As It Was Just Daylight We Were Enabled To See The
Scenery At That Point And Kicking Horse Pass.
From the summit of the
Rocky Mountains, for some nine miles, the line is considered to be
merely a temporary one, though permanently and strongly constructed,
there being a grade for two or three miles of it of 4-1/2 feet per
hundred, say 1 in 22-1/2.
There are several catch sidings on this
grade, running upwards on the slopes of the mountains, for trains or
cars to be turned into, in the event of a break loose or run away, and
a man is always in attendance at the switches leading to these sidings.
All this day the train ran through mountains, the Rocky Mountains, the
Selkirk Range, and Eagle Pass. With the exception of the steep grade
mentioned, the ruling ones are 116 feet to the mile, and there are
numerous sharp curves, usually to save short tunnels. The line,
however, is in some parts well ballasted, and work is still going on in
this direction. The rails are of steel, 70 lbs. to the yard, and the
locomotives, of the "Consolidation" pattern, with eight driving wheels,
are able, Mr. Marpole, the able divisional superintendent, stated, to
take a train of 12 loaded cars over the ruling grades, two of them
being required for the same load on the steep grade already mentioned
at Kicking Horse Pass. Mr. Marpole stopped the train at the Stony Creek
Bridge, a large timber structure 296 feet high, and said to be the
highest wooden bridge in America. The scenery through the Selkirks is
magnificent, the mountain peaks being six and seven thousand feet above
the level of the railway, many of them even at this season of the year
covered with snow, and there being several large glaciers.
"During last year, before the line was opened for traffic, observations
were taken with the view of ascertaining what trouble might be
anticipated from avalanches, the avalanch paths through the Selkirks
being very numerous. Several large avalanches occurred, the largest
covering the track for a length of 1,300 feet, with a depth in one
place of 50 feet of snow, and containing, as was estimated, a quarter
of a million cubic yards of snow and earth. The result of these
observations caused the Company to construct during this season four-
and-a-half miles of snow sheds, at a cost of $900,000, or $200,000 a
mile.
"The sheds are constructed as follows: - On the high side of the
mountain slope a timber crib filled with stones is constructed. Along
the entire length of the shed, and on the opposite side of the track, a
timber trestle is erected, strong timber beams are laid from the top of
the cribwork to the top of the trestle, 4 feet apart and at an angle
representing the slope of the mountain, as nearly as possible. These
are covered over with 4-inch planking, and the beams are strutted on
either side from the trestle and from the crib. The covering is placed
at such a height as to give 21 feet headway from the under side of the
beam to the centre of the track. The longest of these sheds is 3,700
feet, and is near the Glacier Hotel.
"Over the Selkirk Range the schedule time for trains from Donald to
Revelstoke, that is, from the first to the second crossing of the
Columbia River, a distance of 79 miles, is only eleven miles an hour;
but this time table was made before there was much ballast on this
portion of the line, and better time can now be made. On the 21st
September the Fraser River was crossed early in the morning over a
steel cantilever bridge, and the line runs down the gorge of the Fraser
River to Port Moody, reached at noon. The train had thus been
travelling from 8 p.m. on the 15th September to 12 noon on the 21st,
apparently a total of 136 hours; but, allowing for the gain of three
hours in time, an actual total of 139 hours. During this time the train
travelled 2,892 miles, or an average speed made throughout the journey,
including all stoppages, of 20-1/2 miles per hour, and this is the
regular schedule time for passenger trains at the present time.
"Port Moody is the present terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway,
but the line has been partially graded for 12 miles further to
Vancouver. Owing, however, to the hostile attitude of some landowners,
the Company have not been able to complete this work, as the contention
has been made that, although the Company have power to build branches,
an extension of the main line is not a branch, and the Company will
have to obtain legislation before this can be done. Vancouver at the
present time is said to have a population of about 3,000. It is
situated at Burrard Inlet, a mile or so inside what are called the
First Narrows, but the neck of land on which it is situate is only
about a mile across; and in the future, when the town grows, English
Bay, which is outside the Narrows, can easily be made the harbour in
preference to the present one, as it is fairly well sheltered, and
affords good anchorage.
"The trip down Burrard Inlet, the Straits of Georgia, and through the
San Juan Archipelago to Victoria, a distance of about 90 miles from
Port Moody, occupied 9-1/2 hours, and Victoria was reached at 10.30 on
the night of the 21st September."
To this memorandum I may add a few words. First, in praise of the
excellent rolling stock; secondly, of the good discipline and smartness
of the service; and, thirdly, of the wonderful energy, boldness, and
success of the whole engineering features of this grand work of modern
times. I should be ungrateful if I did not thank the chief officers of
the Canadian Pacific, whose acquaintance I had great pleasure in
making, for their exceeding kindness, for the full information they
afforded to me, and for showing me many cheap, short, and ready plans
of construction, which might well be adopted in Europe.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 14 of 133
Words from 13215 to 14266
of 136421
