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TW ^A.v^^ajt4. iLjJjt'^f^fl'^*^,^ -^^ <otZ4 
 
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 131 
 
 His ::^?Jo 
 
 THE NEW HIGH-ROAD TO THE EAST : 
 
 THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILROAD. 
 
 BY HENRY COUPLAND. 
 
 ^i PROPOSE to-night to give a short description of the 
 (^ new trans-continental railwp.y called the Canadian 
 Pacific System. As it is as yet comparatively little known, 
 only having been opened for through traffic last spring, and as 
 it is a subjecft of national importance, a few particulars may be 
 interesting. Stretching from Hal'^'mx on the Atlantic, through 
 the heart of our great Dominion of Canada, to \ancouver 
 City on the Pacific, it presents a continuous line of rails for 
 over 3,000 miles. Such a thing has never been attempted 
 before. By the construcftion of this line we are placed in 
 dired communication with the Pacific Ocean, in a little over 
 a fortnight from Liverpool, and from the magnificent natural 
 harbour at the western terminus, steamers will be running 
 shortly to all the countries of the East. As an alternative 
 route to the Suez Canal, should that canal ever be blocked 
 to us by foreign complications, the Canadian Pacific, running 
 as it does entirely through our own possessions, will bo 
 invaluable as a means of transport of men and material to 
 India. Compared with the Union Pacific Railway, the 
 Canadian Pacific will shorten the passage from Liverpool to 
 China in direcfl distance more than i ,000 miles. From Halifax 
 to Montreal the line has been open some time under the name 
 of the Intercolonial Railway. Montreal is the eastern 
 terminus of the Canadian Pacific proper, and it is from here 
 the through trains start on their six days journey to the far 
 west. As there is only one train each day from east to west, and 
 one from west to east, it is not diflicult to arrange the time for 
 commencing one's journey. Starting from Montreal at 80'clock 
 in the evening, a magnificent panorama of the St. Lawrence 
 is obtained. Then striking inland the river Ottowa is reached, 
 
1 
 
 133 
 
 and keeps in view nearly all the way to Ottowa, the capital 
 of the Dominion. Here are situated the fine parliament and 
 other government buildings, and, during the months the 
 House is in session, it is a particularly lively city. After 
 leaving Ottowa traces of civilization gradually grow more 
 scarce, and before many hundreds of miles are traversed the 
 country becomes rugged and broken, and unfit for agricultural 
 purposes. It is one continual tangle or brake of pine woods, 
 intersected by innumerable small lakes, which twine in and 
 out of the woods in a most pi(5turesque manner. The pine 
 trees are small, and grow so densly, that it is a common thing 
 to see miles of dead trees, killed by their own growth. North 
 Bay and the shore of Lake Nippising are passed, and the 
 stations of Sturgeon Falls and Sudbury, the latter a rapidly 
 growing place, where copper mines were discovered a lew 
 months since. The veins of copper come up to the surface 
 and cross the railway track. All this part, although unfit at 
 present for farming operations, abounds with mineral wealth, 
 and no doubt, when properly opened out, will be a prosperous 
 mining distri(5l. Before many years have passed the early 
 settler's hut, and the shanty of the lumber man and beaver 
 trapper, will have given way to the well-to-do farm house of 
 the cultivated lands of Ontario. The few settlers there at 
 present collecl in groups about the stations to watch the cars 
 pass — the sturdy lumber man and voyageurs with bronzed 
 faces. To them no doubt this is the event of the day and 
 serves to keep them in touch with the outer woikl. Several 
 of these men were wearing the ribbon for the Louis Kiel cam- 
 paign in the north-west last year but one. After passing the 
 Vermilion River the train going east is encountered at Straight 
 Lake, and newspapers. Sec, from the east are eagerly sought 
 after. As the track is single all the way through, there are 
 sidings arranged for trains to pass each other, and it is a 
 common thing to wait a few hours on a siding for the opposite 
 train to come up, as the train which arrives first has to wait 
 for the other. An Englishman, accustomed to the well laid 
 and splendid order of our railway lines, is astonished to 
 observe the rough and ready way they construcl railways 
 
 I 
 
ft 
 
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 133 
 
 in America, and the Canadian Pacific is no exception to the 
 rule. The metals or lines are simply laid along ties without 
 any chairs or supports, and are kept in place by spikes 
 driven in at each side. At some places the primitive arrange- 
 ment of points, sidings, &c., is decidedly not comfortable to 
 think about when rushing over them. An average speed of 
 20 miles an hour, including stoppages, is supposed to be 
 obtained, but 1 believe really the atftual speed averages about 
 18 miles an hour. The carriages, or " cars " as they are 
 termed, are a decided improvement on our system. They are 
 open from end to end, and are well warmed and ventilated. 
 The only drawback to the stove system of heating is that, 
 in case of accident, the cars are nearly sure to be set on fire. 
 There have been several bad accidents in America lately, 
 and in nearly every case they have ended up with fire. 
 There is supposed to be one class only, called ist class, but 
 there is also an emigrant car and a Pulman sleeping and 
 parlour car attached to each train, so that they really corres- 
 pond to our 1st, 2nd, and 3rd classes. The locomotives 
 are very uncouth looking things after our engines, the wide 
 top smoke-stack having an arrangement to prevent sparks 
 setting fire to the woods and immense prairie tracts. The 
 second morning after leaving Montreal (about 870 miles), the 
 shores of Lake Superior are reached, and for a whole day the 
 line runs on the margin of this vast inland sea. This is the 
 last construcTted se(5lion of the line, and as it is not yet properly 
 balasted, the travelling is very slow. Here it strikes one 
 more than ever how lightly the line is construdled ; the bridges 
 over rivers and canons being on timber trestles, which appear 
 too light for the heavy weights passing over. One bridge 
 about here is 900 feet long and 100 feet high. On the margin 
 of the lake one notices the steep gradients more than usual. 
 At one time you are rushing along a narrow ledge at a height 
 of 100 feet overhanging the lake, and within five minutes you 
 are down on a level with the water. The Marquis of Lome, 
 in his book on Canada, says " that one of the toughest jobs 
 the Pacific Railway has to encounter is to be found on the 
 rock-bound and precipitous coast on the north of Lake 
 
rr 
 
 V 
 
 134 
 
 Superior." Without the aid of dynamite it seems to me it 
 would have been next to impossible to have made the line. 
 
 After rounding Thunder Bay, Port Arthur is reached ; it 
 was from here some seventeen years since that Col. Wolseley, 
 now Lord Wolseley, started on the expedition known as the 
 Red River expedition to Fort Garry. 
 
 The French haltbreeds under Louis Riel were in a state 
 of Rebellion, and this expedition was sent to assert the 
 authority of the f^overnment. In those days this part of the 
 country was almost unknown, and to show the impracflicable 
 nature of the country, it took Colonel Wolseley three months 
 to get up the rivers in canoes and boats, via the Lake of the 
 Woods and Rat Portage, to Fort Garry, now the site of the 
 prosperous City of Winnipeg. At the present time a day's 
 journey in a Pulman Car accomplishes this distance. Winni- 
 peg, the capital of Manitoba, is an example of the rapid 
 growth of cities in America. To us, with our traditions of 
 centuries, it almost seems incredible the way vast cities spring 
 up in a few years. This was originally a trading station of 
 the Hudson's Bay Company, and part of the old Fort is still 
 standing. It was the chief Eastern station of that company, 
 and beyond which hardly anyone thought of passing. The 
 Hudson's Bay Company had a great deal to do with the opening 
 up of this countrjs though tx.ey jealously kept its great 
 resources a secret. This Company was formed under a 
 charter of Charles II in 1670, and transferred their territory 
 to the government of Canada in 1870. 
 
 The construction of a railroad is contemplated from 
 Winnipeg, due North, to York Factory on Hudson's Bay ; 
 this would bring the grain-growing districts of Manitoba and 
 Assiniboia much closer to the sea, as it is a shorter sea 
 journey to York Factory on Hudson's Bay from Liverpool 
 than to New York. A great drawback to this scheme is the 
 closing of Hudson's Bay during part of the year through ice. 
 
 From Winnipeg the levels of the prairie spread on each 
 side of the Canadian Pacific Railway like a vast sea. The 
 line follows the course of the Assiniboia River to Portage la 
 
 • 
 
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 « 
 
 I 
 
 
 135 
 
 Prairie ; this place, which ten years ago was only a place in 
 name, is now a thriving town. Near Fleming, the Province of 
 Assinboia is entered ; this together with the Provinces of 
 Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Athabasca, is generally known 
 as the North-Wesl Territory, and is under the rule of a 
 Lieut. -Governor. This territory, which is as large as France 
 and Germany put together, is kept in order by v. body of 
 police some 700 strong, called the North-West Mounted 
 Police. It is said that two or three of these men are able to 
 ride into an Indian teppe or encampment, and secure a male- 
 factor without fear of being molested; the reason is that the 
 Indians know that justice is administered impartially both to 
 red and white man, and if a white man is caught stealing 
 horses, which by the way seems to be one of the principal 
 crimes, he is punished just as severely as an Indian. On 
 entering the North-West Territories the cars are inspected 
 by the police, as no liquor is allowed to be conveyed into the 
 territories ; this law is very stringently kept on account of 
 the Indians. At Broadview the Raihvay time is altered ; 
 there are four time standards used from Montreal to Van- 
 couver ; from Montreal to Port Arthur at the head of the 
 lakes, eastern standard is used ; from there to Broadview, 
 central time ; between Broadview and Donald in the Rocky 
 Mountains, mountain time ; and from Donald to Vancouver, 
 Pacific standard time is used. At Indian Head the cele- 
 brated Bell Farm is passed ; it is worked by a company and 
 is of enormous extent, being ten miles square. There is one 
 avenue on the farm of 10,000 poplar trees, and it is ten miles 
 long. The country round here is splendid for grain growing ; 
 one wonders on reading emigration statistics where room is 
 found for the continual inflow of settlers, but with these vast 
 traces of good land, for hundreds of miles, still uncultivated, 
 it will be probably many years before they are properly 
 colonized. Qu'appelle and Regina, the Capital of the North- 
 West, where Riel was executed last year, are passed in the 
 night ; and at a place called Medicine Hat the South Sas- 
 katchewan River is passed, a river about the size oftheLune, 
 but of a bright green colour, said to be caused by the alkaline 
 
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 ^ 
 
 '^ 
 
 ^^ 
 
 136 
 
 matter in it. Now the line takes its course through a vast 
 prairie, entirely destitute of herbage, as far as the eye can 
 see all around is sand, and the bright metals of the railroad 
 look like a silver streak crossing the barren plain. Gradually 
 ascending, the higher levels of the prairie are reached, and 
 in the distance the first view of the famed Rocky Mountains 
 is obtained, although they are fully a hundred miles away, 
 a long serrated ridge like the back of a huge monster on the 
 plains. We are now in the Province of Alberta, and before 
 entering the Rockies, Calgary is the next place of importance ; 
 all the past year there has been a rush to this place, and it is 
 thought to have a great future before it. It has had a tem- 
 porary check, however, as it was burnt down a few nights 
 after I was there. There is always tliis danger in these towns, 
 as the houses are entirely construcfted of wood, and generally 
 in long rows, so that when once started it is next to impos- 
 sible to put a fire out. By very steep gradients the summit 
 of the Rocky Mountains is attained, " the Great Divide " as 
 it is sometimes termed, nnd British Colunibia is reached. 
 The scenery is grand '^ ond all description ; in the last fifty 
 miles one has traveller jm level plains to a wild Alpine 
 scenery, with snow-covered peaks and interminable forests 
 of pine, cedar, and tamrack. Through the celebrated Kick- 
 ing Horse Pass the line threads its way, and it almost seems 
 as if nature had devised these passes for the constru(ftion of 
 a railroad. The highest level attained at the summit is 
 rather over 5,000 feet, but the mountain peaks are many of 
 them over 10,000 feet above the sea level. The gradients are 
 so steep that there is a system arranged if a train gets out of 
 control, the engineer signals to a switchman, who turns the 
 train into a siding leading to an incline, and so bringing the 
 cars to a standstill ; but only last week I read of a train 
 parting in the middle, and one half running back, failed to 
 take the safety switch, and killed the pointsman. In the 
 valley the Columbia River is crossed for the first time, 
 and for some distance its course is followed. It is often 
 supposed that the Rocky Mountains are the only ridge 
 traversing this country, whereas there are four distin(ft 
 
 •*• » 
 
'37 
 
 • 
 
 ranges running parallel from nortli to south; The Rocky 
 Mountains, the Selkirk, the Gold Range, and the Cascade 
 Range, the line crossing all four like going over immense 
 waves. To the south are the Kootenay Valleys ; some will 
 remember the pretty sketches of these valleys which have 
 appeared in the Illustrated London News during the last few 
 weeks. The Beaver River is passed, rushing along to join 
 the Columbia. And now the ascent of the Selkirk Mountains 
 is commenced. It is slow work climbing the mountain sides 
 and over the deep canons ; one of these, crossed by the highest 
 trestle bridge known, called Stoney Creek Bridge, 263 feet 
 high. Near here the snow sheds and snow slides were in 
 course of constru(5lion. The snow sheds are intended for 
 drift snow and arc very substantial constructions, but nothing 
 in comparison to the snow slides. These are made when the 
 line runs on the face of a steep mountain, and they are obliged 
 to be strong, as the accumulated sno;v of many years may 
 start from the top of these lofty hills and come thundering 
 down in masses, 50 to 200 feet thick, with a force nothing can 
 resist. The snow in passing down, shoots over the top of 
 the slides and on into the valley below, and sometimes up 
 the slope of the opposite mountain for several hundred. 
 One can imagine what would be the result of such a slide 
 striking a passing train. I heard of one slide during the 
 construcftion that carried part of the line up the opposite 
 mountain almost to the height it was before. The Company 
 have retained some 2,000 men for service in the mountains 
 during the past winter to guard against snow blocks. A fort- 
 night since we read in the papers that seven men had been 
 killed by a snow slide in the Rockies. Mount Carroll rises 
 up almost like a wall to the height of 5,558 feet above the 
 track. From here the descent is very rapid, and one small 
 river, the Illecillewait, is crossed no less than 13 times in a 
 few miles. At one place a complete loop is made, and it 
 takes nine miles circuit to get across the distance of two. 
 Again crossing the Columbia River the Gold Range is sur- 
 mounted by Eagle Pass, and below Shuswap Lake is Kam- 
 loops, a place of considerable importance. The scenery here 
 
^^ 
 
 138 
 
 is most park-like, antl the view up the Thompson River 
 resembles the Vale of Lune above Caton. Gold and silver 
 are found plentifully about these parts, and almost every 
 stream is what is termed coloured with gold. The Chinese 
 gangs of labourers attract attention in their quaint costumes 
 and big hats. The Chinese are becoming a very serious 
 question on the Eastern side of America. They come over in 
 droves from their native land, and every town now has a 
 Chinese quarter. They are very useful as domestic servants, 
 but the white man is much inclined to resent their presence 
 in the labour market, as they work for next to nothing. It 
 takes little to feed them and they save all they can to return 
 home ; even if they die their bones are carefully removed 
 from the flesh and packed to China on the first opportunity. 
 
 There have been many stone implements found in British 
 Columbia, resembling the Celts and early British imple- 
 ments of this country, and there are several traces of the 
 curious shaped mounds supposed to have been constru(fted 
 by a pre- historic race, but for what purpose these earth- 
 works were intended it is difficult to say. I saw one of these 
 mounds at Grande Prairie, some 40 miles from Kamloops ; it 
 stood in the centre of a valley, and had a causeway graded to 
 it from the opposite slopes. 
 
 Continuing by the margin of Kamloops Lake we come to 
 the Eraser River, of Salmon-fishing celebrity, and follow its 
 course through the rugged Cascade Mountains, by the Black 
 Canon. • This is a wonderful piece of engineering, as the 
 railroad takes its way along a narrow ledge excavated in the 
 side of this magnificent canon. To give some idea of the 
 difficulty encountered the workmen had to be lowered over 
 the edge with ropes to bore the rock for blasting purposes. 
 The Eraser River rushes below some hundred feet in a 
 seething mass. Below Yale the river is navigable, and in a 
 short time we have descended from a region of perpetual 
 snow to the level of the sea, and the blue waters of the Pacific 
 are reached. Port Moody was the temporary terminus of 
 the line some 12 to 15 miles up Burrard Inlet, but this week 
 
 

 •I 
 
 r 
 
 139 
 
 sees the opening for traffic to Vancouver City, close to the 
 Straits of Georgia. This City was ahnost entirely destroyed 
 by fire last June, only five houses being left. Fortunately 
 the fire happened on a Sunday afternoon whilst most of the 
 inhabitants were in the country ; had it not been fur this the 
 loss of life would have been terrible. In half an hour after 
 the fire commenced the c ty was in ashes, and some 50 lives 
 lost. Now, however, the city is nearly rebuilt, and with the 
 large works building in connection with the railroad, and its 
 splendid natural harbour, large enough to hold all the war- 
 ships of the world, bids fair in a few years to rival the golden 
 city of California— San Francisco. A short sail across the 
 Straits of Georgia brings one to Victoria, on Vancouver 
 Island, the Capital of British Columbia. To give an idea of 
 the va',t territory opened up by the Canadian Pacific Railroad 
 I will quote in round figures the size of the different pro- 
 vinces : — 
 
 Manitoba 
 Assiniboia 
 Saskatchewan 
 Alberta 
 
 Athabasca „ 
 
 British Columbia „ 
 
 j> 
 
 contains 100,000 square miles. 
 
 go,ooo 
 
 90,000 
 100,000 
 120,000 
 
 20 3,000 
 
 ft 
 
 tt 
 
 M 
 
 >> 
 
 >» 
 
 Making a total of 700,000 square miles. 
 
 In closing this brief sketch of one of the most difficult 
 feats of engineering ever accomplished, I cannot help thinking 
 that this great railroad eventually will not play an unim- 
 portant part in the history of our empire.