultural side of life on the great ,western plains4 ,this1 of course1 in turn builds up the traffic without which railroads cannot operate anywhere4 ,to this end1 apart from the ordinary means of securing settlement and cultivation of land1 ,mr4 ,van ,horne years ago started a large farm at ,east ,selkirk on the ,red ,river1 and the ,company1 in more recent years1 established the famous farm at ,strathmore in the irrigated region of ,southern ,alberta4 ,with means for experiment at their call beyond the reach of the ordinary farmer1 the ,company has set a higher standard both in grain cultivation and stock1 especially the latter4 ,through sending their stock to exhibitions and in other ways the ,company sought to show to farmers the wisdom of eliminating 8scrubs0 of all kinds1 which cost as much to maintain1 but produced less in every particular4 ,the other day ,i saw some beautiful photographs of stock now at the ,strathmore farm4 ,they all held fine records and1 standing in the pasture beside the irrigation lake1 were a joy to behold4 ,this reference to irrigation leads us to a paragraph or so on the remarkable work done by the ,canadian ,pacific in order to make the dry spaces of ,southern ,alberta blossom like the rose4 ,in years when rain is plenteous the need of irrigation is not so apparent1 but on the average there are some areas of that southern portion decidedly dry1 although fertile if watered4 ,in days far gone by1 these areas were the habitat of the buffalo1 and in later years ranchers held thousands of acres under rental from the ,government for great herds of cattle and droves of horses4 ,from buffalo to the tame species seemed a reasonable transition1 and1 barring accidents or untimely weather in winter or summer1 the ranchers did business of great value to the country1 and in most cases1 with reasonable management1 made money4 ,then the ,government decided that these great spaces should be thrown open for homesteading1 and the wide-reaching range has given place to numerous farms over the same area4 ,this was well enough in wet years1 but when the dry years came crop failure stared the homesteader in the face4 ,this led ,colonel ,j4 ,s4 ,dennis1 civil engineer and surveyor1 who 7like his father of the same name and vocation7 has been from early times intimately connected with ,western ,canada in peace and war1 to study the whole situation4 ,there had been some limited areas around ,lethbridge irrigated by the old ,galt ,company1 and ,colonel ,dennis advised the ,canadian ,pacific to go into the business on a large scale4 ,it took a bold man to give that advice and a determined man to carry it through1 at a cost to the ,company up to date of the huge sum of sixty millions of dollars4 ,dennis knew that the ,bow ,river1 fed by the eternal glaciers of the ,rockies1 was an inexhaustible source of water supply if it could be properly harnessed for the task of giving sufficient moisture to the dry spaces of the plain4 ,and this was what ,colonel ,dennis and his assistants proceeded to bring about by turning the waters of the ,bow ,river in directions where it would do most good in making the wilderness rejoice4 ,for centuries in the ancient mythology of ,greece and ,rome the fable of ,hercules1 who cleansed the stables of ,augeas1 the cattle-king1 by turning a river through them1 was one of the wondrous tales of the world4 ,that was fable and fiction1 but the irrigation plan inaugurated by ,dennis in ,southern ,alberta is fact and reality4 ,it is the biggest irrigation movement on the continent1 and for pure romantic interest dwarfs the ancient tale of ,hercules into insignificance4 ,the perfection of the engineering arrangements ensure the settler against interruption of the water service and so against worry in regard to his crops4 ,he is sure of the sunshine and in the irrigation area he is sure of the moisture4 ,the ,western section of this area has its centre at ,calgary1 where1 through concrete headgates1 the water is admitted from the ,bow ,river as desired4 ,a dam is also provided for very dry seasons and at any time water can be sent seventeen miles into an immense reservoir three miles long and two wide4 ,out of this reservoir are three secondary canals having a total length of #bed miles4 ,these canals supply water to #a1cbi miles of distributing ditches1 and when the ,company brings the water to the highest point on the boundary of a man's farm1 he can then have it run through his ground as he desires4 ,to irrigate the ,eastern section was a greater problem1 but near the town of ,bassano the immense dam was built which raised the water of the ,bow forty feet above its usual level4 ,this ,bassano dam is a costly structure with sluice gates operated by electricity4 ,then there are canals and reservoirs1 including the famous artificial ,lake ,newell1 about twenty-five square miles in extent and containing water enough to cover #ahe1jjj acres of land one foot deep4 ,there is in this same locality1 near the town of ,brooks1 the great concrete aqueduct over a depression of the prairie4 ,this huge water carrier is two miles long and1 at places1 fifty feet above the ground4 ,it is a unique and startlingly modern sight from the train on the great plains where once the lordly buffalo roamed in vast herds with earth-shaking tread4 ,the results of all this enormous irrigation system are being slowly worked out1 and settlers who are intelligently availing themselves of it are finding immensely increased production1 especially in grain and root crops1 as well as particularly large yields in alfalfa and timothy hay4 ,the irrigated farm affords endless opportunity for cultivating all that goes to make up a prosperous and variegated homestead4 ,it will yet grow to be a new and large factor in ,western ,canada4 ,it has cost the railway ,company much1 but will yield its returns to the honour and credit of the men who made waters flow through vast dry areas and proved the truth of the parabolic saying of the ,scripture vision1 8everything shall live where the river cometh40 ,illustration3 ,supply ,farm at--,strathmore1 ,alberta ,the ,brooks ,aqueduct-- ,the ,bassano ,dam ,canadian ,pacific ,docks at ,quebec ,recent ,developments ,it is rather a far cry from the irrigated areas of ,southern ,alberta to the more or less aristocratic residential hill at ,vancouver city4 ,but both at least are alike in this1 namely1 that they exemplify special ways of dealing with land4 ,in the one case the land is a great prairie section which we measure by miles1 in the other it is a city section which we measure by feet4 ,the residential hill at ,vancouver is appropriately called ,shaughnessy ,heights after ,lord ,shaughnessy4 ,properly speaking1 ,shaughnessy ,heights is in the ,municipality of ,point ,grey1 where the ,canadian ,pacific is the heaviest taxpayer4 ,but the residents on the ,heights are leading business and professional men of the city1 and hence it is popularly1 though not correctly1 thought to be part of it4 ,the treasurer of ,vancouver1 with an eye on tax receipts1 would not object to its being in the city6 ,shaughnessy ,heights at one time was intended by the ,company to be a separate municipality4 ,but the way was not open1 and the next best thing was to make the area a sort of last word in town planning1 and so secure a good sale for the lots therein4 ,the district is largely the result of the foresight of ,mr4 ,richard ,marpole1 who1 as executive agent for the ,company1 felt that unless something was done to clear the land and make the district attractive for residences1 the residential area would settle in another direction and the 8hill0 would be left high and dry on the ,company's hands4 ,mr4 ,marpole's project for clearing and planning a new residential section was not received with enthusiasm by the ,board1 on account of the large expenditure involved4 ,but he persisted and finally got his way1 to have the land cleared by a new process and a town-planning movement inaugurated under the guidance of a specialist from ,europe4 ,at present ,shaughnessy ,heights has an area of about a thousand acres1 though not all cleared1 and the expenditure by the ,company in developing a residential district there has involved the neat sum of two million dollars4 ,the district was laid out not in rectangular blocks1 but by roadways following the contour of the ground1 thus providing an easier grade and giving to the maximum number of residents the best view possible of the mountains and the sea4 ,both the type and the cost of residences and the location as well as the architecture of all buildings1 are subject to the ,company's approval4 ,if any intending residents feel restive under these requirements1 their feelings are mollified by the knowledge that the ,company not only aims at the best results for all who are intending to build1 but1 in addition1 makes liberal terms for the land and loans money to build the houses4 ,the aim of the ,company is to prevent uniformity and sameness in style of residences1 and1 as to street lines1 avoid the straightness which means monotony4 ,by ,provincial statute the whole district is to be held till #aice for residential purposes only1 except that provision is made for churches1 schools1 government buildings and recreation grounds4 ,some seven hundred houses are already erected on ,shaughnessy ,heights1 and the locality is one of ,vancouver's leading attractions to tourists owing to the fine class of buildings1 the wonderful flower gardens1 and the rather labyrinthine character of the streets4 ,it is a beauty spot above the general level of the city1 and a desirable place of residence for those who can afford it4 ,it is presumed that those who cannot afford it will not try the impossible4 ,mr4 ,newton ,ker1 assistant executive agent for the ,company at ,vancouver1 and formerly city engineer in ,ottawa1 is in charge of the ,heights and the further development that will be necessary as the city grows4 ,he has the combined qualities of an expert and an enthusiast in the work4 ,and now we swing back to take another look at the ever-fascinating and impressive track through the mountains1 where we saw the last spike driven at ,craigellachie in #ahhe4 ,it will be remembered that ,mr4 ,van ,horne1 during all those difficult months when it looked as if the ,company1 owing to the unexpected and terrific cost of construction1 was facing financial disaster1 refused to stop or even lessen the work4 ,when times were darkest he put on more men and made a bigger effort to get ahead4 ,as long as ,stephen and his associates could raise any money and ,shaughnessy handle it to the best advantage1 ,van ,horne turned a deaf ear to all admonitions to slow up in construction operations4 ,he said that to do so would only bring creditors around them like a nest of hornets1 and that the road completed from ocean to ocean1 or in steady course of completion1 would not only make appeal to financial men as something worth investing in1 but would soon do a carrying trade which would meet the ,company's obligations4 ,so he drove ahead and rested not till the last spike was driven1 as related4 ,but no one knew better than the big railroader that there remained much to be done4 ,he had seen to it that the work was well done and the track secure and safe for travel4 ,the result of the swift completion was early operation of the road1 and justified ,van ,horne's view by bringing in revenue at once to meet obligations1 and by putting the new railway definitely on the map of the world as a worth while business enterprise4 ,but the speed in construction made much temporary work necessary4 ,wooden trestles were not permanent structures1 and neither were wooden snowsheds4 ,grades would require to be reduced in places to meet the demands of growing traffic1 and curvatures would have to be modified4 ,hence engineers and contractors of the highest class have been throughout the years engaged here and there in bringing the whole line to greater perfection1 with the result that the ,canadian ,pacific is wonderfully free from danger or delay4 ,the ordinary passenger through the mountains is conscious that he is travelling amidst splendid scenery on a solid road-bed1 but only the practical builder and roadmaster can estimate with what constant skill and care the road has been built up and kept to such a high standard of excellence4 ,but even the ordinary passenger can appreciate things so plainly evident as tunnels1 and on the ,canadian ,pacific through the mountains he will find the most interesting system of spiral tunnels in existence1 and he will also enjoy the novelty of speeding in comfort through the longest tunnel on the continent4 ,a word on these famous tunnels may fittingly find a place in this chapter on special features4 ,previous to #aijh the grades between ,hector and ,field1 in the mountains1 were difficult4 ,for some three miles a grade prevailed which was ten times the maximum grade permitted on heavy prairie work4 ,this involved much difficulty in operating1 as it necessitated the use of extra locomotives to pull the train up the grade and prevent it going too fast on the way down4 ,in fact these grades involved the use of spring switches along that portion of the line for safety4 ,unless the engine-driver of a descending train signalled to the switchman that his train was under control1 the setting of a safety-switch would divert the train to a catch siding and so bring it to a stop4 ,this system was operated for twenty-four years without a single accident to a passenger train4 ,to say that is to magnify the trustworthiness of the men who operated on the 8,big ,hill10 and who evidently lived up to the admonition of the time cards on this division1 which read 8,obey the rules2 be watchful2 run no risks40 ,but the increase of traffic as the years passed necessitated the construction of the famous spiral tunnels through or under ,cathedral ,mountain and ,mount ,ogden and the building of special bridges over the river4 ,leaving technical points and figures aside1 it may be sufficient to say that trains entering these mountains climb or descend in a spiral way with less than half the former engine power and with the utmost degree of safety4 ,in my observation it has been a constant delight to passengers to watch how the train loops inside these mountains and comes out at a different level from that which it entered4 ,it is all so novel and free from danger that travellers1 enjoying the sensation1 are loud in their praise of the engineers and workmen who thought out and constructed these remarkable spirals through the eternal hills1 even though it cost the ,company over a million to make this change for the pleasure and safety of their guests over the road4 ,still more notable as an engineering feat is the great ,connaught ,tunnel1 five miles long1 between ,glacier and ,stony ,creek4 ,it is called after a well-beloved ,governor-,general of ,canada1 the ,duke of ,connaught1 son of ,queen ,victoria1 of immortal memory4 ,this tunnel was built to avoid the climb over the top of the famous old ,rogers ,pass1 through a gorge subject in winter and spring to snow-slides1 against which the railway was protected by four miles and a half of heavily built snowsheds4 ,these snowsheds were built of wood1 and wood is not an everlasting material4 ,occasionally sections of this long shed would be carried away and all of it would show wear in the process of time4 ,taking this along with the heavy grade1 the ,company concluded to tunnel through ,mac,donald ,mountain and solve all the problems at the same time4 ,the construction of this double-track tunnel1 the longest on this continent1 as noted above1 was begun in ,august1 #aiac4 ,it took over two years 8to make a hole through the mountain10 but another year saw the tunnel open for regular traffic4 ,in addition to eliminating the snowsheds1 which are not an infallible protection1 the tunnel shortens the distance across the ,selkirk range by over four miles1 lowers the summit attained by the railway by #eeb feet1 and reduces track curvatures by an amount corresponding to seven complete circles4 ,perfect ventilation is attained by powerful fans and ,i have passed through the ,connaught ,tunnel again and again with windows open and experienced no inconvenience whatever4 ,the work was done by contract by a noted builder of big things--railways1 canals1 wharves1 etc4--,mr4 ,j4 ,w4 ,stewart4 ,perhaps he is better known to thousands as ,general 8,jack0 ,stewart1 who left his business in ,canada and served during the ,great ,war as the builder in ,france and ,flanders of the light railways up to the battle front1 which had much to do with the victory of the allies4 ,stewart had a strenuous time building the ,connaught tunnel1 ,mr4 ,george ,bury1 then ,western ,vice-,president of the ,company1 giving active co-operation and being often on the ground4 ,to recapitulate in some measure the significant things about this tunnel1 in which the world's records for such work were several times exceeded1 one can say generally that the building of it is another evidence that the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway will not consider cost in its efforts to eliminate grades1 snow troubles or anything else which stands in the way of the efficiency and safe operation of the road4 ,though the tunnel was opened for traffic about seven years ago1 the ,company has kept on making such improvements as preclude all danger from loosened rock or such like4 ,with that in view a large number of expert workmen have been kept in the tunnel in regular shifts1 and these men are now completing the fine work of lining the whole tunnel1 roof1 sides and all1 with concrete1 in such a way that nothing more can be thought of to make the great 8bore0 through the ,mac,donald ,mountain safe1 secure and scientifically sound4 ,the original contract cost has thus been steadily increased for some years1 though the tunnel was safe for traffic when it was opened1 until it is probably within the limit to say that this great engineering feat has cost the ,company close to ten millions4 ,just what some of the early critics of the cost of the ,canadian ,pacific1 who thought a bonus from the ,government of twenty-five millions in addition to a grant of land was excessive1 would think of a case like this1 must be left to some one with vivid imagination to say4 ,in this single instance we find the ,company1 after expending an immense sum on crossing through the ,rogers ,pass in early construction days1 building then nearly five miles of expensive snowsheds and having everything in running order1 abandoning the whole thing1 and at a cost of nearly ten millions more1 going on to make their line more useful and more safe4 ,no doubt the early engineers in the #hj's saw that some such tunnel might be possible1 but the railway was then battling for life and could not spend nearly half its total cash bonus on a space of five miles in a road that would measure three thousand miles or so across ,canada4 ,there are other special features that might be noticed in connection with the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway1 which has now a mileage of twenty thousand miles of road and its house-flag on all the seas4 ,with its one hundred and twenty thousand employees1 and a payroll expenditure of nearly one hundred millions a year1 it is a large factor in our modern civilization4 ,it has numberless auxiliary organizations1 and has the good habit of backing up industries that tend to build up the country4 ,we do not claim that its motives are entirely disinterested in thus assisting other industries and undertakings1 but its readiness to do so indicates the truth of ,lord ,shaughnessy's statement that what helps to make ,canada helps the ,canadian ,pacific1 and vice versa4 ,present conditions in this vast organization can be studied by actual observation1 and therefore do not come within the scope of this work1 which was begun mainly to keep alive the facts that should not be left unrecorded in the history of ,canada4 ,and now1 therefore1 the agreeable task of preserving1 in some humble and imperfect way1 the record of a great ,canadian achievement is coming to an end4 ,it was not our intention to write in any detail of the present-day operations of the world's greatest transportation system as a prosperous going concern4 ,the ,canadian ,pacific ,railway is an outstanding factor in the life of the modern world4 ,and one is sorry for any one in the employ of this company who does not realize the importance of having a share1 however microscopic to one's self1 in the affairs of an enterprise which belts the earth as a contributing element in the onward march of the human family4 ,there is still romance and fascination in the countless activities of an organization with whose continued prosperity is wrapped up the welfare of numberless homes and uncounted legions of human beings4 ,the contemplation of the future of this world-encircling enterprise introduces us to a realm of mystic adventure whose limits are undefined1 because beyond the power of finite intelligence to estimate4 ,so we shall not essay what was beyond our purpose from the beginning of this present writing4 ,the purpose we had in view was to prevent the older generation from a calamitous forgetfulness of the things heroic and impressive they have witnessed in connection with the building and operation of the pioneer steel trail across ,canada4 ,and1 even more specially1 was it our purpose to transmit to the coming generation some pen portraits of giant men whom they are not to know in real life4 ,one regrets the impossibility of placing on these pages a full roll of honour on which is emblazoned not only all those more or less conspicuously connected with the enterprise1 but the names of the unknown warriors who1 in a great host1 moved gallantly forward in as brave a fight against obstacles as the world of industry has ever known4 ,thousands of these men were under the stress and strain of intense endeavour1 or engaged in work where their lives were constantly in danger4 ,they not only went forward undismayed1 but solemnly handed on to others the task they could not themselves finish4 ,like ,sir ,walter ,scott's wounded knight who1 when carried dying from the field1 still heard the roar of the conflict and cheered his comrades on to victory1 these brave men did their part and encouraged others to persevere4 ,the task they accomplished in the making of ,canada into a great ,confederacy of ,provinces1 linked indissolubly together as a noble ,dominion1 must not be allowed to pass into oblivion4 ,the coming generation must not miss the tonic power that comes from a knowledge of great achievement in a nation's life4 ,in ancient ,egypt it was when men arose who knew not what ,joseph had done to give a new and great trend to their history1 that the land of the ,pharaohs began a journey towards decadence4 ,our hope is that this book and similar records of life in ,canada will help to put iron into the blood of the coming generations1 in order that this new land by their consecrated labours may shine with ever-growing lustre in the firmament of human life and history4 ,,this ,,book ,,is ,a ,,production ,,of ,ryerson ,press ,,toronto1 ,,canada ,,the ,,end ,,transcriber ,,notes ,misspelled words and printer errors have been corrected4 ,where multiple spellings occur1 majority use has been employed4 ,punctuation has been maintained except where obvious printer errors occur4