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THE MAKING OF A GREAT CANADIAN RAILWAY

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The Making of a Great Canadian Railway

THE STORY OF THE SEARCH FOR AND

DISCOVERY OF THE ROUTE, AND THE CONSTRUCTION

OF THE NEARLY COMPLETED

GRAND TRUNK PACIFIC RAILWAY

FROM THE ATLANTIC TO THE PACIFIC

WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THE

HARDSHIPS AND STIRRING ADVENTURES OF

ITS CONSTRUCTORS IN UNEXPLORED COUNTRY

BY

FREDERICK A. TALBOT

AUTHOR OF "the NEW GARDEN OF CANADA," fir-c, ^c.

WITH FORTY-THREE ILLUSTRATIONS (Sr* A MAP

TORONTO

THE MUSSON BOOK COMPANY

LIMITED 1912

If'

!■■■» mtwl m^

£8IN0ALE

COLLEGE

LIBRARY

PREFACE

THIS is the day of great railway-building achieve- ments, and among these the Grand Trunk Pacific, stretching across the breadth of Canada, stands pre- eminent. Only scanty information has been communicated to the world at large concerning its inception and con- struction, as those participating in its realisation are busily occupied on the task.

This volume is intended to give " a peep behind the scenes " of this railway in the moulding stage. The greater part of the year 1910 I spent on the spot, fraternis- ing with the engineers, teamsters, graders, and others engaged upon the work. I travelled from point to point by whatever vehicle was available, from pack-horse to a Pullman express, from canoe to river steamer, from team waggon to construction locomotive. When all other means of transportation failed I walked. In this way I covered not only the ground where work is completed and in active progress, but pushed across the gap of 840 miles then remaining to be built through the Rocky Mountains, and the North-western wilderness, by the only means possible — pack-horse and canoe.

This book makes no pretence to appeal to the engineer, who is concerned essentially with the purely technical side of the work. It is intended for those who are interested in the romantic side of railway-building, or who have

7

8 PREFACE

interests at stake in this highway. At the same time the professional mind may find something worthy of his notice ; also it may serve to introduce the young engineer, waiting to win his spurs, to the conditions surrounding the laying of the steel highway in the Dominion.

My thanks are due to President Hays and the various members of his staff who spared no effort to give me every assistance ; to the Commissioners of the National Trans- Continental Railway in regard to the Government section of the line ; to ]\Ir. B. B. Kelliher, the engineer-in-chief of the Grand Trunk Pacific, more especially for permission to reproduce the condensed profile of the grade between Winnipeg and Prince Rupert ; to Mr. J. W. Stewart, of Messrs. Foley, Welch, and Stewart, the constructional engineers, and the numerous sub -contractors. Last, but not least, I am indebted to many whom I met for per- mission to reproduce the accompanying illustrations.

Frederick A. Talbot.

Hove, July 31«<, 1911.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I PAOK

The Birth of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway 17

CHAPTER n

Threading New Treasure Lands from Coast to Coast . . . . . .32

CHAPTER m

The Reconnaissance in the Wilderness and How the Railway Line was Discovered . 44

CHAPIER IV How the Surveyors were Tended in the Wilds 57

CHAPTER V i The Heroes of the Wilderness . . .71

CHAPTER VI

The Discovery of the " Clay Belt," a Wonderful New Agricultural Country in Northern Ontario, and the Porcupine Gold Fields . 83

9

10 CONTENTS

CHAPTER VII

Bringing up the Constructional Armies and THE Railway Builders' Heavy Artillery . 96

CHAPTER VIII The Grim Tussle with Nature . . . 108

CHAPTER IX

The Quebec Bridge, the Largest Cantilever Structure in the World . . . 124

CHAPTER X Spanning the Prairie with the Bond of Steel . 133

CHAPTER XI Towns and Cities Built to Order . . 149

CHAPTER XII

Spying the Path through the Rocky Mountains, and the Capture of the Yellowhead Pass . 161

CHAPTER XIII

Preparing for the Attack on the Rocky Moun- tains ...... 178

CHAPTER XIV

Building the Line through the Rocky Moun- tains ...... 190

CONTENTS 11

CHAPTER XV PAo.

An Empire of To-morrow, and the Dormant Riches of New British Columbia . . 203

CHAPTER XVI The Perils of Searching for the Easy Grade . 215

CHAPTER XVn Opening up the Last Wilderness . . 226

CHAPTER XVIH y^ Life in the Railway Camps . . 288

CHAPTER XIX

The " Station-man " . . . . . 254

CHAPl'ER XX

Through the Cascade Mountains to the Pacific Coast ...... 266

CHAPTER XXI The Conquest of the Cascades . . . 277

CHAPTER XXII

Track-Laying by Machinery . . . 290

CHAPTER XXIII The Wonders of Bridge-Building . . 301

12 CONTENTS

CHAPTER XXIV p^oe

Establishing a New Port on the Pacific . 314

CHAPTER XXV

•^ The Future of the Railway and its Influence

UPON Canadian and International Commerce 327

Index ....... 345

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Battle River Viaduct . . . Fronti^ece

FACING PAOE

Elevation from Winnipeg to Prince Rupert (1) .36

(2) . 36

Laying Three Miles of Metal per Day . . 50

Freighting in Supplies during the Winter . . 54

On the Portage . . . . . .60

Bush Fire sweeping through the Woods . . 80 A "Sink" in the Grade .... 114

An Exciting Moment at the Clover Bar Bridge . 114

Building a Wooden Trestle . . . .120

The "Stone-boat" . . . . .120

Quebec Bridge before the Accident . . .126

„ „ AFTER THE AcCIDENT . . .126

Freighting through the Bush . . . .138

Ferrying across the MacLeod River . . .140

The Eastern Entrance to the Rocky Mountains . 140

13

14 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING PAOE

A Gigantic Geain Elevator . . . .144

Massive Steel Bridge Aceoss the South Saskatchewan

RivEE ...... 158

The Ribbon of Steel through the Cascades . . 162

A Railway Construction Camp . . . .184

Approaching the Main Range of the Rocky Moun- tains ....... 194

Tete Jaune Cache ..... 204

Side Hill Excavations along the S keen a River . 218

The Forest as the Railway Builder found it .218

Railway Construction along the Skeena Rivee . 236

Surveyors Moving Camp ..... 256 "Station Men" at Work .... 256

A Marvel of Railway Engineeeing . . . 268

Railway Consteuction Steamee on the Skeena River 270 The Engineer's Conquest of the Cascade Mountains . 278 The Railway Builder's Heavy Artillery . . 282

Laying the Track by Machinery . . . 282

Ready for Traffic. A Finished Stretch of Line . 284 The Bulkley River Gorge .... 286

The Passage of the Track-layer . . . 292

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 15

FACING PAOK

A Land Slide ...... 296

Building the Clovee Bar Bridge . , . 304

Muskeg-filler at Work ..... 306

Setting the Bridge Span in the Battle River Viaduct 306 Preparing one Shore End of the Clover Bar Bridge 308 The Loftiest Bridge East of the Rocky Mountains . 310

THE MAKING OF A GKEAT CANADIAN EAILWAY

CHAPTER I

THE BIRTH OF THE GRAND TRUNK PACIFIC RAILWAY

THE dawn of the twentieth century saw the Dominion of Canada on the crest of a huge wave of pros- perity. The north-west was in the grip of a boom, for the potentialities of the great prairies, stretching away in an almost unbroken expanse from the eastern borders of Manitoba to the Rocky Mountains, had become realised with a suddenness which was startling. Armies of settlers from the United States and Europe were pouring into, and running over, the country west of Winnipeg in all directions, attracted by the irresistible magnet — wheat. Probably no country in the world's history has ever swept forward with such a rush ^s British North America, and as the time slipped by, instead of the wave diminish- ing, it increased in volume, and 'gave every indication of being permanent so long as there was any land left to be brought under the plough.

But the new arrivals were handicapped very heavily, as they found to their cost. They could till the land, and could raise their grain produce in plenty, but unless they hugged the southern stretches of the country they could not forward the prizes they wrested from the land to market. There was only one railway through the country

B 17

18 A GREAT ORGANISER

to handle their goods, and consequently they were in the hands of a monopoly, which, like all undisputed masters of a situation, wielded its power in an autocratic manner.

Then suddenly a new personality loomed on the trans- portation horizon, and the railway chess-board underwent many startling changes. This disturbing influence was Mr. Charles Melville Hays, who, when he first set foot in Canada in 1899, was a complete stranger to the Dominion. To-day his name is a household word from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Within a decade he has accomplished as much, if not more, than the majority of men achieve in the whole of their lifetime. How he has changed the map of Canada is one of the most fascinating romances of modern times. Through his efforts a new agricultural country, four times the area of the great wheat belt of the United States, has been rescued from oblivion. The veil of mystery has been torn from the northern stretches of Ontario and Quebec, and a new land of Promise has been revealed in northern British Columbia.

His mission to Canada in 1899 was somewhat curious. The first railway built in the Dominion, the Grand Trunk, had fallen on evil days. It was sunk low into the morass of financial difficulty. Sir Charles Rivers Wilson, g.c.m.g., was called upon to rescue it from impending bankruptcy. His administrative capacity enabled him to place his finger upon the weak spot very readily. The railway was operated from London, and controlled by men who knew nothing whatever about local requirements. The obvious remedy was a strong man at the head of affairs on the spot : a man who was familiar with American con- ditions and ways of doing things.

To find the man he required he was forced to search the United States, as Canada at that time was deficient in railway administrators. In this way his attention be- came riveted upon Charles M. Hays, who was then trying desperately to accomplish the seemingly impossible. The

HAYS AND HARRIMAN 19

Wabash Railway had sunk far more deeply into the mire, than had the Grand Trunk Railway. Yet when the new manager appeared on the scene this derelict line was so galvanised into life as to bring prosperity within a measurable distance. This was just the man that the Grand Trunk Railway required, and overtures were made to induce him to transfer his energies from the United States to Canada. They proved successful, and thereupon the " Little American," as Hays was called popularly, assumed the reins of the pioneer iron road of the northern neighbour.

His influence was experienced immediately. He was given a free hand, and was supported strongly by the I President in his campaign of overhaul. The result was / that the railway was snatched from bankruptcy and once more set firmly on its feet. Some of the share- holders received what they had despaired of ever seeing again — dividends. The whole fabric was torn to pieces and reconstructed piece by piece.

Scarcely had this upbuilding commenced when the Huntingdon group, who saw the Southern Pacific Railway falling into the slough of failure, offered Charles M. Hays the Presidency of that system, in order to retrieve its broken fortunes. Seeing that the topmost rung of the railway ladder was within his grasp, it is not surprising that Hays accepted the offer, especially as it was in connection with one of the most important roads of his native country. He resigned his position in Canada, and once more was soon in the turmoil of overhauling a moribund railway.

However, he had not been many months in his new post before trouble arose. Harriman had secured control of the Southern Pacific, and he and the new President were soon at war. Harriman wanted to handle the concern to meet his own financial ends, and regarded President Hays, as he did all such officials upon his rail-

20 HAYS

ways,* as a mere pawn, in the game. The President, on the other hand, who has been associated actively with the upbuilding of railways all his life, declined to become passive at the behest of the dictator, and to occupy a sinecure. The upshot was that in disgust he tendered his resignation. Thus Hays threw over the reins of the Southern Pacific Railway.

The effect of his guiding hand, however, had been missed sorely from the Grand Trunk Railway, where there was serious danger of the undertaking relapsing into a stage worse than the first. Sir Charles Rivers Wilson, directly he heard of the pending rupture between his old colleague and Harriman, approached the former, requesting him to return to Canada, if he should resign control of the Southern Pacific Railway. Consequently Hays vacated the presidential chair of the one line to assume control of his former charge, where there was un- fettered scope for his abilities. That quarrel between the railway financier, Harriman, and the railway organiser. Hays, was one of the most fortunate circumstances for Canada. But for their dispute the history of the Dominion would have been written very differently.

While struggling with the Southern Pacific Hays had been pondering deeply over the railway situation in North America generally. When he saw his pending return to the managership of the Grand Trunk Railway, he devoted his spare time to the elaboration of a thought that had flitted idly through his mind. The inherent evils of the Canadian railway were possible of elimination, inasmuch as they were attributable mainly to mismanage- ment and errors in construction. By righting these two factors a certain measure of success could be attained, but the possibilities in this direction were restricted severely. The railway system approximated between 6000 and 7000 miles in length, and spread to every corner*! of Southern Ontario, the most prosperous and settled

ENGLISH FINANCIERS 21

province in Canada. But it was insulated. Rival lines had been permitted to spring into existence, and to form a frowning barrier on all sides, hemming in the pioneer line. A great proportion of the revenue accruing from through transportation of passengers and merchandise had to be paid out to competing lines for conveyance to points beyond the zone in which the older line operated. The effect of this disadvantage was being experienced heavily at that time, as the west, with its enormous traffic, was just commencing to boom.

When Hays returned to Montreal, and hadf completed his arrangements for removing the disciplinary and physical defects incidental to the Grand Trunk Railway, he hurried to London, and revealed his quondam idle thought, which now had assumed definite shape, for solving the problem which had occupied so much of his earnest attention. The encircling competitive and strangling barrier of lines must be broken down, and the necessity for handing traflic over to rivals must be reduced to the minimum. He explained his proposals in a minute, lucid, and comprehensive manner. They were so daring and extensive as to compel attention. A new feeder for the Grand Trunk Railway was necessary, and this could be designed in such a way as to offer an outlet to the west. They were in touch already with the Atlantic, so why should they not have an arm resting on the Pacific ? He suggested building a new trans-continental railway, stretching from coast to coast, running through new terri- tory entirely, and capable of being linked up very easily with the existing network in Southern Ontario. At the same time he emphasised the necessity for establishing a new port on the Pacific coast, which would offer them unrestricted scope for future developments, and where they could secure an unassailable dominating position.

It is a well-worn axiom that British financiers always will entertain a railway transportation project favourably.

22 POLITICS IN THE GREAT SCHEME

being in fact more audacious and enterprising in operations of this nature than Americans, despite the fact that the latter are supposed generally to be more speculative in matters of financial moment. Consequently the new idea was regarded with interest. The crucial point, however, was the feeling of the Canadian people in regard to the scheme, and whether the country and the Government representatives would extend to the undertaking the necessary support.

As a matter of fact, politically there was little to fear. The Liberal Government was in power, and the elaboration of a new trans-continental railway was opportune. The Conservative Party had sanctioned the Canadian Pacific, and, what was more to the point, had stood by it whole- heartedly at the very moment when it was on the verge of collapse though only half completed. True, the Liberals had criticised the Conservative policy in regard to that enterprise most spiritedly. By giving the Liberal Party the opjDortunity of fostering an even larger scheme after its own heart, the latter would be able to show the Canadian public how justifiable was its hostility towards the methods practised in furthering the completion of the first trans- continental road.

The new manager returned to Canada, having received the approbation of his Directors, who undertook to secure the requisite financial assistance if he could win the Canadian public and Government to his side. The moving spirit decided to feel the pulse of the public first.

The whole of the western country was canvassed religiously by cautious myrmidons. No one knew for whom they were working, or just what the scheme in hand comprised, as it was revealed in a somewhat hazy manner. Secret meetings were held in the cities, large towns, villages, and even in the remote settlements. Extreme caution had to be displayed to prevent any tangible particulars of the undertaking reaching the

THE MAN BEHIND THE PROJECT 23

rival's ears, inasmuch as the Canadian Pacific regarded the west as its own especial and undisputed preserve. Had an inkling of the fact that the Grand Trunk Railway was contemplating an invasion of the prairie leaked out, competitive interests would have fought the project tooth and nail, with a view to strangling it at its birth.

The whole action of sounding public opinion was con- trived very skilfully. It was carried out more on the lines of an agitation for a new trans-continental railway, rather than a supporting propaganda for a scheme already formulated. Consequently the rival line regarded the matter as a perennial topic of academic discussion, and reposed in a false sense of security.

However, the agitation accomplished its avowed pur- pose. The meetings, once secrecy was thrown aside, were crowded by earnest and hard-thinking farmers, merchants, commercial princes, industrial magnates, and what not. The demand for another line from coast to coast was emphatic, and complete.

Such a line of action appears somewhat novel to British methods, but one must recollect that in Canada things are managed very differently from what obtains here. This project was to develop into an acute political question, to become the sport of an electoral campaign, and many politicians have to obey the behests of certain vested interests, since independence, or a line of thought con- trary to the welfare of these influences, is certain to bring about political extinction. After the first few meetings, however, popular enthusiasm assured success for any enterprise of this character. Supporters argued that competition being the life-stream of business, a new coast-^? to-coast railway was imperative.

The man behind the project, realising how matters were shaping in accordance with his expectations, now approached the Government. He laid his scheme in detail before the Premier and his colleagues at Ottawa.

1\

24 A CRITICAL ISSUE

They listened intently as they grasped the far-reaching significance of the proposals. Finally Charles M. Hays inquired, in his characteristic blunt manner, whether the Liberal Party would stand beside the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway as solidly and firmly as the Conservatives had upheld the building of the first line across the conti- nent ?

The Cabinet pondered deeply. It was a critical issue from their point of view, and they realised that acquies- cence in this demand would raise questions of national importance ; that they would have to go to the people, and would have to stand or fall by the proposal. But the convincing testimony of public feeling which the moving spirit offered as a result of his campaign in the west clinched the subject, and Sir Wilfrid Laurier pledged himself and his party to the support of the enterprise, retaining to themselves the right to modify the scheme according to what they considered advisable in the in- terests of the nation.

Several weeks were expended in threshing out the details of the scheme, the Directors with Mr, Hays ranging themselves on one side, and Sir Wilfrid Laurier and his advisers on the other. The particulars, especially those of a financial character, were drawn up minutely, and several concessions had to be made on either side. There was one point on which the Liberal Party were as adamant. They would extend no free grants of land such as had been given to the first trans-continental railway. This subvention was opposed absolutely to Liberal principles. This constitutes the sole reason why the Grand Trunk Pacific failed to obtain grants of land with its charter, as did the former railway. Canada, like her next-door neighbour, the United States, had suffered from the ill- effects of such short-sightedness on one occasion, and was resolved never to repeat the policy. Moreover, had the Government presented several hundred thousand acres

A THRILL OF EXCITEMENT 25

of freehold to the new enterprise fringing the projected steel highway, she would have parted with some of the choicest land she possessed, as results have proved since.

The details completed to the satisfaction of all con- cerned, no time was lost in proceeding with the pre- liminary details. The London market was ripe for the venture, and the British financial world viewed the project with favour.

One morning Canada awoke to experience a thrill of excitement from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The newspapers announced that^ a new trans-continental railway was to be undertaken without delay, and that the Grand Trunk Railway was supporting, and indeed was responsible for, the enterprise. It was a bald state- ment, conveyed to the Press by Mr. Hays himself over- night, but from that moment he became the most dis- cussed man in the Dominion, from Halifax to Vancouver, and from Dawson City to Hudson's Bay. The public clamoured for further information, and in response to this agitation the prime mover's office in Montreal was besieged by representatives of the Press, while telegrams and letters rained in from all corners of the country. But the thirst for further news went unassuaged. Charles M. Hays had fled. After launching his bombshell he had sped southwards to New York during the night, and by the time Canada had recovered from its first thrill he was on the broad Atlantic hurrying to London. In despair the reporters turned to the Government, but no satisfaction was to be gained in that quarter.

The fight now commenced in grim earnest. The Canadian Pacific Railway, realising how completely it had been outwitted by the astute " Little American," who had now become the " Biggest American " in the Dominion, whipped up its forces. It foresaw the threaten- ing of its supremacy in the west, and as the scheme was digested recognised that its traffic was in danger of being

26 AN APPEAL TO THE PEOPLE

depleted to an appreciable extent. Consequently no effort was spared to bring about the defeat of the new project. The rival's representatives presented a solid phalanx of opposition, and the Parliament Buildings at Ottawa afforded the strangest spectacle of activity in its history.

The ensuing few weeks were the most strenuous in the annals of the Dominion. The Government went to the people prepared to stand or fall by the idea, and the election was one of the most keenly fought in the era of Canadian politics. Critics rose up on all sides and at- tacked the scheme with venomous hostility, one opponent in describing the ominous outlook for the new venture facetiously remarking that it " would have to borrow the matches to light the fires in its locomotives for all the revenue it could aspire to earn."

Sir Wilfrid Laurier, perhaps the strongest Premier that the Dominion has ever possessed, came boldly into the open. He gave the new enterprise his whole-hearted support, and waged his fight with a strength and determina- tion that surprised his most enthusiastic supporters, and dismayed his most resolute opponents. In a moment he swept public feeling to his side. The dawning Great ' West, which had been groaning under a monopoly, was to be freed from its fetters ; the east was to be brought into closer and more direct touch with the west. The farmer would no longer be at the mercy of a railway octopus. That competition which was so essential to commercial prosperity was to be established. He at- tracted popular support by stating that the Government would build and own one half of the railway, while Imperial sentiment was stimulated by the announcement that the line was to pass exclusively through Canadian territory from coast to coast, and would thus be an "All-red Route." He lost many adherents from his complete commitment to the scheme, but he gained a greater

SIR WILFRID LAURIER'S SUPPORT 27

number of supporters. As it proved, the Liberal Party scarcely could have gone to the electorate with a more powerful weapon, or a stronger plank in its platform. The party was returned to power with an overwhelming strength.

A considerable amount of opposition had been engineered by interests in the United States which saw in the new railway a stronger bid for independence, and the forging of a stronger link with the British Empire. Some idea of the solemn determination of the Government may be gathered from the words of Mr. W. S. Fielding, Minister of Finance, who, in arguing in favour of the new scheme, remarked : "It is well that we should let our friends across the border understand that whatever measure of independence we now have we shall maintain, and that we shall increase that measure of independence by the link we are now proposing, and that, should the necessity arise, we shall not shrink from providing another."

So far as London was concerned the Directors had lost no time while the preliminaries were occupying so much attention on the part of the Canadian people. The arrange- ments for providing the first instalment of capital on behalf of construction were concluded through two well- known banking houses, Messrs. N. M. Rothschild and Sons and Messrs. Speyer Brothers, the issue of bonds being subscribed ten times over. The surveys likewise were hurried forward, Mr. Hays enrolling his own staff recruited from the finest men available for this peculiar work in America and Europe. These arrangements had to be modified somewhat upon the Canadian Government undertaking to build one half of the line, the surveys completed by the Grand Trunk Railway east of Winnipeg'^ being purchased subsequently by the Government for \ $352,191 or £70,438.

With regard to the Government support this assumed tangible proportions. So far as the national section.

28 GOVERNMENT SUPPORT

stretching from Moncton to Winnipeg, a distance of 1801 miles, is concerned, the Government are defraying the cost entirely. Upon completion it is to be leased to the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway for a period of fifty years, in return for an annual rent representing 3 per cent on the outlay. This only applies to the main line, as all branch lines or feeders are to be constructed at the expense of the company.

Bearing in mind the fact that national undertakings proverbially are more expensive than similar works completed by private enterprise, it may be thought that this is a somewhat ambiguous arrangement, whereby the company may be called upon to pay a rental upon a sum quite out of proportion to the value of the line itself. But as a matter of fact, capital cost cannot be inflated unduly. Although " cost of construction " seems an elastic phrase, in this case it is construed as meaning the " most economical basis consistent with the building of a first-class railway," such as it was decided to provide. This affords adequate protection to the company, as the chief engineer of the latter had the controlling voice concerning specifications, which were submitted for his approval before work was commenced. In other words, he governs the question of expense and decides what is a legitimate outlay for the achievement of the task.

However, as the line traverses new areas of country, where development has to take place, and traffic has to be created to provide the requisite income, the Government has extended a period of seven years for this purpose, during which term the company is not to be called upon to pay any rent, but merely to defray the cost of main- tenance or "working expenditure." At the end of that period the rent becomes due, and is payable till the end of the term. In the event, however, of the traffic not becoming sufficiently remunerative to defray the rent, then the difference between the sum paid and that due

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT 29

is to be added to the capital cost, and is to bear 3 per cent interest per annum, after the first ten years of the lease. By this arrangement the company secures the free use of the line for seven years from the date it takes the complete scheme over, the sole expenditure during that period being on account of working expenses.

When the lease expires the Government has the option of working the railway as a national concern, but should the Government decide against this course, then the company is entitled to a further lease of fifty years. In the event of the first line of action being taken, the company is to be permitted such running powers and haulage rights as may be necessary to secure connection between the Grand Trunk system and the lines west of Winnipeg.

The only subvention the company has secured is that from the Provincial Government of Ontario in respect of the branch line 188 "8 miles in length, extending from Fort William, at the head of Lake Superior, to Lake Superior Junction on the national section of the railway, 245 miles east of Winnipeg. The construction of this branch was attended by a subsidy of $2000 or £400 per mile, with a land grant of COOO acres per mile.

The Government also decided to assist in the con- struction of the Grand Trunk Pacific western section, i.e. that from Winnipeg to the Pacific coast, the two moieties of the line being known respectively as the eastern and western divisions, with Winnipeg as the central point. But in view of the fact that the first 916 miles west of Winnipeg traversed the plains, where the physical characteristics offered no supreme obstacle to construction, the western division was subdivided into two sections, the first, extending to Wolf Creek, bring known as the " Prairie Section," and the second, leaching from Wolf Creek to Prince Rupert, as the " Moun- tain Section." The whole of this western division is

30 UNANIMOUS ASSISTANCE

being constructed by the company, but the Government are guaranteeing the First Mortgage Bonds, principal and interest, to the extent of l?T3;O0O-orr'^6OO on the " Prairie Section," for fifty years, and 75 per cent of the cost of construction, whatever it may be, on the 840 miles of the " Mountain Section," where construction is certain to be highly expensive, for a similar period,

11 the Grand Trunk Railway being responsible for guaran- I teeing the bonds, principal and interest, of the balance i of the cost of construction, similarly for fifty years. The interest on this underwriting commences from the time the road is completed and opened officially, but during the first seven years of this period, owing to the company having to create its traffic, the Govern- ment is paying the interest on its guaranteed bonds con- cerning the " Mountain Section " without calling on the company for the money thus expended. Should the company be unable to defray the interest during the ensuing three years, the Government is to pay the same, and upon the expiration of the first ten years any defaulting interest incurred during the three years' grace is to be added to capital and bear interest at 3 per cent. Should the company meet with such misfortune as to prevent it paying interest for any period of five years after the first ten years have expired, the Government is to co-operate with the company, and to their mutual satisfaction a manager is to be appointed to direct the undertaking. Then the net earnings are to be divided between the holders of the Government guaranteed bonds and those of the Grand Trunk Company's guaranteed bonds in the proportion of 75 per cent to the former and 25 per cent to the latter.

It will be seen that the people of Canada have, almost unanimousl5% come to the assistance of this undertaking, and the financial arrangement cannot be described as other than equitable. It is a co-operation which tends

A COLOSSAL TASK 31

to secure all possible support for the enterprise, and the substantial interest which the public possess therein is certain to result in as much traffic as possible being turned into this channel.

This was the manner in which an idle thought evolved into the most stupendous railway constructional enter- prise in the history of the iron road. To undertake 3543 miles of first-class railway as one concrete project repre- sents a colossal task, especially when it is recalled that at the time of its conception the population of the Dominion did not exceed 6,000,000 souls. The Cape to Cairo may be a more ambitious enterprise, but it is being built in distinct units. The trans-Siberian line may be a longer line, but it was attacked in sections, and pushed from coast to coast. The completion of the formalities which rendered the fulfilment of this vast Canadian project possible is a striking tribute to the foresight and energy of one man, Mr. Charles Melville Hays, who has earned rightly the distinction of being the " Cecil Rhodes of Canada," with the probability of seeing his dream realised during his lifetime. Should the project be completed, he will have the unique distinction of controlling the greatest network of railways in the world, for the systems of the Grand Trunk Pacific and the Grand Trunk Company will aggregate no less than 16,550 miles.

CHAPTER II

THREADING NEW TREASURE LANDS FROM COAST TO COAST

WHEN the project made its bow to the public it provoked considerable criticism, which for the most part was of a pessimistic, if not of an avowedly hostile, character. The line was too far to the north — it traversed country beyond the limits of human en- durance, so how could civilisation and development take place ? How could the line hope to earn sufficient to pay for the matches to light the fires in the locomotives? By consulting the map cursorily such an argument appears justifiable, for the eastern half of the line lies entirely between the 45th and 50th, while the western section runs between the 50th and 55th parallels. Twenty years ago people who claimed the knowledge vehemently protested that wheat could not be grown on the prairie north of the 50th degree of latitude. But that fallacy has been exploded completely. As a matter of fact, the best grades of wheat, and the most arable land in the Dominion adapted to cereals, lies beyond the long- accepted northern limit. A great stretch of the country south of this line is not adapted naturally to the raising of crops — the country is sterile practically, and the farmer has to resort to irrigation. But as one ventures farther north the country is found to be watered more freely, both by rivers and large lakes. Consequently the soil is richer and more juicy, containing just those constituents in plenty for the growth of grain under the most promising conditions.

32

DORMANT WEALTH 33

Investigation of the dormant wealth of this land caused the promoters of this enterprise to keep the line well to the north, so as to open up a new country in the widest sense of the word. That it has been a wise policy is revealed by the results achieved already upon this " in- hospitable prairie," as it was called deprecatingly. A new grain-growing country aggregating in area some 300,000,000 acres was discovered. It is difficult to say just how far north this great agricultural belt extends, but it is to a point well beyond the 55th parallel. In fact, some of the finest wheat the farmer could ever hope to harvest is raised on the shores of Hudson's Bay.

More astonishing, perhaps, is the wonderful development that is taking place in the extreme west. During my recent journey across the continent I came face to face with an unusual spectacle. Prairie schooner after prairie schooner — the quaint western springless, horse-drawn waggon — laden to breaking-point, and handled by grim, sturdy pioneers, was pushing northward from Edmonton and a dozen other points beyond along the uncompleted section of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway so far as Edson. What was their destination ? Why, the Peace River country, some 700 miles north of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. It appeared incredible, but, as a matter of fact, a far richer, and far more attractive, agricultural country than that between the 50th and 55th parallels has been found beyond the latter. And this new territory is self-supporting. The Hudson's Bay Company has known of its value for years, and at one of its posts has a flour-mill at work. Everything grows there in abundance. At Fort Chipewyan, on Lake Athabaska, near latitude 60, a temperature of 100 degrees in the shade is recorded frequently for days and nights con- tinuously. It is the land of the eighty-five-day wheat. This country has been neglected for so many years only be- cause there were no railway facilities. At the Centennial

34 A RICH COUNTRY

Exposition held in Philadelphia so far back as 1876 the first prize for wheat was carried off by an exhibit raised at Fort Chipewyan, and the successful winner, hale and hearty, is yet a familiar figure at this remote outpost of civilisation. Farther north still, at Fort Ver- milion, a similar condition of affairs exists. For nearly thirty years this Land of Promise was forgotten com- pletely. To-day, however, the pioneers are pouring into the territory fringing the mighty Peace River, where the Government has reserved some 10,000,000 acres for the daring homesteader, simply because they have heard that the Grand Trunk Pacific intends to traverse the territory. The first trek arose from the surveying en- gineers devoting so much energy and time to the survey of the Peace River Pass as a possible gateway for the railway to the Pacific coast, a route which was abandoned only after prolonged deliberations, and for strategical reasons, in favour of the Yellowhead Pass.

The extraordinary influx of settlers to the new country opened in the west by this railway, which is without a parallel on the North American Continent, has been attended by a curious sequel which demonstrates the inconsistency of human nature. The very people who ten years ago assailed the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway for locating its line so extensively north, to-day are asking why the line was not placed still closer towards the Arctic Circle !

So far as British Columbia is concerned, a similar condition of affairs was responsible for the coast being gained at what appears to be a remote and inaccessible point, A decade ago this territory was regarded as a closed book. The atlases of the closing years of the last century describe it as a country only adapted to trapping and hunting, with locomotion by canoe in summer, which was very short, and by dog-sleigh and snow-shoes in winter, which was stated to be long and severe. As

PHYSICAL DIFFICULTIES 35

a matter of fact, the winter in these northern latitudes is far milder than that experienced in the northern United States — the Dakotas, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. The northern coast washed by the Pacific, like Great Britain, is benefited by a phenomenon of Nature which tempers the rigours and severity of winter. In the case of the British Isles it is a warm river of water from the tropical Gulf of Mexico ; in the case of northern British Columbia and Alaska it is a warm current of air — the Japanese Chinook wind. So far-reaching are the results of this favourable factor, that, in some parts of New British Columbia, stock can graze in the open the whole year round, while many lakes are free from ice in midwinter.

In reality the most inhospitable country traversed by the railway is that comprised in the northern stretches of the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. But the line was kept well to the north for several reasons. In the first place, the country adjacent to the Great Lakes is extremely cold during the winter, which here is Arctic indeed in its severity. Then again, the land is broken extremely both by rock and water in the vicinity of Lake Superior. The engineers engaged in building the Canadian Pacific found the comparatively short stretch between Port Arthur and Sudbury so beset with tremendous difficulties that they well-nigh despaired of ever getting through. The task was far more arduous than that of penetrating the formidable Rocky, Selkirk, and Cascade Mountains, while the cost ran to a very high figure per mile.

When the Grand Trunk Pacific was conceived it was resolved to profit by the experience accumulated while building the first trans-Canadian railway, and consequently the line was kept well inland. By so doing full advantage was taken of physical conditions. The land slopes some- what abruptly from its greatest height to the shores of Lake Superior. On the opposite side it shelves very

36 ICE AND FROST

gradually to James Bay, the large indent on the southern shores of Hudson's Bay. Then again, the climate was found to be milder on the north than on the south side of this rocky wall, while the coldness experienced was found to be due, in a very great measure, to the locked-up condition of the country, for the forest is dense and practically interminable. The sun being unable to pene- trate the vegetation is denied the possibility of shedding its genial warmth upon the soil, with the result that Jack Frost reigns supreme virtually the whole j^ear round, the soddened, thick layer of decayed vegetation constituting the top soil jdelding solid ice but a few feet below the surface on midsummer's day !

This fact was demonstrated to me in a convincing manner by one of the engineers. It was the middle of June — the longest day was scarcely a week distant — and the engineer drove his spade into the peaty mass. As he dug down he turned up thin layers of solid ice, the water in all the pockets being frozen solid. We were in the dark, dense forest, and although the sun in the open was unbearable, beneath the trees the temperature was that of an ice-well. The sun's rays had not touched this ground possibly for scores of years — certainly not since the young trees which sprang up after the fire which, according to Indian legend, devastated the whole of Western Ontario, once more shut in the ground beneath.

Such a state of affairs may appear alarming, but the same conditions prevailed when the railway engineers entered Southern Ontario in the 'sixties to build the first link in what is now the Grand Trunk Railway system. Ice and frost held the country the whole year round beneath the branches of the trees, yet in that country peaches, grapes, and other delicate fruits now are grown prolifically in the open air. And the same metamorphosis is being wrought in the northern stretch of the province pierced by the new trans-continental railway.

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THE ''HEIGHT OF LAND " 37

The maximum altitude between the Great Lakes and James Bay, however, is not excessive. North Bay Junction, on Lake Nipissing, Hes 654 feet above the sea. Travelling northwards practically in a straight line over the Temis- kaming and Northern Ontario Railway, the " height of land " is gained 18 miles beyond, and then only represents 1222 feet above sea-level. The highland plateau continues for about 70 miles with an almost imperceptible declination northwards, followed by a slightly sharper descent and rise, spread over 70 miles, to an altitude of about 1000 feet, whence there is a steady fall, so slight as to be practi- cally inappreciable, for about 245 miles to the shores of James Bay, the country throughout being gently undu- lating. By setting the line of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway apparently so far north, therefore, advantage was taken of the configuration of the country, which lends itself to the construction of a road-bed fluctuating so slightly and gradually as to be almost level.

Apart from the excellence and location of the route through wholly new country presenting golden oppor- tunities for development, and obviating the necessity of dividing any revenue arising therefrom with a com- peting railway, a more startling proposition was decided upon. Hitherto trans-continental railways on the Ameri- can continent had been built in a somewhat haphazard manner. The line was generally pushed through the country as quickly as possible, following the path of least resistance, and without any due regard to grades and curves. Construction itself was of the roughest description, comprising merely the raising of the requisite longitudinal ridge on the crown of which the metals were laid roughly. The idea was to reduce the initial expenditure, and then to overhaul and improve the line to meet the exigencies of increasing traffic. But it is a highly expensive process notwithstanding, inasmuch as overhauling entails an expenditure sufficient to rebuild the original line three

38 FALLACY OF THE OLD PROCEDURE

or four times over. Nowadays it is difficult to improve the standard of a railway track built indifferently in the first instance hand-in-hand with the march of progress in locomotive practice.

But Charles Melville Hays had been drilled in the new school, and had learned the fallacy of such procedure. It had been responsible in a great measure for the de- cadence of the many lines whose prosperity he had been called upon to resuscitate. Moreover, he had taken the late President Cassatt's famous dictum, " the Straight level line wins," seriously to heart, and that it was profit- ably successful his experience in overhauling the Grand Trunk Railway has shown conclusively. Consequently, when the new scheme was launched, he resolved to make it a model railway in every respect, and that first cost should be last cost. The British railways were his models, and he strove to build such a line in the first instance. He was warned that it would prove terribly expensive, and that it would be feasible to build a line sufficient for present-day requirements for a third of the cost. But he was supported by his Directors, and fortunately the Canadian Government saw eye-to-eye with him.

The result was that a high-grade specification was drawn up, and this is being fulfilled strictly to the letter, though it is involving the expenditure of millions to achieve the ideal. Also it has prolonged the time required for the consummation of the work, for circumstances have developed which no human effort could foresee, and which are inseparable from an undertaking of such a magnitude as this. Two features in connection with the line stand out very decisively — grades and curvatures. Nothing ate so ravenously into railway earnings as these two adverse elements, and one defect is almost as dis- astrous as the other. The former militates against the individual haulage capacity of a locomotive and train, while the second affects speed.

AN IRREDUCIBLE MINIMUM 39

The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway called for the irre- ducible minimum in both cases. Grades were not to exceed four-tenths of 1 per cent, or 21 '12 feet per mile, while no curves were to be sharper than four degrees, that is of 1432*5 feet radius. These desiderata were criticised severely. Although it was admitted that such might be perfectly feasible on the prairie, critics main- tained that such a grade through the Rockies and Cascades was a sheer physical impossibility. Consequently there was a general feeling that though the Grand Trunk Pacific might cherish the desire for a grade of only 21 "12 feet per mile through the mountains, they would be lucky indeed if, when they came to close grips with Nature in that country, they escaped with grades easier than 52*8 feet per mile. But the critics have been confounded ! The railway threads the mountains with a " ruling " grade of 21*12 feet per mile, against both east and west-bound traffic. How this easy pathway through such forbidding mountainous masses as the Rockies and Cascades was discovered is related in subsequent chapters.

This fight for low grades on the North American conti- nent is one of the most salient characteristics incidental to railway engineering in that country, and rises not exceeding 52*8 feet per mile have been sought diligently. This rise appears insignificant, especially when compared with some of the grades upon existing trans-continental railways, which range up to 4 per cent, or 208 feet per mile. As a matter of fact, the maximum or " ruling " grade is vital to railway economics. It governs the hauling capacity of a single locomotive in a train district or division. For instance, suppose on this division, measuring about 120 miles in length, there are stretches of level track broken up by banks having a rise of 1 per cent or 52*8 feet per mile. On the level sections the engine can haul, say, thirty trucks or cars, but whenever it reaches the 1 per cent bank, which is beyond its capacity, one of

40 AN IRREDUCIBLE MINIMUM

two methods has to be adopted. The train either has to be divided or assisted up the bank by another engine. In any case, the cost of operation is increased to a certain extent. The efficiency of the hne is reduced to what load the single, unaided engine can handle on the 1 per cent grade. This factor has been demonstrated very strikingly upon the " Big Hill " of the Canadian Pacific Railway, which lies between Hector and Field in the Kicking Horse Pass. This bank, 4| miles in length, had a rise of as much as 4 '4 per cent ; that is to say, 232 feet to the mile. In order to overcome this bank it was no unusual sight to see as many as three or four loco- motives laboriously hauling and pushing a train at a mere crawl, whereas elsewhere a single engine could handle the load satisfactorily. In course of time the existence of this " heavy pull " became such a drag upon the efficiency of the railway that it was decided to reduce it. As a result the Canadian Pacific Railway was re- aligned through the Kicking Horse Pass at a cost of $1,250,000, or £250,000. By the execution of a striking piece of engineering work the " Big Hill " was doubled in length, but its gradient was reduced by just one-half.

Coming to the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, a striking illustration of the economic value of the 21 "12 feet per mile graded based upon actual and practical results can be given. The Inter- Colonial Railway, extending through the lower provinces of Canada from Montreal to the coast, has a " ruling " grade of 1 per cent. For our purpose we will take a locomotive of the consolidated type weigh- ing 107 tons, or, as it is technically expressed, " with 53 tons on the driving wheels." This is not the largest type of locomotive used to-day on Canadian railways, but being one in extensive vogue is the best for the pur- pose of this comparison. Such an engine can haul, over a grade of 1 per cent — 52 "8 feet per mile — a train representing a weight of 810 tons. Yet on the level the

THE QUESTION OF GRADIENT 41

same locomotive can handle a train-load of 3869 tons. In other words, the existence of the 1 per cent grade reduces the hauling capacity of the engine by more than 75 per cent. Now place the same train on the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway with its grades of four- tenths of 1 per cent, and a marked difference is notice- able. The hauling capacity of the engine is increased to 1596 tons. That is to say, by reducing the severity of the bank from 52-8 feet to 21*12 feet per mile, the hauling capacity of the engine is double, practically, that on the former, and slightly less than one-half of the maximum possible under the most favourable con- ditions— a perfectly level track. From this the significance of the easy grade may be realised, and it is possible to comprehend why the railway engineer of to-day strives so valiantly for the easy-level line.

The stipulations set out by the powers responsible for the realisation of this new trans-continental railway were therefore of a very stringent character, and presented an exacting task to the surveyors. Yet it was found possible to meet the demands of the moving spirit almost in their entirety. Here and there the physical conditions were such as to render it exceedingly perplexing, unless a fabulous amount of money were spent. Then the question arose as to whether the easy grade was worth the heavy outlay demanded. For instance, the rise westward from the city of Quebec, owing to the geo- graphical situation of this port, is exceedingly abrupt. The surveyors could fulfil the official fiat, and offered a route within the four corners of the limitations, but such would lengthen the mileage by some 19 miles. Also, when the matter was investigated it was found that it would cost $500,000, or £100,000, and add something like §750,000, or £150,000, in capitalised operating value than an alternative, shorter route having a steeper grade. The insertion of the latter approximately entailed a

42 THE QUESTION OF GRADIENT

rise of 1 in 90 for a distance of 10 miles, acting adversely against traffic flowing towards the Atlantic.

Again, in New Brunswick another similar situation arose. By the introduction of a grade averaging 58 feet per mile for a distance of some 12 miles, the route could be shortened by 17 miles, $2,000,000, or £400,000, could be saved in constructional costs, together with $1,250,000, or £250,000, in capitalised operating value. The matter was threshed out thoroughly in all its bearings, and finally it was decided to introduce these two steeper grades temporarily. Should they be found to react too adversely upon the working efficiency of the line, then the track could be rebuilt over the easier, longer route at leisure, and thereby bring the whole into uni- formity. In the Rockies the issue once more reappeared. The descent from the summit level in the Yellowhead Pass has to follow the Fraser River from its tributary source in Yellowhead Lake. The river drops so suddenly and continuously during 50 miles that it was found physically impossible to preserve the easy grade through- out the whole distance, inasmuch as Tete Jaune Cache must be reached in order to enter the Fraser River Valley. A short section of 1 per cent grade adverse to traffic flowing from the Pacific has had to be introduced. In each instance one additional engine stationed at the foot of the bank will suffice to help the train over these " pusher grades," as they are called.

In the early trans-continental railways, in order to preserve the grade across deep, wide valleys, extensive recourse was made to timber trestling. It was decided that such should be eliminated entirely from the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, owing to the dangers of destruction and possible accidents from fire, and also because of the relatively short life of such structures. Steel and concrete were to be used exclusively. In the course of building the western section of the line, however, this decision

THE QUESTION OF GRADIENT 43

had to be modified slightly to meet peculiar and unex- pected conditions. It was found absolutely impossible to secure the delivery of the requisite steel-work on time, so, instead of delaying the progress of the railway, the depressions have been spanned in certain instances by timber trestles. Such, however, are purely temporary, and so fast as the steel-work can be brought up, the metallic structures are being erected, the timber used temporarily being buried beneath millions of cubic yards of ballast brought at leisure from different points.

CHAPTER III

The Reconnaissance in the Wilderness and how the Railway Line was Discovered

THE first step in this great work was the reconnaissance, the surveyors being deputed to run rapidly through the country so as to secure a general impression of the topography, and the direction the line should take to secure the requisite alignment in point of easy grades and curvature. This in itself was a daring piece of work. It entailed scouting through a vast territory some 1800 miles in width, the greater part of which was unknown. In fact, at that time more was known about the land lying around the North Pole than of the northern stretches of Ontario and Quebec. True, there were Government maps, but the knowledge they contained was confined to the country lying immediately contiguous to the great rivers, which could be followed from their junction with the St. Lawrence for hundreds of miles up-country. But as these rivers ran at right-angles to the route which the line was to follow, this information was of slight utility.

Then there was another perplexing problem — the entrance to this northern territory. For the most part it was absolutely inaccessible. It was foreseen that at some places in Ontario the reconnoitring forces would be called upon to carry out their work some three or four hundred miles beyond the limits of civilisation. So far as the Lower Provinces were concerned, the reconnaissance was not beset with such grave difficulties. New Brunswick and Nova Scotia are the two oldest settled and most

44

DISILLUSION 45

developed provinces in the Dominion, and although at places the scouts were obliged to push their way through country where the traj^per and lumber- jack reigned supreme, still they were never many miles beyond the pale of civilisation and settlement.

On the other hand, in the unknown inaccessible northern stretches of Ontario and Quebec the Indian still held undisputed sway. Here and there were Hudson's Bay trading posts, which constituted convenient centres, for the famous Fur Company has a splendid system of intercommunication between its isolated posts and Mon- treal. But it was necessary for the surveyors to gain points far remote from such diminutive civilised points in the wilds, and to carry out their work buried in the depths of the forest with its impressive feeling of isolation.

The average person speaks lightly about the backwoods of Canada and their fascinating glamour when discussing the subject from the perspective of a few thousand miles in a cosy arm-chair, and without personal knowledge of the topographical conditions. But when one, like myself, has penetrated the wilderness, has torn the veil of romance and adventure aside roughly, revealing prodigious diffi- culties of every description, perils untold, privations un- heard of, and a silence and loneliness that bludgeons the senses into inactivity, then the picture assumes a totally different aspect and colouring.

In order to obtain a faint idea of the prospect that confronted those entrusted with the reconnaissance, conceive a vast country rolling away in humps, towering ridges, and wide-yawning valleys as far as the eye can see, and with the knowledge that the horizon can be moved onwards for hundreds of miles without bringing about any welcome break in the outlook. On every hand is the interminable forest, a verdant sea, except where here and there jagged splashes of black and brown betoken that the fire fiend has been busily at work. The trees swinging

46 SWAMPS AND FORESTS

wave-like before the breeze conceal dangers untold beneath their heavy blanket-like branches, the existence of which are beyond contemplation until one is brought to close grips with them.

Here it is a swamp whose viscous, treacherous mass stretches for mile after mile to all points of the compass, until it attains an area sufficiently large to absorb an English county. There it is a litter of jagged rock as if Nature had been at play with the mountains, and after pulverising their solid masses had tossed the debris promiscuously on every hand. Covered with slippery, decaying vegetation their surfaces are as dangerous as orange peel on an asphalt pavement, and a slight slijD may result easily in an ugly contusion or a badly broken limb. Could one survey the scene of solemn grandeur presented by the vegetation from a coign of vantage, nothing could be seen of the maze of fallen tree trunks, levelled by wind, water, and fire, piled up beneath the trees to a height of ten, fifteen, and twenty feet in an inextricable mass, and over which one has to make one's way with infinite labour, menaced with danger to life and limb.

The forest is trackless save for narrow pathways, some of which are scarcely distinguishable, and all merely inches in width, wandering in apparent aimlessness through the gloom to one knows not whither. Maybe they come to a dead stop on the brink of a gulch, at the bottom of which a broad river is tearing along fiendishly. The opposite bank is one's objective, and there is no bridge to afford communication. In order to cross one must be dependent upon individual resource in con- triving a flimsy vehicle, and even when afloat one must possess considerable presence of mind and skill in battling with the fierce current, sunken jagged rocks, snags, timber jams, sandbars, roaring rapids and whirlpools. One carries his life in his hands the whole time, certain in the knowledge that at any moment he may be called

FIGHT WITH NATURE 47

upon to battle for his life when his bark comes to grief and disappears from beneath his feet.

One cannot wander far from the trail beaten down by the moccasined feet of the Indian without having to fight his way foot by foot with the axe, for the bush stands up impregnable, and bristling with snags. Advance must be made warily to avoid sudden immersion in a swamp, while if astride a pack-horse he must be ever on the alert to spring clear the moment one's mount gets into diffi- culties. In summer the ground is well-nigh impassable, for it is as soft and treacherous as quicksand, and advance is reckoned in yards per hour. In winter, when the ooze has become hardened by the grip of frost, and snow has covered the whole with a thick pall, progress is easier and more rapid. But winter brings fresh dangers peculiarly its own. There is the blinding blizzard, the relentless drift, the slush which superficially appears sufficiently strong to withstand one's weight, but collapses beneath one's feet and leaves one floundering waist-high in a freezing slough. Then there is the cold — the pitiless low temperature which penetrates the thickest clothing, for when the thermometer is hovering about 35 degrees or more below zero, supreme ingenuity is required to keep the blood circulating through one's veins, and to avoid that terrible enemy, frost-bite.

Not a sound breaks the eternal silence beyond the sighing of the wind through the trees, the rifle-like crack of a dead, gaunt monarch as it crashes to the ground, or the howl of the wolf. Not a soul is met save a stray Indian or a trapper at rare intervals. Should accident or disaster befall one, news thereof would not trickle through to the outside world for months, if it ever did at ail.

Such was the country which the surveyors were called upon to explore, from which the veil of mystery was to be torn, and thrust farther back towards the Arctic

48 THE ENGINEER-IN CHIEF

Circle. It was an appallingly forbidding prospect, and reconnoitring demanded men of exceptional calibre and perfection in their work. They were selected with infinite care by ISir. Hugh Lumsden, who was appointed the engineer-in-chief over the Government division. His unique experience in connection with the location of railways, and his extensive knowledge of the conditions against which the men were likely to be pitted, contributed in no small measure to the complete success with which the surveys were carried through.

For the sake of convenience the round 1800 miles between Moncton and Winnipeg were subdivided into sections, averaging about 314 miles in width apiece. Those in the more settled districts were somewhat larger, in order to reduce the mileage in the more inaccessible country. A responsible, accomplished engineer was placed in charge of each district, under direct control of the chief at Ottawa. By this arrangement Mr. Lumsden was enabled to keep survey work in progress over the whole 1800 miles at various points simultaneously, and the location of the line was brought to a satisfactory conclusion within the shortest possible time. When the work was in full swing there were forty-five surveying parties in the field, each comprising a small colony of eighteen men, so that a total scouting army of 810 men was scattered over half of the Dominion busily engaged in plotting the path for the railway.

The reconnaissance, however, was the most adventurous part of the undertaking, inasmuch as the men, for freedom of action and celerity in movement in this phase of the operations, had to be equipped as lightly as possible. They were given a roving commission, for in addition to pushing their way directly through the country along the route which the authorities wished to follow, and which was indicated in its broad lines, they had to wander for 50 to 100 miles over the land on either side.

GOVERNMENT MAPS 49

For the purpose of the reconnaissance only those possessed of robust constitutions, abundant resource, fearlessness, and, above all, to the manner born in regard to locating railways, were selected. One and all possessed what is called " an eye to the country," that is, the in- herent ability perfected by prolonged experience to indicate the broad path of the line from hurried observation. Moreover, they were capable of finding their way any- where, irrespective of conditions, had no fear of being lost, and even if such should happen, possessed the ability to extricate themselves from their unfortunate position, and were able to pick up once more the line of their work. They had to be prepared to pull themselves from tight corners time after time, contented to rough it to the most acute degree, and not to be dismayed when compelled to subsist on short rations.

To facilitate rapid movement the surveyor reduced his encumbrance to the minimum. Generally he was accompanied by one assistant, and possibly one or two other men to extend aid when required. Their instruments comprised aneroid barometers to take and record altitudes, a compass to give direction, while distance either was estimated or paced. Moving rr.pidly through the country, they became acquainted with its general physical charac- teristics and of the difficulties which would have to be overcome in construction ; and noted the approximate situations of swamps, rivers, lakes, and so forth, and whether the country was forest, open, or rocky. When they came to a river they had to cross it as best they could, fashioning rude rafts from dead logs, which were lashed together, and in which they poled their way across the waterway. The latter always was exciting, for the Canadian waterways are so treacherous that a thrill may be expected confidently at every turn.

There was one adverse circumstance which these reconnoitring surveyors realised before they had pro-

50 PRELIMINARY LINES

ceeded very far. This was the utter unreliability of the Government maps which they carried. These had been prepared only perfunctorily, and upon the flimsiest in- formation. Rivers were indicated in the wrong places, lakes shown where they did not exist, while blanks repre- senting apparent dry land were found to be broken up with sheets of water and creeks. These maps were dis- carded in disgust, the surveyors compiling their own as they advanced. Consequently, in addition to investi- gating the country in the search for the location of the line, these little colonies contributed materially to the geographical knowledge of the unknown interior by their cartographic work.

The reconnaissance having been completed, the pre- liminary lines were run. Now, although the length of the line through a certain district may represent only, say, a matter of 100 miles of construction, possibly four lines representing from three to six times that mileage were prepared by the surve3^ors before the most advan- tageous route was found. For instance, to decide one section of approximately 290 miles, 1535 miles of ex- ploration were made, and 1521 miles of preliminary lines were driven. In another case 1080 miles of exploration were carried out, while 1064 miles of preliminary lines were run to obtain a length of 433 miles of the completed line. Before the precise direction of the line between Moncton and Winnipeg was decided definitely, giving a railway 1801 miles in length, the surveyors carried out over 10,000 miles of exploration, preliminary and location lines, in the search for the most satisfactory route from all points of view.

In prosecuting the second stage in the survey the chief surveying-engineer was accompanied by the rest of his party ; the work was carried out more thoroughly ; distances were measured by the chain, while the transit and level were brought into requisition to ascertain levels.

THE FIRST LOCATION 51

Though this work had to be carried out carefully, yet extreme exactitude was not demanded, but just sufficient knowledge to enable the next step to be made profitably.

The preliminaries finished, the " first location," that is a possible route for the line, was made. The party, at full strength of eighteen all told, now moved along very carefully from point to point. In addition to the chief surveyor and his assistant, with the transit, there were the leveller, topographer, draughtsman, rodman, picket man, two chainmen, a number of axemen to clear the way, and last, but by no means least, the cook, upon whose culinary skill the harmonious working and general content of the little colony depended to a far greater degree than appears to the eye.

As the men proceeded with their first location the work was committed to paper, the profile of the country and the line being drawn exactly to scale on the spot, while full information concerning the character of the country, its geographical formation, sites for bridges, and so forth were set out in detail, so that some estimate of the cost of construction might be obtained.

In addition to plotting the line the surveyor also had to fulfil another very important function. It is not suf- ficient that a railway merely should cross a country ; it must possess a certain amount of possible economic value to contribute to the revenue and earning capacity of the road. As a result the surveyor had to give compre- hensive information as to whether the country on either side of each " first location " offered any attraction to commercial development from either the agricultural, mineralogical, or any other point of view. In short, he had to supply not only a route for the line, but an encyclopaedia upon the possible resources of the country traversed as well.

Several " first locations " were prepared in this manner, and the work was forwarded once a month to the

52 GRADES AND CURVATURES

engineer-in-chief at Ottawa. The latter minutely inves- tigated every drawing with the assistance of his first lieutenant, deducing the advantages and disadvantages of each respective route submitted.

The chief engineer had given each surveyor explicit printed instructions to keep within grades of 1 in 250 against eastbound, and 1 in 200 against westbound, traffic. The maximum curvature allowed was 4 degrees, or a radius of 1433 feet. If the surveyor found it impossible to keep within these limits, he indicated the fact plainly. In some instances the topography of the country was adverse to the official requirements in point of curvature, but an alternative was suggested here and there with a curve of 955 feet radius. The chief engineer alone had the power to decide any departures from the standards laid down. These, however, were reduced to the very smallest number, and it is only here and there that they are encountered.

From the alternative four, eight, or twelve first loca- tions the chief at Ottawa made his ultimate selection, being guided in his judgment by the report of the chief surveyor of the district in question, who indicated what, in his judgment, was the best location, and whose opinion, seeing that he was on the spot, was generally respected. But before giving his final decision, the chief surveyor of the district was changed, and his suggested best location was handed over to another man to improve if he could. When the latter had completed his task, the amended location was given to a third man or possibly returned to the original surveyor for further improvement. In this way not only was the best route available secured, but a healthy rivalry and determination to excel stimulated the men. Many a young surveyor plodding steadily along with his daily task suddenly found himself thrust into a responsible position, and called upon to attempt to improve the work of a far more experienced surveyor.

HARD WORK 53

If he acquitted himself well on the task promotion was his certain reward.

But the work was hard, and it told upon more than one young fellow, whose spirit was willing, but whose constitution was not hardened sufficiently to withstand the rigours of the northern climate and arduous working in the field, perhaps in ten feet of snow, and with the thermometer at 40 below zero. Winter brought no cessation of duty, no interruption in the work. In one instance the party had a very trying time. They were engaged in getting over a range where the snow fell to a depth of six feet, but would not harden. The result was that they had to wade through the mass up to their waists, and under such conditions advance was slow and highly fatiguing, while snow-blindness or frost-bite was a very probable return for intrepidity. In this case the thermometer decided to descend to an unprecedented level while plotting was in hand by notching 45 and nearly 55 degrees below zero.

The greatest difficulties arose when it became necessary to strike camjD and move to another fixed point. The party had to turn out with axes, and hack and cleave a road through the dense wood to gain their next centre, the goods and chattels being transported in sleighs and toboggans which they had to fashion themselves. Nothing short of a blizzard brought work to a stop, and even then, if there were any possibilities of achieving some- thing, the men were out from early morning to late at night.

On the western section, especially between Lakes Abitibi, Nipigon, and Winnipeg, the work proved par- ticularly exhausting, for this is probably the most tumbled and broken stretch of country in the whole Dominion, the mountains notwithstanding. In the winter the cold. is intense, while during the early sunmier, owing to the excess of water, advance is extremely arduous and

54 A GALLING OBSTACLE

dangerous. One district party wrestled with bristling Nature continuously for month after month, meeting an acute problem in the form of huge muskeg — stretches of decayed vegetable matter, saturated with water, strongly reminiscent of a peat bog. On the surface they appear stable enough, but when one ventures on they gently subside beneath the feet like a soddened sponge. The surveyor was informed that it was only from 4 to 6 feet in depth, but when he came to close investigation he found that soundings could be carried to a depth of 38 feet without giving any signs of the bottom being reached.

For some sixteen months without a break they en- deavoured to overcome this bad stretch of country, and at the end of that period the members of the party, suffering from the ill-effects of their prolonged seclusion in the wilds, were compelled to return to civilisation. Trouble was expected in this territory, for the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway resolved to profit from the ex- perience of the building of the Canadian Pacific. The latter blundered into the Julius muskeg, which proved to be a galling obstacle. Thousands of tons of rock were dumped into this swamp, but it appeared to be insatiable, and the final cost of overcoming the difficulty rendered this stretch of railway among the most expensive of the whole system to build.

When the task was first put in hand young surveyors saw the golden opportunity to win their spurs with the transit and level in the consummation of this great under- taking. The adventure and romance incidental to work in an unknown country spurred them on. They were enrolled and sent up-country ; but they met with hardships they never expected. They had to assist in cutting their way through the forest, and toiling afoot for 60 to 100 miles, and blazing the trail as one goes is heart- rending work. Many, despite the fact that they had signed

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DISHEARTENING CONDITIONS 55

contracts carrying them to the completion of the work, never reached their sphere of occupation at all, but turned back when they realised what the character of the con- ditions were.

Others, who reached their parties, refused to perform duties outside their particular province, and inasmuch as in such an undertaking one and all must contribute towards the comfort and well-being of the colony, such malcontents proved an undesirable element, and had to be discharged. Still others, who indeed were willing and skilful at their tasks, proved physically incapable of with- standing the privations, and had to be invalided back. The loss of a man to a party was a serious factor, apart from the cost of replacing him, which entailed an outlay of from $15 to $20 — £3 to £4— for trans- portation through the backwoods, because its efficiency became depreciated. No party was hampered by a single unit more than was absolutely imperative, and conse- quently, when a man fell out more work was thrown upon those remaining, and this condition of affairs had to be suffered for several weeks, since it occupied anything from a month upwards to send another man in.

Furthermore, many excellent men had to be dispensed with, since, though no reflection could be cast upon their skill, they were found to be unsuited to running the line through such country with sufficient rapidity. The standard of efficiency demanded among the surveyors was extremely high. It was a striking illustration of the survival of the fittest. As a result of this experience, in the course of a few months a rigid test of applicants was held before they were accepted, while all weaklings were weeded out under medical inspection. In this manner the whole of the parties buried in the Rough Country became composed of men having a first-class physique, and who were willing, energetic, and agreeable, so that a spirit of bonne camaraderie prevailed, which assisted

56 HIGH STANDARD OF EFFICIENCY

very appreciably towards the rapid and successful culmina- tion of the task.

Upon the selection of the route, the projected path was pegged out for the guidance of the constructional engineers, the stakes being spaced 100 feet apart in the centre of the pathway, 100 feet wide where the track was to be laid, with a bench mark indicating the particular level at that point, placed at regular intervals of 1000 feet. On a railway of this magnitude, however, final location is never settled definitely, as it were, before it is con- structed. A flying revising party is working always a short distance ahead of the constructional engineers, in the hope that at the very last moment a still better location may be found.

CHAPTER IV

HOW THE SURVEYORS WERE TENDED IN THE WILDS

SEEING that the safety and welfare of nearly a thousand men buried in the depths of the pitiless wilderness, extending over some 1800 miles, rested in the hands of the engineer-in-chief, the gravity of his responsibility may be conceived. But they had been sent to do his bidding, and it was his duty to see that they were made as comfortable as circumstances would permit ; that they did not want for a single thing. To keep such a scattered army at the high-water mark of efficiency, to secure an adequacy of provisions, and to keep it in touch with the commanding officer, demanded a remark- able organisation. This was conceived, elaborated, and maintained entirely through the efforts of IVIr. Hugh Lumsden, and it constituted one of the most outstanding features of the whole undertaking. It was a supreme task ; the perfection of comprehensive, intricate machinery built up of a thousand different links, none of which could be permitted to go awry, lest it throw the whole fabric into confusion. From his office in Ottawa the lines of communication spread out over the country to the most remote and inaccessible corners of the provinces like a huge net, and at all times he had absolute control over every thread. The need of a man here, medical attention somewhere else, provisions there, and instruments in yet another part — all demands were made known to him within the very shortest possible time, bearing in mind

57

58 CACHES

the vehicles of communication available, and were met without the slightest delay. It was mainly owing to the complete character of this organisation and the unremitting vigilance displayed by the controlling force, that the casualty list in connection with the surveying of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was so insignificant.

The supreme factor was in regard to the commissariat. Provisions had to be sent up-country at all costs, because the region in which the surveying colonies were buried possessed no subsistence beyond what might be taken from the rivers and the forests, and such fare becomes monotonous in a very short time. The men who knew the country, and who could read the trails through the silent, inscrutable forest were few and far between. The Indians, trappers, and intrepid voyageurs of the Hudson's Bay were those who were most familiar with them, and they were pressed freely into service. The men under the Hudson's Bay banner were most valuable owing to their dexterity and skill in packing goods for transportation by primitive up-country methods, while the Indians and half-breeds were found to be unrivalled in carrying goods on their backs when other means of transport were unavailable or impossible, and for service in the forest.

In the first place roads were driven in all directions leading from large centres attainable by railway or steamboat. These were not highways as we know them, but merely rough paths about two or three feet in width, sufficiently broad to permit of the safe passage of a dog- sleigh and team. At strategical points along these roads depots, or, as they are called in the vernacular, " caches," were established. Some were approachable by water, in which case the supplies were hurried forward during the short summer season when the inland waterways were open, because such transport was far more economical, ranging around 2| cents, or Ijd., per pound, whereas

TRANSPORTATION 59

land conveyance could not be effected much more cheaply than 7 to 9 cents, or 3|d. to 4|d., per pound.

The main caches were placed in charge of a keeper and an assistant, who for $40, or £8, apiece per month, including living, attended to the receipt of the goods, their safe storage, and trans-shipment to other points, as occasion demanded. From these main depots lines were driven in all directions, along which subsidiary caches were established, the majority without an attendant in the usual frontier manner, the only precautions neces- sary being sufficiently strong protection of the goods within against the ravages of bears and other animals of the forest. These subsidiary caches were situated at intervals of about eight or ten miles along the lines of communication, and it was from these that the survey parties replenished their supplies as occasion demanded.

Transportation by pack-horse or mule, despite its advantages, could not be practised very extensively, though seeing that each of these animals can carry from 200 to 300 pounds, it is advantageous if possible. But the country traversed could not offer any support to such life. The only remedy against such a natural de- ficiency was to transport fodder into the territory at frequent points. But as such would have been at the expense of provisions for the parties of men at work, it was not considered feasible. Then again, it has to be borne in mind that the existence of the muskeg militated against the utilisation of horses. Even under the best conditions they cannot make rapid progress — about 2| miles per hour is a good travelling speed, as I found from experience — and they become stalled very easily in the swampy ground.

Shallow-draft steamers were used on the waterways to penetrate the interior, proceeding so far as navigation would permit in the requisite direction. Canoes were pressed into service also, and for this purpose a large

60 CANOES

fleet of several hundred of these craft was procured and commissioned at various points. They were of all descriptions, varying from 16 to 22 feet in length, and comprising both birch-bark, dug-outs, and collapsible canvas vessels. With the larger types a ton of goods could be carried comfortably. But their manipulation demanded men expert in the wielding of the paddle, who knew how to shoot rapids, and who were skilled in the art of packing. Half-breeds and Indians were found to be the most fitted to this work, and they commanded a salary of $40, or £8, per month on the average.

Canoeing is the most exhausting system of transporta- tion in such a country that it is possible to undertake. It is not merely a question of making one's way up or down the waterway with an eagle eye alert for rapids, snags, and other lurking dangers, while rushing along at a furious pace on the bosom of an 8 or 10-mile-an-hour current, nor poling foot by foot up-stream, nor hauling the end of a thin line to get through a foaming mill-race, though that is hard enough work in all conscience, but it is the portaging that takes it out of the canoemen, and sends the weakling to the wall. The canoe has gained a point, say, on such and such a river beyond which it is either impossible or inadvisable to proceed. But just over the hill, or a hundred yards or more through the forest, there is another river, running in the same direction but gaining a point nearer one's destination. This has to be taken. The backwoods canoe is not amphibious yet, so the boat and its contents have to be carried piecemeal across the intervening neck of dry land.

The canoeman unloads his craft on the bank, and by means of a sling over his back becomes a beast of burden, carrying the load in 1-cwt. consignments across the portage. If he has a ton of goods aboard, and is accompanied by an assistant, ten journeys will have to be made, the goods being stacked on the bank of the

\

"On the Portage"

The most exhausting phase of surveying in a new country such as unknown Ontario and Quebec is the conveyance of goods, chattels, and boats across country. The man straps the load of about one hundredweight to his back, while the canoes are handled similarly, giving the porter the appearance of wearing a huge cowl.

Laying Three Miles of Metals Per Day

In this illustration the track-layer is seen from the front, and is shown in the act of lower- ing a length of rail, which the men have grasped and are guiding in its descent.

PORTAGING 61

second waterway. They then return to haul the boat out of the water, and turning it upside-down, heave it on to their shoulders, and thread the woods as if garbed in a capacious monk's hood. Like Diogenes, they carry their home with them, the latter not being a barrel, but a heavy 22-foot canoe. Transferred to its element once more, the canoe has to be repacked and retrimmed, possibly to be submitted to another portage in the course of an hour or so.

It is the portage which occupies so much time, and which, from its very nature, subjects vehicle and contents to considerable unavoidable rough usage. A portage may be only 100 feet ; on the other hand it may be a mile or more, and carrying load after load across the rough country causes extreme exhaustion, as I found to my cost.

Seeing that 50 per cent of the area of the province of Ontario is represented by water, extensive portaging was requisite to reach certain up-country points. Thus in the Lake Nipigon district provisions and supplies were un- loaded at Grasset, the nearest railway station, and sent into the backwoods by canoe. In one case, before the cache was gained sixteen portages were necessary, repre- senting a total overland journey of lOf miles. In another instance in the same territory sixteen portages had to be made, representing 8 miles ; in a third case twenty- nine portages, amounting to 11 miles, were requisite. Some idea of the heartrending character of the canoe- man's work may be thus imagined, and when the route lies over such a waterway as the Pic River, on which sixteen portages alone were necessary, owing to expanses of such rough water being encountered as to be impassable without imperilling the safety or condition of the goods, it becomes a superhuman task indeed, and progress even under the very best conditions is bound to be slow.

Portaging was found to enhance the cost of transport

62 PORTAGING

to a supreme degree, and in many instances the charges under this head represented from double to treble the value of the goods being handled. But such disadvantages were incidental to the opening up of a new country, and cost was of secondary importance when human lives were at stake. The greatest trouble in this direction was exjDerienced probably in the Gatineau River district, where as many as fifty portages had to be made on one through journey alone. In such a case as this the damage which the canoes received when passing overland on the shoulders of the packers was so extensive that they survived only a single journey.

Portaging played more havoc with the craft than the dangers lurking in the rivers, although these were of a peculiar nature, and irritating in their frequency. The canoeist had to keep a sharp look-out and to maintain a steady command over his nerves to keep his frail bark out of peril. Even then, under the most expert oarsman- ship, a smash now and again varied the monotony of the daily round of toil. Such were of grave significance, for it meant the loss or damage of so much valuable provisions, while now and again the disaster was enhanced in gravity by the loss of a valuable life. When the work was commenced the loss in canoes and lives assumed an alarming proportion, but as the calamities were due to lack of experience or skill, they were avoided by utilising the services of expert navigators exclusively.

But while the rivers and waterways were scenes of unwonted life and activity during the summer, the forests meanwhile remaining practically dumb, during the winter the position was reversed. The waterways froze into a more or less solid mass and were deserted, but the bush re-echoed the yelps of the dogs straining and pulling at their heavily-laden sleighs, mingled with the fearsome gutturals of an Indian half-breed in charge of the train, or the savage ejaculation of a brawny French Canadian.

"HUSKIES" 63

While the ground was in the grip of the frost the bulk of the supplies were sent in. The snows packed hard, and the flimsy little vehicles were able to speed over its glistening surface. The toboggans were about eight feet in length by some fourteen inches in width, fashioned for the most part from maple, ash, or birch, woods which are the strongest and the most suitable for the purpose, as they combine strength with lightness, and are capable of withstanding considerable rough usage and hard knocks.

The dogs employed were those known as " huskies," powerful, active brutes, possessed of great stamina, wonderfully strong, and strikingly intelligent when once broken into the work. These animals were recruited from the Indian camps, villages, and fur-trading out- posts, for they constitute the ship of the snow-bound bush, and no outlying settlement would think of neglecting to maintain a number of dogs for winter use. The dog- team numbered from two to six animals, according to the character of the country on its run and the load to be handled. When the going was hard six dogs were pressed into service, but when it was simple two animals sufficed. The sleigh-load also varied accordingly, but the latter was calculated as a rule on the average of 100 pounds per animal, so that a sleigh of six dogs transported about a quarter of a ton.

Scores of these trains were pressed into service, and they were stationed at various points to transfer the provisions from the main to the auxiliary caches and among the survey camps. During the summer the dogs were placed in the hands of responsible keepers, and carefully tended so as to be in fine condition for their arduous work when winter settled on the land. When in good condition, and when the travelling was excellent, such as through open, level country, or over the frozen, snow-covered lake surfaces, they made from 20 to 40

64 THE DOG TRAIL

miles a day, but where the country was broken and the timber dense, the pace dropped to anything between 3 and 8 miles per day. Taken on the whole, however, a train could be relied upon to cover the round journey between two adjacent caches in the coui'se of a day — a matter of 16 to 20 miles — so that supplies were sent for- ward at the rate of about 500 pounds per train per day.

When the winter settled down and the snows had become sufficiently deep and hard for the dogs to be brought out, the first outgoing team was preceded by a gang of men on snow-shoes who defined the trail, clearing away all branches and dead-fall that may have dropped across the almost indistinguishable narrow causeway. The dog-train trail was also driven in as straight a line as possible, sharp turns being avoided as well as steep climbs, so as to facilitate the rapid movement of the team.

One man generally sufficed for the driving of the train, and, armed with a long whip, he kept his charges at a steady forward movement. Once a train had settled down to its stride, the dogs kept it up, and if provided with a good leader, held to the centre of the trail. But the efficiency of a train depended largely upon the de- meanour of the driver. The dogs resent harsh treatment, and at times will strain the patience of the driver to breaking-point. The men must be active, as hardy as their charges, and maintain an equable temper. For the most part these animals have a wolfish temper, which can be roused easily, and should the man lack tact in handling them, he is likely to precipitate a desperate situation.

One French Canadian, who had dog-trained supplies through some of the roughest parts of the country, related to me how on one occasion his team played every imagin- able trick when they were first brought under his charge. Moreover, they were the most ferocious and wicked brutes

THE DOG TRAIL 65

he had ever handled. It was the first day out. He was hning up the dogs in the morning to harness them, when they broke into rebelHon, and in a combined movement made a rush at him. He clubbed the first-comer with his rifle, and then set about the others with his whip. Standing with his back to the wall of the shack, he laid out right and left with his murderous thong as the en- raged animals sprang at him. For some minutes the battle raged furiously, the yells of the dogs as the lash of the whip got home being furious. Then it suddenly dawned upon the brutes that they had met their master, and they unanimously drew off and lay down panting. For some minutes he stood still, watching developments, before, whip in hand, he approached the nearest dog, who happened to be the leader. It gave a savage snarl, but showed no further fight, so was harnessed quickly. Then it sprang to its feet and waited to take up its position in the team. The other animals sullenly followed suit, and the train set out as if nothing had happened, though somewhat delayed. The driver informed me that never after did he experience the slightest trouble with that dog train, and never more had to have recourse to his whip beyond the customary cracking to spurt them into effort.

But the driver's life was one of galling monotony and loneliness when out on the trail. A young English fellow who had been in the service of the Hudson Bay Company, but who was experienced in this peculiar work, and knew the rough, wild country well, related his daily round to me. As it is typical, it is worth relating, though it was far more picturesque and romantic when narrated to me round the camp fire in the heart of the silent forest.

He had to pass over a dog road and ordinary trail 350 miles in length. It was a tiring, difficult stretch, through heavily timbered country, where the dead-fall was exasperating, and the country maddeningly uneven,

66 HARD TRAVELLING

so that, time after time, the speed of the train slowed up to a mere walk. With the train fully loaded he could make about 17 miles per day. At places where the trail was the most execrable he considered 8 miles a good day's work, while, when the going was conducive to speed, possibly 20 to 25 miles could be made.

He set out in the murky morn from the base and pushed on as hard as he could, for the " Bush Inn " had to be made that night, come what might. This hostel com- prised a log shack divided in two, one half being for the driver and the other for his dogs. He had to keep going all the while to gain it before darkness fell. When the elements were kind and the snow was in good condition, he could make the journey before the short winter's day drew to a close. Clad in thick woollens and furs, with his head enveloped, leaving only his face exposed, he sped off on snow-shoes behind the sled. When toiling uphill he would give his team assistance by pushing the load from the rear, while in making descents he pre- vented the weight crowding on the heels of the animals by hauling back with all his might to a rear line, digging his feet deeply into the snow to secure a steadying pur- chase. At places the descent was so abrupt that he snubbed the rope round a tree-stump to hold the sled in check as it hurried down the declivity.

But it was when the blizzard raged, and the soft snow gave no grip to the feet, that the true perils and privations of the trail became revealed with a startling suddenness. The sled became clogged, and strain as they might the dogs could hardly haul it along. By pushing and prising he contrived to keep the dogs moving, for once a dog- train comes to a stop the animals are likely to create trouble. Then advance was merely a matter of a few hundred yards an hour, and at places where the white fleecy mass had drifted the train would come almost to a standstill. The dogs dropped down panting vigorously

EXACTING TOIL 67

under the exertion. Cajoled and lashed into forward movement, they would strain the harness to breaking- point in their endeavours to get way on the unwieldy mass. The driving snow almost blinded the driver, and at times he could not see his leading animal, who was completely shut out from his sight by the wreathing and circling flakes. Occasionally there would be an ominous scraping and jarring or wicked lurch as the ungainly vehicle rolled over some obstruction, or it would give a sudden right-angled turn as it collided with, and glanced off, an unobserved tree. Under such con- ditions the night would be far advanced by the time he gained his destination, and in the glare of the Northern Lights he would unharness his dogs, give them their supper, kindle his fire, and refresh the inner man with a hastily prepared meal. Then banking up his fire, he would roll himself into his blanket and sink into a pro- found slumber, thoroughly worn out by the day's work.

Up early the next morning, he prepared his breakfast, tended his dogs, and finally, before pushing on, chopped a sufficiency of firewood to meet the requirements of his companion with another train following in his foot- steps. It was important that the man departing from a cache in the morning should give attention to this detail, inasmuch as the chances were a hundred to one that the next arrival would come in well-nigh played out. It was but a kindly act to reduce his labours upon arrival, after a day's exacting toil on the trail, to the minimum, so as to enable him to get a well-earned meal in the shortest space of time.

This was the round day after day for three dreary weeks, until the destination was gained. Then he would turn round, and the sleigh now being empty, the home- ward run could be made in shorter time, usually in about a fortnight. The whole time the young fellow was out he would not see a soul unless he happened to come upon

68 HEALTH OF THE PARTIES

the members of a survey party, or spent a night with a companion outward bound. It is not surprising that great difficulty was experienced in securing men who had the hardihood to face a hfe of this description, com- bined with necessary experience in handling dogs and packing for a wage averaging about $40, or £8, per month.

The health of the parties in the camps was another cause of anxiety. Accidents were the contingencies to be most feared, for the pure, bracing air and outdoor life contributed toward the maintenance of a clean bill of health, while the observance of the rudiments of hygiene sufficed to ward off the ravages of contagious diseases. Each party was provided with a well-stocked medicine- chest with which the little ills to which flesh is heir might be treated. Still it was thought advisable to hold a fully qualified young doctor in reserve at convenient points, to watch the health of those in the most remote districts. These medical men were given an extensive stock of medicine as well as an excellent selection of surgical instruments and facilities for the performance of any operation that might become necessary. Each doctor was allotted a certain area containing so many parties, and he toured from one to the other, thereby keeping the health of all to a fine point of perfection. His round was a lengthy one, in some cases aggregating 100 or 200 miles, while the continual movement of the parties rendered his task somewhat more irksome. Their provision was a wise precaution, for here and there a slight outbreak of typhoid or scurvy due to limited diet overtook a camp, while now and again a member of the little colony fell a victim to some malady beyond the limits of the camp medicine-chest, such as appendicitis, meningitis, and so forth. The doctor's aid was of in- calculable importance in the event of a mishap with an axe, and in the case of snow-blindness and frost-bite.

Life in these vagrant settlements was somewhat

THE MAIL SERVICE 69

monotonous, far removed as they were from the bounds of civilisation, but their isolation was dispelled somewhat by the inauguration of a mail service. The postman had rounds of perhaps 200 miles or thereabouts ; his load was restricted to a maximum of 200 pounds, and in some places three weeks were occupied on delivery. Collection was made at a camp at the same time as de- livery, so that the mail service ranged from once a week to once a month, according to the situation of the party. Letter mail only was carried in order to reduce the bulk of the postman's bag, all book and parcel-post matter being sent forward as the opportunity occurred by other means. The postman received and surrendered his consignments of letters at a certain centre, whence they were transported to and from civilisation by the transport parties moving to and fro. It appears a somewhat hap- hazard method to our more enlightened eyes, but never a letter was lost unless a canoe went to the bottom of a river with the whole of its load. The postman had to make his round as best he could, seizing any con- veyance that might be going in the desired direction, if such were available — and that was but rarely. More often than not he was compelled to make his arduous way afoot, whereby, under the most advantageous con- ditions, he would cover some twenty or more miles a day. Despite the great difficulty experienced in sending huge stores of supplies into such an inaccessible, broken, and wild country, the caches were kept stocked with supplies sufficient to last some six or nine months, and the men in the field had no cause for complaint in regard to their rations, either in point of variety or quantity. While pork and beans, oatmeal flour and bacon may be considered the staple diet of the bush, delicacies in the form of dried fruits such as apples, prunes, apricots, sugar, condensed milk, tea, coffee, butter, and lime- juice were not denied them. The variation and character

70 VALUE OF A GOOD COOK

of the menu was dependent in no small measure upon the skill of the cook, and consequently no effort was spared to secure the best man available in this depart- ment at a salary of $60, or £12, per month inclusive. A party of eighteen men were allowed some 2617 pounds of supplies, comprising twenty-four different articles, per month, which averaged 5*40 pounds per day per man. The deficiency most felt was possibly in regard to fresh meat, but inasmuch as the forests teemed with fur and feather, while the streams abounded with fish of all descriptions', this drawback could be remedied to a certain extent by the men themselves in their spare moments with but little exertion. The food-stuffs shipped in were of the finest quality, for the authorities realised that an army which could not quarrel with its commissariat was certain to give good working results.

CHAPTER V

THE HEROES OF THE WILDERNESS

WHEN the Epic of the railway is written, the men who laid the foundations of the National Trans- Continental will loom prominently therein. I met several of those who had been associated with the plotting of the line during my journey along the location which the great steel way is to follow to the Pacific Coast. They were not communicative ; hardship, privation, peril, and sensational excitement had been encountered so frequently that they considered such as part of the daily round, and now that they could view them from afar, and a more distant date, they made light of them. But when I probed beneath the surface, as seated round the blazing fire in the lonely camp in the wilderness I drew them into conversation, and once more threw them back into the days when they were up in the forest toiling mighty hard to find that four-tenths of 1 per cent grade, they grew slightly reminiscent. And what stories they could tell ! What thrills they could give !

Although they talk but little, more than one can show scars of wicked wounds received in that conflict with Nature, in which a great victory has been won in the interests of peace. A missing limb, deformed or absent fingers, blanks on the feet — all tell their own silent stories. They are insignificant injuries incurred in rolling back the map, it is true, but they bear mute testimony to the severity of the battle, the bitter struggle against frost and cold, for those blanks where fingers and toes formerly

7»

72 EVIDENCE OF THE FIGHT

existed were caused by frost-bite while toiling with the transit, level, rod, or chain when the glass registered something between 20 and 40 below zero.

The cemeteries around Ottawa, and at a dozen other places up and down the country, can give still more grim and tragic evidence of this fight. The brief epitaphs relate how those beneath the soil met their end in some unfortunate manner while searching for the easy grade. Even the woods mourn over some hero who is sleeping the long sleep beneath a rough mound, carefully railed in with a picket fence and marked with a rude wooden cross. If one searches the pay-rolls one will find here and there the record of a man who set out bravely into the woods never more to be seen or heard of again. The forests and the rivers guard their secrets tightly. The wonder is that the roll-call does not show more unanswered names. It is a striking tribute to the wonderful organisa- tion that was evolved to ensure the safety of a large, scattered army locked in the wilderness.

Every day some daring deed was accomplished ; every hour could relate some display of sacrifice ; every mile of the line commemorates the heroism of a score of rough- and-ready boys of the bush. There was Walter Leamy. His story is one of sad and heroic self-sacrifice. He was in charge of a transport party, and had a large bulk of supplies which it was imperative should be got through. He was working on one of the most difficult sections at the time, and the winter was one of terrible severity. The party were painfully making their arduous way for- ward through soft snow and a blinding blizzard. At last they ran into a bad stretch of snow, which compelled a halt for deliberation. The question was what was to be done, as the position was precarious. One of the men volunteered to push ahead to reconnoitre, but Leamy, being the officer-in-charge, refused to entertain the pro- posal. It was his duty to pilot the party through, and

DARING DEEDS 73

if any risks were to be run, it was his place to incur them. So he started off, promising to return without delay the moment he found a practical solution of the difficulty.

But the rest of the party waited in vain. The hours slipped by without bringing any signs of the transport officer's return. The worst was feared, so the party thereupon moved forward warily. Their leader's tracks were plainly visible in the snow, and they dogged them step by step. In due course they came to the edge of the narrows of Opasatica Lake, and the imprints went still onward over its ice-bound surface. But the boldest among the party did not like the outlook. That lake was covered with slush, and this is far more treacherous than quicksand. The cause of the leader's non-return was revealed as plainly as an open book. He had pushed on speedily, had gained the edge of the lake, and without pausing, had ventured on its dangerous surface. The ice had collapsed under his weight, and the icy shell had closed over him.

The men of the forest had reconstructed the tragedy only too vividly. When the ice broke the lake gave up the body of the heroic transport officer, and it now lies sleeping in the cemetery of Hull, within sight of the office whence he received his commission.

The slush on the lakes was one of the greatest obstacles which those in the field were doomed to face. From the bank it looks safe enough, but to venture upon its surface is to court certain death. Why ? It is very simple to explain. The lakes freeze up under the advance of winter, but before the encrustation has assumed a sufficient thickness there is a heavy fall of snow. Under the weight of the white, fleecy mantle the ice slowly and steadily sinks below the level of the water, which, pouring over the mirror-like armour, saturates the snow. Under successive falls of snow the ice sinks lower and lower, and the slush assumes a greater and greater thickness.

74 THE DANGERS OF SLUSH

until at last it measures from 4 to 6 or 10 feet in depth. What is more, it persistently refuses to freeze. The appearance of its smooth surface tempts the daring to advance. It withstands his weight until he has ventured a fair distance from the shore ; then, without the slightest warning, suddenly it opens up, drawing the unwary into its icy depths, where he is soon suffocated. One cannot escape from its embrace, no matter how great the struggle, and when the end is reached the slush gathers over one, giving no inkling of the ghastly secret beneath.

In some cases the depth of slush became so deep as to render a lake absolutely impassable. Then the transport had no alternative but to make its way painfully round the treacherous expanse or to improvise a temporary cache upon its bank, delaying the forward movement of the supplies until a more favourable opportunity later in the winter, or possibly during the succeeding spring.

Many have laughed over the " Cremation of Sam McGee," as limned by Robert W. Service, and have admired the verse-writer for the fertility of his imagination. But up on the Trans-Continental some of the boys related a grim story to me which recalled the desperate, uncanny position in which Sam McGee's unfortunate partner found himself. Two men were engaged in the transport service. One of them was stricken down by illness and succumbed. His companion was compelled to carry the corpse back to civilisation for burial. He shrank from the toil through the snow-bound forests with such a load, but it had to be done. A rude coffin was made, and in this the frozen body of the unfortunate chum was laid, the sleigh being converted into a hearse for the homeward run, as it had nothing else to carry. When the man regained civilisation he was scarcely recognisable. They said he had been scared nearly out of his wits and was half demented. It is difficult to conceive the strain on the mind of a superstitious backwoodsman

LONELINESS OF THE BACKWOODS 75

who was forced through such an ordeal as this, and his thoughts as he made his lonely journey through the silent, snow-girt forest with his grim load ; how he must have been startled by the dismal howl of the timber wolves hanging invisibly on his flanks in the cavernous gloom of the trees ! After he came in he rambled for hours about his dead chum, and the way they had conversed, sung, and prayed together on that homeward jaunt.

The isolation palled upon some spirits, dragging them down to the depths of despair. The loneliness of the backwoods is one that can be felt, and will soon hurry any but those accustomed to solitary communings with Nature to their doom. One axeman attached to a survey party up in the most inaccessible part of Northern Ontario — this territory has claimed more victims than any other between Winnipeg and Moncton — was missed from his camp. He had gone no one knew whither, but his comrades hurriedly organised a search party and scoured the woods for miles around, making the silent forest re-echo with their frantic halloes. But not a trace of him was found. The forest held its secret as tightly as the tomb, which indeed it became for that poor fellow, for not a sign of him has been seen from that day to this.

During the reconnaissance and the driving of the preliminary lines, owing to the camp being constantly on the move, flitting from point to point, the trans- portation of supplies resolved itself into a pretty problem. In addition to the subsidiary caches, trains had to be reserved to follow the parties from point to point, since their stay in one spot might be merely a matter of a few days, or perhaps weeks, according to the nature of the surrounding country and the extent of the re- quisite survey work. One young surveyor related how the party to which he was attached were forced into desperate straits several times, and on one occasion

76 DESPERATE STRAITS

were within an ace of death from starvation. They were out in the snow, plodding forward steadily, and were so engrossed in their work that they had neglected to observe the distance they had travelled. When they pitched camp one night they found their position to be somewhat critical. There was nothing in the larder but a little flour. From this a kind of paste was prepared and baked — " slap-bang " is the vernacular for this unappetising substitute for bread. They endeavoured to satisfy their cravings on this, and succeeded just about as well as if they had dined off hard-tack. Certainly it possessed no claims to nutritive value — it merely served to fill a void. But there was no alternative.

The next morning " slap-bang " formed the breakfast menu exclusively, and it was decided to retrace their footsteps somewhat, with a view to intercepting the pack-train which was following them and was to the rear somewhere. The little party started off light-heartedly through the blinding snow, and with the thermometer well below zero, for they expected to meet the train in the course of a few hours — certainly before nightfall. But the day wore on without bringing any signs of succour, and the lack of stamina to be derived from their " water- biscuit " soon began to tell its tale. They shivered round the camp fire that night as they ate the remaining crumbs of their sole article of diet, and went to bed in their blankets with an awful gnawing at their vitals. Sleep was well- nigh impossible, and it was a heavy-eyed, weary, and worn-out party that stumbled to their feet and once more set out on the dreary stumble through the intermin- able snow.

They trudged along slowly and laboriously for mile after mile, but no sign of the pack-train was encountered, and the question arose as to whether they had passed it on their backward journey. For two days they had to tolerate this condition of affairs, and their situation was

DESPERATE STRAITS 77

rendered more pitiful by a terrific blizzard which broke over them. They could not even succeed in obtaining the slightest sustenance from the forest, for fur and feather appeared to keep well beyond their reach. Then the weakest ones commenced to fall out. Sheer exhaustion caused them to reel along as if in a dream, then they tottered, and finally fell, with an unconquerable desire to sleep. But the stronger ones fought the battle of the weaker against this insidious snow malady, and it was a grim, tiring conflict too, because the victims were so afflicted that they could not help themselves.

In this manner they gained the point where the pack- train should have been had it waited for their return ; but though the snow was scoured on all sides for its tracks, none were to be found. The awful fact dawned upon the party that somehow or other the pack-train had failed to come up. There was nothing for it but to struggle on as best they could. Exposure and hunger were telling their tale severely, and their pace was not sufficiently rapid to keep their impoverished blood in circulation. They hesitated to lie down to sleep at night, in case the soporific effect of the white mantle should drive them into unconsciousness, so they huddled to- gether, a shivering, silent mass of humanity, around the camp fire.

They were reeling along in the afternoon. Hardship had well-nigh dulled all their senses. They were dead- beat from hunger and loss of sleep. Suddenly they heard voices raised in vituperation echoing along the trail. It was the pack-train. It gave them new life, and in a last effort they spurted forward. Through the blinding snow they descried the phantom figures of the pack- drivers hurrying forward at the fastest pace possible under the circumstances. The survey party absolutely blundered into the pack-train in desperation ; more than one famished fellow dropped down into the snow,

78 DANGERS OF WINTER AND SUMMER

utterly played out. The packers grasped the situation, and while one hurriedly saw to the preparation of a fire and a steaming dish of pork and beans, the others tended to the worn-out members of the party. My friend admitted that it was the narrowest escape he had way up in Ontario.

When the meal had been swallowed, sparingly and with caution, after four days without food, the played-out members were made snug, and permitted to enjoy the soundest sleep they had wooed for a week. It was learned afterwards that the pack-train had been overwhelmed by the blizzard, had lost the trail, and had to call a halt until the weather moderated sufficiently to enable the packers to pick up their bearings. But they met the party just in the nick of time, and my friend had a grim memory of the escapade, for he lost four toes in the starving retreat through the wilds.

But, taken on the whole, though movement during winter bristled with dangers, the summer was the most to be dreaded. Then the foaming waterways, over which a considerable volume of traffic had to be maintained, claimed many a victim. When the work was commenced the number of men anxious to work in this inhospitable country, with its atmosphere of excitement and adventure, was amazing. Their sole recommendation for the task was that they were expert canoemen, because they, in their own words, spent every available moment upon the water in the vicinity of their homes. They were taken into service, only to realise very quickly the fact that canoeing on the comparatively still lakes to the south, and on the St. Lawrence, in the neighbourhood of cities, was vastly different from water-dogging on the unknown rushing rivers up-country. Many a novice in these waters met an untimely end as he came tumbling through a rapid. Consequently the authorities decided only to make avail of men familiar with life in the back-

RAPIDS 79

woods. Thereby not only would there be a saving in the deplorable expenditure of human life, but, more to the point, the item " loss of provisions in transit " would be decreased.

Yet now and again an expert hand with the paddle met his Waterloo. Swamping in a rapid or striking against a submerged rock was the most common cause of disaster, and these overwhelmed both engineers and packers. Up in Quebec the engineer in charge of a sub- district, and his right-hand assistant with the transit, were carrying out their work on the Upper Ottawa River, which is one of the most notoriously wicked waterways in the country. They got caught in the rapids, their frail bark was tossed like a straw from side to side, to come to an end by capsizing, throwing the occupants into a maelstrom, from which there was no hope of escape. Six days later their bodies were recovered and sent to their respective homes for burial.

A French Canadian, Joseph Desroches, attached to another party as axeman, who was an expert water- dog, was poling up the Gatineau, that is forcing his craft up-stream against the current by punting, which is the only means of making headway against the turbulent, downward rush. He was standing in the bow cautiously feeling his way through the rapids. Suddenly there was a cant, the next moment the canoe was upside- down, and the unfortunate axeman was engaged in a forlorn struggle for his life. Those rapids held their victim for over three weeks, and when at last his body was recovered, it was buried reverently on the bank near the scene of the disaster. One can see his grave to-day overlooking the treacherous waters which hurried him to his doom, for a primitive wooden cross erected by his comrades commemorates his memory, and inci- dentally draws attention to the lurking perils of the waters hurrying by.

80 RAPIDS

And so the list might be continued. Sometimes the unfortunate men aboard the frail craft, by some ex- tremely lucky stroke of fate, were able to scramble ashore, but that was seldom. It was merely the skill of the men engaged in the work, their great respect for the scurrying, swirling waters, and the determination to incur no un- necessary risks, that kept the death-roll so short. Here and there the casualty list glitters with a more than ordinarily exciting accident. There was George Lecours, a canoeman on the transport service around Lake Abitibi. Two canoes were coming down-stream, and in their descent the Buck Deer Rapids had to be threaded. The boats were running in Indian file, the transport foreman, S. F. McGrath, being in the leading craft, while the one behind contained Lecours and Mustard, a companion.

Good progress was being made, and the Rapids were all but traversed when, for some inexplicable reason, the second canoe swung round broadside and crashed into a projecting bleached carcase of a tree which had been caught by the river and tossed on one side, to form a serious obstacle to travel. The force of the collision stove in the frail canoe. Lecours made a spring and landed on the log, while his luckless companion was thrown into the water. The stentorian shouts of Lecours attracted the attention of McGrath, who, grasping Mustard's desperate plight, ran into the bank and hurried to his assist- ance, Lecours appearing to be safe for the time being. With great effort Mustard was hauled ashore, but when McGrath looked round for Lecours he had vanished. The treacherous log upon which he had taken refuge had collapsed under his weight, throwing him into the turmoil of the raging waters, and he was nowhere to be seen. Diligent search was made for the body, but the lateness of the season prevented its recovery, and so the relentless ice and snow settled do^vTi upon the scene of the tragedy and walled in the unlucky canoeman's grave.

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BUSH FIRES 81

But the greatest summer peril was from bush fires, which rage with terrific fury and are of frequent occurrence throughout New Ontario, the spruce, jack-pine, and other indigenous resinous trees providing excellent fuel for the flames. The danger from this terror of the forest was not so much in regard to human life, as to the destruc- tion of precious provisions hauled in and cached for the succeeding winter, the loss of which might have jeopardised the welfare of a whole survey party. Once this devastating fiend secures a firm grip it roars viciously. The forest through which it sweeps with incredible speed becomes a fiendish furnace, which either has to burn itself out, or to suffer extinction by a tropical downpour of rain.

Some of the caches were destroyed in this manner, those without an attendant along the lines radiating from a main cache being the worst sufferers. Seeing that these contained anything up to five tons of provisions, their loss was serious. On one occasion, in the vicinity of Lake Abitibi the flames practically encircled a large main cache, and the keeper, together with his assistant, were in somewhat desperate straits. They fought the flames as well as they could for two days incessantly, and made heroic efforts to save the stores, which appeared to be doomed. Fortunately a transport party happened to be in the vicinity of the eache, and they extended valuable assistance, while the news being sent through to the engineer-in-charge of the district survey, not far distant, he abandoned his work in the field, and gathering his party together, hurried to the cache, where the small army fought the flames with superhuman energy.

This fire proved one of exceptional severity and extent, and although the main cache was saved from destruction, a subsidiary cache which was in the centre of the fire zone, and which could not be approached in time to rescue the contents, was lost. Another party which was busily at work in this selfsame area was reduced to a more

82 BUSH FIRES

unenviable position. They were at work when they suddenly found themselves in danger of being surrounded by the flames. They had no time to strike their camp, but had to abandon everything, even their instruments, in order to beat a mad retreat. Their escape was so narrow that they only just succeeded in getting out of the grip of the fiend, but they lost all their personal belongings, entire outfit, and whole supply of provisions in the stampede.

More than once when out in the field the survej^ors found themselves in the path of an advancing roaring bush fire, and were smoked out of the forest like bees from a hive. Under such circumstances, after making certain that their camp and caches were safe, they simply had to sit down and watch the devastating flames sweep by, when they were able to resume operations upon the burnt-out, blackened country. The snow may bring dangers untold, the rushing rivers may prove terrible death-traps, but the forest fire is the greatest peril to be feared, and when it assumes huge proportions, stretching perhaps in an unbroken line for miles, advancing at tre- mendous speed under the fanning of the wind, then those in its path must discard everything impeding their free movement, and hurry at breakneck speed to a spot well beyond the reach of the insatiable and implacable enemy.

Such was the way in which the path for the National Trans- Continental — the Government division of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway — was plotted. Its success consti- tutes a striking monument to British engineering skill, for all those engaged in the task were British subjects, the majority being Canadians. Reputations were made and marred on that supreme effort to find the four-tenths of 1 per cent grade. Certainly it offered a golden oppor- tunity for the young man at the bottom to make his way to the top of his profession through sheer merit in a very brief interval of time.

CHAPTER VI

THE DISCOVERY OF THE " CLAY BELT," A WONDERFUL NEW AGRICULTURAL COUNTRY IN NORTHERN ONTARIO, AND THE PORCUPINE GOLD FIELDS

WE have pointed out already that the surveying engineer, in addition to finding the most economical route for the required line, had to report upon the resources of the country traversed : to draw attention to any wealth lying dormant, whether it were forestal, mineralogical, agricultural, or of any other kind. The prophets said that the country would yield nothing but lumber or pulp- wood ; the possibility of it being economical in any other direction was ridiculed to scorn.

Yet what happened ? Scarcely had the surveyors set their feet firmly in the country when news leaked out that a wonderful discovery had been made, so startling in its character as to give every indication of changing the history of Eastern Canada. The evidences of the fact were so palpable that the reconnoitring engineers, although merely speeding lightly and rapidly through the territory, could not help observing its existence. Then the Govern- ment almost apologised for the apparent slowness with which the survey through the northern country was being made, and drew attention to the formidable obstacles that had to be overcome. But those behind the scenes knew only too well that some factor was responsible for the delay ; that when the real situation became known the whole of Canada would be startled. The procrastina- tion was intentional. The engineers did not wish to create an empty sensation. After they had stumbled

83

84 A LAND OF GREAT SURPRISES

across the discovery they probed it thoroughly, ascertained its area, and made an intimate investigation of its possi- bihties before committing themselves to hard and fast facts.

Suddenly the truth flashed out. A wonderful stretch of the finest agricultural land it was possible to imagine had been found, metaiDhorically speaking, within a stone's- throw of James Bay, the huge indent on the southern shore of Hudson's Bay. It was hidden beneath the pall of the dense green branches of the tangled trees ; was fenced off from the world at large by the barrier forming the " Height of Land," running roughly transversely across the province and approximately parallel with the St. Lawrence River. Those who had proclaimed that the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway would never earn a cent between Winnipeg and Quebec, owing to its extreme northern location, found themselves hopelessly con- founded, and when they attempted to explain away their hostility were met with derision. Canada is truly the land of great surprises, but few ever have sent such a vibration through the country as the discovery of the " Clay Belt " of New Ontario.

When I made my northward run into this remote country from Toronto the existence of this hitherto unknown stretch of agricultural land was the sole topic of conversation among my fellow-travellers in the train. The silver mines of Cobalt certainly compelled discussion as we passed through Silverado, but it was insignificant in comparison with the fascinating stories of the future of the land " Farther North." My companions repre- sented nearly every nationality. There were stolid Germans, brawny Irishmen, grim, determined English- men, powerfully constituted Scotsmen, hardened Galicians, furrow-eyed Italians, fierce-looking Russians, and fair- complexioned Scandinavians, all bent upon wooing For- tune. Whither were they going ? To the " Clay Belt." First they were going to start work on the building of

THE CLAY BELT 85

the Trans-Continental, and then, when they had amassed a httle money, were going to homestead 160 or more acres in this new land of promise.

Six months on the railway and six months on the land : that was their creed. We passed through clearings in the dense forest where a few German agriculturists had settled, and already were engaged busily clearing away the vegetation to let the genial rays of the summer sun strike the ground upon which it had not focussed its invigorating influence for a century or so. On all sides the woods were smouldering and smoking, showing the energy of the men who had entered into possession.

Yet the prospect was sufficient to frighten all but those determined to succeed at all costs in the endeavour to make money. I wandered from point to point, and conversed with these rugged characters who are laying the foundations of what is destined to become a prosperous corner of Canada. They all admitted that the work was hard ; that it was heart-breaking at first. Also that the outlook was every whit as bad as it looked, and that unless a man possessed considerable grit, he had better prevent his feet turning towards New Ontario.

As to the outlook being fearsome, I can fully testify. To reclaim the wonderfully fertile soil lying concealed beneath those trees appeared about as promising as ex- tracting gold from sea- water. The trees were jammed together so closely that one could not squeeze between them. They were so tangled that although one cut clean through a trunk, it did not fall, but remained upright, held in position by its branches being woven like intricate netting with the branches of its surrounding fellows. Then the undergrowth was so dank, tall, and thick that it resisted all advance. To make progress one had to hack and hew foot by foot with the axe, and so hard was the wood, so desperate was the resistance offered by Nature, that the keen edge of the implement was turned

86 CLEARING THE LAND

within a very short time. Unless possessed of almost illimitable brawn and muscle, one could not hope to force one's way through that northern jungle.

However, when I gained an area that had been cleared the picture was totally and contrastingly different. Fire had been driven through the tangled, matted trees. The flames had devoured the interwoven branches, and in some cases had gnawed their way through the trunks. The homesteader had then sallied out through his holding and had lopped the blackened, stark stumps to the ground, had hauled them into a huge pyre, and had fired the whole mass. When that was accomplished a couple of horses, together with a short length of chain and a fearsome-looking, small device, called a " stump- puller," had extracted the roots with more ease than a dentist draws a refractory molar. From half to one acre a day was being cleared in this manner. Here and there the settler had resorted to a more drastic means of accomplish- ing his end. He had slipped a dynamite cartridge into the base of the trunk, and then, when he had so treated a whole row of gnarled stumps, he had retreated to a safe distance. The press of an electric button, a miniature volcano as a wall of earth flew twenty feet into the air, and the roots lay torn and twisted in a heterogeneous mass on the surface. They were collected speedily and easily into heaps, and fire soon obliterated them.

Then I saw a large stretch of reclaimed bush, and its appearance was a fitting reward to the industry and grim determination of its owner. A dull chocolate surface was exposed to the air and sun. A skilled eye could detect that here was some of the finest soil for which a farmer could wish. It would grow anything, and that without the expenditure of a single cent upon fertilising agents. Nature had endowed the land with all the nourish- ment it required for the propagation of a variety of crops, for the top-soil was nothing but a thick layer of decayed

TREASURES OF THE LAND 87

vegetation — ^leaves, branches, and thick trunks which had bowed to the blast or the ravages of time, and had disappeared into dust. This decomposed matter mingling with the gritty constituents of the soil beneath, under the action of the water, had formed an aggregate in which roots could flourish with amazing productivity. I saw some striking evidences of its potentialities in the form of Swede turnips turning the scale at 15 and 16 pounds apiece, carrots 28 inches long, massive heads of celery with large, solid, juicy sticks as white as ivory, free from the slightest blemish, fine potatoes, and huge, hard- hearted cabbages.

Even those who discovered this country are amazed at what has taken, and is still taking place. They were somewhat guarded in their reports, since they did not wish to raise false hopes, did not aspire to lure bold pioneers into the wilds, and then let Nature take a sweet revenge upon them for their temerity by breaking their spirits and crushing their pluck upon the rack of adversity.

Such is the land which rolls away in gentle undulations for 400 miles from the Harricanaw River in the province of Quebec on the east, to the Missanabie River in the province of Ontario on the west. At either extremity the belt is about 70 miles wide, while in the centre it is about 200 miles across. An average width of 100 miles may be considered a safe computation, and this gives an area of 25,600,000 acres. Allowing for occasional appearances of rock, the arable area approximates 15,000,000 acres of the finest and most fertile soil. It is an Empire within an Empire, for it is entirely self- supporting. Agriculture is admitted to be the foundation and the backbone of stability of any prosperous country, and New Ontario possesses facilities for the man on the land to the utmost degree, while the presence of coal, gold, and other minerals of commerce enhances its economic value : imparts a far rosier future than appears at first sight.

88 A PROMISING OUTLOOK

Is the outlook promising financially ? These frontier settlers vehemently maintained that it was. The virgin land they were taking over at 50 cents — 2s. — an acre more than doubled in value from the moment they entered into occupation and felled the first trees. They were prepared to face three years of hard, unremitting toil, for the prize to be won was certainly attractive. One settler I met, and who had cleared four out of his 160 acres, had refused an offer of $4 — IGs. — an acre all round. In another case a pioneer whose holding was in the em- brace of fire had been offered $6 — 24s. — an acre, and had smiled in scorn. Even $10, or £2, an acre had been held out in some cases. But, no ! One and all appeared resolved to hold on. They expected the land to improve two hundred or more times in value during the next three years ; they were anticipating confidently the day when they could make $100, or £20, an acre.

Why such optimism ? Simply because, apart from the fertility of the soil, the Trans-Continental Railway bisects this rich country from end to end. The discovery of the " Clay Belt " alone has justified the enterprise of those who suggested the new steel backbone to the country. Its development is adequate to secure the success of the line. When a railway can depend for appreciating revenue over a continuous stretch of 400 miles, such as is possible here, thought of failure cannot be entertained for a moment. And when it is recalled that a railway, when pushed to its fullest extremity, cannot serve adequately a strip more than 2| miles broad on either side, what can be said of a line which is destined to meet the needs of a belt which varies in width from 35 to 100 miles on each hand.

But to describe the country as the " Clay Belt " is a misnomer ; is apt to create distrust and to deter the skilled farmer. To talk about clay in his presence is to convey the idea that the land is stiffish, hard to work, cold, and

A FERTILE LAND 89

suited to the cultivation of but a limited few articles in the extensive gamut of agricultural produce. The so-called " Clay Belt " is clay only in regard to its sub- soil. The top-soil, that which is the key to the whole situation, is a loam for the most part of a sandy nature. The uppermost layer or superficial strata is a thick growth of moss from 6 to 12 inches in thickness. Then comes a peaty soil extending to a foot and more in depth, with the clay forming a seal to the moisture. But the clay being impervious to water, holds the latter so that a certain amount of drainage is requisite, but this is an easy matter, as surface drains suffice to carry off all superfluous water.

It must be pointed out that only those prepared to face two or three years of the very hardest work should venture into this country. Nature will give many hard knocks ; the settler will require prodigious determination to shake hands with Fortune. This fact was impressed upon me very forcibly by all those who had entered into occupation in this territory. They were having a severely stern, uphill battle, which they anticipated to last for three years or more. But they were spurred on by the reflection that in Southern Ontario, the richest and most prosperous corner of the Dominion to-day, the same conditions prevailed when the Grand Trunk Railway, the first iron road to be laid in the Dominion, was under- taken way back in the 'sixties.

Although the farmer is called upon to undertake heavy clearing before he can bring a foot of his land under the plough, he has the consolation of knowing that the preliminary work is not entirely wasted or futile endeavour. The timber, which comprises black and white spruce, birch, poplar, aspen. Balm of Gilead, balsam, and in some cases elm and cedar, has a certain commercial value. The pulp-wood industry is destined to secure a firm foot- hold in this country, for the rushing rivers can supply

90 CLIMATE

abundant water-power, and the wail of the world in regard to paper becomes louder and louder every day. As I wandered through the country my eyes were arrested by huge stacks of logs cut to a certain uniform length piled up on every side. Firewood I surmised. But no. The farmers informed me that it was destined for the pulp-mill, and here I realised was an appreciable contribu- tory source of wealth.

And what of the climate ? In winter it is cold — ex- tremely so. In summer it is just the reverse. The sun blazes from a cloudless sky for day after day continuously, and its steadily increasing warmth spurs the crops to maturity. In June, at eight o'clock in the morning, the temperature stood at 70 degrees, and at midday the mercury rose to 90 degrees and more. The little colony at the Hudson's Bay outpost on Abitibi Lake relate that for years past they have grown their potatoes in the little clearing around the fort, and have seldom ex- perienced failure, as well as other vegetable produce, including barley. Even ground fruits can be grown with a success that is astonishing. At Monteith, 455 miles north of Toronto, the Provincial Government has cleared an extensive expanse of the cold, gaunt forest for an experimental farm, where the settlers may learn just what can and what cannot be grown with success.

The country is already assuming the appearance of prosperity and hustle. If recent maps are consulted, the name of Cochrane looms up largely in the midst of this vast wilderness. Yet two and a half years ago Cochrane did not exist. To-day it is a thriving com- munity ; at the time of my arrival it was in the throes of development.

Its creation arose in this wise. The steelway was planned to run across the country from Quebec to Winnipeg. It was imperative that a short, convenient connection with the

A THRIVING COMMUNITY 91

Grand Trunk Railway system in Southern Ontario should be provided. The obvious course at that time was to extend the Provincial Government railway of Ontario — The Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Line — north- wards. In this way the main artery flowing from east to west would be tapped, giving an outlet to Toronto, 500 miles to the south, and Montreal, as well as Chicago and the great industrial centres and ports of the United States, since the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway will be- come the obvious highway between the United States and its remote dependency Alaska. This was accom- plished, and at the point where the two lines met, at right angles a huge clearing was made in the forest and the foundations of the town of Cochrane were laid.

This town will blossom into the Clapham Junction of the north, for it is at the Cross-Roads of Canada. Already it gives every sign of becoming such. Within eighteen months it rose from a dot in the wilds to a teem- ing small town of 1500 inhabitants. Once the trees were cleared, the streets indicated by wide swathes running at right angles to one another, a rush and land boom set in. The prices of lots 50 feet wide by 150 feet deep, fringing the main streets, soared to high figures. Corner plots rose to, and changed hands at, §2000 — £400 — apiece. Timber buildings sprang up on every side. Before wooden dwellings had become established the conversion to permanent masonry began by the erection of an imposing bank. Two hotels were ready, while stores, shops, and other commercial buildings were doing business on every hand. There was not a foot of gas in the place, except what the residents generated themselves on the spot, and yet electric lighting and power were being discussed. The streets existed in name only. The side-walks, in order to overcome the possibility of breaking one's legs while walking in the dark, and to facilitate rapid movement, were paved

92 A TOWN IN THE MAKING

with wooden planks, while the roads were just as Nature had left the surface of the ground, with the tree trunks projecting from 6 to 18 inches above and obstructing vehicular progress.

But the arrangement of the town had commenced. The grading of the streets was under way. The stumps were being grubbed up, piled in unsightly heaps in the centre of the thoroughfare, and then set on fire. A score or more of these pyres were blazing furiously night and day, sending showers of sparks and heavy clouds of smoke into the air. After dark it was as if the whole place were in the embrace of a conflagration. In one of the main streets a timber dwelling had been raised hurriedly to serve as a theatre, and a cinematograph display was being given every evening, the exterior being illuminated as brilliantly as the conditions permitted by an arch of variously coloured oil-gas lamps.

Large buildings were in course of construction to meet the requirements of the railway in regard to the accommo- dation of engines and rolling-stock. Fifteen miles of sidings were being laid down, and a spacious and imposing junction station was forcing itself into the air. Eighteen months before, if one desired to gain the spot where Cochrane now stands, he had to be prepared to face an arduous and dangerous journey on the back of a pack- horse which would have occupied from a fortnight to a month to accomplish. Yet at the time of my visit a first-class train, with Pullman cars, ran into the station once a day, and departed the next morning. Such is the manner in which this town has forged ahead, and what its future will be no one is bold enough to say. The residents with whom I conversed were discussing gliblj' the date when they would be able to lay down an electric tramway service, possess telephonic facilities and other little conveniences. And this in a town that was less than two years old !

GOLD AND SILVER 93

Cochrane received a decided impetus from the discovery of gold a few miles to the south-east. Some hardy pros- pectors were sufficiently audacious to face a bitter fight with the locked-up country to embark upon an expedition to search for the yellow metal. Their intrepidity was rewarded. News leaked through to the south, and a mad stampede ensued. The Porcupine Gold Fields were the focus of public attention, interest, and curiosity. In the new sensation Cobalt, with its wealth of silver, was forgotten. Many of those diligently searching for veins of the white metal around Silverado, more to the south, abandoned their quest, hurried up-country, and, notwithstanding the forbidding character of the trek of 36 miles through the wilderness, plunged bravely into the bush. It was a continuous seething stream of humanity which detrained from the railway and scuttled into the forest to wrestle with muskeg and dead-fall, to ford tumultuous, wide streams, and to toil over broken, rock- strewn hill-sides.

A large number of these hardy prospectors accompanied me northwards in the train. Clad in their khaki-coloured canvas, with slouch hat, high, thick-soled boots, with a tin mug strapped to their belt, and their gunny-sack crammed to bursting-point with gold-pan, pick, axe, and other impedimenta, they left the railway at Kelso, the railway point nearest the gold fields. Even this station was in embryo. There was no platform, not a building to indicate its whereabouts, nothing but a small board nailed to a decapitated tree trunk with the name inscribed thereon in white letters upon a black back- ground. A magnificent station replete with various buildings will rise there some day, but its time is not yet. Scattered alongside the railway line were a number of odd-shaped tents, and a host of swarthy pioneers swarmed round the train as it came to a standstill to greet the new- comers. These formed the nucleus of a small town, the

94 HARDY PIONEERS

base from which Porcupine was reached. Goods, chattels, and provisions were stacked up in the open air in assorted heaps, and protected from the elements by a piece of canvas or sacking thrown over the top. The Government was in occupation constructing a waggon road through the forest, to ease the arduousness of the overland journey somewhat. Since then, however, the Provincial Govern- ment has built a railway which is to be electrically operated, so that the Porcupine Gold Camp has enjoyed but a brief existence as a frontier mining settlement.

The stories that filtered through the country regarding the " strikes " made in this new Eldorado were sufficient to infuse energy into the most lethargic. The wonderful silver discoveries at Cobalt sank into insignificance beside the rich " finds " that had been made in the heart of Ontario's great forest. Scattered over the country in a large circle were hosts of these gold-seekers, diligently examining the ground for signs of veins, and they were meeting with widespread success. A town at Porcupine about 40 miles from the railway was projected at that time, and frontier town-builders were forcing their way across country to carry out this phase of operations, to lay out streets, to erect stores, and to complete the arrangements to meet a thousand and one exigencies.

Engineers were busy up and down the route of the Trans-Continental collecting data regarding the amount of electric water-power available on the rivers, which aggregates many thousand horse-power, and selecting suitable sites for the establishment of large stations where the forces of the water at present running to waste could be converted into electric energy to supply the multifarious demands for power throughout a district many miles in radius. Another party had forced its way at great hazard for 50 miles to investigate a discovery of coal. Should this prove sufficiently attractive, then the problem of supplying the railway with all its requirements in regard

SHORES OF THE GREAT LAKES 95

to fuel, as well as the numerous communities that are certain to arise for miles around, will be solved.

The activity in this country was astonishing. Three years before it was threaded only by the trapper and the Indian. To-day it is a hustling hive ; the silence of the forest is broken by the million sounds incidental to civilisa- tion. The wealth of the region shut off so long from the rest of the world is being exploited feverishly. And all this because a new steel highway is being driven through the country. When Southern Ontario was taken in hand by the pioneers for development, it occupied a quarter of a century of heartrending effort to clear the ground and to render it productive. In the north the wUderness, many times more forbidding than was the territory fringing the great lakes, has been rescued from oblivion in two years. Within another five years it will have attained a position of increasing prosperity and complete inde- pendence.

The remarkable change wrought upon Eastern Canada has more than justified the far northern location of the Grand Trunk Pacific. What the future will bring forth it is rash to prophesy. The same class of country extends towards the Arctic Circle. The shores of James Bay are but 178 miles distant, as the crow flies, and can be gained from Cochrane by canoe in a matter of eight days. Plucky spirits searching for a holiday associated with a strong element of adventure, and desirous of getting far from the beaten track, as well as securing a taste of frontier life and excite- ment, are already indulging in such trips to the great inland sea to the north with a skilful Indian or backwoods- man as guide. The time is not far remote when the iron horse will make its way northward too, through a country easy of conquest, and which, from its character, is able to support the band of steel practically for every mile of its extent.

CHAPTER VII

BRINGING UP THE CONSTRUCTIONAL ARMIES AND THE RAILWAY builders' HEAVY ARTILLERY

TT7HEN the locating surveyors had completed their T V task, the line the railway was to follow was indi- cated by a row of stakes planted 100 feet apart, extending in an unbroken line up hill and down dale, across swamps, over granitic, rocky humps, around lakes and through the forest for over 1800 miles. The track was visible plainly through the bush, for the plotters had cut a narrow avenue through the vegetation, nothing more than a passage about three feet wide. The stakes ran down this attenuated lane, and represented the centre line between the pair of metals, for it is a single track.

But, although the procedure appeared so simple, and the route was indicated to the builders so plainly, the task which confronted them was of no ordinary character. They had to bring up scores of locomotives and trains of ballast trucks, together with miles of portable railways, steam shovels, pile-drivers, grading machines, muskeg-fillers, thousands of tons of supplies, and imple- ments innumerable to enable the building work to be carried forward. And last, but not least, there were the hundreds of men to transport through the wilderness to the desired points from which the project was to be attacked, while their welfare was essential.

At the outset there was only one means of consum- mating the task, at least so far as the stretch between Quebec and Winnipeg was concerned. This was to

96

PLOTTING THE LINE 97

drive the line forward east and west from either end, marshalling the forces at a suitable base at either extremity, laying the track as they proceeded, and thus moving the end of steel forward in instalments of 100 miles or so at a time. To attempt to penetrate the country, so as to establish a central driving-point, appeared im- possible, for there was an overland journey of about 150 miles through extremely difficult country confronting the builders. The Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway — the Ontario Provincial Government line — was carried only so far as Englehart, 138 miles beyond North Bay. Yet the Trans-Continental line, running at right angles thereto, was over 100 miles beyond as the crow flies.

So far as the route through the lower provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia was concerned, there was no cause for apprehension. Although the line passed through unsettled stretches of country here and there, such locations were never far removed from existing lines of communication, and short lengths of waggon road could be driven easily to connect with the latter at convenient points. But there is a vast difference between cutting a 6-foot swathe through the forest for, say, 20 miles and for 150 miles, especially when it has to be made through country extensively broken up by water, and where the crossing of wide, deep rivers tearing along at fiendish speed and gullies was unavoid- able.

By forcing the line through the wilds from Winnipeg and Quebec respectively, the outermost camps, no matter how far inland they might be, would be in constant touch with their bases, and any emergency could be met. The inner and most inaccessible stretches of the country could be traversed in safety by this means, and the lines would meet about the centre thereof, in just the same way as a tunnel driven from either end of a mountain

98 CLEARING THE RIGHT OF WAY

range meets in the heart of a peak towering thousands of feet above. It was realised that the constructional work would occupy a considerably longer period than if the task were attacked from several points simul- taneously, but this was a disadvantage incidental to the undertaking.

The first step was the clearing of the right of way. Bands of men expert with the axe sallied forth into the primeval forest with an abundant supply of tools of this character, equipped with a light camping outfit, inasmuch as they advanced comparatively rapidly. From morning to night the savage plonk-plonk-plonk of the razor-like tool hacking through the tree trunks was heard, followed in a few minutes by a long-drawn-out crash as the severed monarch crashed to the ground. These men had to hew a pathway 100 feet wide through the woods, this being the width required to carry the great steelway for 3556 miles from coast to coast. When viewed from a height, this band through the forest, in many places as straight as an arrow, presents a strange appearance with its edges of knife-cut evenness. As rapidly as the trees were felled and deemed useless for any constructional purpose, they were piled into huge heaps and fired. The advance of the clearers was shown by a trail of smoke and smouldering bonfires like that of an invading army burning and pillaging as it moves through an enemy's country.

Hard on the heels of the clearers came the advance lines of the constructional engineers establishing camps for the navvies, and blazing a waggon road over which steam shovels, graders, and other heavy artillery could be hauled to their respective positions. Narrow-gauge lines were laid down, over which ran diminutive ballast trucks from point to point, while, as the grade advanced over embankment or through cutting, a temporary standard- gauge track for the constructional engineers was forced

ESTIMATING THE COST 99

forward. It was a crazily built line, each rail undulating in an unpleasant manner, so that the trucks and engines as they passed to and fro appeared to reel heavily from side to side. Hour after hour trains rumbled up and down, bearing consignments of gravel and spoil for fashion- ing the grade.

In an undertaking of this magnitude, where, althouglx the amount of work to be completed is apparent ap- proximately from the drawings of the surveying engineers, a complete quotation for the construction of a certain length of line is impossible. The chances of running into the unexpected are so overwhelming, and the liability incurred is so heavy, that a lump lock, stock, and barrel sum cannot be quoted — no sane contractor would under- take the risk. So the work is carried out on the yardage basis. The contractor is paid for the amount of earth he has to excavate to form the grade. This factor is determined according to the character of the country in which work is carried out.

For purposes of reckoning the material is defined under three headings. Ordinary soft soil, such as loam, clay, free gravel, and such like, is termed " common," and is paid for at the lowest rate ; large stones and boulders less than one cubic yard, loose rock which cannot be re- moved by hand, pick, or crowbar, and material which cannot be handled by a 10-inch grading plough hauled by six horses, and which does not demand continuous blasting, is known as " loose rock " ; while when the line has to be torn out literally by gunpowder and dynamite for every foot of the way, it is defined as " rock." The latter commands the highest price, the " loose rock " being a happy medium in rating between the two extremes of " common " and " rock." The two former can be handled by unskilled labour ; the latter requires the services of men expert in the economical handling of explosive agents, and who in drilling and firing a blast

100 LAKE ABITIBI

can effect the requisite result with the minimum of useless effort — in other words, will not disintegrate more rock than is absolutelj'^ necessary, or, as it is technically known, will reduce the " over-burden " to the minimum.

But the opportunity to attack the undertaking from its most difficult point — the centre — arose. The Ontario Provincial Government, realising the possibility of a remunerative traffic, and that they could provide the Trans-Continental with a short, direct connection with Toronto and the great cities to the south, decided to carry their line, the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway, northwards until it connected with the former. It would involve the building of 114 miles of line through arduous country where extensive bridging and heavy embankment work would be necessary. The authorities, however, with characteristic enterprise, determined to push the line ahead in anticipation of the future, and this prevision has been well repaid.

As this line approached its junction vtith the Trans- Continental, which is now indicated by the town of Coch- rane, the attack on the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway centre commenced. Lake Abitibi was rendered accessible, and that was an appreciably helpful factor. The Temis- kaming and Northern Ontario Railway crosses the Black River, which connects with Lake Abitibi, and directly this was achieved a contract for 150 miles of the central section was let and hurried forward. The representatives of the contracting company hastened northwards to the Black River at a point known as McDougall's Chutes. They spied out the country and decided to establish their head-quarters at the above point, to drive waggon roads, and to convert Lake Abitibi, which is 44 miles in length by a maximum width of 18 miles, into a channel of communication.

Boats were brought up over the railway and launched on this sheet of water, while the material for scows was

DANGEROUS CHUTES 101

also transported up-country and erected by the water- side. This gave a decided impetus to construction, since the Trans-Continental skirts the northern shore of the lake. Roads were blazed in all directions to gain strategical points along the right of way, the supplies and material shipped north during the summer going via these roads, while those consigned during the winter were sent for- ward over others which were more suitable to sleigh transportation. Material was brought up also at great effort for the erection of steamboats on the selfsame lake, and designed to traverse the River Abitibi to the point where the Trans-Continental was planned to cross the waterway, or at the point at which a base camp was to be constituted. This was a daring undertaking, because Abitibi River is beset with dangers to navigation, but it was well worth the attempt, inasmuch as its successful use would enable material to be got into the country quickly.

The particularly dangerous points were three chutes. It was deemed too risky to attempt to rush these with freight on board, so tramways were laid around them. The laden vessels paused at the lower ends of these tram- ways, the loads were disembarked and sent round over- land to the head of the chute, through which the lightened steamer made its way as best it could, and upon arrival reshipped the supplies once more. It appeared to be a roundabout process, with all the attendant evils arising from frequent handling, but it was preferable to jeopard- ising the safety of a heavy consignment of precious supplies in the chutes.

As soon as Cochrane was reached it became a very busy constructional centre. From this point the line was driven both east and west, the former destined to meet the arm advancing from Quebec, and the latter to link up with the section approaching from Winnipeg. A vast tract of country was cleared to house the various

102 LAKE NIPIGON

needs of the railway contractors, and it has proved a useful, valuable base, inasmuch as it is in direct touch with Toronto, about twenty hours' run to the south.

Though the situation in the Lake Abitibi country was eased now very decidedly, that around Lake Nipigon occasioned considerable anxiety for a long time. Indeed, it is a moot point whether the country traversed by the railway north of this sheet of water was not more difficult of penetration than that more to the east. Supplies could be brought by rail and boat to Nipigon, nestling in an indent on Nipigon Bay, a sheltered corner on Lake Superior, but from that point northwards the undertaking was distinctly hazardous. Just north of Nipigon town is Helen Lake, the upper end of which is 18 miles distant from Lake Nipigon.

When the contractors desired to push into the country they set to work building a narrow-gauge railway to connect Lakes Nipigon and Helen. A tug and scow were placed in service on Lake Helen, by which supplies could be conveyed to the northern shore to be transferred to the railway, by which they were moved forward to the southern end of Lake Nipigon. Messrs. Revillon Brothers, the well-known fur-traders, and active competitors of the Hudson's Bay Adventurers, undertook to bring up materials and to build a steam barge — no slight under- taking in itself — by which the material could be shipped from the northern end of the narrow-gauge railway to the head of the lake for distribution wherever desired. Let it be remembered that all these elaborate and ex- pensive preliminary arrangements were essential to enable 75 miles of line to be built I

These preliminaries occupied some seven months, being pushed ahead with all possible speed, as the con- tractors desired to send forward a heavy consignment of supplies to enable a large army of men to be kept at work on the grade during the winter. They had only

AN IMPORTANT BRANCH LINE 103

something like a month to achieve their desires, and in that time succeeded in sending up 1500 tons of material of all descriptions before the lakes froze over and naviga- tion had to be abandoned for the winter. The moment the first consignments of supplies reached the head of the lake forces of navvies were hurried up-country, and the grading commenced in grim earnest. However, they could not enroll more than 400 hands for that winter, since the provisions were inadequate. But when the ice opened in the succeeding spring, both men and provisions were sent into the country in a ceaseless, heavy stream.

In addition to the main line running across country to Winnipeg, a branch line was planned from Fort William, on Lake Superior, to run for 189 miles north-westwards, to tap the Trans-Continental 247 miles east of Winnipeg. This was undertaken in order to give the capital of Mani- toba an additional, more direct, and easier connection with the water-highway via the Lakes. This line is of strategical importance, as is described later, and will prove to be one of the busiest stretches of railway in the whole of the Dominion.

The camps strung out in a long line along the route of the railway were interconnected by a telephone system, which also brought them into direct touch with the bases of operations. It was a flimsily built line, and its erection offered an interesting introduction to frontier methods. The first man went his way with a good supply of wooden, peg-like brackets, carrying glass insulators. At fairly uniform intervals a post was fashioned hastily from a suitable young tree, and to the top the insulator bracket was nailed. In his wake, following the right-of-way, came a team and vehicle carrying a large coil of wire As it skirted the post the attendant on board deftly threw the wire over the bracket, the line trailing mournfully in deep festoons from post to post. Behind the wire-man came the line-man, who swarmed the post, tightened

104 LABOUR DIFFICULTIES

the wire, and effected the requisite connection to the insu- lator. In this way several niiles of telephone could be installed during a single day. It represented a certain item of expenditure, but its convenience for communica- tion between various camps when other means would have been unavailable, repaid its cost several times over.

Another preliminary operation was the driving of a waggon road linking the various camps. It was a rude highway, it is true, but a few feet in width and roughly fashioned. Banks had to be cased, and where bad stretches of swamp or muskeg existed these had to be fixed by means of corduroying, i.e. tree trunks laid transversely and nailed to longitudinal side -pieces, so as to afford a stable surface to the passage of vehicles and animals. A ceaseless stream of teams and vehicles passed along this road from morning to night, bearing provisions, constructional material, and other impedimenta for the various camps.

Labour was one supreme difficulty. Recruits could not be enrolled in sufficient numbers to handle and tend the heavy artillery of the railway-builders. Nearly every camp was below strength. It was not that the wages were low, but because of the loud cry for hands that prevailed throughout the whole of the west. The con- tractors raised the wages with a view to tempting men to the spot, but the farmers were not to be outbidden. Their harvests had to be garnered, by hook or by crook, at high pressure. It was not until the wheat was housed safely in the elevator that the situation became eased.

Faced with the prospect of unemployment during the winter months, the labourers turned their footsteps from the farms to the railway constructional camps, where, so long as they cared to toil, they were certain of a steady 17 and 20 cents — 8|d. to lOd. per hour — for the commonest unskilled work, while those expert in the

THE ENGINEERS 105

task commanded wages according to their worth. The result was that more work was accomplished during the winter, when the country was in the grip of frost and snow, than in summer.

The construction of the line was taken in hand in large stretches at a time, ranging in length from 40 to 100 miles or more. At intervals of every two or three miles the constructors established camps for a small army of men, horses, and material, while ample supplies of food were stored to meet their requirements for six or nine months. In addition the section was subdivided into divisions ranging up to 12 miles in length, on which resident engineers were stationed. These engineers were in the Government employ, and the scope of their opera- tions was to report on the progress of the work, how it was being accomplished, together with periodical returns for calculating payments due to contractors as the task proceeded.

Each resident engineer was assisted by a transit-man, rod-man, chain-man, and one or two supernumeraries, who were in the field the whole livelong day, watching and checking operations to preserve the grade and align- ment, while the resident patrolled the stretch to ascertain that everything was proceeding smoothly and satis- factorily ; that the requirements of the specification were being fulfilled strictly to the letter. No opportunity to scamp the work was afforded, even if there had been any such inclination, for there was the divisional engineer in charge of a certain number of residencies, to check the work of the latter, while the divisional engineer in turn was watched by the assistant engineer, who was a lieutenant of the chief at Ottawa. Still, it is satisfactory to record that no serious friction arose between contractors and the Government engineers, and certainly complaint was never raised as to inferior work. At times disputes as to the classification of the earth handled arose through

106 HYGIENE

differences of opinion, but such were invariably adjusted upon appeal to the engineer-in-chief, and even if this action proved abortive, arbitration settled the difficulty satisfactorily.

Innumerable conveniences were provided to improve the lot of the workmen and to expedite the task in hand. Hospitals were erected at frequent points, ready to handle any class of accident or illness that might overtake any of the men, with fully qualified physicians, and skilled surgeons in charge. Their services were not required to a great extent, beyond attention to accidents, which, despite the rules laid down to prevent the occurrence of mishaps, could not be prevented in their entirety. Fortu- nately the camps, owing to the hygienic manner in which they were laid out, and the adamant observance of sanitary laws — no easy matter, bearing in mind the nationalities of some of the labourers who had flocked thither from countries where the rudiments of hygiene are not en- forced— carried a remarkably clean sheet of health. Now and again there would be a slight outbreak of an epidemic — generally typhoid fever — but such were always caught in the incipient stage by the medical men retained for the contract, and their skill and knowledge soon served to stamp out the visitation.

Then the mail service claimed attention. An excellent organisation for the periodical collection and delivery of letters was elaborated, and although the men were en- tombed during the winter in an open-air prison, the sur- rounding wall of wilderness constituting an impenetrable barrier, yet the workmen even in the outermost camps were enabled to keep in touch with the outside world, their relatives, and friends. Now and again they would make a short excursion to civilisation with their accumu- lated wages. This generally partook of the nature of a first-class carouse, since no intoxicating liquors were obtainable in the constructional area. When the reward

THE MAIL SERVICE 107

for the sweat of their brow was expended, they returned to the field of their former labours broken in pocket.

To those working on the grade up in New Ontario the journey south was invariably too expensive and lengthy just to satisfy a passing craving, seeing that in some cases they had to travel a matter of 250 or 300 miles. Even Cochrane, though a town of some significance, could not boast a single establishment at which alcoholic liquor could be obtained ; Englehart was the nearest licensed community. It is little wonder, therefore, that the saner men, much though they would have enjoyed the opportunity for a " night out," decided that the journey was not worth the gratification of desires. Conse- quently the larger number of men working in the silent wilderness were enabled to make money, and to invest their wealth in a farm, business, or what not, thereby establishing themselves firmly on the first rung of the ladder leading towards sturdy independence.

When the whole undertaking was brought thoroughly into swing, it produced a scene of hustling activity un- paralleled in the history of the world. A solid 1800 miles of main line railway of the highest grade was in the melting- pot. Something like $100,000, or £20,000, were being poured out every day to provide work for over 25,000 men who were engaged in a mighty struggle with rock, muskeg, and forest.

CHAPTER VIII

THE GRIM TUSSLE WITH NATURE

WHEN the 25,000 odd men settled down to their work, when all anxieties taxing the contractors in regard to supplies and provisions for the welfare of the scattered forces had been removed, and a period of nine months' steady work could be faced confidently, when thousands of horses, scores of locomotives, steam- shovels, and what not had got into stride, the grade assumed its definite shape in quick time.

It was no simple conquest. Here and there Herculean efforts on the part of the constructional engineers were demanded such as one scarcely would expect to be requisite outside a mountain range, where the heroic is expected and has to be accomplished. But the rock and muskeg of the rolling country offered as stern a resistance as any mountain hump, and at times well-nigh baffled the most accomplished brains. Every artifice known to the engineers was pressed into service to overcome some especially perplexing difficulty, and when such failed new ideas had to be evolved and be submitted to the test.

On such occasions quiet, hard thinking became impera- tive. Every man on the particular job in hand was urged to suggest some practical solution and thereby extend a helping hand. Any feasible idea, no matter how ridiculous it appeared at a cursory glance, was attempted. Sometimes it succeeded, in which event the ingenious brains which had helped to extricate the engineers from the quandary were rewarded duly ; if it failed to rise

io8

MUSKEG 109

to the occasion it was simply abandoned, and no more was heard about it. Desperate straits demand desperate remedies, and no one knew but that a mere navvy, hand- ling the pick and shovel from morning to night, though with years of experience at his back, might conceive the very means of solving a constructional puzzle.

The swamp occasioned many anxious nights, and much burning of midnight oil. At places it appeared to be bottomless. The ballast locomotive would haul train after train-load of spoil excavated from the ballast pit, and push it cautiously along to the end of the dump, where the trucks would be discharged. The • rubble would rush down the declivity, and as it came into contact with the surface of the morass there would be a wicked squelch. Then the bog would open, and slowly, but surely and silently, the discharged mass would disappear into the viscous mass until the last vestige had slipped from sight, and the slime had rolled over the spot, con- cealing all evidences of the few hundred tons of material emptied on to the spot but a few minutes before. The engineer would sound the bog anxiously for signs of the bottom. Yes, he could feel it all right — 10, 15, perhaps 20 feet below the surface. The trains would continue to rattle up and down with heavily laden trucks, and send the contents crashing pell-mell into the swamp below. Ten train-loads of gravel, rock, and what not would disappear from sight, and the engineer would probe the treacherous sponge once more. But the soundings did not vary a foot. Where had the dump gone ? The ballast had sunk simply to the bottom of the bog, and had spread itself out on all sides, finding its own level like water. The bed of the morass was as broken as the hill-side near by, and was intersected in all directions by ruts and gullies. Until these holes were filled there could be no possible hope of the embankment appearing above the surface of the bog.

110 A STRAIGHT LINE

So the contractors simply had to keep on dumping and dumping for hour after hour, day after day, until the surface of the ridge of ballast at last appeared and re- mained within sight. Then it was left for a few days, to ascertain whether settlement had ended, and that a good solid foundation had been obtained at last. When all indications pointed that the desired end had been achieved, then that longitudinal ridge grew rapidly to the requisite level. The track was laid down hastily and crudely upon the newly-completed work, and the locomo- tives pushed the laden trucks a few hundred feet further on.

Thus the advance was made. Sometimes it occupied weeks to progress 100 feet, for the swamp's appetite ap- peared insatiable. In more cases than one a whole hill had to be removed bodily to fill up a " bad place." In the ballast pit the screeching of steam was heard from morn- ing to night, as the cumbersome steam shovel, in slow, measured strokes, dipped its capacious maw into the bottom of the bank, and with a fearsome scrunching, scraped its huge steel teeth up the face of the cut to secure a good bite of spoil, then swung round and disgorged some three tons of rock, gravel, and clay into the empty trucks standing alongside.

At other places the grade grew as if by magic. The country was possibly almost level, and but the minimum of work was required to build up the solid pathway for the track of steel. Then the grade would follow a line almost as straight and direct as that defined by an arrow in flight, and so gently undulating as to be practically level. For instance, when standing in the centre of the track at Cochrane one can look east and west and not see the slightest sign of a curve. The line disappears over the horizon through the rectangular cleft in the trees which looms up distinctly on the sky-line. To the west it is straight for about 30 miles, while to the east a similar result prevails for almost the same distance.

RIVERS AND CREEKS 111

A factor which miHtated very appreciably against rapid construction was the large number of rivers and creeks which had to be crossed. The railway running approximately parallel to the range of hills forming the " height of land " cut across the waterways at right angles. Some of these rivers are of respectable width, and the erection of the necessary temporary timber trestling to provide the constructional trains with facilities to cross the obstruction, leaving the bridge-work to be erected later, occupied considerable time. But the men selected for this work were sent on ahead of the graders — in some cases they were some 80 miles distant from the steel — working in a silent isolation, straining every nerve to get the false-work ready by the time the grade, irre- sistibly forcing its way forward, gained the bank of the river.

At other places a wide depression had to be crossed. The level of the grade was some 20 or 30 feet above the floor of the valley, which, more often than not, was a shallow muskeg, with its surface cracked in all directions, like a mud pond which has dried up in midsummer. Perhaps it was half a mile or so across. Maybe the end of steel was 50 miles to the rear, but the builder estimated that he would reach that depression by such and such a date. To build up the embankment by dumping the spoil from the bank, and thus forcing his way foot by foot across the dip, was too slow.

Consequently a gang of a hundred men or more, with several teams, lengths of chain, and hooks, were dispatched to the scene. One party of men armed with axes attacked the forest, felled the trees, and stripped the trunks of all branches. As fast as they were cleaned they were bound up in small bundles by a chain and a team hauled the mass of poles to the depression. Here another gang took the logs in hand, and in a short time the building of a trestle was under way. Perhaps one tier sufficed —

112 MISHAPS

on the other hand, possibly three were necessary. The uprights for the lower tier were driven into the ground more or less firnily, and the horizontal members were nailed up, with here and there a diagonal to add to the solidity of the structure. The first tier was carried across the dip, and then the party returned to undertake the second, followed perhaps by a third tier. When com- pleted it was a crazy enough structure in all conscience, and just sufficiently wide at the top to take a pair of metals.

By the time the trestling was almost completed, and after, maybe, 10,000 feet of logs had been consumed in the fashioning of the structure, the grade had reached the edge of the dip. The engine pushed the laden ballast train out on to the bending, groaning trestling, which threatened every moment to collapse under the weight, there was the movement of a lever, and the contents of the truck tumbled through the woodwork. Now and again a length of this flimsy woodwork would give way or sink, sending a truck flying off the track to strike the ground 30 feet below with a sickening thud. The mishap to the truck was nothing. It was the condition of the unfortunate navvies who had been carried away with it that occasioned anxiety. If they had rolled clear of the murderous missile which knocked them off their feet everybody laughed or cursed — these railway graders are rough diamonds — but if one had been knocked about and hurt he was picked up and borne off rapidly to the hospital to be patched up. As for the truck itself, it was hauled out, and in a very short time was in service once more.

The embankment grew around the feet of the trestling with great rapidity, and it was not long before all signs of the timber work had disappeared beneath the solid earthen wall. One might think that the decomposition of the timber might imperil the safety of the structure,

THE GRADING MACHINE 113

but such is not the case. If the wood does rot, the process of decay is so slow that it receives compensation from the periodical overhauling and reballasting of the line, while in the earliest stages it serves to hold the gravel fabric together.

The grading machine is an implement well worthy of watching at work. It may be hauled by a steam traction engine, or be operated by animal power ; in either case the result is the same. In general appearance it recalls a wheat-harvester. There is an inclined shoot, over which travels an endless chain of small scoops or buckets such as are used on conveyors. At the bottom, under the centre of the machine, is a sharp edge, acting in the same way as a plough. When the machine is set in motion, the plough tears up the earth and forces the spoil into the buckets as they pass by on the endless chain. They are swung up the inclined plane, and as they round the highest point discharge their contents into a capacious, horse-drawn hopper waggon, which ambles along at the same pace as the grader. When the vehicle is filled it draws to one side to make place for the succeed- ing empty vehicle, which in its turn drops out when fully loaded. Consequently, as the grader moves up and down over a certain length of grade it is accompanied by two endless streams of vehicles, one of which represents loaded and the other empty waggons. So fast as the vehicles are charged they proceed to the point where the embank- ment is being raised. They reach the edge of the dump and drive down the declivity. Suddenly there is a whoop, the horses give a sharp swerve, and simultaneously the driver depresses a lever, the bottom of the waggon falls out, and the contents are shot on the dump.

Such a machine obviously can be used only where the soil is soft, i.e. where it coincides with the " common " classification of spoil. But it is a machine which plays sad havoc with the animals, as the work is extremely

114 "SINK-HOLES"

exhausting. I have seen as many as twenty horses hitched to a single grader in three rows of four abreast marching in front and hauling the machine, assisted by two rows of four abreast pushing behind. And every animal has to strain itself to the utmost, for ploughing off the brow of, or making a cut through the crest of a mound by this tool is excessively exacting when continued for hour after hour up and down a certain stretch, without the slightest change, and with only a few minutes' rest now and then.

The muskeg-filler is another trying tool for animal effort. In this case the edge of the machine scrapes the surface of the ground, though without forcing the material into conveyor buckets.

But the " sink-holes " were the spots that occasioned the greatest anxiety. A length of embankment had been built ; the locomotives passed to and fro with trains of ballast to dump miles ahead. The wall of earth appeared as solid as a masonry structure when work was stopped for the day. Yet the next morning, when the engineers appeared, parts of the embankment had subsided, leaving the rails hanging in graceful festoons in mid-air. The earthen ridge had sunk so many feet during the night. When the grade was built there was no indication that the ground beneath was unstable — everything appeared as solid and substantial as rock.

Some of these settlements assumed grave proportions — the whole line for 100 yards or more was thrown into confusion. This was one of the unexpected factors which the builders were doomed to encounter. Then the engineer had to ponder deeply. The only thing he could do was to keep on dumping until the subsidence ceased, but the great point was to learn the precise depth of the sink- hole, since mere dumping only served to add to the super- imposed weight brought to bear upon the treacherous ground. If the sink were not very serious this method

V

Building the Battle River Viaduct

This is the largest metallic structure between Winnipeg and the Pacific,beingii miles lonebv i8ofeet high in the centre. It crosses the river and the valley of the same name The overhead traveller is seen setting one of the '"bents or tower-pieces in

nam position

A "Sink" in the Grade

At places, owing to the soft character of the ground, the embankment settled down in a mass for a depth of thirty feet or more. Then the grade had to be built up again on a mattress of tree-logs and branches woven together.

An ExciiiNG Moment at the Clover Bar Bridge

To facilitate communication between the piers and the banks a gangway was laid athwart the river at low water. In the spring the water rises several feet and rushes along lumultuously. This photograph shows the situation just as the river has risen to the level of the gangway and is break- ing it up.

A MATTRESS OF TREE TRUNKS 115

would prove successful, but when it affected a great length of line, and amounted to several feet, it assumed a different aspect entirely.

When dumping pure and simple did not solve the problem, an ingenious expedient was adopted, both in regard to sink-holes and swamps which appeared to be capable of swallowing spoil indefinitely. The embank- ment was built on the corduroy. This is simply a thick mattress formed of tree trunks laid and woven together to form a solid, homogeneous whole, the various layers of logs being disposed in different directions, and all tightly secured together to prevent movement. This mattress was laid down, and the embankment built thereon. Under the weight of the earth the corduroy sank until it compressed the unstable ground beneath to its limit, when the mat rested firmly in position and the embankment could be piled up thereon in absolute safety. There is little danger of this foundation collapsing, inasmuch as it cannot decay — in fact, the probability is that it will increase in strength with the lapse of time, owing to the wood becoming water-logged and forming a dense, hard material similar to bog-oak, which will last and fulfil its purpose to the end of time.

Work was forced ahead during the winter ; there was no pause for snow or frost. The men might grow weary of their lonely situation and extreme remoteness from the haunts of civilisation — might long intensely for a night in a saloon, or a few hours in a gambling hell. But they could not get through that terrifying forest resound- ing with the music of the timber wolves pressed with hunger. The dark trees, held tightly in the grip of frost and snow, were an impenetrable barrier ; they hemmed in the small colonies far more securely than prison bars ; the grade during the winter was a penitentiary. The men had to work ; there was no alternative but to starve and perish.

116 A DREARY MARCH

Now and again restless spirits endeavoured to break their fetters. Port Arthur and Fort William were so alluring to the gangs around Lake Nipigon that they could not resist the desire to run the gauntlet through 100 miles of snow-bound land in the embrace of a cold 60 degrees below freezing-point, and a silence that was maddening. With a cheery farewell a party would leave the camp. The old dogs basking in the warmth of the cook's glowing stove would nod their heads significantly. If the intrepid ne'er-do-wells did not return to camp within a week as emaciated specimens of humanity as you could wish to see, then the merciless frost would hold its secret tightly until the winter broke, and the bleached skeletons would be found lying under a " fly " stretched under the trees. How they died would never be known, but the canine teeth imprints on the bones would suggest only too poignantly the last phase.

Yet at times it became necessary to break through the bonds of snow and ice. One engineer related to me a story which for adventure and sensation scarcely could be equalled. He received orders to make his way to the grade. How he was to get there was a matter for his own ingenuity and courage. He had to take a party in with him. Nipigon town was his starting-point, and there was a dreary, solid 100 miles' toil through the hardest conceivable country confronting them. He collected a dog-team and sleighs, and loaded them up with an ample supply of provisions and other requisites. As they were leaving Nipigon town a sturdy half-breed boy wanted to accompany them. He was young, and the engineer, not wishing to be hampered unduly, refused the proffered assistance, since every additional mouth to feed was a consideration. But the youth was not to be denied. He could show them the way, and might be useful if they got into a tight corner. No more was said, and so the little party plunged boldly into the snow-bound wilds.

A PLUCKY HALF BREED 117

They made good progress until the water-broken country was gained. As they were striking their way northward a terrific blizzard broke over them. They did not pause, but pushed on as bravely as possible. The snow fell so thickly that they could not see a yard before them, and the circling flakes threatened them with extinction. The crisp sound beneath their feet betokened the fact that they were making their way over the treacherous slush, so they advanced warily. Suddenly there was an ominous crash, one of the sleighs gave a wicked lurch, and was just disappearing from sight when, by a super- human tug at the lines by which they were holding the vehicle, the party just saved it from immersion, but not before the majority of them had become soaked to their waists. Their frantic endeavours to save the sleigh, however, broke up the ice in all directions. When they regained the bank they examined their belongings, and, to their utter dismay, found that the transit had slipped off the sleigh in the mishap, and was now lying submerged in the slush. What was to be done ? The party were on the horns of a dilemma. To go forward was useless, for the engineer without his transit was as helpless as a millionaire marooned on a rock.

Suddenly the half-breed boy thrust himself to the front. He had come with the party unbidden, and now he would attempt something to justify his presence. He would try to find the transit. He scuttled back to the point where the accident had occurred, the rest of the party following cautiously behind to ascertain what he was going to do. Following the trail, the young half-breed reached the hole, and without more ado plunged into the freezing mass. Seconds passed and he did not reappear. Then there was a commotion, and his matted head shot up from the murky liquid. He had failed, but he emerged just to take a breather. Three times he repeated his dive without success, but on the fourth

118 A PLUCKY HALF BREED

attempt, as he emerged from the uninviting water, he was observed to be pulling at something with all his might. A helping hand was stretched out, and it was found that he had recovered the lost transit ! The engineer gave a sigh of relief and took the young half-breed under his charge. They gained the forest, pitched camp, and in the heat of the fire the intrepid boy dried his clothes on his frozen frame and looked little the worse for his adventure.

But not so the engineer. The party pushed ahead, but the chief gave signs of being in pain. He had diffi- culty in breathing ; each inhalation shot through his lungs like a knife. He became worse as he proceeded. They gained the grade and the camps, where a little rest and rough frontier care eased him somewhat. But he was far from being well, and at last it was decided that he should return to civilisation for treatment. The half-breed offered to steer him back. The twain set off with the sleigh and dog-team. Though racked with pain, the engineer struggled along. Every night when they pitched the camp the half-breed waited tenderly upon his chief, made him as snug as circumstances would permit, and never left him for an instant, performing every task. The youngster appeared to have a constitution of steel,' and to be possessed of tireless energy. ! At last, after five days' hard struggling through the backwoods, civilisation was regained, and the engineer, almost on the point of collapse, was hurried to a doctor. A brief diagnosis revealed his illness — it was pleurisy, and the wonder was that he had not succumbed. Under skilled attention he recovered his health completely, and once more set out through the snow and slush to rejoin his companions up-country with the young half- breed as his bosom companion. I met the engineer in the wilds, and his appreciation of that young half-breed knew no bounds. The boy subsequently left them ;

DYNAMITE AND GUNPOWDER 119

whither he went no one knew, but the chief missedjhis companionship sorely.

While the upper stretches of New Ontario and Quebec were occasioning the engineers many anxious moments, owing to the eccentricities of the muskeg and swamp, the graders advancing eastwards from Winnipeg were in close grips with rock, which offered a most stubborn resistance. For the first 75 miles the going was excellent, as it was the eastern fringe of the great prairie that had to be overcome, but once the invisible line of demarcation between Manitoba and Ontario was crossed, the character of the country changed with startling suddenness. For mile after mile it was a ceaseless boring through rock of the hardest character ; rock which could not be moved or penetrated without the aid of dynamite and gunpowder. Some of the cuts that had to be made through this material were of stupendous proportions, not perhaps so much on account of the height of the wall on either side of the track, as because of its continuous length. When the rocky barrier gained a sufficient height, the cutting of an open rectangular channel was abandoned in favour of a burrow, but tunnelling was reduced to the mini- mum.

For hour after hour, day after day, month after month, nothing was heard but the chink-chink of drills and the devastating roar of explosive with its splitting and dis- integrating work. Advance was exceedingly slow, some of the blasts requiring as much as six weeks or more to prepare, and then only breaking up sufficient of the granite mass to permit of an advance of about 200 feet. Swedes and Italians, from their long experience in rock-working, gloried in this country. Employment was steady and continuous, while, in view of the fact that such work commanded the highest wages, it proved highly attractive to men who are born rock-hogs. Scarcely a day went by without a vicious upheaval, and an ugly wound was

120 A TREMENDOUS EXPLOSION

torn in the surface of the ground as a whole mound or hill was sent into the air in fragments.

Some of these blasts were of huge proportions. There was one in particular along the shore of Lake Pelican. A huge cliff barred the advance of the grade, and there was no alternative but to blow it away bodily. Shafts were sunk into, and galleries were driven on all sides at the bottom of, the obstacle. The drills toiled incessantly for six months preparing the pockets for the reception of the explosives. Dynamite and black powder to the value of $5000, or £1000, were rammed into the base of the cliff, and the whole was then fired. The shock was terrific, but the " shot " scattered 14,000 cubic yards, or, say, 30,000 tons of rock, of which some 6000 tons were hurled into the lake, and the grade was able to proceed on its way for a further few hundred feet.

It was on work of this nature where the greatest number of accidents occurred, the majority of which might have been avoided had the men engaged in the operations displayed but ordinary care. Dynamite and flying rock were the greatest contributors to the casualty list and death-roll, although the men engaged in the work were among the most expert it was possible to find. But their very dexterity and skill proved their undoing ; the fact that their task was beset with more than usual danger served to tempt Fate. " Familiarity breeds contempt " is a well-worn axiom, and when it is associated with such an agent as dynamite, the result invariably is somewhat disastrous to everyone in the vicinity of the spot where the adage is subjected to the test. These men are so accustomed to handling sticks of dynamite that they regard it with the same nonchalance as a navvy does his pick-axe.

True, there is no danger to be feared from this devastating agent so long as it is treated with a certain amount of

Building a Wooden Trestle

The upright members are disposed in rows of five, the outer log on either side being set inwards at a slight angle. The whole are clamped together by iron dogs to secure solidity. The "bent," as it is called, is generally twenty-five feet in height.