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ENGLAND AND CANADA.
ENGLAND AND CANADA.
A SUMMER TOUR BETWEEN OLD AND NEW WESTMINSTER WITH HISTORICAL NOTES. BY SANDFORD FLEMING, C.E., C.M.G., Etc. MONTREAL: DAWSON BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS. 1884. Entered according to Act of Parliament of Canada, in the year 1884, by Sandford Fleming , in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture. GAZETTE PRINTING COMPANY, MONTREAL. TO The Right Honourable the Marquis of Lorne, K.T. G.C.M.G., P.C., &C., &C., ONE OF CANADA’S TRUEST AND WARMEST FRIENDS, WITH SINCERE RESPECT THIS RECORD OF A
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CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY.
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY.
If we carry ourselves in imagination to that part of North America nearest to Europe, we find that we have reached the most easterly coast of the Island of Newfoundland, an outlying portion of the continent. Standing on Cape Bonavista and looking from this promontory over the waste of waters, we discover that between the Equator and Greenland the Atlantic Ocean is generally of much greater width in every other parallel than opposite our present position: that its breadth rapidly increases as we
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CHAPTER II. HALIFAX TO LIVERPOOL.
CHAPTER II. HALIFAX TO LIVERPOOL.
Halifax—Cunard Line—Intercolonial Railway—Truro—Travelling by Pullman—New Brunswick—Miramichi—Great Fires in New Brunswick—Salmon Fishing—Micmac Indians—Rimouski—S. S. Parisian—The first Ocean Steamer the Royal William—Incidents of Ocean Voyage—Arrival. Halifax, selected for its excellence as a harbour in connection with its geographical position, is well known throughout the world as one of the most important stations for the British Navy. For upwards of a century it has been pre-eminently the
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CHAPTER III. ENGLAND.
CHAPTER III. ENGLAND.
Willie Gordon—Custom House Annoyances—Cable Telegram—Post Office Annoyances—London—Spurgeon’s Tabernacle—An Ancestral Home—English and United States Hotels—English Reserve—A Railway Accident—The Land’s End—A Deaf Guest. As I stood on the landing stage at Liverpool awaiting patiently and with resignation for the Customs officers to allow the removal of our luggage, a host of recollections ran through my mind. My thoughts went back twenty years to another occasion when I landed from an ocean steam
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CHAPTER IV. ENGLAND—(Continued).
CHAPTER IV. ENGLAND—(Continued).
Marquis of Salisbury—Classical studies—Henley Regatta—Red Lion—London Dinner to Lord Dufferin—His Speech—Greenwich—Fisheries Exhibition—Bray—The Vicar—The Thames—Minehead—The Polynesian. I was exceedingly glad to be joined by my daughter in London, because much depended on her arrival. We had many places to see together, and she was to accompany me on a visit to some friends in the country, who had extended to us a very warm invitation. During this visit we met all the kindness we could have eve
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CHAPTER V. ENGLAND TO CANADA.
CHAPTER V. ENGLAND TO CANADA.
The Ocean Voyage—Its Comfort—Moville—Mail Coach Road of Old Days—Impressive Service on Deck—Comfort on the Vessel—Rimouski—Halifax. We are off this Thursday, 26th July, and underway at three p.m. As is usually the case we have a pleasant run down the Mersey to the Irish Sea. With few exceptions the passengers are all strangers, one to the other, and we remain on deck, no few of us speculating as to “who is who?” We dine at four the first day. There is a printed list of passengers on the plate of
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CHAPTER VI. NOVA SCOTIA.
CHAPTER VI. NOVA SCOTIA.
Early Colonization—De Monts—Champlain—Sir William Alexander—Capture of Quebec—The Treaties—The Acadian Evangeline—Louisbourg—First Capture—Peace of Aix la Chapelle—Boundary Disputes—The Final Struggle—Deportation of the Acadians—Nova Scotia constituted a Province. The first attempt at the colonization of Nova Scotia which was made from France was singularly unfortunate. In 1598, we read, the Marquis de la Roche left Saint Malo with a crew, almost entirely composed of convicts. He landed forty of
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CHAPTER VII. HALIFAX TO QUEBEC.
CHAPTER VII. HALIFAX TO QUEBEC.
Home in Halifax—Start for the Pacific—The Intercolonial Railway—Major Robinson—Old Companions—The Ashburton Blunder—Quebec—The Provincial Legislature—Champlain—The Iroquois. Arrived at my Halifax home, I made the few preparations necessary for the journey before me. In the interval, I rambled through the Dingle with my children and paddled over the north-western arm, a sheet of water of much beauty. There is always unusual pleasure in such quiet occupations, exacting neither labour, nor thought,
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CHAPTER VIII. QUEBEC, MONTREAL, OTTAWA.
CHAPTER VIII. QUEBEC, MONTREAL, OTTAWA.
Montreal—Ship Channel—Hon. John Young—St. Lawrence Canals—Indifference of Quebec—Quebec Interests Sacrificed—Need of a Bridge at Quebec—Montreal Trade in Early Times—Beauty of the City—Canadian Pacific Railway—Ottawa—The Social Influence of Government House—Kingston. It is only within the last half century that the commercial advantages, geographically, possessed by Montreal have been understood and developed. It is not possible to enter into the history of the remarkable works, extending east a
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CHAPTER IX. TORONTO TO LAKE SUPERIOR.
CHAPTER IX. TORONTO TO LAKE SUPERIOR.
Toronto—Collingwood—Georgian Bay—The Sault St. Mary—Navigation of the Great Lakes—Manitoulin Islands—Lake Huron—Arrival at the Sault. Arriving safely at Toronto I was welcomed by my son Sandford, who accompanies me on my journey. For the first time I am presented to a still younger descendant, who confers upon me a new claim to family respect, and whom I meet with much pleasure. It was the civic holiday in Toronto. It has been a custom on this Continent, in the large cities and more important to
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CHAPTER X. LAKE SUPERIOR TO WINNIPEG.
CHAPTER X. LAKE SUPERIOR TO WINNIPEG.
Lake Superior—Early Discoverers—Joliet and La Salle—Hennepin—Du Luth—Port Arthur—The Far West—The North-West Company—Rat Portage—Gold Mining—Winnipeg. The morning is dull, the sky leaden, and the temperature is not very enlivening for the most of us. But the boat moves pleasantly up the slight current until we reach Whitefish Point, then we enter the lake which lies before us in all its magnificent extent. Some idea of the size of Lake Superior may be formed when it is pointed out that from its
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CHAPTER XI. WINNIPEG, HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY, LORD SELKIRK.
CHAPTER XI. WINNIPEG, HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY, LORD SELKIRK.
Early Explorers of the North-West—Du Luth—De la Verendrye—Mackenzie—Hudson’s Bay Company—Treaty of Utrecht—North-West Company—Lord Selkirk—War in the North-West—Union of the Rival Companies—The North-West Annexed to Canada. Winnipeg, with a population of 30,000 inhabitants, is the creation of the last decade. Thirteen years back there was little to distinguish its site from any other spot on the river’s bank. The Red River was skirted by a single tier of holdings on the shore line, directly alon
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CHAPTER XII. WINNIPEG TO CALGARY.
CHAPTER XII. WINNIPEG TO CALGARY.
Winnipeg—Great Storm—Portage-la-Prairie—Brandon—Moose Jaw—Old Wives’ Lakes—The Indians—Maple Creek—Medicine Hat—Rocky Mountains. The rain continued to fall in torrents the whole night of our arrival in Winnipeg, and the gale increased in violence. The streets were next to impassable. Roadways, without paving or metal, in the newest of cities, formed only on the deep, black, vegetable soil of the locality, are the least fitted to undergo an ordeal such as that of the last fifteen hours. The storm
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CHAPTER XIII. CALGARY TO THE SUMMIT.
CHAPTER XIII. CALGARY TO THE SUMMIT.
Start for the Mountains—The Cochrane Ranche—Gradual Ascent—Mount Cascade—Anthracite Coal—Sunday in the Rockies—Mountain Scenery—The Divide. We had reached the point on our journey when the accessories of modern travel ceased to be at our disposal. Before us lay the mountain zone to Kamloops, the distance across which, as the crow flies, is about three hundred miles. We had failed to obtain any reliable information of the character of the country over which we had to pass. Indeed, it was by no me
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CHAPTER XIV. DOWN KICKING-HORSE VALLEY.
CHAPTER XIV. DOWN KICKING-HORSE VALLEY.
The Descent—Summit Lake—The Kicking-Horse River—Singular Mountain Storms—An Engineering Party—A Beaver Meadow—A Dizzy Walk. We were up at half-past five, and it was a cold, sharp morning. At six, Mr. Dunbar had said good-bye and turned eastward. When breakfast was over the pack-train arrived, and by nine we had started for the River Columbia. It was a rugged and broken path which we entered upon. To our right two conspicuous twin summits were standing out in the range. The water of the streams w
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CHAPTER XV. TO THE SUMMIT OF THE SELKIRKS.
CHAPTER XV. TO THE SUMMIT OF THE SELKIRKS.
The Eagle Pass—Kicking-Horse River—Valley of the Columbia—The Selkirk Range—The Columbia River—Summit of the Selkirks—Major Rogers’ Discovery. The point which we have reached is about two and a third degrees north of the international boundary, of the forty-ninth parallel. The Columbia takes its rise ninety or a hundred miles to the south-east of us and flows in a generally direct course to a point known as the Boat Encampment, some seventy miles to the north-west. From its source for nearly thi
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CHAPTER XVI. DOWN THE ILLE-CELLE-WAET.
CHAPTER XVI. DOWN THE ILLE-CELLE-WAET.
The Descent of the Selkirk Range—Glaciers—The Last of our Horses—Devil’s Clubs—The Ille-celle-waet—A Rough Journey—A Mountain Storm—Slow Progress—A Roaring Torrent—Skunk Cabbage—Marsh—A Long Ten Miles’ Journey. Our horses having grazed on the rich pasture are evidently satisfied, some are actually rolling on the grass. So the hour has come to leave the pleasant meadow in the Rogers Pass and pursue our journey. The animals are loaded with their packs, but they are not too eager to make another st
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CHAPTER XVII. DOWN THE ILLE-CELLE-WAET.—Continued.
CHAPTER XVII. DOWN THE ILLE-CELLE-WAET.—Continued.
A Difficult March—Cariboo Path—Organization of Advance—Passing Through the Canyon—Timber Jam—A Gun-shot Heard—The Columbia Again—Indians—Disappointment—The Question of Supplies becomes Urgent—No Relief Party Found—Suspense. It rained when we awoke at five on the Monday. Dave, our cook, had had one of those nights of misery which many have now and then to undergo, but his excellencies are more appreciable as difficulties increase. Soaking wet to the skin he performs the duty of preparing breakfas
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CHAPTER XVIII. THROUGH THE EAGLE PASS.
CHAPTER XVIII. THROUGH THE EAGLE PASS.
The Kamloops Men at Last—No Supplies—On Short Allowance—An Indian Guide—Bog-wading—The Summit of the Pass—Bluff Lake—Victoria Bluff—Three Valley Lake—Eagle River—Shooting Salmon—The Cached Provisions—Pack-horses Again—Road Making—The South Thompson—Indian Ranches. Our anxiety passed away when five men appeared coming from the woods on the flats of the Columbia, a short distance from our camp. We saw them approach with more than usual satisfaction, for we felt certain that they were the men we we
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CHAPTER XIX. KAMLOOPS TO THE COAST.
CHAPTER XIX. KAMLOOPS TO THE COAST.
Lake Kamloops—Savona’s Ferry—Irrigation—Chinese Navvies—Chinese Servants—Lytton—The Fraser River Canyon—Old Engineering Friends—Sunday at Yale—Paddling Down the Fraser—An English Fog at New Westminster. The district into which we have entered, in its physical character, is directly the opposite of that which we have traversed. We have no mosses to tell the story of excessive humidity. We are now in a country where the leading feature is extreme aridity. I can compare the dark powdered earth to n
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CHAPTER XX. ON PACIFIC WATERS.
CHAPTER XX. ON PACIFIC WATERS.
New Westminster—Enormous Forest Trees—English Broom—Port Moody—Down Burrard Inlet—Sea Fog—Navigation by Echo—Straits of Georgia—The St. Juan Archipelago—Seamanship—Victoria. We had reached the most important town on the Mainland of British Columbia. Although New Westminster is of modern date the town has had its mutations and disappointments, the last and not the least of which is to have seen the Railway terminus diverted northward to Burrard Inlet, a proceeding which her own citizens must admi
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CHAPTER XXI. BRITISH COLUMBIA.
CHAPTER XXI. BRITISH COLUMBIA.
Sir Francis Drake—Mears—Vancouver—Astor—Hudson’s Bay Company—Gold Discoveries—Climate—Timber—Fisheries—Minerals—Mountain Scenery. The western Province of the Dominion cannot lay claim to even a geographical recognition of longer date than that of a century. Drake first visited the Pacific ocean three centuries back, in 1579, but it is questionable if he ascended higher than the forty-eighth parallel when he took possession of the country now included in Oregon and Washington Territory in the roy
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CHAPTER XXII. HOME BY THE NORTHERN PACIFIC.
CHAPTER XXII. HOME BY THE NORTHERN PACIFIC.
Puget Sound—The Columbia—Portland—Oregon and San Juan Disputes—Arid Country—Mountain Summits—The Yellowstone—The Missouri—The Red River—Chicago—Standard Time Meeting—The British Association—Home. The fog had become less dense on the early Monday morning we were leaving Victoria to cross to Puget Sound, to proceed thence to Portland, in Oregon. We had now entered on October. It was the first of the month. My object in taking this route was to pass over the Northern Pacific Railway. It seemed to m
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CHAPTER XXIII. THE INDIANS.
CHAPTER XXIII. THE INDIANS.
Indian Population—The Government Policy—Indian Instincts—The Hudson’s Bay Company—Fidelity and Truthfulness of Indians—Aptitude for Certain Pursuits—The Future of the Red Man. In the foregoing chapters I have alluded more than once to the Indian population scattered over the Dominion and more especially remarkable in the North-West and British Columbia. It is a subject to command attention when the future of Canada is at all considered. Fortunately it is one concerning which little anxiety need
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CHAPTER XXIV. THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY.
CHAPTER XXIV. THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY.
Rapid Construction—Travelling—Old and New—Beginning of Pacific Railway—Difficulties—Party Warfare—The Line North of Lake Superior—The United States Government—Mountain Passes—Soil and Climate—National Parks—Pacific Terminus. Any one who, with the least attention, has followed the writer in his journey cannot fail to have observed the ease with which long distances on this continent in modern times are passed over. Within the last quarter of a century the whole system of travel has changed. With
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CHAPTER XXV. CONCLUSION.
CHAPTER XXV. CONCLUSION.
England and Canada—Old and New Colonial Systems—Political Exigencies—The High Commissioners—Lord Lorne’s Views—The Future—The French Element in Canada—Colonial Federation—The Larger Union. Scarcely a season passes without the production of some volume of startling adventures. If romance of incidents have been sought in these pages the result must have been disappointing. Nevertheless I venture to think that the described journey, embracing one hundred and twenty degrees of longitude, which I twi
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